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 If you love the sea and all things beachy, this Christmas tree just might float your boat.

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Tick-tock, Father Time, and all that.  This tree of clocks boasts an unconventional color scheme of purple and metallic gold.

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Old-fashioned yet fresh and new – a candy theme is a fun and kid-friendly way to go with decorating the Christmas tree. 

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My mother-in-law collects angels.  She should totally do a heavenly tree like this one – all stars and angels!

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If you really want to give them something to talk about around the watercooler,  decorate your office Christmas tree with colorful office supplies!

For the literary lover:  a tree decked out in all kinds of letters and fonts.

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I’ve certainly never seen an Asian-themed Christmas tree, I must say I love it!  A bonsai tree, even!

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Why not have a Christmas tree in the kitchen?  Better yet, have a kitchen-themed Christmas tree in the kitchen.  Trim it with miniature kitchen utensils, fruit, nuts, and food-related items.  My friend Tisha has just such a tree in her kitchen every year.

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I love the natural look of this Christmas tree.  Adorned with nametags and old photographs, it kinda reminds me of that famous Horton Christmas Tree on “Days of our Lives” that has all the ball ornaments with family members’ names painted on each one.  Please tell me somebody knows what I’m talking about. 

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If you love retro or just love the color pink, this tree would probably suit you perfectly.  I know it would suit me!

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What do you want to bet that the lady of the house is a gardener?  Creating a themed Christmas tree is a fun way to display your collections or showcase your passion.

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So, are you pro-theme or anti-theme?  I’ll be giving you a tour of my house all decked out for Christmas as soon as I get a sunny day to take some decent photos.  Can you guess the overall theme of my Christmas decorating?  No fair if you’ve seen it before!

Not all of us are cut out for making our own Christmas gifts.  But some of us could make a few if they were simple and special, right? A vintage teacup candle is a heartfelt gift for a special friend or family member.  Candlemaking kits are available at stores like Michaels, or you could just drop a votive in a cute tea cup.  Or, cheat a little and buy these ready-made at Anthropologie!

Just a spritz of spray mount and a roll in a tray of colored glitter from Martha Stewart Crafts (available at Michaels) makes regular taper or pillar candles extra-special.

For the geneology buff, download a free or inexpensive family tree and complete it by hand.  A simple mat and frame make this an elegant and thoughtful heirloom.

Use decals to spruce up and personalize pillar candles.

Make homemade-flavored popcorn and pack in tin buckets available at any home store.  Use a piece of cardboard to separate flavors.  I have an awesome Sundried Tomato Popcorn recipe I will leave for you at the end of this post!

Use a map of a special vacation to create drink coasters that bring back good memories.  Adhere map to cork circles and make sure you brush on a glue sealant on top.

Use wide ribbon and a special photograph to make a handmade bookmark.  Use a simple stitch in the corners to attach.

Buy a few small tassels and attach these hooks to make a lovely pair of earrings.   Earring hooks are available at Michaels.

Handgathered “kits” will be appreciated by any man.  The important thing is choosing the right container to hold relevant items.  Below are examples of a travel kit, shoeshine kit, and car wash kit.

Pull memoribilia and souvenirs out of hidden boxes and create a collage of a special trip to present to your loved one.  Now that I think about it, resurrected honeymoon souvenirs mounted on paper board and framed would be an excellent anniversary gift!

Do you have ideas for handmade Christmas presents?  I’d love to hear about any you have created for friends or family.  Below is the recipe for the Sundried Tomato Popcorn I promised earlier.  This recipe came from my friend, Jennifer Driver.

Sundried Tomato Popcorn

2 tbs corn oil

2 tbs olive oil

2 split garlic cloves

3/4 cup popcorn, unpopped

1/4 cup Provolone cheese, grated

6 sun-dried tomatoes, oil-cured and finely chopped

1 tbs oil from the tomatoes

12 basil leaves, fresh and finely chopped

salt and cayenne pepper to taste

In large pot heat both oils over high heat until smoking.  Add 1 kernel of popping corn and heat until it pops.  Add split garlic cloves and rest of popping corn, cover pot, and shake gently until corn starts to pop.  Shake vigorously until popping subsides.  Remove from heat.  Remove garlic.  Toss popcorn with provolone, tomatoes, oil, salt, and chopped basil.  Serves 6.

