My Top 2010 Projects Review

I was planning on doing this post next week in 2011, but my friend Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality is having her projects party today so I thought I’d join the fun. Please visit her to see the other party goers.

These are just some of my favorite projects!

This year I replaced the center of a kitchen cabinet with chicken wire and rooster toile.
Cabinet Makeover

I also altered some books with spray paint, stamps and scrapbook paper.
Painted Books & A Fireplace Vignette

One of my very favorite pieces of furniture and my favorite furniture makeover is of a halltree I got at Goodwill.
My Red Foyer


I made my own toile candles and this is such an easy way to personalize your own candles!
How To Make Those Toile Candles

Another piece that I madeover that I’ve used a lot this month is the kitchen cart I got at Goodwill.
Another Goodwill Makeover

Like practically everyone in blogland, I made a coffee filter wreath plus  a few different wreaths like this 
Fall Book Page Wreath Tutorial

and this  Valentine yarn wreath.

So far my very favorite project of the year has to be my dining room! A can of paint, some molding, and decluttering is all it took.
The Dining Room Is Finished

As many of you know, I’m preparing my home to be listed for sale the end of March so I’ve got a “few” more projects left to do - two bathrooms, two bedrooms, lots of decluttering and organizing and some yard projects too!

Thanks so much for stopping by to see what I've done in the past and I hope you all stick around to see all my new projects!

A Snowy Cozy Christmas Weekend

We had a really lovely Christmas and I hope you all did too! The thing that made this Christmas super special is that we got snow!!

It rarely snows in Atlanta in December and it’s even more rare to get snow on Christmas Day. It was a lovely surprise and made the day even more special for everyone. I think the children in the neighborhood enjoyed the snow more than any presents they received under their trees!

Here are a few wintery scenes from my garden….I’m sure the  snow will be gone by tomorrow.







Maxie is enjoying the snow and doesn’t want to come back inside. Yes, I’m leaving you and going inside where it’s warm…crazy dog!

I’ll make some scrumptious hot coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer, snuggle under a plush throw, have a few Christmas cookies and enjoy my new books for the rest of today!

Thanks for dropping by and please come back on New Year’s Day for my annual A Fresh Start Book Give Away!

Decorating For Christmas

or maybe I should say not decorating for Christmas? I didn’t even do a quarter of the stuff I normally do, but that’s o.k. I just don’t want to invest in the time to pull all that stuff out AND put it  away (we’ve already started packing some stuff up for our move next year).

But I thought I’d show you what I did do this year.

Starting with this little garland I made from a box of knit gloves/stocking I found at Big Lots. I think they’re suppose to be ornaments.

I just tied them on to some Christmas ribbon and hung it above my sofa. I figure this can stay up through winter.

Now I had the best intentions to make another garland using these yo-yos above. But just never got around to it and don’t know if I will (I can’t believe Christmas is so soon – I just got started with my shopping!!!).

But if you want to try it – this is what it’s supposed to look like. Cute isn’t it? This is from the Holiday 2010-2011 issue of Quilting Arts Gifts Magazine.

It has soooo many really cute ideas like these no-sew ornaments that I was going to do in various red fabric and hang off a white tree (maybe next year).

Every year I do a china tree in my dining room. I think it’s a fun tree for a dining room!

This year is no different except I used a white tree and added some of my vintage monogrammed silverware.

Last year I hung small plates as well as the cups.

If you can’t find already made up ornaments (I’ve been lucky with TJ Maxx), a few years ago I took little teacups and saucers from the thrift store and glued the two together (example above). You could also use those play children’s tea sets.

If I had room I’d do a tree  in my kitchen and hang kitchen stuff off it! Fortunately I don’t :)

Finally, I’d like to show you the beautiful burlap table runner the Becky @ Sweet Cottage Dreams made for me. She had a give away last month and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners!

As I told her, I had been wanting to make one for the longest but never got around to it. So how perfect that I won one of hers!

Look at the pretty double ruffle she added! Thank you Becky – I really really love it!

Well gang that’s it for me until next year. I’m going to take a break from blogging. I plan on reading some good books, my daughter and I are working on a puzzle and I’m going to watch season 6 of Gilmore Girls (again) plus a whole lot of other things that have nothing to do with decorating or renovating.

I hope you all make time to really enjoy this holiday season and I hope it’s filled with nothing but good things for each of you.              

How To Make Your Own Dyed Bottle Brush Trees and Other Holiday Decorations

 
              (Christmas 2009 photo)
Hi everyone! I hope you all had scrumptious Thanksgivings and everyone got along! We had a wonderful day (the weather was summer like). We had dessert on the porch! Of course this morning it was in the 20’s – that’s Georgia weather for ya.

I’m decorating for Christmas this week (I’m not doing too much this year since I don’t want to have to pack up a lot of stuff) but I thought some of you might like to know how to make your own dyed bottle brush trees since it’s so easy and they’re so inexpensive compared to ones you can purchase.

Plus you can customize them to your colors. I (of course) did mostly red, yellow and silver last year. These would be pretty in pink, blue, green etc!
Click here: How To Bleach and Dye Bottle Brush Trees

This is a really really easy wreath I made last year out of pom poms!
Click here: How To Make A Pom Pom Wreath

Here’s a red and white tree I made from felt along with some bottle brush trees.
Click here:How To Make A Felt Rosette Tree

A yarn tree - which has got to be the easiest tree to make. All you do is get a cone (Dollar store/Michaels/etc) and wrap yarn around it until it’s totally covered. I added a pom pom to the top. You can also see a bit of a tree that I decoupaged with scrapbook paper.

                  (A button tree & glitter snowball)
I was really into making trees last year! This year I’m making my some easy garlands.

Above are unfinished birdhouses from the Dollar Tree that I decopauged one year with Christmas scrapbook paper and some letters to spell “JOY”. Have a look through the Archives for more ideas. You can search by category or just look at November/December posts from previous years.

I’ll be back next week with some Christmas decorations and then I’m taking a break until January or so. I won't be working on any house projects during that time so I'll have more time to finally catch up with you all!

Thanks for dropping by today and have a wonderful weekend!

An Autumn China Cabinet

I think it may finally be fall in Atlanta (although I saw someone at Kroger today with flip flops on)! The beautiful fall foliage inspired me to bring out my brown transferware and I spent a pleasant afternoon re-arranging my living room china cabinet.


The bad thing about living in a small space is that you never have enough room to have everything out at once. The good thing about living in a small space is that you never have enough room to have everything out at once! So I rotate a lot of my collections.


It’s always like get new stuff when you take something out that’s been stored away!


Like I said before I don’t need anymore dishes but I just love the Harvest Time pattern (the sugar bowl with the pinecones) and look forward to collecting it over the next few years.


Some of the patterns are my favorite Johnson Brothers.



But there’s also Spode, Myott, and Royal Staffordshire.


I made this Thanksgiving picture using a graphic from the The Graphics Fairy.


I saved it to Paint and printed it on cardstock but regular printer paper would be fine also. I repurposed a frame I already had and added some brown silk ribbon.


I have a set of Johnson Brother’s Friendly Village that I always use for Thanksgiving and Christmas that aren’t shown. I’ll have to take the cups down to use on that day but that’s about all I’ll have to remove. Crazy isn't it! To top it off, I've always wanted...Christmas china - there's really no help for me is there. I'm just happy I'm not alone in my obessesion!


I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!