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When it comes to Christmas, I have a reputation of going a wee bit overboard. Our last home was large and I managed to fill almost every room with a Christmas tree. I used to decorate for weeks. My decorations included eight full-sized trees (one 12 ft tree), at least four or five small trees, and white lights and garland a plenty. For me, decorating for Christmas was always an act of love. I spent all those hours decorating in the hope of creating memorable Christmases that my kids would never forget. I wanted the season to be magical, and it was.

When we moved to Florida, we downsized from a 5000+ square foot home to a 2100 square foot home. Our storage space reduced drastically and I was ready for a more relaxed lifestyle. I vowed my long days of Christmas decorating were over. I was handing over the decorating baton to my children. I’d go to their house for Christmas. I donated most of my Christmas decorations and during our first Christmas in Florida, all I did was wrap white lights around one palm tree. It was enough. I was over it.

Then, I started my Coastal Cheryl account on Instagram. Before I knew it, King of Christmas was offering to send me a gorgeous Christmas tree. Who was I to refuse? Well, that was just a little over one year ago. Today, I have three full-sized Christmas trees and four small ones. It seems that old habits die hard. And, in this case, that’s a good thing. I truly love decorating for Christmas. It’s part of who I am. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now, I not only decorate my house, but I am also always looking for great deals for you. I love finding sales on Christmas decorations and beautiful Christmas trees. I start looking (and decorating!) in October. It may be 80 degrees in Sunny Florida, but inside my house It’s A Wonderful Life is playing on the television and I’m humming Christmas songs as I decorate. Here are some of my favorite Christmas decor finds of the year!

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SHOP THE GIFT GUIDE BELOW:

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Gather required items

• Seashells with holes in them
• Clear glue
• White 1/8 inch ribbon
• Large sewing needle
• Styrofoam plates or bowls
• Extra fine glitter
• Clean and dry small sponge
• Small starfish (optional)
• Large starfish (optional)

Put holes in your seashells if they don’t already have them

Whenever I walk on the beach, I just can’t resist collecting seashells. Sometimes I tell myself that I’m definitely not going to bring any shells home this time and I leave my seashell bag at home. Inevitably, I end up collecting shells and putting them in the pockets of my shorts instead. It seems I just cant resist these little beach treasures. Very often, I find shells with holes in them. When we first moved to Florida I started collecting these shells, determined to do something creative with them. Well, just a couple of weeks it came to me – Christmas tree ornaments! If your seashells don’t have holes in them, you can drill holes into them, or if you are like me and don’t particularly enjoy using a drill, ask someone else to do it.

Cut ribbon and tie it to the seashell

I cut my ribbon to 8 inches. Slide the ribbon through the seashell, knot it, and then pull the knot tight close to the end of the ribbon. I suggest starting with 8 inches and then hang your shell on the tree to see if you like the length of the string. If not, shorten or lengthen the string accordingly.

Poke ribbon through seashell with a needle if necessary

I found that some of the holes in the seashell were too small to easily slide the ribbon through. In that case, I found it useful to use a large blunt sewing needle to push the ribbon through the hold.

Tuck knot back up behind seashell and apply glue

So you don’t see the know on the Christmas tree, slide the knot up and into the seashell so the shell hides the knot from view. Squirt glue onto the shell and then spread it evenly with the corner of your sponge.

Roll shell through the glitter and set aside to dry

Sprinkle some glitter onto a plate or bowl. I used styrofoam plates for the glitter, but styrofoam bowls might be better for rolling the shells in the glitter. Use a different plate for each color of glitter, unless you intention is to combine two kinds of glitter. There are so many colors of glitter. Be creative and have fun! I used extra fine white glitter on one plate and iridescent glitter flakes on another. Sometimes I mixed the two and sometimes I just used the fine white glitter on the seashells. If you have children at home (or grandchildren visiting!) this would be a fun thing to do with the kids. After rolling the shell through the glitter, set it aside to dry. I placed mine on more styrofoam plates but you could just set your seashells on paper towels to dry. Mine were totally dry in less than an hour and ready to be hung on the Christmas tree. When transferring the shell from the glitter to the drying area, try to hold onto the ribbon as much as possible to avoid wiping glitter off of the shells with your fingers.

I also bought some resin starfish to add to my tree. The small ones do not have a hole in them and I like just tucking them into the tree after applying glitter. The large starfish are particularly nice and come with holes already drilled in them. They also come with twine for hanging the starfish. You will definitely need the big needle to poke the twine through the holes. Personally, I wanted a little more elegant effect and I used the same white ribbon on the starfish that I used on the seashells. Again, you will need a large needle to poke the ribbon through the hole at the top of the starfish.

Don’t be afraid to use “ugly” seashells

When I first started my project I envisioned using only bright white seashells. The problem was that many of my shells that already had holes in them were a variety of shades of brown and grey. I was too lazy to drill holes through more white shells so I thought I would give the brown and grey seashells a try. I was really pleased with the results! The brown seashells took on a creamy appearance while the grey seashells looked blueish green. What a fun surprise! I loved the results! My favorites, though, are still probably the bright white seashells with white extra fine glitter. They look as if they have sugar sprinkled on them. Have fun!

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When I couldn’t find a Christmas Tree Skirt that I liked, I decided to make my own and it only took about two minutes! Here is how you can make your own Christmas Tree Skirt with almost no skill at all. Ha! First, buy a pretty white faux fur rug. I have a pencil tree so I did not want a real wide Christmas Tree Skirt that would stick way out into the room. I bought a 36 inch rug and it worked perfect for me. If you have a traditional fat Christmas tree, I would advise you to buy a 48 inch faux fur rug.

Fold Tree Skirt in Half

Put your rug on any flat surface like a kitchen counter or even the floor. Make sure the edges line up so you are folding the rug exactly in half.

Cut Toward the Fold

Lift the top flap of the rug slightly (so you don’t cut the bottom half by accident!) and cut straight toward the fold, stopping a little before the fold, maybe an inch or so. If you don’t think you can cut a straight line (it doesn’t have to be perfectly straight, just fairly straight), place a straight line on your rug (like a tape measure or yard stick) and cut along it.

Slide Under the Tree

Shake the loose fur from the rug (a Swiffer works well to pick up the loose fur) and slide your rug over the base of your tree with the slit in the back of the tree. You will need to slightly overlap the rug where it is slit to get it to fit onto your tree base.

Admire Your New Christmas Tree Skirt

You just made a beautiful and lush Christmas Tree in less than two minutes! It will take you longer to clean up that loose fur than it did to make the tree skirt! And this beautiful skirt will last you for years! I love the quality of mine and its so much more beautiful than any tree skirt I’ve ever seen. You will love yours too! Be sure to get a nice lush rug so you will get your desired results. I have included two great rugs below that would work very well. The 36 inch rug is the exact one that I bought. Enjoy!

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