diy: book page wreath

Just in time for Christmas, I thought I'd try my hand at making a wreath out of book pages.  I know I'm certainly not the first person to attempt this, but I've always loved how beautiful and simple they are and I'm pretty impressed with how mine turned out.  They make a great Christmas or hostess gift, too!  This is a super easy, yet time consuming DIY, but the end result is so worth it. 

All you need is a styrofoam half-wreath (mine is 10"), a glue gun, glue sticks, an old book (got mine at a thrift store for 75 cents) and a stapler.  Make sure you lay a towel or drop cloth down first, so you don't get glue all over your floors:

To start, take a page and wrap it in an "S" pattern, like this:

I saved my fingertips and stapled, insted of hot glueing, the bottom to hold it together:

Then, using your hot glue gun, glue it to the back of your wreath (in my case, the flat side of my half-wreath):

Keep going, all the way around, like this:

Once you've glued pages around the back side of the wreath, flip it over:

For the front, follow the same steps and glue in a circle:

After a few times around the wreath, it will start to look like this:

Keep going until you can't fit any more pages.  If some spots of your wreath are thin, stick more pages in and glue them for fullness.  There's really no way to mess it up. I LOVE how mine came out and am already making another as a gift for a friend:

I hope you're having a great week and getting ready for Christmas!

a fabulous reader's christmas

Yesterday, I stopped over at my good friend and client, Krista's, house and thought her Christmas decorations were too lovely not to share!  Especially after an email I received last week from a reader asking if I ever came across homes that were decorated with children in mind...Krista's got two little ones of her own and her Christmas decorations are all about them.  I worked with Krista earlier this year from start to finish on the construction of her new home-you might remember her home from here, here and here.  An extremely talented professional photographer (check out her work here), Krista snapped some shots of her adorable Christmas decor:

I love the picture on the mantle of her little ones in Christmas pj's:

A post card sent from Grandma and Grandpa in Bahrain rests next to the camel in the nativity scene at six year old Dalton's request:

Christmas cards hang from burlap ribbon on an armoir:

Her three year old daughter's got her own pink Christmas tree:

A homemade moss wreath greets guests:

...as well as a lifesized Santa by the front door:

Only four days left 'til Christmas!

decked out for the holidays

While checking out my Pinterest page this morning, I came across this gorgeous, light-filled bedroom, decorated for Christmas, via Traditional Home (surprisingly, the only home decor magazine I don't subscribe to, which explains how I missed it):

I had to check out the rest of the house and it was equally beautiful.  What I love most is that the Christmas decorations blend in with the home's neutral color palette and decor, not compete with it. 

Ivory stockings, fresh greenery and wrapping paper in colors that match the fabrics make this space so warm and inviting:

Mercury glass and more greenery:

Click here to see more of this gorgeous Tudor-style home.