Obviously, things haven’t been terribly busy here on the blog lately.  That isn’t to say that life itself hasn’t been busy.  Infact that’s wholly opposite from the truth!  But we did find some time to deck the halls…

Our tree this year took on a woodsy-mercury-glass theme.  You’ll recognize the smaller glass balls with the white swirls from my little tree in DC with the milk glass.  The new pieces – the animals and mercury B’s were clearance nabs at the end of last Christmas.

Of course there were a few favorites that returned, including this quick ampersand ornament I made last year.   And if you take a look beneath the tree…

The tree skirt beneath, the fun red and white one?  Not actually a tree skirt.  It’s another clearance score, at 90% off last year (Yes, Target does that.  And I love it.  But MAN Target was picked over this year!).  It was really a 70″ round table cloth that I just cut a slit into so that it could be wrapped around the tree and cover the table it’s on.  Came out pretty neat, and also helped make the red ornaments in the tree really pop.

The gifts themselves were wrapped mostly with a roll of faux bois paper I bought ages ago, and had no intention of using until I found this box of pics (yes, another clearance score, I know I know) that made the prettiest little pieces tied in with a red ribbon.

The mercury theme continued around the room through a few pieces, but my favorite are these pair of trees.  The house candles, but I like them as they are, reflecting the lights in the garland they’re nestled in.

The poinsettia picks from last year’s milk glass mantle were used in this vase to add some red to all the green above.

The bookshelf itself had a few elements of cheer added, including those picks I mentioned using in gift wrap turning this ikea faux planter into a holiday shrub.

And of course, hemnes was decked out as well with a few trinkets.  The ugly-lamp-turned-cloche was filled with silver ornaments, and the same (though red and green) for a new cloche (scored for $4 on clearance at Urban Outfitters of all places) on the opposite side.

So there you have it.  My clearance shopping knows no bounds, and my ability to hoard the scores for a whole year pays off.  Eventually. 🙂

What sort of deals did you decorate with?

~ Beth