Ode to my Nana

My Mom has sent me things from my childhood over the years.  I always love getting the boxes and walking down memory lane, usually with many tears!

A few years ago, my Mom sent me a box of ornaments that decorated our family tree.  I usually put these on a garland every year, but this year I decided to put together a little tree in the kitchen with all these wonderful things.

They were painted by my sweet Nana (my maternal grandmother), who was an artist/crafter by profession all her life.  My Grandfather, who passed away from cancer several years ago, painstakingly cut out all the wood ornaments in his workshop and Nana worked her magic creating these special works of art.  She worked all year creating wonderful things which she sold at the War Eagle Craft Fair in Arkansas.  For those of you who craft, you have probably heard of this huge annual event in October.  They participated in this event for over 20 years and made most of their annual income there. 

Nana is still here, living in Tulsa, but doesn't paint or craft much these days.  I will always have wonderful memories of watching her work and this little tribute to her to share with my family and friends!

Isn't this the cutest ornament?!

This little soldier has a fur hat!

I think this one may actually be from my Mom's childhood tree!

This one is probably my favorite.  It's Little Red Riding Hood & it reverses to be the Grandmother! 

A cute little ballerina complete with real tutu and yarn bun.  I just love all the little details my Grandmother put into her ornaments!

Santa with Pom Pom nose!

What wonderful things do you put out each year from your childhood?

A "Beachy" Christmas Tablescape

I linked this project to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

and Holiday Linky Friday at The Inspired Room!  Check out these great blogs for more awesome ideas!

I'm just not a traditional red, green & Santa kinda girl... I think holiday decorating should reflect the person's personality and favorite colors (even if it's yellow or lime or some other non-traditional shade!)  My holiday decorating is all about Blue, Chocolate, White & Silver!

For me, incorporating a coastal theme into my holiday decorating was a goal this year.  Now, I didn't do it all over the house!  But, I did decide with my shell canvases in the formal dining room, that it would be a perfect spot to try out something new.

I hung a Lighted Canvas 

Then I started working with what I had around the house to create a "beachy" look.

I tied ribbon around my sand colored linen lampshade...

I elevated the lamp on a stack of blue & aqua decorating books.  Then I leaned a little starfish against the base...

I pulled out my white coral.  I placed the smaller one on a silver & crystal pillar holder.  I tied the same aqua ribbon around a white lantern & placed a white pillar candle inside.

I placed a silver charger in the middle of the table and arranged my collection of beach glass & some small shells.  I placed a larger conch shell in the middle.

I filled a silver trophy shaped urn with aqua, silver white ball ornaments and tucked in a sand dollar.

And here's the whole arrangement...

Pretty "beachy" right?  Mission accomplished!

And, I just ran across a FREEBIE that you've got to see!  Head over to It's The Little Things That Make A House A Home where Karla is featuring Leen the Graphics Queen and offering a free $50 to spend in Leen's Etsy Shop just for browsing and telling Karla your favorite decal.  Now, I've never been one for wall decals BUT these are really cool!!!  I've already picked out my favorite in hopes that I win!   Check it out!!

Fun and festive wall hanging

This week I linked this project to Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple  and DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

I also linked up late to Living With Lindsay's Impromptu Linky Party!

Check these blogs out for more creative decorating ideas!

Here is the last of my holiday decorating workshop items.  This wall hanging is SO easy to make!

I found this idea on Martha's website (me and Martha are on a first name basis!)  Here's the how to:

1) Buy any size artist's canvas at a craft or art supply store.  I used a 20x30.

2) Using a Sharpie marker, draw your design in a dotted fashion on the canvas.  I drew freeform flowers.  Some other designs might be:  Star, last name initial, Poinsettia, or Christmas tree.

3) Use a small Phillips head screwdriver to gently punch a hole through each dot in your design.  Canvas is pretty durable, so don't worry about using a little pressure.

4)  Get 2 strands (you may need 3 if your canvas size is larger than 20x30 or if your design is intricate) of Christmas lights.  Inspect your lights to be sure each bulb is working.  Change any burned out bulbs if necessary.

5) Turn the canvas over and make sure the plug is at the bottom.

6) Start placing an individual light through each hole in the canvas, using clear packing tape to secure the strand as you go.  

7) Using small finishing nails, nail two nails about 3.5 inches apart at the top of the canvas on the wood frame.

8) Wrap each nail with floral or picture hanging wire creating a hanger.  You can cut the wire to any length you want, depending on how long you want your ribbon bow to be.

9)  Use a 10 lb nail or picture hanger to hang the canvas.

10) Use your choice of 1.5 - 2" satin ribbon to cover the wire hanger.  I wrapped my ribbon around the hanging nail and secured the ends to the back of the canvas with clear packing tape.  Take another piece of ribbon and tie a bow around the top.

11)  Plug into an extension cord to light.  I taped my extension cord to the wall behind the buffet and placed a larger object in front of it on the tabletop so you don't see the cord.

Here is the little vignette I put together in my formal dining room.

