Thinking Outside Of The Box…

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through links on my site, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Sometimes I find myself thinking outside of the box…

For instance, I don’t care for traditional Christmas tree skirts. I guess because they’re too traditional. Maybe I don’t like to go with the flow.

I wanted to think outside the box this year with my tabletop Christmas tree. So I set it inside a bucket and lined up rubber stamps underneath the tree.

I like to get creative and come up with my own ideas, thinking outside the proverbial box. So that’s what I did this year when I brought my tabletop Christmas tree out and began setting it up.

Rubber Stamps In Christmas Decor:

On a whim, I pulled out some of my rubber stamps. I have quite a variety of subjects when it comes to rubber stamps, and I’ve been adding to my collection for many years.

I thought, if I’m not going with a traditional Christmas tree skirt, I might as well go all the way. Maybe I’d surround the bottom of my tabletop tree surface with rubber stamps, I thought to myself.

I chose rubber stamps that matched the theme of the vintage rolling cart on which I put up my Christmas tree. I figured that automatically made the theme “vintage,” so I went with that.

If you look at my decoupaged rolling cart, you might see a theme evolving—at least, I hope you do.

My tabletop Christmas tree is decorated with homemade ornaments I made using canning jar lids. Along with red and gold ornaments and peppermint sticks, etc.

The homemade ornaments I made for the tree are mostly vintage images of children from another time that I printed off the internet. I cut the images out using a round template and glued them to the inside of canning jar lids.

Using An Old Bucket In Christmas Tree Decor:

Then there is what my tabletop Christmas tree is placed in—an old bucket from the yard. There is no Christmas tree skirt of any kind, just a plain old bucket.

It fits in with the vintage suitcase stored below it on the rolling cart’s bottom shelf. During the rest of the year, I store my small Christmas trees inside the vintage suitcase for safekeeping.

Every year, I know exactly where to look for the small trees I use in vignettes. I also look for the vintage suitcase.

In thinking outside of the box, I lined up rubber stamps underneath my tabletop Christmas tree.

Then, with the tabletop Christmas tree settled in a bucket on the vintage cart, I thought about what to do below the tree.

I don’t buy actual presents. When I give to my daughters or grandchildren, I put money in their Amazon accounts and let them buy what they wish.

Without presents under the tree, it looked rather bare, so I lined up the rubber stamps under the tree.

I think the bucket and the rubber stamps are interesting alternatives to a traditional Christmas tree skirt, especially when you’re trying to think outside the box.

1Shares

I'm Brenda, creator of Cozy Little House. I live with my cats, Ivy, Simon, and Daisy. I graduated from journalism school with a degree in professional writing and won awards for feature writing. I practice gratitude and enjoy my solitude. My interpretation of life is that the glass is always half-full.

Similar Posts

35 Comments

  7. I have one of our artificial trees stuck inside a vintage shopping cart this year. I posted a pic on Instagram today with that tree in the pic and most of the comments were about having a tree in a "trolley" as one British woman wrote.

  8. Mmmm, no pop up ads on your photos on my iPad. Love your tree and stamp decor!

  9. I love the idea of being able to transport the tree when company comes a calling! And the galvanized bucket adds a country sort of charm to your room, too!

  10. Love it, Brenda! 🙂

  11. Cute tree arrangement…and I love that Merry Christmas stamp. I love curleyQ fonts for some reason. ha. I have been trying to think out side the box these last few days. I am refusing to go into stores! ha. I did discover a tub of ribbons from our move, so I will be tying ribbons on everything. ha. You know I love your tree in the bucket!
    Sheila

  13. How cute is that — I will copy for next year! We recently moved to a small (cozy) farmhouse and I certainly have changed my decorating. This city girl now has chickens and I just finished my Christmas sugar cookies. I had always had an unused chicken cookie cutter, and now I have chicken cookies, and even a chicken ornament!

  14. I love how they look under your tree. They're whimsical. My tree is sitting in a metal tub and there isn't a tree skirt anywhere in sight!

  15. What an adorable idea, even if you just had a few holiday ones how cute they'd look around some small trees. Your tree is fantastic! I've always loved your trees and house at the holidays!

  16. That's very adorable. I love the galvanized pot. Wish I could visit you and pick your brain about things – not just decorative…You have a very creative mind, Brenda.

  17. I remember from past blog posts how you would use your rubber stamps to decorate! Such a good idea. I've set a few up here and there in the past, but the tree skirt idea is brilliant! Keep it up. I hope you realize what an inspiration you are.

  18. Brenda,
    What a great idea for displaying your rubber stamps. I have an addiction to rubber stamps, and keep telling my sister we should buy all the beautiful rubber stamps mounted on wood backs because one day there only be the acrylic stamps. My decorating is pretty much in the box.

    Judith

  19. As always, another wonderfully clever idea!

    Georgia

  20. Super cute and creative, Brenda – just what I'd expect from you!!

  22. Brenda, that looks so cute! Charlie would have them all over the house but I do like how it looks!

    Linda

  23. Brenda, I have been enjoying all of your Christmas decorating ideas the past few days, and this is another great idea! But I must say the ads popping up on each photo is really ruining it for me, not to mention they cause my IPad to jump ahead and then I have to back track to even try and see the photos again. I certainly understand yours and other bloggers need to make money off ads, but putting them on every photo really ruins the whole visual experience. I have found your blog and some others so difficult to look at the photos lately that I am about to give up visiting and that makes me sad…..
    Take care,
    Lindsay

    1. I don't know how to do it, but I know there is an ad blocker that would help. My son in law installed it for me on my laptop because I was having so much trouble viewing blogs.

    2. Thanks, Grammy Goodwill. While I have an ad blocker on my PC, I've never had any problems with intrusive ads on my iPad before and they are only occuring on a few blogs that use a lot of ads overall. Here on Brenda's blog they are covering the bottom of her photos with Toyota ads and one big pop up ad that blanks out the whole photo within seconds of viewing it. I'm one that likes to take my time and really study the photos and this is ruining it. It makes my iPad jump way ahead too. Have had the same problem on Common Ground blog too for a long time. This is new here and I thought Brenda would want to know…. I've been using this iPad for months and have never had a problem with this anywhere except a handful of blogs with a lot of ads. Again, I'm not criticizing the need to make an income from ads, just that some of the ads are very intrusive.
      Peace,
      Lindsay

    3. I will get right on this. I do have to have ads to pay the bills, but I do not want them intrusive. Thank you for telling me.

  25. super cute and a fun idea. I'm loving that rolling cart!!

  26. I do like traditional but you just knocked my socks off with this idea! I love all the stamps around the base of the tree.

  28. I like the results! Seems like the older I get the more outside the box agrees with me.

  31. Well I for one am in Agreement with not necessarily liking to Decorate Traditionally and thinking outside of the Box to how I want our Christmas to look! Loving the Stamp Display Skirting around the Tree and that it's in a Galvanized Bucket… much more Interesting and Inspirational! Merry Christmas… Dawn… The Bohemian

  32. Well I for one am in Agreement with not necessarily liking to Decorate Traditionally and thinking outside of the Box to how I want our Christmas to look! Loving the Stamp Display Skirting around the Tree and that it's in a Galvanized Bucket… much more Interesting and Inspirational! Merry Christmas… Dawn… The Bohemian

Comments are closed.