Custom Nutcracker Porch Decor

 Happy Holidays!

As you know, I am one of those holiday obsessed people. Not just Christmas but all holidays! I wanted to jazz up our front porch with some cute holiday decor. Months ago I was at SAMs Club and saw these really cute brown nutcrackers but the price tag was disrespectful! $300! I just could not bring myself to pay that. A few weeks later, I was in Costco and saw a different version of the brown nutcrackers. They were even pricer at $400! Again I had to pass them by. So I am scrolling Instagram one day and one of my favorite bloggers Liz Rishel posted these 75 inch nutcrackers! It was the price point for me! I could not pass them up! I purchased not one but two and gave them a face lift.



These are the paint colors I used. Each very inexpensive and both purchased at Walmart.  For the darker nutcracker I mixed both shades. For the lighter nutcracker I simply used the color nutmeg. I did have to build the nutmeg color more. I took about 4 coats to get it opaque. 



Its not perfect but I think it came out pretty decent!



Not only do they light up when they detect motion but they also play a royalty song. And the motion detection is better then our ring camera!




This battery operated garland was easy to put up. I just used two large command hooks. The giant ornaments are from Amazon. The rug is from Target but it is several years old. I love how this turned out! I know my boys wont be little for long so I cherish how magical holidays are with young children. 

With Love, 
April W. 



Free Christmas Tree Ornament DIY

 Happy Holidays!

Can you believe I was able to find a 6.5 ft Christmas Tree and decorate it for my sons room for FREE!!!! I know! I can hardly believe it myself!


So after digging through my mess of an attic. I found my old Christmas tree from over a decade ago! Hoarders this is what we live for! Immediately I knew I wanted to use it for my oldest sons room. There was no way I was going to pay $3 to $5 for the specialty ornaments at Target. So while I was digging through them attic I found the bin of stuff from his second birthday! Long story short I turned a bunch of old birthday decor, hot wheels cars and monster trucks into ornaments. It was so easy I had to share it with y'all!

Stuff You Will Need

-A theme

-First you will need these green ornament hooks. They are super cheap from Walmart, Target or Amazon. Get the large and small ones. 

-Random toys

There's really no instructions needed. I would just like to advice that this is best done when your toddler is not home. First, collect all the stuff from previous parties that go with you theme. Then sort out what you want to use as a tree skirt. I had this old tire float thing and I knew it would be perfect. 

It was hell blowing this thing up but I love how it turned out.


Then my husband and I started to assemble the ornaments. We simple either twisted the ornament around the car or monster truck wheel or though the car windows. It worked out really well. I think we ended up doing about 20 cars and 9 trucks. My son has a ton of cars and trucks so this was so clutch!

The larger ornament hooks worked best!


Next I found these cups that I never ended up using for his 2nd birthday. I took the straws out and wrapped the ornament hook around the lid, then twisted it. Boom! Another ornament for free!



I was really happy with this because they are larger and were more like statement pieces. 


Then I found this race car banner. I cut it and used it as a garland for the tree. This worked out well because it helped fill in the tree a bit. 





We decided to top the tree off with none other than Black Panther! I was debating that or a race car hat. T'challa clearly was the only acceptable option.






I love how this turned out! Even better, my son loves it! And even better than that, it was completely free! Take this as a sign to go in your attic and upcycle some old party decor into ornaments. 

With Love,

April W.

DIY Fringe Backdrop

 Hello, hello!

I made a giant 7ft x 7ft DIY fringe backdrop for my sons 4th birthday! All by myself y'all! I kind of picked and pulled inspiration from lots of different blog post. So here is mine to add to the collection on pinterest lol. It was very easy to do but also very tedious. I work and have a 7 month old and a 4 year old, so you can only imagine the loads of down time I have. I started a week before the party and did a little bit each night. If you have older children this could be a fun project to do together. 

Supplies Needed

-poultry fencing

-plastic table cloths

-zip ties

-command strips

-gorilla glue

-scissors 

Tips Prior to Starting

Make sure you get a large flat work space for this project.  I wish I could have worked on backdrop as it hung in its display spot for the party. That would have been ideal. If you can hang this and work on it I would highly recommend that. 

Map out the size and area your backdrop will be displayed before hand. This will allow you to brainstorm so solutions and tools on how your doing to hang the backdrop.

If your backdrop is going be massive like mine, start early! Give yourself  a week or two to complete. Less stress and more fun when you start early! It also allows some room for error. 

This was the focal point for my sons party  and it was very eye catching and fun!



Steps for Assembly

1. Roll out your fencing and cut it to your desired length. I cut two long pieces of fencing then tied together with zip ties from the dollar tree. 

Careful when you purchase your fencing. It comes in a variety of sizes and colors. You could even spray paint it to match your decor if you wanted but you really cant see it. Even with the wind blowing you could barely notice the green. 


2. Cut your plastic table cloths into your desired lengths. They come folded so to speed this up I kept them partially folded, overlapped two of them and then cut them to make more strips with one cut. This allowed me to be a little more efficient. 
I purchased my plastic table cloths from dollar tree, party city and amazon. I ended up using about 4 per row. I cut each strip about 2 inches thick. I found that when I cut then smaller they would rip when I tied them to the fencing. 


3. Begin loop tying the plastic table cloth strip to the edge of the fencing. I skipped one space in between and did one knot up and one knot down. 




Here you can the up down pattern. Choosing not to skip space between strips make the back drop look full. 


4. Continue step with and pattern your table cloth strips in whatever pattern you desire.



I blended two color of teal to give it a little more dimension. Blending table cloth colors by alternating them when looping makes the color pop.


How To Hang Your Backdrop
 
- Get a step stool and some assistance. 
    I had  to recruit my husband for help. We hung this outside on the side of our brick house.
-We used  gorilla glue and clear command hooks. 
    I  was skeptical but this worked really well. Nothing fell the entire party. We just applied a good     
amount of gorilla glue to the back of the clear  hood and stuck it directly on the bricks. 

We put 4 command  hooks along the top, 1 in the middle and 2 at the bottom on each side of the backdrop. The hooks fit right into the holes of the fencing. 


The backdrop turned out amazing! Next time I make one I will play around with the pattern and colors. This is so easy and makes a huge impact on party decor!

Love,
ALW