Blue Christmas
My mother changes her tree every year to a new theme.
EVERY. YEAR.
One year she had this carousel set that she strung up in the tree and when you turned it on, the tree looked like a theme park…with moving parts and horses going crazy not below the tree - inside the tree. It was fantastic. She taught me everything I know about curling ribbon, the joys of too many twinkle lights and creating a finished looking holiday extravangza….so it comes as no surprise that I didn’t really want repeat last year’s look of silver & gold & red….
or 2009′s monochromatic christmas…
Or 2008′s red & silver look…
or our very first Christmas that was sortof just a hodge podge of whatever we could find and stick in our free tree.
Needless to say (but I will say it anyway because I think it’s funny)…this ornament doesn’t fall far from the tree 
I wanted to switch things up.
But I found that the biggest problem with deciding the theme for our family tree was that I wanted to see our little tree from the living room and the kitchen (that way I could enjoy it while putting away the dishes, feeding Will, and bask in it’s warm glow – probably get a little bit of a tan while I’m at it – while watching New Girl)…our living room is blue & white with toothpaste colored walls.
So what’s a girl to do?!
Well, I figured that if you can’t beat em – join em. So we brought in the green chairs (don’t worry that’s not where they ended up – it was just so we had space to untangled yards of twinkle lights and we switched the couch over to the side (which was against Jer’s ideal tv-watching setup.) and moved the big chair from the corner to the center (compromise so that Jer could still sit DIRECTLY in front of the boob tube while football’s on).
After we brought in the green chairs – it came to me. We were definitely going to have a blue (and green) christmas! So I pulled out some fabrics I had that would go with our living room furniture, pillows and rug…
and the embroidery hoops returned (my mother is shaking her head right now at the sight of this photo)…
And I also picked up some ribbon at a discount fabric store and some yarn (with coupons) at Hobby Lobby….
And I got to work. I was like a tiny holiday elf on ritalin. Seriously. except I was huge. and probably could have eaten a tiny elf for lunch after my frenzy of Christmas ornament crafting. and let’s just be honest…tiny elves can’t eat other tiny elves. it’s not possible. not in one sitting anyway.
and this is how I blog.
So out came the balloons and I tried my hand at creating those yarn balls that you see all over the internet and kind of want to make but then realize that it’s probably a messy waste of time. yeah. those.
I didn’t take any photos of the process because I was up to my elbows in Elmers.
We had them hanging all over the kitchen to dry…frankly they kinda blend into the mess, so they didn’t bother me.
Oh and because we made four – I tried four different methods….the best one was this – take the yarn and dunk the entire length that you will use for a ball (roughly five to eight yards) in a bowl with diluted Elmer’s glue. Get it nice and soaked. Then wipe some glue on the balloon so that you can have the yarn stick a little better. Tie one end to the balloon knot and then wrap all over in every direction. Leave a tail and hang to dry.
Here’s the real kick in the panties – after the yarn has dried (it will be crispy) – it will stick to the balloon. If you pop the balloon without separating it from the yarn, it might warp your creation…so I used a candy making stick (like the kind you use for cake pops!) to push the balloon down while it’s still inflated to separate it from the yarn. THEN you pop…and remove all of the balloon
First thing I did was make our tree topper (we didn’t have one because in the last house we used a disco ball that we suspended from the ceiling which is not possible with this two story room!) – but more on that later – and then I wrapped ribbon all around it, pop some fabric in my embroidery hoops and got to tree ornamenting (totally a word).
The best part? Everything is totally child-friendly. Even the blue balls (heehee) were the shatterproof kind that I got for half off at Hobby Lobby. Will helped decorate. Also known as throwing the balls. Check that off our Christmas Photo List!
Oh and I did make one felt ornament for the main man…one day this bad boy will go into Will’s personal ornaments box…ya know for when he has his own tree..
So that is our handmade ornaments – using embroidery hoops, balloons & yarn, and felt. What did you do for ornaments this year? Any crafting elves out there? Any blue christmas’ out there?
p.s. Sorry I missed yesterday – one of our friends lost his dad and we had a full travel day for the funeral – so I will try to get both yesterday’s post & today’s post out today oh and it’s gonna have a full frontal of our christmas tree – so stay tuned!
We did the same thing this year! Even close to the same colors.
We love them – and they have been totally toddler safe!
http://www.twobedroomsandababy.com/2011/11/toddler-safe-easy-diy-christmas.html
Love your tree!! Everytime I see those yarn balls I get the urge to make them, but then usually decide it’ll be too big of a mess. Thanks for sharing what worked for you – maybe I’ll finally tackle them now!!
