How To Make An Ugly Christmas Sweater Dress

This weekend, I went to Nashville and dressed up like a giant Christmas explosion alongside my husband, brother, cousin, and 25 of her closest friends.

My cousin (Whitney, below left) graduated law school this past week. Whitney is the closest thing I have to a sister, and I've never been so proud of someone. So of course we had to celebrate, and what better way to celebrate than with an ugly Christmas sweater party?

My cousin wore a sweater she has had since she was 6.

And since I didn't have any sweaters from year 6, I decided to make an ugly Christmas dress.

So, I got out the hotglue and turned my favorite LBD into a totally tacky disaster.

The bows came from a thrift store, the ribbon and tinsel came from the Dollar Tree, and my little black dress was just a $15 stretchy thing from Target.

So, don't be sad.

I also decided to attach giant bells to it, which was a total lapse in judgement, as about halfway through the party, I was searching for scissors to cut the bells OFF.

I ended up using a steak knife.

Which I would like to think made the party all the more memorable.

 I also got some earrings from two ornaments that I found at the dollar store. Another terrible lapse in judgement, as they were 6 inches long and very heavy, but still...a total conversation piece for the 10 minutes I sported them. 

All in all, a total blast, and my dress survived the night. 

Hot glue is magical.

And of course, the real star of the night  was Jesse's teddy bear vest. 

Women's size large. 

I couldn't love him more if I tried.

That's all for today, ya'll!

Thanks for being here.

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DIY Christmas Ornaments Ideas

As I mentioned yesterday when I revealed this year's Christmas tree, I decorated the entire thing for $15. Most of the ornaments I either made myself or found while thrifting, and although it took some extra effort, it's a great feeling to know I saved money and created a beautiful tree for us to enjoy all season long. So, as promised, today I'll share how I made all of my different ornaments. 

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year, and I can't help but be inspired to decorate our house. However, since being thrifty is always forefront in my mind, I decided to save money this year by creating or thrifting most of the decorations myself. 

I decided my tree theme for this year would be lots of metallic ornaments mixed in with some natural elements. I also used some of the white ribbon (found during the same thrift store trip as when I found my tree) to wind throughout the entire tree. 
And I tied a bow on the top. And I'm sticking by my decision. :)

All in all, I ended up with about 200 things in my tree. Here are a few of my favorite creations.

All of the above ornaments were ones that I found at the thrift store and updated. Here's what they looked like before:



I used some basic craft supplies, and completely transformed those ol' thrift store ornaments into something a little more sparkly.



I used silver Rub n Buff (affiliate link) to turn the gold ornaments into looking like mercury glass. All you have do do is use just a tiny little bit and rub it on the ornament. That one little tube of rub n buff goes a long way. I probably used 10% of it on 50 ornaments.



I put tons of the silver ornaments in my tree, and I love the way they look.

I also added jumbo sequins to a few of the silver ornaments, and made them into mini disco balls, just by using some hotglue.

After making my little disco balls, I moved on to an old box of colorful ornaments I had from last year's tree that I wanted to make into glossy white ornaments.

To get a great shiny finish, simply use the top half of the ornament box and set the ornaments upright. I spray painted my ornaments with this white spray paint (affiliate link) and just turned them after they were dry to coat all sides.

They turned out super shiny and awesome, and were a great addition to the tree. 

And yes, a leaf will ruin atleast one of your ornaments. The universe demands it.

I also totally sassed up my thrift store pinecones...

...by standing in my kitchen for hours shaking pinecones in a box full of glitter. 

There also appears to be a giant green ribbon in the mix. I don't know. Too much crafting, too little time.

Anyways, after tons of glue, glitter, sequins, and some spray varnish to hold it all together, they look great in the tree!

I also just dipped a few pinecones in silver paint and glued a pearl to the end (as you can see in the corner of the below pic). In retrospect, I much prefer that method over the glitter. 




Along with the rub n buffed, disco balls, spray painted, and glittery pinecones, I also made some ornaments out of glass beads I found at the dollar store (just glued together over some ribbon) and some mirrored ornaments (using small mirrors I found at the craft store). Basically, I've realized that you can hotglue all sorts of stuff, attach it to a hook or some fishing line, and VOILA. ORNAMENT. 

And that, my friends is just a small portion of the handmade ornaments that ended up on this year's tree!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

For the rest of my holiday posts, check out the following:

How to make an ornament wreath for $10

A favorite project.

Snowflakes on books

It's a thrift store Christmas

Can I just leave it up?

My readers are amazing

Soooo many beads.

Embarrassing.

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DIY Christmas Tree Decor

I am so incredibly excited to share this year's tree with you!

I've been working for the past week on the tree, and it's so nice to finally have it done. I wanted my Christmas tree to be a mix of sparkly stuff and natural elements, and since I had a small budget, I had to make most of the decor myself.

Rather than a traditional tree topper, I decided to use some of the white satin ribbon (I got 50 yards of it for a dollar at the thrift store, remember?) and make a giant bow for the top of the tree. It turned out to be my favorite part of the tree.

I also wove the ribbon throughout the entire tree to fill in between the branches. I love the way it turned out.

The cats also love the ribbon, as they've decided it's their sole mission to remove it from the tree. :)

Here's Tootie showing off her excitement.

If you missed this post, let me tell you a little secret about this tree: I found it for $40 at a thrift store. It was a 6.5 ft. pre-lit tree, still new in a box. I charged over to it at the the store like a stampeding bull, and laid my body across it until I called someone over to help me cram it in my car. 

My previous tree was 4 feet tall, rivaled Charlie Brown's tree, and I was in desperate need of an upgrade. One day I'll upgrade to a live tree, but for now, the $40 thrift store tree seemed like the perfect solution.

 I'll be sharing all the juicy details tomorrow about how I made many of my DIY ornaments, but for now here's a few close ups of the tree decor.

And that's the Christmas Tree for this year! 

For all of the other Christmas posts, check out the following:

I promise doilies are cool.

The thrift store trip that rocked my world.

The $15 Christmas

So many ornament wreaths.

Beads, beads, and more beads.

Jesse loves a good teddy bear vest.

'Til then!

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