Deco Mesh Christmas Wreath

Hello everyone – I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and getting ready to ring in 2013!

Since I was running behind on Christmas gifts this year I did not get to post some of the projects I worked on plus I had to wait until everyone opened their gifts to share my crafty gifts. I will be sharing my Christmas projects with you now and they will always be available for next year.

The first project I wanted to share is my deco mesh Christmas wreath. I needed a new wreath for Christmas and found so many inspiring ideas on Pinterest. The best tutorial I found for creating deco mesh wreaths is pinned here. The one thing to be mindful of when adding the mesh to your wreath is how full you want it and if you have double front doors like me you will need to make sure you make it where both doors will close. 

I started by adding pine covered pipe cleaners I found at Hobby Lobby then started gathering and attaching the deco mesh.



I purchased two glittered gift boxes that had picks attached to them for flower arrangements, I started by removing the picks, inserting two floral pins, and then ran a regular pipe cleaner through the pins to attach to the wreath.

 

When adding the gold Christmas ornaments I glued the top to the ornament so they would not pull apart then ran a pipe cleaner through the loop to attach to the wreath.

To finish off my wreath I added a gold bow and a few decorative picks. I used a pine covered pipe cleaner to make a loop for hanging the wreath.

Here is the finished product.

Tracey

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Tracey

Merry Christmas Gift Card Holder

Eek! I cannot believe that Christmas is just around the corner and I don’t know about you but I am really behind on my crafty gifts. I know I have been slacking on my posts so I thought I would take a minute to share with you the gift card holder I made for those who will be receiving a gift card this year.

I have really been putting my Silhouette to work the last few weeks.

I started by using the Christmas Tree gift card template which is Design ID 4562

For the front of the holder I added Merry Christmas (Design ID 35412) – you will need to resize the shape to fit on the front of the card.

For the back of the holder I wanted to stay with the Christmas tree theme and add a little color so I found some cute Christmas plaid paper that is 3 ½” by 2 ½“. I then used another Silhouette design for the Christmas tree that is ID 23367. This design actually includes three different trees – I used the polka dot tree for my holder but the possibilities are endless with the tree designs you can choose from or that you might even have on hand.

A few years ago I purchased a Christmas pack that had sequins, trees, snowflakes, etc. so I used the red and gold sequins from the pack and the little gold Merry Christmas was in the pack so I decided to add it as well.

To make things a little faster I ran both of the Merry Christmas phrases and the tree through my Xyron sticker machine. Now when I give someone a gift card it has a little more love with it.

Happy Holidays!

Tracey

Snowman Gift Tags

It is finally December so I know that means we are all busy getting ready for Christmas. Today I want to share the snowman gift tags I will be using this year. I got my inspiration from a tag I found on Pinterest that you can check out here but I changed it up a little. Since I had so many to make I found it was quicker to do an assembly line so I completed each step for all my tags then moved on to the next.

The snowman is from the Silhouette Studio titled “3 Winter Icons” by Lori Whitlock and the design number 21807. If you do not have a Silhouette you could cut a circle and use a hole punch for the face.

After cutting each of the faces I stamped “Let it Snow” and the “To and From” on the back of the tags.

I then used a snowflake embossing folder for both the face and hat. After assembling the tag I finished them by punching a hole in each hat and using bakers twine to adhere the tag to my gifts.

This is the back of the finished tag.

I link to these parties.

Happy Holidays!

Tracey

Fall Pumpkins

I don’t know about you but I am starting to get in the Christmas spirit – I have several projects that are waiting on me but before I start on Christmas I have one last fall project I wanted to share.

On Pinterest I found a really cute fall project from Today’s Fabulous Finds titled “Fall Pumpkin Patch”. You can click here for the inspiration behind my design. If you have not visited this blog I would encourage you to head on over (after you finish reading my blog of course) as Janet has some very creative projects especially using wood. Oh and check out her vintage door with the burlap wreath under her project gallery – love it!

When I was ready to start this project I first headed to my dad’s wood stash – as you might remember I have bragged about his scroll work before. After going through his piles of wood and selecting the right pieces for this project I first painted all of them brown.

Once the brown paint dried I got a little creative with my orange paint. I had two different colors of orange and was not happy with either one of them so I started mixing the two together until I got the color I was looking for.

After the paint dried I sanded the wood to distress the edges and expose some of the brown paint. Then using pieces of wood cut from a limb blown from one of our trees I attached the “stems” to my pumpkins. I used Beacons 3-in-1 and you will want to go around the edges as well to make sure they are secure.

While waiting for the stems to dry I cut my Fall letters from brown vinyl and placed them on the pumpkins.

To finish off the pumpkins I attached some fall leaves and raffia. I also followed Janet’s suggestion to tie floral wire around the stem and then I used a pencil to curl the ends.