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Fill your firebox with winter greens, galvanized buckets and paint cans, pinecones, and candles.  Then sprinkle on some faux snow.  Winter wonderland!

Dress up candles with peppermint sticks, holly berries, and fern fronds.  Hang a mirror or silver tray behind a candle or two to reflect light. 

Candle vignettes can be created by nestling them in a wreath, surrounding them with nuts and berries, or floating them in a glass container with cranberries.

Silver and mercury glass are great reflectors of candlelight.    Candles that are shaped like pinecones or birch logs are naturally elegant.

Make it a white Christmas by hanging tea lights, lining your wood stairs with candles in glass,  going heavy with the faux snow, and  clustering simple white votive candles on a silver tray.

Nothing’s simpler than clustering taper candles on a round silver tray.  In this case, the folks at Country Living actually hot-glued the candleholders to the tray to create a fairly permanent set.  What an impact this would make as a centerpiece on a tabletop!

I find lots of candles at yard sales and estate sales for next to nothing.  Most of the time, they’ve never even been used!   Before your Christmas gatherings this year, pull out the candles laying in the back of your drawers and enjoy a little creative candlelight.

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You can use any kind of glass container – I would highly recommend a lid.  Aren’t these ribbons and tags a clever touch?

These were created for a wedding, but I think they’d work great for a Christmas display.  Maybe on the sideboard in a dining room?  The colored ribbons make it extra special and tie it in with the color palette of your choosing.

What child wouldn’t want to hang out in this kitchen for awhile (or adult, for that matter)?

This display on a dining table was set up for Valentine decorating, but I think it’d be great for Christmas as well.

Why not get a little crafty with candy?  Start with a large glass bowl and set a thinner water-filled vase in the middle.  Fill the large glass bowl with peppermints so that the vase is surrounded and obscured from sight.  Fill the vase with white carnations.  Mount an apple on a skewer and stick down the middle.  It’s a Carnation Cupcake!  Or maybe it’s a Carnation Sundae . . .

You could make these candy trees with your children by mounting a triangular form to a pillar candleholder and gluing on peppermints or other goodies.

Create your own gumdrop wreath.  Who knew gumdrops could look so elegant?  You might want to hang this wreath inside, or you might find your front door stratched up by various woodland critters.  Or covered in bird droppings.

Photo Credits:  DigsDigs, Camilla, Southern Hospitality, Flickr, Curbly, Martha Stewart.

I love Anthropologie.   I guess it’s the vintage-hip-bohemian vibe that draws me in.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  It’s not like I buy anything there except for the occasional little decor trinket.  The clothes are way too expensive for me, but I get so much decor and fashion inspiration by just perusing that store.  We’ll just focus on the decor inspiration for today, particularly in regards to Christmas styling.

Is that vintage wallpaper snippets in the back of the handmade fireplace box and in the back of the shelf niche?   Why, I think it is!

You could totally make your own version of these candles-in-teacups with vintage teacups or mugs and some crafty wax candle kit from Michaels.  Great teacher gifts for Christmas!  These from Anthropologie are around $10 a piece.

These tea towels are $18 and can be used in the kitchen, of course, but why not use them in the guest bathroom?

Just look at the details – the embroidery, the color combinations, the textures, the trim!  I could base an entire child’s bedroom scheme around one of these beauties.

I fell in LOVE with this snowy vignette in the Green Hills Anthropologie store.  After snapping these pics, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  The next day, I decided I’d try to apply the inspiration to my own holiday decor.

Anthropologie sells the old-fashioned sparkly snow for $10 a box.   Love the retro graphics on the box, but I really didn’t want to spend $10 on fake snow.

Among my Christmas decor that I wasn’t currently using I found a bag of sparkling snow that I had bought at Big Lots for about a dollar several years ago.  Perfect!  I gathered some large vintage children’s storybooks, a pink retro Christmas tree, and small fake mini- trees and started to create my own vignette on the top of a piece of furniture in my dining room.   I decided to forgo the globes – I’m not a COMPLETE copycat!

I think the trick is sprinkling the snow from above so that it lays on the tops of your landscape:  the tree limbs, the tops of the books, in the glasses – and then letting it pile up all around your items, like real snow does.

I’ll take inspiration wherever I can get it.  How about you?

Don’t forget about my December Prize Give-Away!  For your chance to win a set of 5 IKEA votive candleholders, make sure you sign up to “Receive Email Updates” in the upper right hand corner of this blog.

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