"Vintage" Ornaments. . . . .

I fell in love with THESE ornaments from Miss Mustard Seed and started thinking......could I mimic them?

I went to Michael's and found their fillable glass ornaments at 40% off!

I grabbed one of my old piano books.....yes, it already looked "vintage"....I didn't even need to age it!

I ran the music through my paper shredder until I had a pile of shredded strips....

I loved Miss Mustard Seed's, but I wanted to add a little bit of sparkle to mine...

Using regular glue and Martha's white gold glitter, I painted the tops with glue and shook on the glitter...

I am just loving how they turned out!

I can't wait to hang them on our tree!

Have you put up your tree yet??

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Quick Williams-Sonoma knock-off table runner

How are you decorating your table for your Christmas dinner??  Do you need a quick, easy and cheap idea?



My friend, Lisa, wrote....

"I don't know if you have been into the William Sonoma store in the Mall recently. I only go there to pine... Anyway, I saw one of their table decorations that I thought was sooo simple. So I made it. I already had a white table cloth and purchased a bit of burlap and 1 yd of the plaid and stitchwitched it to make it long enough."

Sorry about the blurry pictures.....she sent them via Facebook....but you get the idea!  I love how crisp it looks!

And quite honestly, I would probably hot glue all the seams!  I have a roman shade on my kitchen window that I made and it is hot-glued....I'm going on at least 2 years with it!

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Gift Idea: tree ornaments from tissue paper!

Yes.....they are made from styrofoam balls and TISSUE PAPER!!!


For the complete tutorial go here to:

She uses this.....and...

....this....to make.....this!

Gorgeous and inexpensive!! 


You could pack them in a white box tied with a simple ribbon and give a set of 6 for a unique and personal Christmas gift!  I'd love to receive a gift like that!!  (but I want a new iron even more!)

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My PB knock-off lanterns

{PB Knock-off....}

 

I posted a while ago about these PB Knock-off Lanterns.  I liked them, but I wanted to add my own touch.....so I did!

 

Would you believe that the only wood  I had to buy was the dowel rods!!  We have a lot of scrap wood!!


I just cut random squares.....I wanted my lanterns to have a more layered look.  I also wanted my posts to be round, so I used dowel rods.

 

Grab your Gorilla glue.....Gorilla glue is your friend!

Glue the dowel rods to your base.  You must make sure that they are the same length....mine weren't (sorry, Dad, you made one a smidge too short!) so the top didn't go on evenly.  So....call your Dad and ask him to fix them because you are too scared to use the tablesaw....


Glue on your top.....

I didn't measure....I had about 8 minutes to put these together before my piano lesson came...so I just kept turning it around and eye-balling if the dowels were in line. 

 I wanted a more layered look for my top, so my hubby cut various sizes of wood squares that I stacked and glued on the top square......

Hmmm......the scrap wood is looking a little uneven----or is that where I was trying to use the table saw, got scared and pulled the wood out the wrong way.......I may need a little caulk.....

 

I've also learned that "cheap" Walmart spray paint is exactly that....cheap.  My $0.97 can is not covering really well.  Looks like another trip to TrueValue to get some Rustoleum Blossom White......

 

Grab a glass vase from The Dollar Tree and your Gorilla Glue.

Glue to your lantern.....after you have let the glue dry....realize that there was a reason the other lanterns were so tall....

There's no way to fit a candle into the vase....grrr!

Place empty lanterns and your front porch and pretend they have candles in them......maybe I'll go grab a $1.00 strand of white lights and fill them with that....

Overall, I think that they go nicely with my Dollar Tree pillows....

 

If you like this scrapwood project.....then you might also like my "old" crate from paintsticks.....

Thanks for visiting!

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Peppermint Wreath

Look at this fun wreath idea!!!  I think that I may fill the empty space on  my front door with this!!
(My door looks so forlorn right now with just an empty wreath hanger there.....*sigh*.....there are only so many hours in a day.....)

I found this cute idea at:



                                                           


She has a complete tutorial on how to make it with starlight mints and red hots!!! 

The best part......you can eat it on January 1....just kidding....kind've.....

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Beaded Initials

We were at my friend, Jenny's, the other evening and she is a crafting maniac!! I'm so glad that I thought to bring our camera because she had amazing projects all over her house!!  I can't wait to share some of them!

But I wanted to show you these so that you would have time to make them before Christmas.......

See the cool initials??? 

It's just wire and tiny beads!!!  Simply adorable and easy and cheap! (and they look amazingly expensive!!)

She just bent a loop at the end to keep the beads on....

....and twisted them into the initials of the members of her family!!

Aren't they just beautiful!!  Thanks, Jenny!

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Glitter trees

This year I am just really into sparkly.......so I wanted to added something sparkly to my mantle.  The problem is that sparkly is expensive!!  But......not a Dollar Tree Sparkly!!!

Dollar tree sells triangular styrofoam forms.....I purchased 3 and then I purchased a green foam thing for my middle tree.  Sorry...I can't remember what it looked like but it's in the same section as the triangular styrofoam........... and somehow those pictures just disappeared from my computer.

For the tall one, I Gorilla glued it to the green form.


Spray paint your styrofoam red and silver......

Brush Mod Podge in sections on the styrofoam and sprinkle with red or silver glitter......

(I think that a mixture of white glue and water would work for this....it doesn't have to be Mod Podge.)

Allow to dry and you get this....

What I really wanted to do is put them on the crystal candle holders from The Dollar Tree.....but they are still out of them!!  All of you people making the Williams and Sonoma knock-off vases......you need to slow down so I can get me some candlesticks!!

Until then.......my mantle.....

(I tied a ribbon around the silver tree because that's the tree I glued onto a green form to make taller....truthfully, with the spraypaint and glitter, I don't think that you'd even notice the seam....)

(I've since adjusted......all that symmetry was a bit trouble-some!) 

Did you notice my Williams and Sonoma knock-off vases filled with Dollar Tree ornaments??

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Christmas Card Display

Each year I get Christmas cards in the mail and I end up putting them in a pile.  So many of them are beautiful pictures or pictures of friends that I would really love to display. 

So.......here's a thrifty suggestion:

Grab an old shutter from the Habitat Restore.......

Grab a bottle of Rustoleum Heirloom White.....and spray!

Get your Christmas cards and a cheap container of wire ornament hooks.

Hang....

I am thinking that it needs something more....maybe a red ribbon around the center of each shutter.....any suggestions?? 

Update:

I just couldn't handle the plain....so I added some ribbon and I love it now!!

Just take some Dollar Tree ribbon and staple it to the back.....

...ahh...a little more festive! 

(Now I just need to grab the screwdriver and take off the hinges and add my glass doorknob for the handle....)

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