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Prep the Halls! Fresh decorating ideas and fun projects for the family • PLUS: Schedule these home repairs and upgrades before visitors arrive
Glitz & Glam
These fun craft projects add sparkle to mundane objects INSIDE: Fresh, Festive Florals | Cozy Crafting
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Glitz and Glam Sometimes for the holidays, you just want everything to sparkle. These homemade crafts dress up your table or tree BY Alyssa Karas • ctw features
C
an you create Christmas glamour with what you have on hand? Of course! These four bloggers share some of their favorite glamorous crafts – and their surprising origins from empty wine bottles, old CDs, freezer paper and some chicken wire.
Snowy Wine Bottles
Photo courtesy of Tracie Stoll
With three wine bottles, a little ingenuity and not much time, Tracie Stoll created one of the most popular projects on her blog “Cleverly Inspired,” Cleverlyinspired.com. “I literally did that in about 30
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minutes,” says Stoll, who lives in Prospect, Ky.“I was having some girlfriends over for the holidays, and I wanted something pretty.” Stoll used items she had on hand to create a sparkly, snow-covered centerpiece.“I like to make treasures from trash,” she says. Stoll gathered three empty wine bottles of varying heights from her recycling bin and sprayed them with white primer. After the bottles dried, she sprayed them with adhesive and then rolled them in Epsom salts. “I thought it was kind of cool because it made it look like snow,” she says.To complete the look, she placed the bottles on a tray and added a few sparkly sprays, some silver ornaments and votive candles. Cont’d on page 4
Christmas Light Orbs Jacinda Boneau’s kids inspired (or pressured) her into creating these easy Christmas Light Orbs when they wanted a little more color in the family’s outdoor holiday display.“We live in Texas, where you can
Photo courtesy of Natalie Pirveysian
Photo courtesy of Jacinda Boneau
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imagine there are some pretty impressive Christmas light displays,” says Boneau of Dallas, who runs the blog “Pretty Prudent,” Prudentbaby.com with Jaime Morrison Curtis. “My typical style of covering everything with white, non-blinking lights wasn’t enough. So I had to step it up a little,” she says. Boneau came up with a quick project. She estimates two or three orbs can be made in a half hour. To make the orbs, cut a large square of chicken wire, and bend opposite ends together and secure. Repeat with the remaining two ends and form a sphere.“It doesn’t have to be exact,” Boneau says.“It’s pretty forgiving.” Wrap a string of lights around the sphere, tucking the plug underneath the wire and back up so they’re able to hang. Boneau hung them on her patio using an iron rod, and decided to keep them up year round. “They’re a unique touch,” says Boneau, whose book with Curtis, “Pretty Prudent Home” will be published by Abrams in the fall of 2014.“They have a bit of mystery to them. When it’s night and the lights are off, you can’t really see how they’re hanging.”
Recycled CD Ornaments If you’re looking to easily add a touch of sparkle to your tree, try making an ornament out of old CDs or DVDs, like Natalie Pirveysian, who shares her ideas on her blog “Crème de la Craft,” Cremedelacraft.com. This craft is great for making with kids or family:“I think with holidays especially, it makes it more personal,” says Perveysian, who lives in Los Angeles.“When you have family over and people are asking about your decorations ... It just makes everything a little more special.” For the project, you’ll need a clear glass ornament, old CDs, a glue gun, ribbon and some heavy-duty scissors.“It’s made of items people have around the house,” Perveysian says.“If you’re itching to do a craft project, you can reach into your drawers or your craft closet.” Begin by cutting the CDs into small pieces with a good pair of scissors.“They don’t have to be the same shape or size, like mosaic glass you find,” she says. Cont’d on page 5
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Cont’d from page 4 wrapped beautifully it looks so nice on the table or under the tree. Put a small dot of glue on the CD piece and attach it to the ornaWhile you’re waiting to open it, it adds to the decor too.” ment, making sure the shiny side is facing out. Continue until the Each year, Garris chooses a theme and uses what she has on hand ornament is covered, leaving a bit of space between each piece, and to create custom wrapping. Her glitter tags and boxes, for example, wiping away extra glue as you go along.Then put a ribbon inside of were easily made by using a foam pouncer (or any other round the ornament and close it. object), dipping it in glue or Mod Podge and then dabbing it onto gift “The CDs give it a boxes and tags. Finish by Photo courtesy of Carolyn Garris shiny element, which covering in glitter. is why I gravitated to For her black-andthem,” she says.“It adds a white theme, Garris little bit of shine to your added splashes of gold to home, to your tree, and it her gift wrap for added adds a little bit of color holiday cheer.“I really did as well.” use things I had on hand,” she says.“I used copy paper, freezer paper, and Glitzy Gift Wrap then all sorts of ribbons Here’s a craft that pulls and sticks and leaves. Just double-duty.“A gift that’s whatever I had, mixed wrapped really pretty and matched.” makes it so much more Garris wrapped her fun and enticing to gifts in plain paper, and open,” says Carolyn Garthen used heavy paper or ris, who shares her ideas crepe paper as ribbons. on her blog “homework,” To embellish the wrapCarolynshomework. ping, she used organza, blogspot.com.“I’m all sequins and fake flowers, about gift bags too, which she spray-painted but when something is gold.