 

So what do you think? I will share with you what my 16 year old said. I have my pumpkins in my kitchen and he so nicely asked me if they had candy in them because he thought they were bags I had decorated. We all got a good laugh out of it – I’m still trying to figure out if that was a complement or if he was just hungry. J

Remember the Burlap Table Runner I shared with you – it was the inspiration behind Audra’s table runner but she used linen and added beautiful rosettes. So depending on your décor this can give you a similar look using different fabric. Head on over to Reduce, Reuse, and Renewed for a full tutorial and it even includes a link to a banana bread recipe- yum!

Happy Crafting!

Tracey

Featured for Fall and Christmas

Hello everyone – I hope you are having a great weekend! I have some exciting news to share with you. Two of my projects have recently been featured in the bloggy world.

 

First is my recent burlap wreath that was featured by DIY Craft Projects. Peggy did a wonderful roundup of 50 fall wreath ideas. She found some beautiful wreaths so I encourage you to head on over to check them out.

Second is my monogram ornament that I shared during our Christmas in July that was featured by Wait Til Your Father Gets Home. Meredith did a roundup of 13 handmadeornaments that can get you inspired for those holiday gifts and ornament swaps.

Thank you for the feature ladies!

Tracey

Give Thanks

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a few days away. As we start to get in the holiday spirit I know I have so much to be thankful for – a wonderful loving and supportive family, healthy children and grandchildren, friends, a job I enjoy, my crafty blogging family, and being saved by the grace of God. This project is a great reminder of how much we have to be thankful for so this holiday season I hope you will all take time to Give Thanks.

This is a fun, easy and quick project. To start I painted the sides and back of my paper mache letters brown. After giving them time to dry I used Mod Podge to adhere my paper, cut around the edges with my exacto knife and sanded the edges to give the letters some texture and smooth my cut edges. I then used brown ink around all the edges.

To decorate my letters I did the following:

G – The paper I used already had a great design so I added a few leaves and burlap

I – I layered several flowers I already had in my stash then used double sided scallop tape and Martha Stewart Fire Opal Glitter. I also added the same glitter to the center of my brad using double sided glue dots.

V – I added a few leaves and burlap

E – Thanks is made using Tim Holtz grunge letters that I ran through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder then inked them with brown ink. I also added a layered flower with a glitter brad.

That’s it! I added it to my Grandmother’s table with my glitter pumpkins and a vine pumpkin I purchased from Hobby Lobby last year.

Happy Crafting!

Tracey

Updated DIY & Projects Page

Hello everyone I am so excited to share that I have finally finished updating my DIY and Projects page. The previous page included a few pictures of previous projects with the link to the original post. I was not pleased with the layout of the page but it served its purpose until I could learn how to make it a little more organized.

I am still learning all the ins and outs of the behind the scenes maintenance  and writing code for my blog. I spent hours of trial and error trying to update the page so it would show you a picture of the project and then link back to the original post. After a few months and several frustrating attempts I finally figured it out then came gathering all the information that was needed to organize the page while ensuring that it functions properly. I also wanted a page that would help you find any previous projects you might be looking for so take a couple of minutes to browse the new page and let me know what you think.

You can click here to access the new page.

Happy Crafting!

Tracey

DIY: Burlap Wreath

 

Welcome to November everyone! It is so hard to believe it is November, Thanksgiving is only three weeks away, and before we know it Christmas will be here.

I needed a new wreath for fall that would get me through Thanksgiving and I have been eyeing all the wonderful burlap wreaths on Pinterest. When I purchased the burlap for my Table Runner I purchased extra to take a stab at creating a wreath.

For this project you will need a styrofoam wreath (I used a 12” wreath), burlap, and lots of pins.  

I also used a roll of burlap I had previously purchased to wrap my wreath but this step can be skipped if your wreath is hanging on a door and if you use enough burlap to cover the front.

Next comes the fun and messy part - cutting out 4” by 4” squares. To make this process a little quicker I cut a large strip that was 4” wide then used by rotary cutter to cut my squares.

Once all of your squares are cut then you start folding and pinning them onto your wreath. Jennifer at Oh My Owls has a great tutorial on how to fold your squares. The best way to ensure you have a full wreath is to pin the next square so that it covers the pin of the previous square. I had to cut additional squares as I went along so I do not know exactly how many squares I have but I did use over 100 pins. This is what it should look like when you are finished.

I wanted my wreath to reflect fall so I created some flowers using canvas, burlap, and muslin and added cranberry wood beads. I had purchased a leaf garland at the dollar store so I cut it into individual leaves, placed them on my wreath and added my flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To hang the wreath I attached a strip of burlap to the back of the wreath, created a bow from the roll of burlap and stitched it to the top of my burlap strip to finish off my wreath.

Now I just have a couple more fall projects to finish up then I will start on Christmas!

