Monday, December 9, 2013

Winter Wonderland Repurposed Storage Jar

Christmas Jar 3

We visited our favorite little antique town this weekend and while there, I picked up a clear glass storage jar. Maybe it was seeing all of the vintage Christmas displays in the stores but I immediately had an idea mind for my jar which also provided another chance for me to bleach  more bottlebrush trees. You can check out this post for more on the trees.

Christmas Repurposed Jar

For this project you will need:
  • Large glass storage jar with removable lid
  • Bleached bottlebrush tree
  • Epsom Salt
  • Jingle Bells (large and small)
  • Snowflake pick
  • Wood Word or letters
After cleaning up your jar, glue the bleached tree to the bottom.

Christmas Repurposed Jar 2

I put a big glob of hot glue on the bottom of the tree since I wanted it to stand firmly in the jar. Once the tree’s glued in, pour in some of the epsom salt and then drop in a few of the jingle bells, add more salt. When satisfied with the depth, place the snowflake pick and phrase inside the jar. I sprinkled some iridescent glitter on top.

Christmas Repurposed Jar 1


Christmast Repurposed Jar 4

Cover the rim of the jar with a coordinating washi tape, twine, and ribbon, and then tie a few jingle bells to the ends.

VIntage Repurposed Christmas Jar

It’s sitting on my Winter Wonderland vintage mantle with my other bleached trees.


Sharing At: 




Thursday, December 5, 2013

BFF Open House Link Party #134

The Answer Is Chocolate

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving was already a week ago and Hanukkah has come and gone. December shows no signs of slowing down. We had a smaller party last week due to the holiday but here are some fab features. Can't wait to see what everyone's been up to this week !


Tis the season for baking so whip up these adorable and festive peppermint mocha cupcakes. They are too pretty to eat! Visit Life With the Crust Off for the details. 


Printables are such an easy and inexpensive way to update your decor. This one from 24 Cottonwood Lane is no exception. 


I think your table should be as amazing as the food you prepare. Digiscrapboutique  shared how to use scrapbooking supplies to dress up a holiday table. 


The holidays just scream chocolate and mint don't they? How about these Nutella Mint stuffed crescent rolls? Yes please. Stop by This Silly Girls Life for the how to.  

Now, onto this week's party! 









Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Ghosts of Christmas Ornaments Past: Paper Mache Ornaments

You could say I love ornaments. Did you say it? I have all kinds but some of the ones I love the most were the simplest to make.

 One of the easiest types of ornaments to decorate are the plain paper mache ones that every craft store carries. They come in all kinds of shapes...the basic ones like circles, squares, etc can usually be found year round, and during the holidays there are lots of choices.

I thought I'd share some past projects using them . The original posts / tutorials are all linked. They are an easy and inexpensive way to add to your decor or to make as package toppers, gifts etc.



For these, I stamped directly onto the ornament and embellished with rhinestones and glitter. 



These were done the same way as the first but I added some beads to the end of the ornament. 




These use a combination of vintage sheet music, graphics from The Graphics Fairy, and Mod Podge. The only limit is your imagination!



These are a combination of the two. Mod Podged with sheet music and edged in glitter. The focals are metallic snowflake stickers. Again, you could use any combination of papers / stickers, buttons, jewels. 



These I actually used in a banner for Valentine's Day but the idea could easily be adapted for Christmas. PEACE, JOY, NOEL are all words that could be used. 


Each year when we get out the Christmas stuff I get to re-live memories of the years I made these. I hope you find some inspiration !


Sharing At:







Sunday, December 1, 2013

Vintagey Merry Christmas Printable


After a couple of years of a bright mantle, I'm feeling neutrals and silver this year.  Sharing this printable I made using PicMonkey which I could sit and play with all day but I have decorating to finish! 

It's sized to 8x10 but you can resize smaller if you like. Click on the image to bring to full size, then right click to Save As. 

Sharing At: 





Friday, November 29, 2013

BFF Open House Link Party #133

The Answer Is Chocolate

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I didn't put the party up last night figuring everyone was too pooped to party. So for those of us avoiding the Black Friday craziness, let's heat up some spiced cider and take a look at some features from last week. 


Hanukkah Gifts

Hanukkah started the night before Thanksgiving. If you still need an idea for the remaining days or want to pin for next year, Doreen at Altered Artworks has a fantastic idea. Hanukkah in a jar!

DIY Tabletop Christmas trees

If you're spending the weekend decorating for Christmas, whip up a few of these tabletop trees to supplement your decor. Very Anthropologie! Details at  Philzendia 


Mason jars are everywhere and they're a wonderful way to package gifts. Whether for food gifts or craft supplies, they come in handy. Dana at This Silly Girl's Life has more. 

cheesecake recip

Tis the season when you need to whip things up quickly. You'll never guess the secret to these Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Turtle Bites. Head over to DigiScrapBoutique for the recipe. 

