A Hallmark Christmas 2012

I have an extreme passion for christmas decorating and thought i would share some of my more recent accomplishments for anyone that needs inspiration. i also take pride in thinking outside the box as much as possible when it comes to decorating while still being tasteful of course. after years of doing this i finally decided a blog would be a great way to save and share all my past years projects.

We as a family are devoted to Hallmark ornaments and have spent a small fortune on purchasing ornaments over the last ten years. this tradition was passed down from my husbands gram who started collecting many years before i came along. because of her now my mother in law, brother in law, my husbands aunt, and two cousins all collect as well. the collections are vast and highly valuable. we've even got insurance on ours and they are all documented in more than one way!

With that said i try to create a unique theme every year incorporating as many of the hallmark ornaments as possible as they are the feature of our tree. it's a task not any of our other family members really dares to take on (except my sister in law who will admit that she's not as creative as i am) this year i was especially proud that i came up with a theme that not only included our hallmark ornaments but also included one of our passions and something i feel very strongly about....travel.

2012 christmas around the world

I pulled all the ornaments we had that involved a globe (obvious) but also anything that had a hint of christmas from another country/ethnicity/religion/location. i also decided to pull anything resembling chris kringle or santa and how he's represented in his many different forms. i didn't quite realize how many ornaments that met these qualifications until i started unpacking them. plenty to cover the tree.

some worldly ornaments 

I had an idea to make some "extras" using an old road atlas? they turned out great and were super easy to make. mini paper chains! great idea huh, worked perfect on the tree i did about 13 different sections and draped them all over instead of one solid chain wrapped around.

paper chains

I also added some small bows all over using 3 different types of ribbon cut into small pieces and wired together. i also added in some blue, yes blue (it was more of a sea blue than a royal blue) into the ribbons as my accent color. my husband was less than happy with the idea but i think it looked lovely. i also used the color in the tree skirt and it really finished it off nicely. a tip! if your going to use blue in your christmas decorations keep the other colors in the warmer family, i chose brown and bronze/gold accents instead of silver and white, the contrast seemed too much and the warm earthy tones really complimented the bright blue.

my bows

the final tree with my little elf


I hope you all take some inspiration from this idea and play off it post anything you come up with for your home, i would love to see a different view of the same theme.