The One About My Inherent Craftiness

Holidays always make me feel a little bit crafty (despite my general inability to finish things in time, and the fact that my projects very rarely turn out the way they were planned). For Halloween I tried to hang a garland of letters spelling Happy Halloween over the giant window in my living room - the result was a LOT of orange ribbon holding up each letter, loads of glitter to be swiffered up and a garland that didn't even look all that great - the letters were flipping over to the ugly, not fully painted side. Oh, and there may or may not be some leftover black spray paint residue in the hallway of my apartment building, but shh - don't tell. Then this misfit of a garland stayed hung until, well - until Sunday. Fail.

But - this holiday season I am going to do better.

First and foremost, we're getting a tree. My roommate is allergic, so it's going to be a fake tree, but it'll be a tree - with pretty white lights, and ornaments and sparkle and presents underneath.

We're going to have a real-life evergreen wreath (with the perfect red bow) on the OUTSIDE door but on the inside I'm planning on making this little pretty (candy fix). Wouldn't it be so cute with peppermints? I also thought about this one (only big enough to hang in the center of the door)...I'm still working on the color scheme. Originally I was planning on all silver and white and happiness, but recently I've been leaning more towards the typical red and green - festive and fun. I'm young right - my Christmas decorations can be cute, they don't have to be pretty.

Also, I saw this from Martha, and it seems pretty simple. Does that work with the red and green theme? I want it too but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it as much if it wasn't covered in 24k gold. Maybe I'll switch out the bow for red...that would work right? I have a massive window in my living room, I thought three of these (one in each window) would look really pretty.

I'm also considering making some of my own ornaments - I have none of my own, and I would like to have a full Christmas tree. Places like Home Depot and Target sell mass quantities of red, silver and gold balls (pretty blah if you ask me) but I think I could use those and then punch it up with some fun handmade things. Kind of like this and this. Seriously people - where does Martha come up with these things?

Oh, and I'm going to need stockings - and holders. I really like these from Target, but unfortunately there are just two of us in my apartment. I guess I could just hold on to the others - I think they're really cute and they're inexpensive. And then there are these...which I absolutely ADORE, and because I want them they are "no longer available." Maybe they have them in the store. I guess I could take a trip to The Summit to check it out....

What are y'all doing to decorate for Christmas? I need some good suggestions for my very first real-life apartment and my very first Christmas not living at my parents - oh, and my very first real-life Christmas party.

I guess that means I'll have to do something with the table...and there will be food involved. Aren't you looking forward to a completely holiday-inspired December around here. Eventually I'll get to the point where I can't talk about anything else and you'll love it. Have I already gotten there?