Lights and Bows

Though we usually put up some sort of decorations for Christmas, we have never decorated the outside of the house. Well, I take that back. Last year, I think, we hung a single 18 foot garland strung with a single string of colored lights around the front door. It looked a bit sad, but it did hold off the whining from the child asking for lights on the house. I've known since we moved in that our white brick house would look dazzling decked out in white lights at Christmas, but we've been lacking either in time or money to do something about it. When I found strands of white lights on sale at Big Lots, I snapped them up. I wanted to go with something easy for my first attempt, so we put a strand around the inside of each window and around the outside of the front door.



Well, okay, not bad, but they look a little... empty. Like they're empty frames waiting for something. I know what I would ultimately like to do (wreaths hanging in each window, lit with spot lights from the outside), but I'd spent most of my decorating budget already on the lights. What about bows? I priced them at various stores, and the ones that were large enough ranged in price from $5-$15. Given that I needed at least 7 of them, that was still more than I wanted to spend. I checked out the Dollar Store to see what they had, and I found spools of wired ribbon. Surely I am smart enough to figure out how to make a wired bow myself (with the help of YouTube, if need be) that's cheaper than the $8-$12 that Michael's is charging? So home I went with about 10 spools of ribbon (wanted to practice with a couple first).



Not bad, especially for my first try and a total of 2 hours of work. The red ones took one 9-foot spool each, and the white one took two (which is why it has four tails instead of just two). I think they're marvelous, if I do say so myself. (I'm suddenly having to resist "bowing" everything in sight, and I'm not even really a bow person!) Add lights, and you get this!



I couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out. I'm sure I'll get to my "dream decorations" one day, but for now, these are merry and bright enough to make me smile each and every time I see them.


Currently feeling: shiny and bright