2012 Christmas Tree Inspiration from HGTV

If you are open to new ideas, just about anything can be a Christmas tree because it's all in the presentation.


Funky and fun miniature trees are perfect in a grouping on a sofa table, buffet or even the kitchen counter.

They're made out of ribbon or fabric-covered foam topiaries that are hot-glued into containers and adorned with anything from Christmas light bulbs to feathers to glittery beaded garland.

Since the best gifts come in small packages, these are just the trees for those items!

Here are some other tree-inspired ideas:

• Make a hanging ribbon tree for a corner, the center of an entry or even above the folding counter in a laundry room.

• Use ribbon to tie macramé rings in a variety of sizes together. Wrap each with low-wattage, UL-approved white holiday lights that don't generate heat. Drape beautiful ribbons over the rings to create the foliage streamers, which cover the structure but allow the glow from the lights to shine through.

• For just a whisper of the holidays in your home, purchase several cherry blossom branches from a florist. The flowers give the impression of tufts of snow along the branches, and when placed in a very large glass container, the bouquet can be high enough to allow plenty of room for stacks of beautifully wrapped Christmas packages underneath.

• Use carefully wrapped surprises as part of your holiday decor. One of the best ways to do this is to use paper in colors that either stand out or blend in with the existing decor of your home. A collection of pink and silver packages is certainly eye catching. If the packages look too good to unwrap, use empty boxes and display your creations again next year.

• Turn a white Christmas tree into a snowman (or an elf, Santa and even a reindeer) using felt and fabric for his eyes and nose, top hat and a scarf to keep him warm. 

How to Make A Natural Pumpkin Topiary : Halloween 2012 Ideas from HGTV

To make this fall porch decoration, we stacked three pumpkins in a planter then adorned the pumpkins in vines, greenery, baby's breath and a few feathers.

Tools and Materials

serrated knife
scissors
hot-glue gun
3 pumpkins (we used faux pumpkins by Funkin)
painter's tarp
greenery (U-shaped) pins
grapevine (twigs)
1 to 2 long bows of artificial greenery (boxwood looking)
2 packages of dried flowers (baby's breath)
5 bunches of feathers
2 to 3 bunches of artificial flowers or grass-like (pom-pom) stems
1 large urn planter

Paint and Prep

In order to be able to stack the pumpkins, break off the stem of the bottom two pumpkins. or cut holes in the bottom of the top two pumpkins. Paint the pumpkins if desired.

Wrap in Vine

On a painter's tarp, layout all the pumpkins and greenery. Start with the bottom pumpkin, unwind the grapevine and cut a piece to go around the bottom of the pumpkin, let some come up from the bottom a little. Use u-shaped pins to hold it in place.

Wrap in Greenery

Cut a piece of the boxwood greenery and place it under the grapevine twigs, use pins to hold it in place.

Add Feathers

Place three of the five bunches of feathers around the grapevine. You may want to use the scissors and cut off most of the stem and then tuck in the rest in between the pumpkin and the grapevine. Use a hot-glue gun (medium heat) to keep in place.

Add Flowers

Cut pieces of the flowers and its greenery then tuck them into the grapevine around the base and glue into place.

Fill in With Baby's Breath

Use dried flowers to fill in the rest, make sure some pieces will hang over the edge of the urn.

Continue onto the Other Pumpkins

Repeat the steps on the upper two pumpkins, but don't use as much decoration as you did on the base pumpkin.

Use the Tarp to Stuff the Urn

We used our tarp not only as a work surface, but we put it in the bottom of the urn to bring the height of the pumpkins up close to the top of the urn. If a tarp doesn't work, try rocks, packing peanuts or old towels. Place the pumpkins in the urn on top of the tarp, allowing it to sink slightly into the middle of the tarp. Make sure none of the tarp shows or the inside edges of the urn.

Fill in Where Necessary

When everything is in place, fill in any blank spaces with more flowers, feathers or even birds.

