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!

The Dining Room Is Finished!

Hi everyone! I have one project totally done and ready to show off. Yep, the dining room is finished! I took a lot of photos (warning – lots of pictures in this post) so here’s the tour.

I decided on painting the white on the bottom because I originally had wanted to do beadboard wallpaper on the bottom in white. So I kind of had that image in my head and couldn't get rid of it :) I love how it turned out!

People always ask me if I made the curtains. The answer is yes and no! I took store bought toile panels and added the pom pom fringe and red gingham to the top. I’m by no stretch of imagination a “sewer”. But it was easy enough to do since it was just sewing in a straight line.

The tray with the lemons and black and white checkerboard was hanging in my kitchen. The other two are new.

This is always everyone’s favorite tray.

Mine too! 

I still have my book page wreath up cause I love it!

This white three tiered stand is from Goodwill. I bought it a few years ago and it’s one of my favorite purchases since it’s so versatile.

For those of you who are new, this used to be a pine table and chairs.

I always wanted a white table but couldn’t afford a new one so one day I decided to paint it and I’m glad I did! Painted the chairs black and recently re-upholstered the seats in a yummy red toile.

One of the things I love about this room is that we can open the door into the screened porch and get all that wonderful fresh air in the house without the bugs!  It was 74 today - amazing isn't it!!

Hope you enjoyed the tour! Next on my list is to finish the downstairs bathroom.

Happy Weekend, Friends!

My New Loves

I don’t know…it’s a sickness I tell ya. I honestly don’t need anymore dishes. I don’t have room for the ones I already have – lots are stored in plastic bins (which is why I redo my china cabinet so often – so I can get them out to enjoy).

But….I’ve discovered two new china patterns that I heart that seem soooo right for this time of year! Meet my new loves....


Harvest Time and Autumn’s Delight. Both by Johnson Brothers. I think there are very few Johnson Bros patterns that I don’t like!

I just love the little details on them.

I love when the inside of the cup has a little decorative element and look how pretty the handles are!

I only have two pieces of one pattern and just one of the other so far. But that’s the fun of collecting – the thrill of the hunt!

Yummmmm....Pumpkin pie with....Cool Whip :)  Are you a fresh whipped cream, Cool Whip or Reddi-Whip kind of person? I LOVE Cool Whip. I don't normally go for processed stuff but give me a spoon and I'll eat Cool Whip like ice cream! LOL

Anyway...I think these two patterns mix nicely with each other and I think they’ll look good with the brown transferware I already have.



BTW, check out the photo below....I love it so far!



Thank you all so much for the wonderful advice you left in the comments last week. I truly appreciate it. Not to worry, I fully intend on decluttering the walls and shelves, getting rid of some furniture etc before we list the house for sale – but that’s not until March. So I have some time to still enjoy all my stuff! Next week I'll have the re-done dining room (yay one project completely done)!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!