Share & Win Holiday Decorations for the Home

** I saw Xmas lights on one of the shopping networks that were all weather and battery powered so you could string them virtually anywhere, this is something I am dying to do! **A tip, look at discount stores like Ollies or Big Lots for Xmas decorations or items to make your own wreaths or centerpieces, you'll be amazed at what you can find. **Need a holiday scent that lasts? Boil a pot of water and add cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, some ground cinnamon and vanilla and simmer to fill your house with holiday scents!

PS....I love love love that rose wreath! Have the perfect spot for it!

We love decorating with our kids and showing them the decorations we made as kids.

Adding seasonal colored pillow and throws makes a big impact. I also like to use festive candles with holiday scents. I love primitive items and love to place home made decorations in different areas of my home to add a warm feeling.

I regularly go to TJ Maxx they have an excellent selection at a great price. Brand name goods at a low price is the way I love to go. You can find items that would fit any theme you want to go with at your house. I add in a few home made items me and my kids make as well. That way you can make it seem like a family type theme or an old fashioned christmas during the holidays.

My secret is to decorate early! I am already decorated because I love Christmas and love to enjoy how beautiful the inside and outside of my house looks at night all lit up. A month is just not long enough to enjoy it. Im crazy I know. I even started listening to Christmas music already and have a printed schedule of all the Christmas shows on this year. Some have started already. Hahahahaha! You cant call me a Grinch......lol

A christmas tree and candles!!!

I buy colored ball ornaments from a discount store...usually gold or red. I then place them in a crystal vase or bowl and it makes the perfect centerpiece for a table or just a great accent piece for a side table.

For Thanksgiving we cut a few small branches from our trees in the yard (with a few leaves of on) and I put them in a beautiful vase. When our guests come, we have ready-cut leaf shapes that each guest writes what makes them happy or thankful and we tie them on the branches. It looks really pretty and reminds us all to be thankful and take nothing for granted.

Right now I love to decorate with the kids' artwork. We have fun searching for new and unique projects, then we fill the house with them. For us, the style doesn't have to all match. It is more about having memories on display.

I love to spray paint pine cone, twigs and whatever I can get my hands on chrome! It makes ordinary items so pretty and dreamy. Oh and glitter helps too!

I start early, like so many of you - and get my kids involved. It's so important to have a beautiful "look" but also just as important to have special traditions and fun holiday projects. On Vetran's Day, because they are out of school, we have a project to do together which includes one handmade gift. Last year, we made jam. This year, we are making pressed flower necklaces. Sounds ambitious but suprisingly easy as long as you're prepared (we ordered glass pendants and dried pretty flowers at the end of the Summer (if you haven't done that, you can always cheat and get some at the florist!) Completed with a pretty ribbon or chain, it's a lovely handmade holiday gift. In addition, my other "trick" is faux spray snow - which can be cheesy if overkilled but very pretty and inexpensive when using with store bought greens. I also love my silver spray paint, which gives things a pretty shimmer, when I'm tired of the usual, plain items. Those tricks can warrent some beautiful looks!

I love decorating our fireplace mantel for the holidays. Even if nothing else gets decor (little kids all over!) the mantel is a focal point and having it strung with garland and scented pinecones, lights and little village houses, makes it feel so homey and inviting!

I always glitter-trees using styrofoam cones. Some years there is more beads or ribbon, but it's always glittery. I also make centerpieces for our tables using craft store goods, dollar store finds, and even scrapbooking materials. Finally, my husband and I always decorate the tree together and bake my mother-in-law's "secret" family gingerbread cookies --I still haven't been in the family long enough to learn the recipe, haha!

Our family LOVES Christmas and everything about it. We also live in the South where nature is everywhere. We've incorporated the two and came up with a Christmas tradition. We collect pinecones from around our yard. Making sure they are dry, we proceed to decorate our little "tree" (pinecone) with sequins, or anything we can glue to a pinecone. We glue the pinecone to a piece of cardboard (which serves as the ground) and then glue pulled apart cotton balls to look like snow. They turn out so cute and they are beautiful centerpieces as well as conversation pieces. The kids love it. Parents love it and guests love it. It's an all around fun family activity.