Nightclub Interior Design | Cube | DMAC

Beyond the restaurants, DMAC also unveils Cube, the nightclub that alternates from a sports bar experience to a full-fledged performance venue. Passing through ingeniously designed heavy dark wood doors that function as interlocking “steps” and reveal a rhythmic geometric pattern when closed, guests enter the sports bar replete with retractable monitors above a grand rectangular bar of hand-sculpted pine and mesquite wood blocks. Descending a half-flight to a dance floor, a shift in tone and function is palpable through the complex lighting system, acoustic web and additional sensuous textures and materials, including velvety gray drapes, chains as curtains, and even a backlit wall created from inverted baby bottle nipples that is surprisingly abstract and sophisticated. The stage as focal point, which is scaled and equipped for A-list performers, draws guests to the dance floor, which reflects the light effects and images cast from the ceiling. Just beyond stage left, an outdoor terrace offers the vibe of a boutique hotel rooftop, complete with a twelve-foot fireplace. With the attention to technical capabilities and a sleek, sexy design vocabulary, DMAC’s Cube is sure to become a hot spot for guests from within the Casino and beyond........more

Bar Interior Design | Hugo's Frog Bar | DMAC

The finest in-house establishment and a destination in itself, Hugo’s departs from its downtown sister through DMAC’s clarification and modernization of the design, featuring a façade of dark wood blocks with openings that offer vignette views of the interior. Echoed by a unique patterning of wood frames installed along the back wall and in the custom-built wine lockers for high rollers, the rectilinear forms find their counterpoint in circular-patterned black and white floor tiling and the whiskey barrel-ringed ceiling. As a focal point, the private dining room features a mural-scale image of an underwater ship with a patina surface. The totality is a warm and familiar but more sensuous environment in which to feast and repose........more

2012 Black and White Halloween Decorations Ideas

Make Halloween memorable for you and the kids with these spooky, yet chic displays.

By : Kim Stoegbauer

Spooky Banner

I designed this spooky banner to hang on my fireplace mantel. If you like crafting with paper, you will love this project. The banner stores easily for you to bring out each Halloween season. 

Faux-Feather Garland

A regular green-leaf garland from the craft store turns into a fabulous Halloween decoration when spray-painted black. The featherlike leaves on the garland we used reminds us of black crows, perfect for the Halloween season.

Chair Garland

To create this garland, we used basic white coffee filters. You just need an easy-to-find inexpensive needle, ribbon or twine and a bit of time to create a ruffled chair garland. Another idea is to make it longer and hang from your mantel or banister.

Creepy, Crawly Lamp

The simplest of ideas can often also be the most effective. This pretty ruffled lamp turns scary with a large rubber spider crawling up the shade

Hand Candy Bowl

 Turn an average white bowl into a spooky candy container by attaching a creepy hand to a foam block (to keep it upright) and then fill with Halloween candy. Kids and adults alike will fear placing their hands into this eerie dish. Will getting the candy be worth the scare?

Hanging Heads

 We love using glitter for Halloween projects, especially black glitter. Find papier mache objects, like these skulls, at the craft store, add glitter using a spray adhesive or glue, then hang from your chandelier with ribbon or string. A sure bet for creeping out your dinner guests.

Head on a Platter

Off with his head! A scary skeleton head looks even creepier when presented on a pedestal cake plate. Just find the most frightening skull you can and put him on display. Screams and squeals are sure to follow.  

Spider Wreath

This fabric wreath is simple to make and can be used for many occasions by changing the embellishments. The mini black-glitter spider clips contrast perfectly with the bright white fabric. With just a few basic materials and tools from the craft store, you can dress up your front door for Halloween.

DIY Christmas 2013 Stockings : Easy Ideas

This holiday season, dress up your fireplace or bannister with one-of-a-kind, DIY stockings. 

By : Brian Patrick Flynn

This green and black stocking features small, wardrobe-inspired touches. The cuff is made from plaid fabric cut to size and is attached with iron on adhesive tape, while the front showcases leather toggles normally seen on coats and jackets. Elements of apparel are excellent ways to bring couture touches to stockings bought off the shelf.

Bring a warm, tailored touch to your mantel with menswear stockings. Choose herringbone, houndstooth, check, plaid or stripes made of cotton, wool or velvet in masculine tones. Cut the fabric to size using a basic template from the Internet, then either sew the edges with thread or fuse them together using iron-on adhesive tape.

Felt is one of the easiest fabrics to work with. The stiffness of felt makes it easy to trace and cut shapes, letters or silhouettes. Hang custom name stockings made entirely from felt that are equal parts personal and poppy. To identify each stocking, cut family members' names or initials out of felt, and adhere them to the stocking with fabric glue.

Give your stocking 3-D flair with house letter embellishments. Choose a specific style stocking, then decide on a coordinating font and finish. For a classic, masculine appeal, add a tarnished brass X to a plaid stocking with gold thread and a needle. Since the thread and house letter are similar in tone, the thread virtually disappears, resulting in a seamless, tailored look.

Coffee lovers will especially love the look and feel of repurposed burlap coffee bean sack stockings. To find them locally, simply ask your neighborhood coffee house for any discarded sacks they may have in the back. Many times, the staff will be more than happy to give them away for free. Coffee bean sacks can also be found online for approximately $5 per sack.

