Handmade Christmas (DiY Christmas Decor)

It is the Christmas season! And now, it is festive inside our home too!
I LOVE LOVE this time of year so much! I was so excited to get some things made and our house decorated that I stupidly stayed up until 3am doing it all. I blame the cup of french press coffee that I drank at 9pm.
I am also excited to share a glimpse of the place we call home with you. So.....welcome. :)

We, sadly, do not have outlets outside so we don't get to hang lights on the house. However, I still like to do a little something on the front porch. My approach to decorating is always to keep it simple; a few pops of color and character go a long way. This plant stand turned candle stand sits beside our front door.

 I almost completely changed the arrangement over the couch for Christmas. I am really pretty pleased with the result. I always love the various ways that people decorate for Christmas; the natural muted colors; the metallics, etc. But I always gravitate towards bright and festive. I guess I like to feel like we're always throwing a party!
I got some free printables that I found on Pinterest and framed them for the wall. I LOVE the chalkboard looking prints.
My mom had given me the cool framed chalkboard, only it was painted hot pink. So, I gave it a makeover with some teal paint and I really love it now. It will probably get to stay there long after Christmas.

Also, found on Pinterest was the idea to make a star from branches and wrap it in lights. I was super excited about this project. I had the kids help me collect sticks from the front yard (fallen from our massive old tree!). And then I began to attempt the star, when.......my husband jumped in and was a HUGE help in the process! It's been fun getting him in on my projects lately. I get to be creative with the help of my handy, hot husband!

 And in the corner, I moved our little chalkboard desk to hold our nativity scene and advent calendar. I love that they are situated beneath the bright star on the wall.
I couldn't figure out a good place in our home to hang the advent bags so we used a cute tin I had and I made a "hope" banner for it too.

The other side of the room. I hung some garland, lights and snowflakes. Like I said, I love simple.

Also added a little something to the main bathroom as well. You can't go wrong with glass dishes/vases filled with pretty, shiny ornaments and lights!
The print is another free printable found on Pinterest.

 Remember the chalkboards we made from dollar store platters?

Joy to the world!

Baby Girl and I made some glitter jars. This was so fun and easy and who doesn't love sparkly things?! I plan to fill the large with candy canes and the small jar has a tea light candle in it.

I love adding a little something to each room in the house for Christmas. I made another banner for our room and added some red garland to the mirror and windows too. Makes me smile.

I also added garland to the windows in the kid's room and strung some ornaments on them. And we hung lights and garland in our guest/tv/school room too.

The house is so festive now and fun, with plenty of reminders throughout of the reason we celebrate and love Christmas in the first place.
-Jenny

Links of inspiration for this post and projects:
Star made from branches
Free Printables
More free printables
Glitter Jars