Now for this week's party!




Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you a day spent with friends and family as we pause to remember all for which we have to be thankful.




Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Bleached Bottlebrush Trees

Botttlebrush Trees

I love the look of vintage holiday decorations and have long wanted some vintage bottlebrush trees. I’m automatically drawn to displays of them in stores. I am not always drawn to their price so once again, I decided I could make my own.  SO easy. Another why didn’t I do this before project.

You will need:
  • Bottlebrush trees. Can be found at hobby and craft stores or where Christmas villages etc are sold. I bought a big bag at JoAnn’s last year for 75% off after Christmas knowing that I wanted to make some this season.
  • Household bleach.
  • Water
  • Container
  • Time
  • Spray adhesive
  • Glitter
I googled around for some hints on how to bleach the trees. All of the instructions were similar: mix equal parts bleach and water in a container; submerge trees, wait. Time is the tricky part and my conclusion is you just have to keep an eye on your trees vs an absolute amount of time. One tree took 15 min. Another the same size took 30. Just bleach until they’re the color you want. I wanted natural but may do some more and stop at pale green. I've seen tutorials where people have dyed them all kinds of colors or used spray inks etc.

Bleached Bottlebrush Trees
Mr. Chocolate only looked at a little oddly when I told him I was bleaching trees. He just doesn’t ask anymore. What’s weird is the color bleaches out but the flocking stays on the trees.
Glittered Bleached Bottlebrush Tree

While the trees were drying from their bleach bath ( rinse with plain water once you get the color you want), I made their bases by wrapping some wood spools with washi tape.

Washi Spools

When the trees were dry, I used a spray adhesive (Elmers) and silver and iridescent glitter. Spray, sprinkle, turn, repeat.  Then hot glued them to my spools.

Natural Bottlebrush Trees


Bleached Bottlebrush Tree Closeup

They’ll likely end up on my mantle but since I’m a diehard about not decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving , I haven’t totally decided yet.

Sharing At: 



Monday, November 25, 2013

Christmas Card Making Made Easy with Coordinating Papers

Merry and Bright Cards 1

Products in this post were supplied to me by Oriental Trading Company. Project ideas and opinions are my own.
I love making cards and some of my favorite cards to make are Christmas cards. Since I make a lot of Christmas cards, I look for ways to make them unique but not too time consuming. One way to do that is to use coordinated papers like the Bright Christmas pack from Oriental Trading Company. 100 sheets of light cardstock weight scrapbook paper in coordinating patterns for $16.
Merry and Bright 5 Papers

I chose 5 different papers from the pack and since all of the colors coordinate, I just went with a combination of patterns and prints. A couple of the sheets had images perfect to use as focals for the cards. This is a great way to make cards if you don’t have a lot of cardmaking supplies and you don’t even need to be a stamper since you’re using the images from the papers.

Oriental Trading Findings

Santa was in the corner of this green polka dot paper so I cut out a panel, and layered him to a slightly larger piece of black paper. Using coordinating embellishments ( also from OTC) I added a little candy cane brad to Santa and finished him off with a couple of dabs of glitter glue on his hat and holly berry.

Merry and Bright Cards 2

For other cards, I combined papers using some as borders ( top and bottom here) and then as the focal point of the card.  I used more glitter glue in places to give the pieces more dimension.

Merry and Bright Cards 3

I made 8 cards with combinations of the 5 papers. I did some stamping on a couple of the cards but used one stamp and one ink to keep things simple. I had so much fun playing with the papers I can’t wait to sit down with them some more.

Merry and Bright Cards



d

Thursday, November 21, 2013

BFF Open House Link Party #132

The Answer Is Chocolate

Welcome back to another party here at The Answer Is Chocolate. I want to start off with a big thanks because last week's party was the biggest ever. I never get tired of seeing the amazing ideas you all continue to come up with. Here are just a few:

gobble

If you need a quick and easy piece of Thanksgiving decor, you don't want to miss this printable from Tara at A Spectacled Owl

Chain Reaction Necklace - tutorial by Rena Klingenberg

Looking for a stunning necklace to wear for Thanksgiving or the holidays check out this tutorial from Rena at Jewelry Making Journal


How stinkin' cute is this piece of embroidery hoop art from Bethany at Pitter and Glink? Think of all the images you could use for this idea!

Brownie Snowballs - A fun, festive treat to add to your holiday baking list! http://backforsecondsblog.com #christmasdessert #snowball #brownierecipe #shop #KraftEssentials

Finally, I can't wait to try this week's chocolate feature that combines my favorite duo of chocolate and coconut: Brownie Snowballs from Stephanie at Back for Seconds ( and Thirds, Fourths etc. ) 

Now time to see what you've been up to this week! Who's already started decorating for Christmas?