Fabric trim is another quick and easy way to add a custom touch to stockings. Design Star season 7 contestant Britany Simon created this feminine stocking for a young girl by dressing it up with tassel trim.

Make it modern this holiday season with graphic felt silhouette stockings. Decide on a holiday shape that's easy to identify, trace it directly onto colored felt with a marker, cut it out with scissors and attach to a felt stocking body with fabric glue.

Put your old jeans to good use this Christmas as casual, farmhouse-chic stockings. Once the fabric is cut to size, consider adding another layer of interest with a holiday-inspired fabric on pockets or sewn on as patches.

Give Dad something classic and nostalgic for the mantel this season with a varsity letter stocking. Buy vintage varsity letters online, and iron them on to the front of a basic or handmade stocking, or try stitching them by hand with a needle and thread.

If you've got old sweaters taking up room in your closet or dresser, give them new life this holiday season as warm, welcoming stockings. This can be a DIY project by deconstructing the sweater, tracing a stocking template directly onto it and sewing cut pieces together with yarn. For best results, drop the sweater off with a local tailor or your local dry cleaner for a minimal fee. Knit pieces require a higher level of skill for sewing than more malleable fabrics such as felt or cotton.

The texture of burlap can instantly warm up a room and add rustic appeal to your holiday decor. Give burlap a colorful, graphic update with a painted pattern. To do this, create a stencil in your desired pattern, place the stencil on top of the burlap and paint the pattern with a detail brush and acrylic paint.

Bring a touch of classic femininity to your mantel with a women's wear-inspired stocking. Find a fashion based pattern that works well with holiday decor, and add fashion accessories such as cameos or brooches for an elegant touch.

Favorite Fall Decorating 2012 Ideas By H. Camille Smith

Welcome the arrival of fall and Thanksgiving guests with gorgeous decorations both indoors and out.

 By H. Camille Smith

Freshen Up Your Front Door

Variegated croton in saturated shades of green, gold and red surrounded by vibrant mums and pumpkins give HGTV fan gdiveris' front entry a colorful fall pick-me-up. Both plants are perennials and can either be brought indoors to weather the winter or, if you live in a warm climate, 

Decorate With Fall Foliage

Give bookshelves, a mantel or any flat surface a auick fall fix with a sprinkling of autumn leaves. Gather pretty specimens from your own backyard or pick up a pack of the silk variety at your local craft store. Design by Layla Palmer

Company's Coming

Thanksgiving means gathering with your nearest and dearest to enjoy time together lingering over a well-set table. Ready your dining room for fall festivities by polishing the silver and breaking out the good china and crystal. Design by Sarah Richardson

Accessorize With Autumn's Hues

A tall vase filled with scarlet maple branches creates a show-stopping fall arrangement in this Manhattan living room. Hints of burnished gold in the leather occasional chair, lamp and pillow warm up this cozy corner. Design by Rate My User Patrick

No Centerpiece Necessary

A few of our easy-to-create fall leaf streamers are all you need to decorate your Thanksgiving table. Best of all, skipping the centerpiece means there's nothing at eye level to block your view of the other guests.

Take the Celebration Outside

Weather permitting, move Thanksgiving dinner outdoors. A backdrop of fall-colored leaves and crisp air will provide the perfect setting for the feast.

Luxe Meets Lodge

The rustic lodge look is a perfect fit fot fall. Blending rustic textures with sophisticated finishes, it's the best of both worlds and can be as formal or informal as you like. This cottage at celebrity hideaway Blackberry Farm perfectly exemplifies the style with a custom-painted wall treatment that resembles sun-bleached pine and luxurious fabrics throughout. 

Create a Wall Grouping With Fall Flair

Shop thrift stores and garage sales for assorted small frames then fill them with fall sentiments, black-and-white photos and pressed leaves. Design by Layla Palmer

Bring the Outdoors In

For most of us, fall is the last hoorah before winter's blustery weather truly sets in; enjoy a walk in the crisp air to gather clippings of flowering plants and colorful foliage. Fill small vases with your finds and place them throughout the house. If you're expecting overnight visitors, don't forget the guest room.

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Warmly Welcome Guests

Welcome guests to holiday gatherings with a beautifully decorated entry table. HGTV fan Patrick created this autumnal display by placing golden gingko and bittersweet branches in a large sculptural vase. Pears piled in a rustic stoneware bowl, a ready bottle of wine and low dish of nuts are all reminders of the harvest. Design by Rate My Space user Patrick.