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Change of pace DRESS IT UP
Whether your personal style is funky, classic, rustic or luxurious, sometimes you just want something different to show your guests for the holidays. These tips will either dress up or tone down your décor vibes without losing a sense of festivity • CTW FEATURES Use a spare platter to create a formallooking wet bar. Set out every bottle of booze, mixer and garnish you have and put some ice in a bucket. Hang some twinkly lights nearby and set out all your cocktail glasses so they’ll sparkle.
Create a beautiful glassware display with what you have on hand. Collins glasses can serve as candle holders and upside-down martini glasses can elevate a display. A cake pedestal can serve the same purpose. Bring out your best serveware. That serving plate your in-laws gifted you years ago has gone unused for far too long. Even if you don’t have food to put on it, use the platters for extra napkins, candles or décor. Add luxurious touches to your guest rooms. Something as simple as a pillow mint, holiday candles (with matches) or a towel warmer in the bathroom will show your thoughtfulness to your guests.
Craft themed place cards for your guests. They’re easy and expensive to make, but thoughtful and personalized. Bonus points for attaching a small trinket that your guests can take home to remember the night!
KEEP IT CHILL
Use your cooking tools as part of the food display to emphasize your homemade dishes. A nice wooden cutting board can display charcuterie and cheese. Show off your cast iron skillet – but don’t forget a trivet! Leave treats and appetizers all around the home. Your guests can pick at food and candies no matter where they sit down. That way, they won’t linger near the dining table or in the kitchen while you’re preparing the meal. Skip the green and red and try a more modern combination, like teal and orange; black, white and gold; or different shades of blue. If you can’t give up those classic colors, splash in some lime green for a more playful look. Include some DIY food items. Bake the cookies and cupcakes and set up a decorating station with extra frosting and sprinkles. You’ll give your guests something fun to do and ensure picky eaters are satisfied. Burlap is your friend. It’s easy to work with and automatically gives everything a rustic feel. Wrap burlap around gifts and silverware, or use it as a tree skirt or tablecloth. Plus, it’s neutral so it will match with your existing color palette.
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BY Dan Rafter CTW Features
Photo courtesy of thinkstockphotos.com
Decking the halls simply isn’t enough when guests are staying over. Give your home a onceover and make these essential repairs – because nothing’s Grinchier than a stoppedup toilet or broken garbage disposal
Prep the Halls! Guests will jam your home during the holiday season, many of them staying for a week or longer.You don’t want your furnace to conk out. And you certainly don’t want your toilets to go on the fritz. Fortunately, you can take steps before guests arrive to make sure that your home is both functional and comfortable for the holidays.
