Christmas Touches around my house

I just put a roast in the oven so that gives me a little while to share with you some of my Christmas decorating I have done around the house.

I wanted to do something different this year. Ever since I have left home and have been decorating for Christmas in my own home I have always gone the country primitive route. All my ornaments were adorable handmade santas, snowmen, candy canes you name it.

Stuffed gingerbread men filled baskets, snowman pillows were on every chair. I still love all of those things but I wanted to see if I could pull something different off this year AND it had to be CHEAP! With Mr. OTM laid off ~ buying all new Christmas decorations was not a priority so I challenged myself with a budget and went THRIFTING! My finds also include yard sale items like this piece d'resistance...

Remember the mail bags I found this past fall? Well...I kept one! I can be a stinker!
I love how this looks and it took all of like 2 minutes to put together.


This little tree was a thrift store find. I love that it has that "real" look to it. The little star ornaments were only .85 cents each at the Depot. I bought all they had left (six) and wish they had a few more. I need a bit more on this tree yet and I was thrilled when I found 12 miniature glass bulbs for .99 at Goodwill. Those will get on after I type up this post!

The white pointsettia was 3.50 at Wal-Mart. The shabby little white bucket I already had and the adorable oval clock was a 4.99 thrift store treasure!

I also found these beautiful marble dove bookends at Goodwill for 9.50 for the pair. I'm not sure if they are staying in this vignette or not...might be a bit much...buy hey it's Christmas so go big or go home right? lol!

One of Mr. OTM's farmhouse stars nestled in a wreath I already had....

The tree we had....EVERYTHING on the tree, ALL the glass bulbs were bought at a thrift store. Price for all you ask??? I dropped a cool 10.00 for the whole she-bang! I have NEVER used glass bulbs on my tree....EVER! This is a first and I am loving the different look. I made the burlap bow for the top out of ribbon I used at the shop.

Little ole ice skates! Well these really set me back! Listen to this one!!

I found these at a yard sale for 1.00 and I turned into a pathetic mess!

You see, I forget my purse and didn't realize it until I went to pay for these. I knew I had change floating around the car so I went scrounging and you'd a thunk(sp?) that I found gold when I
came upon a quarter under the drivers seat then ANOTHER one under the floor mat in the back. Can you picture my rear end hanging out of the car while I scrounge? I was quite the sight I am sure! The rest was in the console but my total was .98 cents. Just two cents short and the lady felt sorry for me I guess because she told me just to take them. She didn't want to take my last dollar. Good grief...so okay...I took um.......but laid the .98 cents on her check out table when she went to help another customer.
Pathetic huh?
Sorry to anyone who may have drove by and saw the aforementioned rear end. I was on a mission.

Sorry this is so dark. The large metal star was a 10.00 garage sale find years ago when I still lived in Ohio. Thankfully I had my purse with me that day...geez!

The old windows (converted into mirrors) I purchased from a gal that walked into my shop one day and said" I have these old leaded glass widows you might like"....I fell over.....then got the checkbook. These I have had for years and never get tired of looking at them.
Below is an adorable handmade cookie cutter ornament made by my friend Tammy of JUNKWILD! What you don't see is the carton of handmade fudge it was attached to. The fudge had since been inhaled and it resting nicely on my hips!

This old post was a garage freebie! The BEST kind right??

I was rummaging on the lower shelf in a Salvation Army store when I came across a huge plastic bag filled all these pine cones! Some are painted white, some are glittery and some are plain. The whole bag was 3.99.

I love the natural look....

Meet my.......tree skirt! I saw this lone drapery panel and fell in love with the texture...

It had that burlappy look yet was a woven nubby cotton...

and it was CHEAP! The sticker says 7.99 but lucky me, all blue tags were HALF OFF that day!

I came home and cut off the part where the drapery hooks went and then just folded the edge over and hemmed it. It will be great as a table cloth after the holidays.

I just pooled it around the bottom and that's it!

I would loved to have found 4 of these panels because I would have used them on my windows~ but a tree skirt/ tablecloth makes me just as happy.

The pine cone wreath was yet another thrift store find~1.99. I layered in on top of another wreath I already had and hung it up with burlap ribbon. It's a bit hard to see but some of the pine cones look frosted and I love the bits of greenery that were already tucked into it.

I think this old firewood sign looks pretty good above it. I bought that along time ago at a yard sale for 5.00.....had my purse with me that day too in case you were wondering! lol!

So there ya have it....I am really happy with how all my thrift store Christmas finds have created a comfortable, new, sparkly, natural theme this year. When you add up what I spent just on the Holiday items I bought this year it's under 40.00 and my budget was 50.00.

Look out...I still have 10 bucks just burning a hole in my pocket!

Hope you enjoyed peeking!
P.S. I am linking this to Cottage Instincts Make it 4 Monday! Hop on over to check out all the inspiration!