Why I Love Pinterest: Christmas 2011 Edition

I sure do enjoy Pinterest.  It’s my go-to for finding new decorating ideas, new recipes, new travel destinations to dream about.  And I’ve recently discovered it’s also the source of much holiday inspiration for me.  I thought I’d share a few of the ideas I pinned on Pinterest and show you what I did with those ideas.

First up, I pinned this on my Autumn board.  A glass cylinder full of candies and Peeps ghosts and pumpkins. 

I have a collection of apothecary jars in my kitchen and try to do something fun with them for each season.  I didn’t get around to using the idea for Halloween, but here is what I was inspired to create for Christmas:

I had so much fun putting Christmas Peeps in the jar, I also decided to make a candleholder:

Next up, a couple of ideas I mentioned in this post about my random acts of holiday kindness project. 
First was this gorgeous subway art holiday print from Today’s Creative Blog

Second is the Light ‘Em Up project from lil light o’ mine.  I’m still giddy about this project!

 
I used both of the ideas above near my kitchen Christmas tree.  I found a great turquoise frame at Target (also available in red!) for the print and used a vintage jar for the Light ‘Em Up project.  Each day I am writing my random act of holiday kindness on a slip of paper and putting it inside the jar.  I need a second jar for all of the acts of kindness I have received since starting this project.  I can’t quite wrap my head around it, it’s amazing how much kindness is in our world.

Last year I saw this gorgeous tree from Not Martha and bought all of the ornaments and supplies after Christmas at a really great price. 

This doesn’t happen to me often, but I was stymied by this project. I think I tend to choose less-involved craft projects, which doesn’t describe this one.  The instructions were five pages long and try as I might, I couldn’t follow them.  I had to call in John’s assistance. 

 It took most of a day to make this.  Whew!  Now how to pack it away after the holidays…

Here’s another little tidbit from my Winter Pinterest board.  This was by far the easiest to create and would be kid-friendly. 

 I bought a package of ornaments and a package of magnets.  Add in a glue gun and you’ve got a 10 minute craft!   My husband rearranged them in a tree shape, I had them random just like in the photo. I love that he thinks a step beyond where I stop in craft projects.

This shiny red lantern full of ornaments and a strand of lights really caught my eye. It’s a fun find from Welcome Sunshine Home.

I used a lantern that is slightly more rustic and filled it with inexpensive ornaments and a $1 strand of lights.

My last two Christmas projects inspired by Pinterest were really fun to create.

These burlap stockings from Jones Design Company interested me as I have an abundance of burlap:

And this ribbon garland from Whitney Caroline Designs:

Here is my version.  My friend Tina traced one of her Christmas stockings onto newspaper when I was visiting her house for a little baking adventure. I used that as a pattern for the two large stockings and then cut it down for the three smaller stockings for our pooches.  For the burlap, I used upcycled burlap coffee bags from The Roasterie, a specialty coffee roaster located right here in my city.  Each coffee variety has a different imprint on the bag, so our stockings are each unique.  I used a “Processed in Germany” coffee bag for our dachsund mix dog. Teee heeee.

For the ribbon garland, I used the remnants of ribbon from the past four years of Christmas crafts and packaging.  It is adorable!  I tripled a long strand of lights, so it is very bright.  It makes me happy! 

Wow–I was a crafting fool there for a minute.  And I’m not done yet.  I’ve been redecorating a bedroom and created a few things inspired by Pinterest finds.  I’ll tell you about those soon.  In the meantime, tell me about your Holiday Pinterest finds.  Have you made anything fun?  Baked anything tasty? I’d love to hear about it!