Home Remedies Luckily, some of the most important fixes you can tackle are those that you can do yourself. Lynda Lyday, a contractor, carpenter and home-improvement author who splits her time between New York City and St. Petersburg, Fla., recommends that homeowners fix all the squeaky hinges, loose doorknobs and stiff cabinet doors in their homes. “You know that one doorknob, the one that – if you pull it too hard – will pop off? When you have guests, they will almost
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certainly pull it too hard,” Lyday says.“Remember, your home doesn’t come with an owner’s manual.Your guests don’t know the tricks you use every day.” Lyday tells the story of the time when she put up a pair of guests in her Manhattan apartment while she traveled to Knoxville,Tenn., to shoot a TV show. When Lyday returned, the pull chains for her lights were snapped and the handles for her toilets were broken. Her guests didn’t do this on purpose.They just didn’t know that the pull chains and the handles were old and needed to be treated with extra care. “Everyone wants their guests to feel at home.You don’t want your guests to feel like they are breaking your home,” Lyday says. “So make sure to fix everything that you’ve been ignoring.” So if the front of your kitchen cabinet is always falling off its hinges, fix it before your guests show up. Cont’d on page 9
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Everyone wants their guests to feel at home. You don't want your guests to feel like they are breaking your home. So make sure to fix everything that you’ve been ignoring. Lynda Lyday, contractor, carpenter and home-improvement author
Cont’d from page 8 Homeowners should also repair loose bricks in the walkways leading to their homes and any loose steps leading to their front porch. Otherwise, a guest could turn an ankle or fall down the front steps – not a good way to start the holiday season. Think, too, about making sure the garbage disposal, which will get an intense workout during the holidays, is working properly.You don’t want it clogging as you’re preparing a big holiday meal. Then there’s plumbing. Paul Abrams, spokesman at the Cincinnati headquarters of Roto-Rooter, recommends that homeowners do a quick check of their drains before guests arrive. Maybe a shower drain or sink drain is slow. Homeowners can probably unclog isolated drains on their own. But if several drains are slow or if homeowners hear a gurgling sound bubbling up from their drains, that might lead to more intensive repairs.
Hiring Help If several drains are malfunctioning, Abrams recommends that homeowners hire a licensed plumber.There might be a clog in a large branch line or even in the home’s main sewer line.This is not something to ignore, and not something that most homeowners can repair on their own.
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“Maybe the drains are still working, but once you get guests and you have more people showering and flushing the toilets, you put more strain on your plumbing,”Abrams says.“Once that happens, these smaller symptoms suddenly blossom into full-blown plumbing problems.That’s the last thing you want when it’s time to put the holiday dinner on the table.” Abrams recommends, too, that homeowners address plumbing issues long before holiday guests arrive. Some plumbing companies and contractors charge more to resolve emergency issues on a holiday.They might also be busier. If your toilets conk out on Christmas morning, you might spend a fortune, and wait hours for a fix. There are other big jobs that contractors should tackle before guests arrive. The most important is scheduling a furnace tune-up, especially if you did not get the recommended one at the start of the cold season.
Time to Buy There are also smaller items that you can buy to make your guests comfortable during the holidays. Lyday recommends that homeowners purchase at least two air purifiers. These can remove dust and odors from a home. Cont’d on page 10
It’s time to repair that loose cabinet door or slightly off-kilter kitchen drawer. “Your guests don’t know the tricks you use every day,” says Lynda Lyday, home improvement expert.
Photos courtesy of thinkstockphotos.com
The main point? You need to view your residence through the eyes of your upcoming guests. “There are so many areas and small problems in your home that you don’t think about because you see them and live with them every day,” says Mike Sigmund, who, along with his wife Kathy, owns TruBlue Total House Care in Lexington, Ky.“Now that guests are arriving, you have to look at it from their perspective.You have to resolve the problems that you’ve become used to.”
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One area to upgrade that will please your guests and help your own home is the bathroom. Sabine Schoenberg, a real estate developer, author and owner of home improvement company Sabine’s Home in Greenwich, Conn., recommends that homeowners buy new, more powerful showerheads. She also advises homeowners to replace old toilets or at the least buy a new toilet seat. Even something as small as new, high-quality hangers in the guest-room closet can make a difference for holiday visitors, Schoenberg says.
Small upgrades like sturdy new hangers or a luxurious new showerhead are thoughtful ways to improve your guests’ holiday stay.
5 Questions to Ask Before You Hire
You need a plumber, carpenter or electrician to solve your home’s most serious problems. Here are the questions to ask – provided by Paul Abrams of Roto-Rooter and homeimprovement expert Lynda Lyday – before hiring one of these pros. 1. Are they licensed and insured? If a plumber or electrician causes a serious problem, you want their company – and not you – to foot the new repair bills. 2. How busy are they? You don’t want to hire contractors who have so many jobs that they won’t get to your house for three weeks. 3. Do they charge just for visiting? Some contractors might charge you $40 or more just to come out and look at your problems. 4. Do they have references? You want to work with contractors who aren’t afraid to connect you with past customers. 5. How long will the work take? If you’re having holiday guests, you want a contractor who can get your problems resolved before visitors arrive.
