Have you ever finished up your giant turkey leg on Thanksgiving day and immediately felt the flush of Santa fever? You put your plate in the sink, get a quick night’s sleep, wake up, nearly forget your pants, run to the store, and grab every bit of glitter/reindeer/santa/garland/eggnogg magic you can get your greasy little turkey hands on?

Wait. Is that just me? (Please tell me you get greasy-turkey-hand, too.)

The MINUTE the turkeys are outta sight, it’s full on Christmas explosion for me.

I love the holidays. It’s my favorite time of year.

Exhibit A: I put my tree up on Thanksgiving Day (much to my husband’s dismay).

I couldn’t help it…I had the fevah’.

 

Please see full reveal of tree HERE.

 

But here’s the really crazy part…I decorated my entire tree for a whopping $15. And I started out with almost nothing but a bare tree.

My husband and I struck a bargain: He would help me assemble the giant tree, and I would not spend a bazillion dollars on tree decor. So, I spent the following week making about 200 ornaments. I painted, hotglued, glittered, and sewed until my fingers were numb. If I was an elf, I would have gone on strike.

It was totally worth all of the effort though, as after 5 days of decorating my tree, a beauty was born.

I used a lot of natural elements in my tree, like pinecones, straw balls (from vase-filler!), and plant stems. But, then I also added in tons of sparkly, glittery, metallic madness, too.

 

My floor on Thanksgiving night was a giant wasteland of sparkles as I attempted to make sense of the 200+ ornaments I had made/repurposed/painted.

Here I am starting to decorate the tree on that first night. I started off fueled by turkey…like a horse right outta the gate. By Day 5 I ended up just sitting down and scooting my butt along the track.

I eventually finished the tree though. You can see the FULL tree reveal here on my blog, LiveLoveDIY, in all it’s beautiful, handmade, glittery glory .

 

Shortly after debuting the tree, I shared how I created some of my homemade ornaments (seen here).

But, I saved a special few just for Creative Home.

So, these are just for you!

Today, I’m going to tell you about the mirror ornaments, the glass bead ornaments, and my sea-inspired starfish ornament.

 

Let’s start with the mirror ornament.

For these little badboys, I used those little mirror pieces you get at any craft store. I glued them on the front and back of a small piece of posterboard. Then, I used my exacto knife to cut around the edges. To hang them, I stuck a ornament hook through the posterboard.

 

The sky is the limit with these. You can arrange them in so many different ways, and they really look so beautiful on the tree, reflecting all of the lights.

Aren’t those so neat?

Just make sure to move your ant farm away from the tree.

I will not be held responsible for the death of your beloved ants.

Another ornament I made was the glass bead danglers. (For lack of a better name, yes, danglers.)

These were super simple to make and look really fantastic on the tree.

For these, I tied a little piece of ribbon around a hook and then glued a glass rock (found at all dollar stores and craft stores) to each side of the ribbon.

Taaadaaa…Danglers!

 

Since I was trying to basically put anything in my tree that struck my fancy, I raided my shell box.

Yes, I have a shell box.

I found a starfish and decided that my tree MUST. HAVE. STARFISH.

To make it sparkle, I added an old chandelier prism to the bottom.

I glued a hook to the top, too. No one sees the back, so glue away!

I saw almost the exact same ornaments online for much more than FREE, so I’m pleased with the starfish. That reindeer seems to be giving him the eyeball, though.

No need to be territorial, reindeer. He doesn’t have what it takes to pull a sleigh.

 

You may notice a few extra ornaments in the picture below.

Like my favorite one, my Disco Ball ornament.

You can read all about that one in this post here where I divulge even more of my ornament secrets!

 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great time decorating your own tree this year! And remember, don’t be afraid to throw a starfish or a mirror up on that tree!!