Some of those extra hours came from a trip I made to Germany for business. While on the way back to the States, I had a layover in Amsterdam. The Dutch had some pretty magical decorations...
Check out this wreath, it's a pretty simple concept, just a mass of decorations on one side of a wreath, leaving half as a simple version of itself. The photo doesn't illustrate it well, but the wreath is more flat than it is round... please forgive me, as I snapped this while walking to catch my connecting flight. And it has a very thick form (i.e. the center hole is very small in proportion to the overall size).
Then wrap the shape with simple garland to create a stylized version of a wreath. Once all the cardboard is covered, attach strings of beads, ornaments and other festive oddities to half of the wreath. Seems pretty simple, eh?
I've been snapping photos of commercial decorations around town all season for inspiration.
This is another decoration in the Amsterdam airport... a small tree made to feel tall in a vertical planter. This is a great way to add height to a short tree, not to mention it allows you to use your tall planters all year long and saves some dough since you're only decorating half a tree!
I snapped these three photos at Sears while I was shopping on Black Friday. Sears sure has stepped up their game. Check out these chic decorations! I planned to paint some fallen sticks in my yard to add to my tree, but never got to it before the weather got too cold. The wooden trees would be pretty easy to cut if you had the right power tools. And those "snowballs" in the galvanized tub are too cute! I'm keeping all these ideas in my back pocket for Christmas 2012!
Where do you find holiday decorating inspiration? Magazines? Commercial spaces? The internet?
