Winter Wonderland Party (and pretty snowflake ornaments!)

I just love how I don't notice things like wonky blinds until I'm reviewing and editing my photos after the fact. Nice.

A few weeks ago I hosted a Secret Santa reveal party for my friends. I decided to have some fun with the decorations and use the opportunity to finally do some of the things I've been pinning on Pinterest.

First, see that little cluster of ball ornaments at the very top of this photo? I found something similar on Pinterest and so I bought a container of ornaments at the Dollar Store and finagled a little "ornament chandelier". My kids said it looked like a big bunch of fat shiny grapes. Ha.

And notice those ornaments hanging from above (that are all conveniently turned sideways so you can't see them really well)? You'll never guess how I made them.

Toilet paper tubes! Did you know you can make really cool things from toilet paper tubes? Yep, just flatten 'em and cut 'em into little strips, then glue those together. Cool, right? Thanks, Pinterest.

Pinterest also inspired these:

Aren't they ghetto-fabulous? Ha, they didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped...the plan was to use some mini glass candleholders for the center "column" between the burner covers but they didn't have any at the Dollar Store, so I used plastic champagne glasses instead and hot glued them together. Like I said, not quite what I was going for...

And here's my lovely Goodwill-rescued Christmas tree! I remember when I found this beauty all mashed up and stuffed in a bin. All it needed was a little fluffing, some tinsel and sparkly snowflake ornaments.

This was a fun (and pretty easy!) little touch- I strung white lights between the table legs under the white tablecloth, which resulted in a really neat diffused sparkly effect. Yet another shout-out to Pinterest! ;-) Next time I think I'll iron the tablecloth first...did I mention I'm kind of lazy?

Hey, who is that under my table??

So, remember those toilet paper tube ornaments that I spray-painted white to hang from my ceiling fan? Well, I decided to take them a step further and embellish them with some sparkly glass beads. I cut a little circle out of white felt and then hot glued some beads on it in a circle (sorry this picture isn't great). Then I strung a few off the bottom and I added a white ribbon for hanging. They turned out really classy. Who'd have thunk toilet paper tubes were so stylish?

So that's the extent of my Christmas craftiness this year. Hope your holidays are lovely and bright as well! :-) Merry Christmas, everyone!