$0.25 Ornaments, Customized!

Well I guess it's nearing that time . . . holiday and seasonal clearance. As the "big day" approaches, steeper discounts seem to be popping up to rid and thin stock of holiday ornaments and decor. Oddly enough, I never seem to take part in these great deals as I typically am buying new holiday decor at the beginning of the season and am "decor'd out" by the end. Perhaps I'll try to be a bit more attentive this year if I head out after the holidays to do any shopping.

In the meantime, I found these great little picture frame ornaments for 25 cents a piece at the local Dollar General store. I knew I wanted to use them this year with the silver and crystal theme I have going on indoors.

Hmmm, what to place within the frames? Photos? Cut up holiday cards? I knew I wanted something displayed within that would equally match the color story in the room. I remembered I had a silver metallic sharpie marker. I took out the front display paper in the frame and flipped it over, using the back as the "new" display surface. I used the silver marker to draw straight, diagonal, overlapping lines to create the look of brushed aluminum or nickel. I grabbed one of my many fine-point, black Sharpie markers (I love these things and use them like crazy) and wrote out some holiday words that came to mind.

Should I hang them on the fireplace mantel or set them amid the mantel's decor? Perhaps hang them vertically down a small wall area? That vertical look must have stuck in my mind. I looked at the grapevine tree and its somewhat plain trunk and thought, there is my vertical surface. I thought I was done with this tree, guess not. Now I am . . . I THINK?

I love the new shimmer these little frames give to what was a rather dark area on the tree.  Are you still "fussing around" with your Holiday or Christmas trees too?

Sharing this at:
The Shabby Creek Cottage - Transformation Thursday
The Crafty Nest - Do Something Crafty

The Weeping Grapevine Tree

Many have commented on the "alternative tree" seen in the background of some of my previous posts. My Weeping grapevine tree as I like to call it, being a play on a Weeping Cherry, developed due to some leftover, "branchy" pieces of grapevine I had from the diy topiary project I completed.

I didn't want the pieces to go to waste and they "fell" so nicely when held, creating an umbrella-type shape, that the idea for a tree immediately came to mind. Now, I only had bought new colored ornaments last year for the "normal" evergreen-type indoor tree so I'm not quite sick of them yet, however this idea had to be put to use . . . especially with the abundance of grapevine utilized in new ways outdoors this year.

The Traditional Look

Last year's tree with the new green & bronze colored ornaments.

The Not-So-Traditional Look

This year's look with a whimsy, grapevine tree.  Lighter ornaments
from many years ago were reintroduced and complement the crystal decor.

I like both trees but am glad I created this grapevine version.  My initial idea (years ago) was to create a 7 -8 foot tall grapevine spiral topiary just as the ones I placed outdoors on the stone pillars. After working on those, I knew a LOT of time and patience would have to be given to creating such a monster.  I will do it eventually.  In the meantime, this alternative version was the perfect, simple solution and really became much more than I had expected.

Read the process I used to create this weeping grapevine tree.

Sharing this at:
The Shabby Creek - Transformation Thursday
The Crafty Nest - Do Something Crafty Friday