Christmas Home Tour with Zevy Joy

I first came across Annie’s blog last year via this post. As I started to read through some of her posts, there was something about Annie’s writing that spoke to me; it was as if I was reading my own story in the way she spoke and created with meaning and with heart. If you are not a regular visitor to Annie’s blog, I know you will be after this beautiful post. Her home exudes warmth and calm and I am so honoured Annie has chosen to share her beautiful home here at Craftberry Bush. Thank you Annie…xo

Hello Craftberry Bush friends and welcome to our home! I have really enjoyed visiting with you each month and sharing some tutorials, ideas and thoughts. I had the honor of sharing our place with you last spring and am thrilled to be doing it again.

I have been preparing our home for your visit as if we were really having company over (although it is much easier to hide the messy corners and crop them out of pictures when I do it here).

I am most excited to share with you because this is also my favorite time of year. To me, it is truly magical and now having children of my own, I can see how quickly the fascination and magic comes alive.

There are sights, smells, and many memories to be made during this beautiful season. The stores quickly fill up on thier inventory and stock their shelves early in the fall. I anxiously await when it will be our turn to start decorating at our home. We typically start this family tradition in early November.

(Craftberry Bush Pillow – can be found here)

I picked back up blogging and zevy joy on the heels of quiting my long time teaching job as I made the choice to be a stay-at-home mom. I was terrified by the choice financially, but in faith we took the leap and it has been one of the best decisions we have made. We were and continue to live on a very tight budget, but I love decorating, creating, cooking, fashion, etc. I knew these things would need to be adjusted with our budget and I wanted to share my story with people that may be in a similar situation. Never in my wildest dreams did I know how much richer life would be for us with less money.

(Tutorial for faux fur foot stool can be found here).

I was reminded of this the other day as I was walking the ailes of the stores and getting caught in the trap of believing I needed more and without more our home would not be enough (especially not enough to share with others). Slowly but surely, more and more items were thrown into my cart and as it was time to go, I felt a quiet confidence that these things did not need to come home with me. I assured myself that our home was enough and that I could do with what we already had. This would be my challenge like so much of the past year and a half has been. I compliantly put everything back on the shelves and headed home with only the wrapping tape I truly needed.

When I got home, I started creating, using what was available around our place. Any time I have the opportunity to create this way fills me with joy and I feel passionate. At the end of it all, I have a deep sense of peace that I did not succumb to untruths about what makes a house a home and even better that I did it all within our means.

I was inspired to use a disco ball by Lucy and Myquillyn from The Nester and I love the way it adds a bit of sparkle to the room.

It does take time and effort to live this way, but the rewards are great. We have built this home, not the foundation or the walls, but the heart that makes it beat. We have searched Craigslist and second hand stores, been passed things down or made it ourselves. We repurpose and make it work even when we think it can’t.

There is beauty in the unwanted and treasures in the trash.

While we have collected some nice things over the years, our white tree is second hand and was a steal. Some of the ornaments were bought at 50 percent off, some at the dollar store and others handmade while also making memories. Garland is strung from thrift store beads and tin foil polka dots.

As you head down our long hallway and into the front, you are in what we call our “multipurpose” room. Here you will find a nearly decade old tree that is missing some lights and yarn wrapped around unused bulbs (see tutorial below). Greenery from our pines outside is stuffed into the fake tree to give it some added life and it provides the smell of Christmas. That very same greenery was also used to make a wreath around the deer head.

There is not a “one size fits all” when it comes to what makes your home yours. It can be wonderfully made with more and if not, I want to encourage you that you can also make it work with a lot less. What we put into our homes are not the things that make it special, it is the people and the memories shared in that space. Most importantly, there is a bigger reason for this marvelous season and I choose to believe that all of the preparation and work leads up to a magnificent celebration.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I am including a very short tutorial on how to make the aforementioned yarn ornaments below. Have a wonderful week and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Candy Striped Yarn Ball Tutorial –

• You will need multicolored yarn (I found some that had strands of single colored yarn combined with the candy stripe. You could buy them separately if you cannot find them together and just follow the same instructions). You will also need round ornaments, scissors, a glue gun and glue sticks.
• Start by securing the single colored yarn under the lid of the ornament (like pictured above).
• Then start wrapping it a couple times around the top.
• Now take it and begin wrapping it until you have covered the surface with the single color.
• To create the star design, take the candy striped yarn and begin wrapping it around the middle and spread it out as you wrap (instead of covering the entire thing again).
• Once you have the star design you can cut the end.
• Take the glue gun and put a small dot in the center to fasten the newly cut end in place. Please remember any time you use a glue gun and glue sticks to practice safety.

And that’s it! Easy and inexpensive, these will create great texture for your tree!

 

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