I'll be posting again later this week, to show you in more detail the "beachy christmas" tablescape on my buffet.

For the lighted canvas, you could also lean it up against the wall on a tabletop, or on the floor if you are using a large size canvas.

You could also use colored lights and you could paint the canvas before you start the project if you don't want white.

Another Recycled Project - Wine Glass Candleholders!

Here is another project I found out on the web...wine glass candleholders!  Do you have some onesy, twosy wine glasses hanging out in your cabinets?  I do!  They used to be part of a set but the rest got broken (ahem, we won't be discussing HOW they got broken, now will we?)

So, I repurposed them into candle holders!

 

 

1)  Turn the wine glass over so the stem & base face up.  2)  If using greenery or tinsel for trim, tape the edges to the base of the wine glass, then place your candle on top of that so the tape doesn't show.  3)  Tie a bow around the stem, or you can also hang an ornament from the stem.  4)  It would be cute to put something like a ball ornament or berry sprig under the bowl of the wineglass.

I think it would be cute to make a bunch of these (that coordinate) and display on a mantle, or use as a table centerpiece.

I'm linking to 2 Monday Blog Parties.  Click here to go to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and here to visit DIY Showoff Holiday Highlights for more fun projects!

I also linked up to Living With Lindsay's Impromptu Linky Party!

Indoor Wreaths!

A made a couple of really cute indoor wreaths for my workshop last week.  The first is a snowball wreath.  The original inspiration looked like this...

(photo BHG)

I think that one is made with those little styrofoam balls.  Cute, but have you priced the styrofoam lately?  You would think it has gold in it or something.  Anyway, I made my own version, but used a much cheaper material.  Can you guess?

Yep, that's right!  Cotton Balls!

Here's a close up...

1)  I glued a whole bag of about 200 cotton balls to a foam wreath form, being sure to place them close together.  2)  After gluing I stretched the cotton balls a little to fill in any gaps.  3)  I took the wreath outside, applied spray adhesive liberally, and sprinkled epsom salts over the whole thing to simulate snow.  4)  Finish with a ribbon bow tied around the top.

I raffled off the one I made, but I think I'm going to make another to hang over the mirror in my powder room. Cute!

The 2nd wreath I made was the famous Martha Stewart wrapped present wreath from her cover 2 years ago (I think?)  Here's the original...

(photo Martha Stewart)

And here's my version...

Okay, I will not lie.  This project should only be done if you just LOVE it.  It took me 2 hours (and much cursing) to put this together.  The box placement took up most of my time and it's still not perfect, but oh well...

1)  Buy a flat wreath form or make your own (as I did) out of cardboard.  2)  Wrap small boxes in various sizes with white gift wrap.  2)  On about 1/3 of the wrapped boxes, cut a strip of silver wrap & trim with zig zag scrapbook scissors.  Wrap around and secure with tape.  3)  Tie "Tiffany Blue" ribbon around each of the packages.  Use thin and medium width ribbons.  Play around with the ribbon style, using just thin on some, thin over thick on some, and just thick.  You don't have to place ribbon on all of the boxes that form of the base of the wreath.  4)  Start placing the boxes on the wreath form.  You may have to play around with the arrangement to get it just the way you like it.  You can stack smaller boxes on top of larger ones for a more dimensional effect.  5)  Once you like the arrangement, start glueing the boxes to the wreath form.  I used hot glue, but I think you could also use a strong bond craft glue.

The Sad Little Evergreen Wreath

(photo Granstrom Evergreens)

There once was a sad little faux evergreen wreath.  He spent his first days on a boat from China, only to be stacked out in a discount store with all the other sad little evergreen wreaths.  Then, a miracle....he was chosen!   

Then a cruel trick!  He was just stuck on a hook on the front door.  His branches remained squashed flat and he had to hang out with a big floppy red velvet bow that got stuck on top of him.  Poor little guy!

Okay, cheesy story aside (now there's some late night insomnia for ya!), I know I'm guilty of slapping the wreath on the front door with the premade bow.  You?  No?  Come on, really?

I've always thought "wreath beautifying" was a daunting task only for the craftiest of folk.  WRONG!  It's SO EASY!  Literally, 15 minutes with some floral wire and a little branch "fluffing" and you've got a thing of beauty.

Here are some wreaths I put together for last week's workshop.

1) "Fluff" the wreath, meaning separate each piece and try to get it looking as close to natural as possible.  2) I wired on 4 red berry picks and "fluffed" those as well  3) I wired on an Old World Santa Ornament that had been hanging out in my "Don't Really Use These Anymore" Holiday box for awhile.  I could have probably wrapped some ribbon around the top, but literally, this one took me about 5 minutes!

There's that Lime color again.  It's really growing on me!

1)  Again, "fluff" it!  2)  I used these weird little floppy balls I found at Dollar Tree (one of those, "I have no idea what I will do with these, but I have to have them!" moments)  3) I wrapped lime polka dot ribbon & an emerald green bead garland.

