Saturday, November 28, 2009

Glittery, Glistening & Gleaming


Hi everyone! Did you brave the Black Friday crowds or did you stay in like me? I never go out on BF. It's just not worth it to me. But I have several friends who live for this day! My daughter and I enjoyed a day of crafting, art making, movie watching & eating (my Husband unfortunately had to work since he's in retail). Plus, I took down all my fall decorations so I can start Christmas Decorating!! I LOvE decorating for Christmas. I love thinking of new ways of using what I have and it's fun to see what I bought at the end of the season last year (cause you know I don't remember)!


I worked on some more trees. I made another colorful one for my living room. Isn't that red and white polka dot rick rack just the cutest!


I also worked on some trees for my dining room which I decided would only be white, silver or glittery ones. Since last year I did a shiny shimmery Christmas I thought the dining room would be perfect to rework those decorations. Black and silver - white and silver - love those together!


This little silver bottle brush tree below is one I picked up at Target for $4.99! They don't even have them on display at my Target. They're in boxes on the top shelf above the cute cute Christmas Cottages they have this year (they light up and look like vintage glitter houses). Those are definately on my end of season sale list for this year!



I added the silver ornaments, the sparkly topper and the silver bead garland to this white one.


This sparkly silver one is a bleached bottle brush tree that I sprayed with spray adhesive and then dumped a whole lot of Martha Stewart silver glittler on.  I also added some silver ornamaents.


Here they all are together. I'm not keeping them here though. They're going on top of  my little black china cabinet in the dining room.

A few more pictures just because I think they look so pretty!
















Be sure to check back Tuesday for the December Book Giveaway! Also Friday, December 4th is the Cloche Party hosted by Marty at A Stroll Thru Life. I'm really not that good with cloches (or wreaths) but I've challenged myself to come up with something creative. Hopefully I will!  Have a great weekend!






Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!


Hi everyone! I'm sure you're all busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, but I wanted to pop in to wish you all a Happy and Scrumptious Thanksgiving!



Monday, November 23, 2009

A Felt Rosette Tree


Hi everyone! In keeping with my tree theme for Christmas, I'd like to show you a tree that I made using a Styrofoam cone and felt. All the pictures enlarge when you click on them.



I made little rosettes out of the felt and hot glued them to the cone. Here's how:


1. I cut circles out of the felt squares I got at Michaels (they're 4/$1 and I got 4 red and 4 white squares and had just enough to do this size cone).



2. Then I cut the circle into a corkscrew (just keep turning the felt circle in your hand and it will naturally do it).



3. It should look like this when you're done.



4. Next you start rolling it, starting with the end where you made your first cut. As you roll it you'll see that it starts to resemble a rose! You can make it tight or loose - play with it until you're happy with your rosette.




5. When you have a bunch made you can start attaching them to the cone. I used hot glue on the low setting.



This is a really easy project but it does take some time. I cut out circles while watching a movie. I made the rosettes and glued them on as I had time. I worked on this tree for about 4 days - a little bit here and there. This is a good family project too. Kids can cut the circles - they don't have to be perfect!



I sat it on a glass candlestick and attached a bow (everything always looks better to me with a bow)!



Here are two other trees I made a few years ago. This first one is just one of those $1.99 beaded garlands wrapped around a cone (I used hot glue).



The next one I made out of vintage buttons - some that still have the string in them!




You can find the Styrofoam cones in any craft store and the dollar stores usually carry them too. Although my Dollar Tree was all out the day I checked (of course). Next week I'll have a few more trees to share!



Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by! **Judi emailed me to say that she found the package of 21 bottle brush trees at Home Depot for $5.97 which is way cheaper than at Michael's - so check there if you're looking for some to dye.




*Edited to link to

Friday, November 20, 2009

Thrift Score!


Hello everyone! I thought I'd share a few of the things I've gotten at the thriftstore in the past two weeks and I went to two yardsales last weekend (because they were on my street and I was driving by anyway).



I found this tray at my local Goodwill for $3.13! My husband says that I don't find these trays, they find me LOL! This one has a dark green border whereas all the others I've found have a black border. But I think it goes well with the other lemon tray in my kitchen don't ya think?



At the garage sales I found this modern chrome light for my husband's office/the family room (which you know I'm redoing in a more modern look). $7 and it really looks brand new.




I've been looking for a magazine rack for a few months now but all I've seen at the thriftstore are the solid wooden ones and I wanted something a bit different. This was $3 at one of the yardsales and it's perfect. I don't even have to paint it!




Most of you know that I'm collecting all sorts of mirrors to do the tall wall in my foyer. I found this pretty one at Goodwill. I just need to paint it black. So when I turned it over it said Bombay Company!





I thought they went out of business years ago?






Somethings I DID NOT buy....




These beautiful red vintage flocked drapes. OMG I love these! I just don't have anyplace to put them!



They also had this cute pair in an ivy pattern.



Look at this cute red rooster toile cup! I would have gotten this cup if there had been at least two. But sadly, there was only this one.


A green vintage Burlington picnic basket. I don't know. Should I have gotten it? I saw a reddish one here last week. I probably should have gotten that one and this one? My problem is that I just don't have space for all these things! Although I suppose this would be good for storage.
How about a vintage gun case?


Or two bar stools?


A beautiful brass headboard and footboard?


I was thinking about this tree hall last night in bed! I might go have another look at it. I think it's narrow enough to fit in my tiny foyer and I think it would look great painted. Then again, I don't need it....Do you do this too? Drive yourself crazy going back and forth - should you, shouldn't you!! If I'm lucky it'll be gone and then I won't have to think about it LOL!



Our relatives leave on Sunday so things should be back to normal next week! Thanks for stopping by to see my thrifty treasures and have a fabulous weekend!


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A Christmas China Cabinet



Hi everyone! I'm so glad you liked my colorful bottle brush trees! I know that people who decorate with more traditional colors will want to keep them green but isn't it fun to know they don't have to stay that way! Here's what I did with some of mine.




I put some of my brown transferware in my china cabinet and added some of the trees. I'm not going to show you everything because there are some Christmas Open House blog parties that I'm participating in and I don't want you to be sick of my stuff by then! All the photos will enlarge when you click on them.









For the time being, I've hung one of my favorite pieces of redwork on the glass door but I'll probably change it out for a wreath once it gets closer to Christmas.




I'm not done with this cabinet but I did want to get a early jump on some of my Christmas decorating so I don't have to rush right after Thanksgiving (especially since I'm making so much this year)!



Friday I'll show you a few things we've gotten at Goodwill in the past few weeks (that place is more packed than my local Target these days!). As always, thanks so much for dropping by!