Deb's 'Top Tips' for Christmas Displays

 I know, you've had your holiday displays up for months now...
but perhaps as items sell-through, (hopefully sell OUT!), 

you need some ideas and inspiration for freshening up the look of your store.
I'm here to help!

Click 'read more' to view 
my favorite Holiday Display tips 

from my Top Five Holiday posts!

'Fast, Cheap & Easy' Display Trees

This post appears today on my DIY Decorating blog HOMEWARDfound...
and since the idea began with my retail display work, I thought I'd also share it here.

Years ago, in the course of my retail visual merchandising career,
 I created a Christmas Ornament Display Tree using a wire tomato cage.
It was a last-minute solution on a budget - and it worked.

Many years after that, I was asked by a well-known winery to create something
simple . easy. contemporary . and CHEAP
for their Holiday retail displays in their wine shop.
And I created the wire trees all over again:
See those and learn HOW to make them after the jump....

'Sittin' Pretty'...DivaDeb Originals

This past week, I came up with a new display prop for a project I am working on and the idea exploded! I've had a FAB response to this, inspiring me to create a line of products. Introducing 'Sittin' Pretty Unique Mannequins', a unique DivaDeb creation. (There's a pun in there for the three people who read this blog who knew me before I was married...) These are display props that perform the function of a mannequin - but ever so much more stylishly!

I will be producing these for sale, each one an original 'one of a kind' custom creation for my retail clients. I can envision many styles, sizes, colors, finishes, and uses for them. If you are interested in having one of these DivaDeb creations made just for you, drop me a line and I'll send you more info. They will be making a red-carpet appearance at the upcoming Portland and Seattle Gift Shows, too - in my seminars, on the Demonstration Stage, and in the currently-being-designed Seattle Launching Pad Display area.

This particular little darling is awaiting her wardrobe - a wedding petticoat and veil. When dressed, the chair won't show at all. But I would use this and let part of the 'structure' show. It's sort of 'French Bohemian' in a way, don'tcha' think? Useful? Oh, yeah... picture a designer bag featured sitting right there on the seat, a darling pair of shoes placed on the 'feet' of the chair, while a jaunty scarf, belt, or hat is displayed up above. (One might even place a tiara up there on top, hmmmmmnnn???)

This design is very eco-friendly to boot, utilizing old items in a new way. Yeah, if I get an order for twenty of them and need them to all be alike, I'll be buying new chairs that match. But otherwise, it's all about reusing funky stuff. My big thing, after all, is making it 'Fast, Cheap, & Easy!'TM

You can take this idea and create one for your own non-commercial use - but please don't snarf my idea for profit, OK? (Yeah, I said snarf. That would be an 'official' term an IRS agent recently used in a conversation with my hubby. Made him smile!) 'Sittin' Pretty', 'KENNEDYkennedy Design, and 'DivaDeb' copyright KkD 2008

Easy Topiary Idea

Last Sunday, I decorated a home & yard for a Christening Party for two darling babies - twins. One boy, one girl - so the decor scheme had to be several things: Colorful, but gender-neutral; happy; simple - so kids attending couldn't break anything, and so adults attending didn't feel like they were at the house of precious; easily set up & removed; and very inexpensive. So above, you see the outdoor area with crisp clean white and a bit of soft green & lavender splashed in. A close-up of the centerpieces: topiary form with ivy, potted white hydrangeas wrapped in white damask paper & soft green ribbons, and some paper letters (two 'J's) and crosses dangle from thin ribbons to add movement.This one is on the dining room table - shows up a bit better.
This is the entry table - I flipped one of the topiary forms upside down, made it a 'vase', and created a big 'ball' of silk hydrangeas that sits in the middle of it. Ribbons & more initials flutter from the top edge. Around the arrangement and in a white basket under the table are all of the gifts for the babies.

Now..... do you want to see how I kept this really inexpensive & disposable OR resuseable? Here are those topiary forms, before I bent & twisted them & painted them silver:Yep.....tomato cages. Cost me 50 cents each at the local liquidators. Two sizes. One can of chromatic silver spray paint. Ivy cut from my own yard. I invested a grand total of five dollars and one hour inall five of them. And if the client wants to use these again, they'll stack for storage. If not, it's not a huge waste of money or time. She had no idea they were tomato cages until I told her, either.

These 'fixtures' work excellently as ornament displays for the holidays, and for jewelry displays (esp. earrings) any time of year. You can paint them any color, wrap them with ribbons or tinsel or even lights, sit them or hang them. And they are 'Cheap, Fast, & Easy'TM - just my style!