I had the incredible opportunity to help decorate the White House this year and have been SO excited to share three separate DIYs inspired by the decor we installed! I was surprised to find out just how much of the decor is DIYd out of materials used in past years- so much of it was repurposed, painted, cut up and re-used to go along with the current years theme. The theme this year is Magic, Wonder, and Joy!
Popcorn Garland:
This was my absolute favorite DIY in the entire house and I got lucky enough to work on it! It was made for the Red Room, designed by Johanna Burke and seeing photos of it just doesn't do it justice. When I first walked in the room there was an example of it strung across the Christmas Tree and we all thought it was real until she pulled out chenille yarn and explained how it was made. It's incredibly real-looking and I love that once it's made, you can use it for years to come!
Supplies needed:
Red Wooden Beads (I purchased plain wooden beads and then painted them red)
This is such a simple DIY but I found that doubling up thin yarn and tying it twice, sometimes three times made the most realistic-looking popcorn. Then just cut off the excess or tuck it into the 'kernel'. You have to make a LOT of them but once you get going it's pretty mindless so get cozy, grab a helper and make a wine and movie night out of it!
Next, I painted wooden beads red. I used two different sizes just to give them a little variation.
Then you just thread the popcorn and beads along the floral wire! I did 7-8 popcorn kernels, then a wooden bead, the repeat. Instead of making one super long strand to wrap around the tree, we stopped them at about 3 foot lengths. That way you can hang them along the tree or attach them later if you want one long strand.
And it's just that simple! So cute right?
Button Trees:
Supplies Needed:
Hot Glue Sticks
This is another simple DIY that I just think is so cute for a kids room! I purchased a few packs of various sized buttons and started glueing them from the bottom up, alternating sizes.
You can draw a design on your tree first and even paint each section the colors of the buttons so the green foam doesn't peek through, but I just used lots of tiny buttons for the spaces in between.
I also had some glittery mini pompoms that I hot glued on, almost to look as they were ornaments, and then a medium sized pompom to cover the top. The boys loved these and were so excited to have them in their room!
Music Sheet Christmas Trees:
Supplies Needed:
Music Sheets (I just found free printables of Christmas music)
Aging product (I used coffee but you can use tea too!)
Gold Paint or Rub n Buff
Gold leaf adhesive
Gold Leaf Sealer
Dowel
Wooden Discs
Glue Gun (Gorilla glue or wood glue would work too)
To begin, I started out by finding free printable music sheets online and then 'aging' them. This was super simple! I made a cup of coffee, brushed it on the sheet and put it in the oven for about 5 minutes on 350.
Next, cut your paper in a triangle to use as the shape of a Christmas tree.
Then fold the paper back and forth into an accordion fold.
This was my first time using gold leaf and I used it only on the front folds. It's messy and sticky but SO pretty and simple to do!
Then use a hole punch to add the hole through the tree that the dowel will go through.
For the stand I picked up a tiny dowel and wooden discs at the craft store and used hot glue to attach them. You could also use wood glue or gorilla glue but we had the hot glue gun out so just used that! Then painted it gold. I couldn't find my good gold paint and didn't like how yellow it was looking so I used rub n buff to get the deeper gold color I was going for.
And that's it! I love that you can customize these by choosing special songs with meaning for your family.
I went to DC with 11 other Pinterest creators and they've all made the cutest DIYs I want to share with you all! Click below for some other fun DIYs:
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you & yours!!
Xx Lauren