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Fresh, Festive
Florals Update those tired poinsettias and try some new botanicals for the holiday season BY Alyssa Karas • CTW FEATURES
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hether the goal is to completely deck the halls or just impress your guests, floral arrangements are a festive way to celebrate the holiday season. While the traditional reds of poinsettias and greens of holly leaves are timeless, try turning up holiday
florals with new colors, textures and placements. Floral arrangements don’t have to be exotic or tropical: Florists say some of the most beautiful and unique elements of a holiday arrangement can be found in your own backyard. Deb Karpfinger, owner of The
Flower Lady in Wauwatosa, Wis., says that “bringing nature inside” and the “do-it-yourself vintage look” are popular now. “Everything is a really simple look,” she adds. Alethea Harampolis, co-owner of Studio Choo in South San Francisco, Calif., agrees.“We use a lot of succulents, sticks, twigs and pinecones.Think about if you’re taking a walk in the win-
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ter. What could you forage for and be able to bring inside?” Birch branches, curly willow, seed pods, winter berries, rose hips and “things that look like the end of the garden year” all provide a natural-looking touch to decor, says Kathy Spear, owner of Kathy and Company Florist in Burlington, Vt. Cont’d on page 13
little bit different.” you get those beautiful gray and Cont’d from page 12 She adds,“Magnolia leaves have If you’re looking for a splashy greens of succulents, you can mix green on one side and brown on centerpiece, designer David all of that together,” says Kurio, who owns David Kurio Designs the other.The velvety look adds a Kurio recommends trying a “landscape” down the center of in Austin,Texas.“And then work whole lot.” the table and placing miniature in maybe some natural crystals Try adding a poinsettia bloom or some amaryllis with other orchid plants and some fresh and some vintage Christmas ornanatural finds for a dash of color among the brown, A mixture of natural moss, rhinestones and silver ornaments makes gray, white and burgundy. for a simple but stunning arrangement, perfect for the holidays. “The color palette is a little simpler this year because it is this vintage natural look,” Karpfinger says.“I don’t see a lot of bright things.” Natural arrangements don’t need to be meticulous, either. Beautiful pine branches of hemlock can be laid on their own. And unique containers could be hiding in your cabinets. Photos courtesy of Deb Karpfinger, The Flower Lady “A lot of people have really beautiful china, water pitchers and things,” Harampolis spruce in a shallow, narrow tray. ments and mix in a smattering of says.“We tend to have people “Then we also incorporate suc- votive candles.” go into their pantry and look for culents, which you really associTerrariums and wooden things that hold water and are a ate more with the summer but if trays also work as centerpieces.
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Karpfinger says they’re great for breaking traditional rules and mixing it up.“It’s kind of interesting because in years past, customers were afraid to mix gold and silver, or wood and glitz,” she says. “But now, anything goes.” One of her recent projects featured a simple wooden tray that combined natural moss with sparkly rhinestones and ornaments. Trays and terrariums also make good family projects because they’re easily customizable. Besides the plant elements you’ll use, Karpfinger recommends asking each family member to contribute an item, which could be as simple as an old jingle bell found around the house.“It’s the whole mixing of textures: moss, branches, twine, anything textural, like burlap,” Karpfinger says. A visit to your local florist can help you add the final touches.
Cozy Craft:
Felt Triangle Garland For the winter holidays, sometimes a cozier craft fits the bill.This project, dreamed up by blogger Alison Faulkner (thealisonshow. com), based in Provo, Utah, is quick and easy and can fit in with any color scheme. She combines it with a knit sweater-style garland that makes it all the easier to snuggle up near the tree or fireplace. “There’s nothing I love more than a good garland,” she writes. “I wanted to add some color to my tree this year, so I spent the afternoon whipping these up.They also look great on a mantle or wrapped around a gift.” Here are Faulkner’s instructions for the felt triangle garland.
Materials: • A sewing machine (you could do this by hand but it would be very time consuming, so if you can, borrow a machine!) • Scraps of felt in an array of colors • Scissors • Heavyweight thread
Directions: 1. Sit down to a fun holiday movie with a stack of scrap felt and scissors. Cut dozens of triangles and don’t worry about making them uniform. Just make sure they are not too narrow, because this will make them hard to sew.
2. Thread your machine with a heavyweight thread; this will make the garland more durable.You only need to use the heavy thread in the top, not the bobbin. 3. Once you have about 100 triangles or more, chain-sew the triangles.To do this, start at the base of a triangle and sew a straight line to the tip, about one-quarter inch away from the tip. Then, with the foot of your machine down, slip the next triangle in place. Continue this until your chain is your desired length. 4. Trim off the loose threads and hang your garland.
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