Okay, this is NOT a sad little evergreen wreath, but it IS a sad picture frame.  I used a really huge one, first because I happened to have an old picture frame I picked up on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $4 and second, because I put this one together at about 2 am one night and was thinking, "Wow!  Let's see what a wreath on steroids looks like!"

1)  Use any size picture frame with glass and backing removed.  2)  Wrap evergreen garland around the frame, wiring along the way (I used 2 strands of lighted garland)  3) Add embellishments.   I used Dollar Tree Ball ornaments.  I originally wired them on, but the darn things kept popping off, so I went back and hot glued them on.  I wired red & white silk poinsettias in the bottom corners and then added this tree topper just for some extra "pizazz"!

Now that it's complete I've thought of so many things to do with it (Well, I didn't actually KEEP it.  This was one of the items I raffled off.)  You could hang it over a mirror, over a grouping of framed photos, on your front door if you had a really big one, in a window, around your plasma TV, if you made it to hang horizontal instead of vertical.

So....no more sad little wreaths okay?  Only happy wreaths, happy ones....

Cute candles!

Here are some cute candles I put together last week for my decorating workshop.

Candy Cane Candle...

 

1)  Use hot glue to attach the candy canes to a pillar candle. 2) Let dry about 10 min.  3) Use hot glue to attach a piece of wide wired holiday ribbon to the base of the candle.

And what do you do with the broken candy canes?  You make a little votive...

You can also make one with "faux" candy canes if you don't want sticky fingers.  I found these cute "knobby" ones at Dollar Tree.  Oops, it's a little naked.  I forgot to put the ribbon on it before I snapped the picture!

Butterscotch candy, yum!  I think I ate about 1/2 the bag before I ever got started on this one!

1)  Shop the house for an ugly pillar candle (mine happened to be the color of chicken noodle dinner baby food.  Yes, I still remember that color!)  2)  I took it outside and sprayed the top 2/3 and top of candle with a little spray adhesive.  3) I sprinkled some gold glitter over the adhesive and lightly pressed the glitter into the candle  4) Unwrap the butterscotch candy and hot glue to the base of the candle.  I did 3 rows, but you could do more or less.  5) Tie a gold ribbon bow right above the top row of candy.

Okay, not really a candle, but goes with the candy theme we have going on here.   A Peppermint Topiary!

1) Use a cone shaped object (you can buy the cone forms but they are a little pricey.  I used a silver tinsel cone tree from Dollar Tree)  2) Unwrap the peppermint candy and attach to cone using hot glue (Keep in mind that you may have to break a few pieces in half to fill in the holes.  The pattern won't be completely uniform because of the shape.  If this bothers you, you might just want to skip this project altogether, hehehe)

3)  Tie a ribbon bow and hot glue to top of cone.

I would place this on a silver metal pillar holder to elevate it!

I linked these projects up to Living With Lindsay's Impromptu Linky Party!

Container Madnesssssss!!!!

If you've been reading you know that I hosted a holiday decorating workshop for my PTA friends last week.  It was such a fun event!  I talked a lot about container decorating, and here are some of the containers I put together.

Christmas Ball Ornaments...

Peppermint candy filled, and Candy Canes are hanging out too!

Cranberries with white pillars.  This has been done, but it's just so beautiful. 

I'm doing cranberries in tall glass cylinders on my mantle this year.  It's going to look something like this...

(photo BHG - wish I could say it was mine!)

Fresh Limes with berry sprigs.  You have heard that lime green is THE hot color this year, right?

Cookie cutters I found at Dollar Tree.  Wouldn't this just be adorable in the kitchen?

My rule of thumb with containers is that REPETITION is the easiest way to create a beautiful tablescape or mantle arrangement.  Choose different shapes but fill with like items.  Boy, I wish I would have known that after spending many hours trying to create elaborate arrangements and getting frustrated because it just didn't look right!  Sometimes simple is best!

My new addiction!

I just love these fillable clear glass ornaments!  What a fun project and a cute gift!  I found mine at Hobby Lobby (on sale for $2.50 pack of 4 jumbo or pack of 9 medium size).  I was up all hours of the night last week filling these little suckers up.  I couldn't stop!

Sand and shells....

A beachy ornament I found at:
Completely Coastal

was the inspiration to start this "project" (which turned into an all nighter "crafting" session!)

Check out her blog for other beautiful "beachy" decorating! 

For these, I cut strips of holiday sayings scrapbook paper and used a chopstick to arrange them in the ornament...

For this one, I filled with red hots and used a cute holiday sticker...

And this one is filled with butterscotch candy wrappers!

I poured in a little gold acrylic paint and swirled it around.  Then, I used a little spray adhesive on the outside top half and sprinkled on some gold glitter...

 

A little piece pulled off my evergreen wreath and a cute ribbon...

Buttons...

Visit DIY Tuesday at A Soft Place to Land for more great projects!  AND, go check out the AWESOME ornament projects at Centsational Girl!  Thanks Kate for telling me about your ornament party!