Make A Holiday Window Banner From Felt Ornaments, step by step

There are a few more holiday projects going on (aka: getting crossed off the list – woot!) so let us get right into it. Last year I grabbed four of these 3-packs of white felt tree ornaments from Target. I picked them up about a week after Christmas when they were marked down to ten cents per set instead of a dollar, which meant that in total I had 12 mini felt trees for 40 cents. They seemed kinda ideal to make a casual little banner that looks like hand-cut paper but is in fact felt that I did not have to cut (which is win/win). Sidenote: this is my hand but it looks so much like John’s that it is scary. Are we becoming one person? Can that happen? Should the person that we are morphing into be called Shon or Jerry?

Anyway, next I grabbed a random ribbon remnant from the box of leftover ribbon in the closet that I recycle for gift wrapping and laid it out on the floor with my little trees under it to see the spacing. You can see that they had little gold strings around the top of them for hanging, so I simply clipped those off.

Then I grabbed 12 paperclips from the office supply drawer. Bada bing, bada boom. Sure, I could’ve sewed them each in place or used smaller/cuter clips (like mini clothespins or something) but I did not want to be fussy about it and simply hoped to make the window look festive using things we already had around the house. Call me crazy but there is something deliciously casual and sweet about white felt trees, navy ribbon, and little silver paperclips. But if you are feeling fancy you could get cute binder clips or teeny compact clothespins instead.

Behold… another mini tree!

Yup, our tabletop tree is ba-aaack! You can check out last year’s mini tree here (and the 38 homemade ornaments that I whipped up for last year’s Pinterest Challenge). Or you can simply feast your eyes on this year’s beauty. Oh but do not mind that mangled little gray pashmina I tossed under it for the time being (I think using some sort of silver faux fur could be excellent).

As for the ornaments the only theme is: meaningful, sweet, handmade, and treasured. In short in the words of Clara, it is full of our “special special go-tos.”

We piled on a ton of ornaments that we enjoy enjoy enjoy – whether they were from a local craft fair – like the Virginia ornament below – or even from a few amazingly crafty readers at book tour stops, like this sweet one with Clara’s baby silhouette…

Look at this lively felt YHL one that someone else made for us at another book tour stop. So cute, right? And in the background above it you can see John’s bike ornament that I got him last year and an old disco ball from Target over five years ago (along with a small brass french horn, which is what John played in high school band – mah man).

This odd little moose-related ornament might be our go-to. It is two freshly wedded moose snuggling up to each other. We picked it up on Alaska on our honeymoon. Cue the collective moose aww.

Another go-to is this burger one that we picked up in honor of none other than the Burg-meister a few years back. And check out that cute felt owl above it (another reader-made ornament from one of our tour stops- have I mentioned how crafty you folks are?!).

In short it is a tree full of awesomely mismatched and meaningful treasures. You can see that our homemade antlers, spray painted animals, & glass bulbs full of brightly colored paint still have a spot up there, they simply get to be surrounded by everything from preserved gingerbread cookies to an old empire state building ornament that reminds us of our time spent in NY where we met back in 2005.

And of course we had to bring our new DIYed chalkboard into the festivities, so John faced his chalk-is-screechy fears and made a little Starbucks-ish drawing, complete with a snowman (he dipped the chalk in water before writing, which you folks suggested for vibrant colors and less chill-inducing screechiness – which seemed to work well, especially with the colored chalk). You might have seen it on instagram last week. I brought in some snowflakes and then Clara got to work drawing “a fairly rainbow for Santa.” The family that chalks together stays together.

Now this formerly un-festive corner makes me straight up jolly.

Oh and in the spirit of holiday updates, here is how the little ornaments that I glued to magnets are now faring with three holidays cards up there to keep them company. I am glad to report that they still look simply as cute as they did without cards. And since we snapped this pic yesterday afternoon three more cards came. Woot! I enjoy finding them in the mailbox. #cardnerd

Oh and check out this amaaazing advent calendar we got from our friends the Pohls in Germany (their three year old daughter named Clara is our Clara’s penpal – more on that here). They sent this traditional German advent calendar where you unwrap each envelope or box to find little treats like a compact doll, candy, stickers, even a small package of colorful tissues. So far Clara has been having a blast opening one thing per day.

So there you have our holiday updates.

• set up the big tree (gradient, baby!)
• get a live tabletop tree again (like we did last year)
• decorate the mantel, the built-ins, and the entryway console
• hang our outside lights & decorate the front porch
• shoot a Christmas picture of Clara & Burger for our annual holiday card
• make an advent calendar for Clara? Ahh I am behind already!
• shop for slash make all the gifts on our Christmas list (I am about 90% done, cannot wait to cross this sucker off!)

We still have not hung any lights out front (ack!) or wrapped up all of our Christmas shopping/wrapping, but perhaps this weekend we will get there. What is left on your Christmas to-do list? What have you euphorically crossed off already? Is it not remarkable to drag a pen across things that you’ve completed? Perhaps I need List-Crossers Anonymous. Anyone else having lively with a tabletop tree, homemade banners, or anything else that feels sweetly handmade? Spill the holiday beans.

Update: You can check out all of our go-to holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15!