Love love love your tree! The fabric in the hoops is such a great idea, and easy to change for next year. I’m too lazy to change themes every year, but love gathering ideas for someday when I will switch up our decor.
Beautiful! Since your in the Holiday spirit…There is a website Reindeercam.com that shows the Reindeer and Santa comes twice a day to feed them over a live cam. It’s pretty cute, your little one might enjoy it!
ooh – I’ll have to check it out!
xo – kb
I loved that you mentioned Jeremy thought about the view of the TV while moving furniture for the placement of the tree. We had that same conversation in our house.
It’s so funny the different mind set men and women are in during “tree time”.
I like the blue and green. The ornaments turned out great!
Can’t wait to see the room/tree in full. Perfect color scheme and textiles for a rowdy little boy.
Love those ornaments and that color scheme! You’re so creative!
Oh, and I totally think of you every time I watch New Girl. …not in a creepy way. It’s just nice to know that someone out there is as dorky as I am!
SO beautiful!! i want to see MORE!!
are you going to keep those?
Love the yarn balls, so cute and creative!
The yarn balls look amazing!! Great job!
Just started following your blog…love it! I was wondering how you get such great indoor photos? What lens do you use and what setting do you take them in?
Thank you!
I shoot in manual when indoors and I used my 24-70mm for these…but you can achieve the same effects with a variety of lenses – just as long as your exposure is right!
xo – kb
Thanks so much for the response!!! I shoot mainly with a 50mm 1.4. What setting should the metering be on…evaluative, partial, spot or center?
On a side note, your little guy is at such a fun age…should make for a fun Christmas. I have a little guy that is 16 months and is so much fun!
Spot would work – because you are gonna meter off the tree – so your probably gonna have no problem making sure you tree is lit up
xo kb
Your tree look so good, love the color combo. And genius (as usual) the way you used those embroidery hoopsj, would have never thought they would look good on a tree, but you totally rocked it out. Can’t wait to see the full frontal (why does that make me giggle?).
The embroidery hoop ornaments are amazing! That’s my favorite idea that I’ve seen this Christmas.
I have a quest for you……..and you have a whole year to make it happen……..from one Fangirl to another……..I challenge you to a Star Wars tree for next year. What do you say?
Katie,
I love your tree topper. It’s whimsical, festive and fits right in with the look you were going for.
I’m a traditionalist with Christmas, reds, greens and the star on the tree, but I LOVE seeing what other people do for THEIR homes. And isn’t that what decorating is? Your taste in your home.
I say if you don’t like it, too bad, stay home and be a grinch.
Jennifer D.
p.s. you might want to try the story of giving up the binkies for all the other little babies who really need them. Hope it works out for you!
Can you tell us how you get such great shots of your Christmas tree? I have a hard time telling how much light I should have while still being able to see that the tree is twinkly…and yours are all perfect!
Like I said in the post, I shot it in manual mode – metering off the tree during daylight hours and making sure my aperture was 3.5 or higher and my exposure was a little high
Good luck and happy shooting!
xo – kb
Oh and I forgot to say that I LOVE the color scheme you went for, and those yarn ornaments are amazing! The whole tree looks beautiful!
Your tree is beautiful! Makes me sad that I didn’t have the energy to do one this year.
What do you do with the decorations from each year?
Well, most of the decorations were just ribbon and silver ornaments. I do have a few red ones. And some nostalgic memory ones. All of them are up and being used – just stay tuned to see what I did with em all
xo – kb
Love the colors and I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one who has to do a new theme every year! http://thisdiylife.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/traditionally-non-traditional-christmas/
I love love love LOVE your tree! I have always wanted to do a color scheme but I have wayyy too many other ornaments and am Hallmark obsessed sooo I don’t think I could dare not use those ornaments. Unless I did two trees,
Love this color combination. Since I just found out I’m pregnant my first thought was it’s a perfect palette for the nursery – and hubby agreed! Thank you!
Elf on Ritalin…too funny. I was rolling.
Your tree is gorgeous and looks like it cost a lot of $$
Katie, you genius! I freakin’ love your tree. I couldn’t figure out what you were going to do with the hoops (it’s 8am in New Zealand right now…) and then BAM, BRILLIANCE.
I love how you use ribbon for your trees, it looks so pretty twisting through them.
Merry Christmas! x