Two Blue Christmas Projects

Since we’ve finished all the big projects in this house, I’ve been able to reclaim some more time for small ones. Carving out a couple hours here and there to be creative has brought me more joy this season than I anticipated!

Here are two of my favorites, touches of blue for our Christmas tree to tie it in with the rest of the living room:

Marbled Glass Ornaments

Ryan found an idea for these in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living and I loved them right away.

I started with 8 clear glass ornaments, and some multi-surface acrylic paint in navy, a dusty medium blue, and white. Initially, I mixed them with pouring medium to get a better marbling effect, but it made things too loose and transparent, so in the end I re-did them with a second layer of marbling using only the acrylic.

I found that rotating them as they dried helped the paint cling to the glass better instead of all draining out.

I also cured them briefly in the oven once they were dry to the touch, then added a final coat of white on the inside to make them more opaque. This turned into a fussier project than I anticipated, but it was worth it for the final effect!

Tree Skirt

Ryan and I have been married for nearly 7 years, and we’ve never been able to commit to a tree skirt. Why?? Of all the things to stall out on! Anyway, after years of using extra blankets or fabric scraps, I declared I’d buckle down and make one this year.

I ran around the fabric store sending photos to Ryan, debating pros and cons of various fabrics over the phone. When I finally got up to the counter to have my selections cut, the fabric store lady dryly asked, “You’re one of those couples who only has plain ball ornaments on your tree, right?” Ha!

We’re picky… but at least we’re in it together.

This project was pretty quick! I loosely followed this Design Sponge tutorial, but added a layer of batting to give it some heft.