As we swing into the best two weeks in the lead up to Christmas, I’m pretty sure very few houses are left which haven’t been adorned with festive ornaments. I love the time together as a family as we pull out everything we love from Christmas past and fill the house with all those Christmas memories. As the years have rolled on, I have found my Christmas bauble collection getting ridiculously large and I have now hunted out other ways to use these beautiful bits of sparkliness in my Christmas decorating. With the help of AMARA Living and lots of their gorgeous decorations, here are my three alternatives to hanging your ornaments on your tree.
Shown the Serve Bonbon Jar – 38cm & Serve Bonbon Jar – 25.5cm filled with Tube of 30 Assorted Baubles – Ice Blue and a scattering of Tube of 30 Assorted Baubles – Petrol Blue all from AMARA
Fill’ Em Up
Create Centre Pieces or something gorgeous for the Sideboard by filling up clear glass receptacles with ornaments and battery powered fairy lights. I favour an Apothecary Jar as they have height, shape and a lid to keep your ornaments dust free. I would much rather be celebrating Christmas, not dusting thank you very much! Though it’s tempting to just chuck everything in there, you need a little bit of skill to get the best out of the display. To fill them up you need to add your lights and baubles in layers, shuffling everything into place as you go. Move the ornaments around on the sides to show off the design on the ornament and hide the bauble caps. Balance smaller ornaments in gaps so they don’t slide to the bottom and get lost. The great thing about the lights is that the wire acts as a frame to hold everything in place. I like to keep a simple colour scheme with a range of sizes and similar colours which stops it looking like a jumble.
Now switch on and enjoy!
Shown Tiny Kiko Frame – Set of 4 – Antique Zinc and Tiny Kiko Frame – Set of 4 – Antique Brass teamed with Antique Mirror Baubles – Set of 4 – Snowflake Antique Mirror Baubles – Set of 4 – Leaf – all from AMARA
Tie ‘Em up
Christmas brings a whole heap of feasting with friends and family. Another way to make your table full of Christmas cheer is to scatter a few baubles down the centre of the table and to tie your napkins with a few delicate ornaments. I love these mini picture frames which I like to use as place holders with names on one side and photos on the other.
Pretty up this parcel with Felt Dog Tree Decoration – Set of 2 – Fox Terrier with Hat and Felt Donkey with a scattering of Paper Paper Tree Decorations – Set of 4 – Grey & yet again all from AMARA
Wrap ‘Em Up
I’m a sucker for a well wrapped gift. My first job out of college was working for Godiva Chocolates and I was taught the fine art of “Professional Wrapping”. I now find it a blissfully relaxing thing to occupy myself with (as long as it’s not midnight on Christmas Eve after I’ve had a few too many sherries!). My training made me appreciate the parcel topper and I go with the rule that if it can be tied on, it can be on top of a parcel. Of course, the key with using ornaments on gifts is that they can’t be breakable so I have used metal, acrylic or these wonderful paper ones.