I link to these parties and

My Repurposed Life

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Tracey

DIY: Burlap Table Runner

In my last post I promised I would share my burlap table runner. I found the idea of creating the table runner as I was browsing Pinterest and thought I would try it. This is an easy project but it does take some time to complete.

First I started by measuring how long and wide I wanted my table runner to determine how much burlap I needed – I used 2 ½ yards.

As we all know burlap loves to unravel when it is cut so I decided to take an extra step to prevent this. I measured my table runner without the additional 2 inches so I could create a “seam”. So for example the actual width of my table runner is 24 inches wide but I measured it as 20 inches (to take off the two inches I allowed for fringe on both sides). Using embroidery thread that matches the burlap I weaved it into the burlap so my fringe would stop at 2 inches and followed these steps for both the sides and ends.

Once I had finished my “seam” I then measured my two inches and began cutting my table runner. Make sure when you are sewing your seam that you do not sew it to the carpet – I don’t know who would every do that – but a certain someone wondered why she was having difficulty picking it up from the floor in a few places – again not naming any names here. J

Now comes the messy part – start on one side and begin removing one string at a time from the edge of the burlap until you reach your seam and continue doing this on all sides to make your fringe.

At this point you can admire your work and add it to your table or you might want to add something festive. My first idea was to embroider leaves on the ends but with the spacing and give of the burlap I was not getting the clean lines I wanted. I then decided to find two different leaf patterns to use as a pattern to cut fabric leaves.

I then used matching embroidery thread to stitch them to my table runner and now I have a festive table runner that compliments the centerpiece I shared in my last post.

If you would like additional inspiration for your burlap table runner head on over to Emmaline Bride.

Happy Crafting!

Tracey

Pumpkin Flower Arrangement

Hello everyone I hope you are having a great week and enjoying some fall festivals in your area! We went to Oktoberfest this past weekend and had a great time.

Today I wanted to show you another fall project I completed. Last year Michele at the Scrap Shoppe shared her pumpkin vase and you have to check out her recent post of all her festive decorations – love them! I wanted to create a pumpkin vase using faux flowers for my centerpiece in the dining room and add a smaller arrangement for our living room.

 
I started with two different size styrofoam pumpkins I picked up at Michaels when they were on sale.

I then tied twine to the top so I could hang them from the tree to spray paint them brown.



 

After giving them time to dry I wanted to add a little sparkle to my pumpkins so I used Krylon Glitter Blast in Bronze Blaze.

 

Then it was time to remove the top of the pumpkins and arrange my flowers. I would offer one piece of advice, cut the tops off before you paint so you do not have the white styrofoam showing around the edge or you can go back and paint around the top.

Here is the finished product.

 

I will share my burlap table runner with you next time.

Happy Crafting!

Tracey

Weekend Fun & Glitter Pumpkins

All I can say is WOW what a week it has been – there was a lot going on around our house this weekend. I thought I would share some of our excitement with you. On Friday, my oldest son married his fiancé in a sweet intimate ceremony. They are both so happy together and I wish them many years of blessings ahead – here is the cute couple!

 

Saturday was my birthday so my husband started the day by making me breakfast. Then we took our grandson Ty to the pumpkin patch for a little Fall fun. If you are in the Middle Tennessee area Walden Farms is a great place to go! Here are a few pics from our trip

 

 

With the newlyweds out of town the grandparents alternated keeping Brooklyn (we had to share the love) – she is such a sweet baby but it had been a while since I had two kids so I was a little tired by the end of the day. Look at this precious baby!

 

Okay, so that was my exciting weekend and I am so blessed! So would you like to hear about the glitter pumpkins now? Last year Michele over at the Scrap Shoppe made really cute glitter pumpkins out of glass jars and I knew I wanted to create them for my fall décor this year. I found these two smaller pumpkin jars at Hobby Lobby.



I used the same materials I used when making my glitter ornaments but with Martha Stewart fire opal fine glitter.

After taking the jars apart and discarding the metal pieces I coated the inside of the jars with the liquid Pledge, drained the remaining liquid, filled the jars with glitter, and then rolled the glitter around until the inside of the jar was nicely coated.

After giving the glitter some time to dry, I used Beacon 3 in 1 glue to glue the top to the jar. I knew I wanted to use burlap but you could see the glass through the top so I cut a circle of brown fabric and glued it to the top of the jar. I then cut a circle from the burlap to place over the brown fabric. For the neck of the jar I cut a piece of burlap that would wrap around while allowing enough fabric to overlap. I also cut this piece wide enough so I could fold it three times to add a little bulk while also ensuring you could not see the glass. I then tied a piece of jute around this layer of burlap to help hold it in place. To finish it off I wrapped several pieces of Raffia and added a fall leaf.

This was a fun quick project and I love how they look sitting with some of my other Fall décor.

Happy Crafting!

Tracey