it's the holiday season

The other night {shortly after my last post} the holiday fever caught me, and I have been decorating ever since. It used to be that Mike didn't get into the holiday spirit, but he has come over the the merry & bright side, and even helped me trim our tree. 

When I pulled out the decorations from two years ago {yes I did not put anything up last year for fear that Violet would try to eat it all} I realized that I didn't have that much to work with, so I knew that I needed to find some other items to help deck the halls. I headed to Michael's {it would have been Hobby Lobby if it weren't closed on Sundays}, TJmaxx, Target, and the Dollar Tree. 

When I walked in Target I saw the cutest gift bags right off the bat, and couldn't resist buying one of each with the idea of using them somewhere as decoration. That is when I thought that I should put them in inexpensive frames and hang them on the wall. Here is what I used:

And this is how it turned out. I thought that I would use the frames as-is, but the frames were nothing to write home about. I had some gold craft paint lying around, so I used a paper towel to wipe some paint on the frames. This really jazzed up the dollar store finds; I love that they have a vintage feel. The total cost was $12 for the festive framed prints.

Now this is the tree that my mom got Mike back when he was a little bit of a Grinch. I picked out the silver & black themed ornaments, and Mike picked out the pickle {kinda hard to see in this shot}. It always gets a spot front and center.

The flowers I picked up the poinsettia flowers at Michael's and traded out the Ikea daises seen in the upcycled glasses post.

Both of the table runners are from TJmaxx. The dinning table runner was just purchased this year, and the coffee table runner was from last year when our dinning table was MUCH smaller. The glass bowl was one that I picked up at Ikea for four bucks, and I filled it with ornaments that I picked up at the dollar store.

The best part was enjoying a home made chai latte by the tree.