Sparkly Corrugated Cardboard...Pretty!

Earlier this week,my second daughter at home on break from college went 'acrafting down in the sewing room.  I thought maybe I could hide the wreath she made so I could keep it.

A great tutorial for book page roses can be found here and I've made quite a few into wreaths and just put some in a bowl.  But, I really like that Bonnie used corrugated cardboard for the flowers.  Really like the corrugated cardboard.

She wrapped an embroidery hoop with textured off white yarn for the base and with a generous sprinkling of glitter, the wreath is beautiful! The wreath found it's home in her apartment and does not hang on the door in my laundry room. :(  But, now I realize that I need a wreath on the door in my laundry room. :)

There was more I realized about the door in my laundry room too when I took the pictures, but what fun would that be to blog about?

Bonnie and I will both tell you that you really don't have to be too exact in cutting the spiral.  Once you start gluing it's very forgiving.  Neither of us even drew out the spiral, we just cut.

I have a couple of baby projects to post about next week. Did I tell you all that our expected grand baby is a girl?!  Isn't it funny, that there would be an exclamation point included whether it was a boy or a girl?  :)

  My New Year's Post   from last year is still relevant today, so I'll just say Happy New Year!!

A Sweet New Bag to Bring in the New Year

I will be "toten' in style" in 2012.

I used one of my fat quarters that I blogged about here to sew this tote.  For some reason, having things dated is really appealing to me right now.

I used some vintage yellow fabric I had to line it and part of a canvas shower curtain for the back of the bag. :)  I'm sorry I didn't take photos along the way to give you a tutorial, but it's just a basic sew right sides together kind of tote.  I used the extra fabric I cut off to make the handles.

This wall hanging is going back with one of my daughters to her apartment.  You can purchase the same fat quarter tea towel calendar here.  The design is by Patty Sloniger. Her blog can be found here. The linen cotton canvas is recommended and I agree.

I hope your Christmas Season and the end of 2011 is a peaceful time for you.

Advent Ends :: Christmas Begins

I bought (or traded for) this green wire tree from Leah last year sometime.  I may have actually paid her cash for it :)  We've been known to trade though which I love to do.  She loves it too.  You could say, "Hey, Leah I'd trade you  for one of those awesome trunks with which you built your awesome tree!"  "To which she may say, "Sure, do you have an extra fruitcake?"  funny, I am.

Anyway....back to the tree project. Keeping predominantly red and green in mind,  I dug out a couple of old magazines,

some vintage flash cards,

vintage fabric scraps, stamps,

a few vintage greeting cards from an old scrapbook I bought at an auction,

a few pieces of red and green vintage jewelry pieces,

a bunch of well aged clothes pins,

wrapping paper,

And clipped them all on with the help of my daughter.

I am praying for a blessed Christmas season for all of you.  

May you find joy where it's unexpected.

Merry Christmas!

::~::

A Little More Sparkly

I started glittering old light bulbs here at the end of November.  The glitter I used was just craft store glitter, but after much coercing, I convinced myself to use some of my authentic vintage glitter.

I'm not kidding, I'd much rather collect vintage supplies sometimes than use them, because then you see, you don't have them.  Sometimes potential is so much more...(does that make sense to anyone else?)

I bought these bottles of glitter at an auction awhile back and the colors are so perfect.  They were from Editha's craft supplies.  I think I would have liked Editha, I certainly liked all of her supplies I came home with!

So glad I used the vintage glitter!!!

Kids have been sick here and it's been stressful...

We are still trying to "get ready"  but the real meaning of the season is not lost, but found even in the midst of the stress.  Keeping my eyes on the star.

Tinsel and vintage Christmas balls in a canning jar :)

Peace to all of you.

The magic of Christmas, Florabella overlays, and glitter light bulb garland set a festive mood!

Christmas-y Bundt Cake Recipe

I imagine Bundt cake recipes are abundant out there but that won't stop me from sharing this one with you. :)  My sister in law gave me the recipe quite a few years ago.

Easy and delicious.

This is this week's cake. It made it to the cake plate.  I made it yesterday and there is only a sliver left.

This is last week's cake when I planned to blog about it.  But there has been too much "merry making" around here to get it posted until now.

It didn't make it to the cake plate before I had to cut into it.

Recipe:

1 cake mix

1 small pkg. instant pudding mix

1 C. water

1/3 C. oil

4 eggs

Mix for 30 sec. on low speed then for 2 min. on med. speed with an electric mixer.  Put in a greased bundt cake pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 55-60 min.

Let cool 10-15 min. and remove from pan. 

When completely cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

You can use any flavor combination of cake mix and pudding that you like.  This is the combination we all just loved this past week.  Spice cake.

And gingerbread pudding.

I'm a big fan of frosting, but honestly this cake is just so good without any frosting.  Not filling.  Just the right amount of sweet.

Now, I know you all don't have time for silliness, but just in case you need some.... we can't have a bundt here without this scene being "played" out.  I know.  Lame.  But, it makes me smile :)

I do hope your Advent time is going smoothly.  May these days be blessed for you!

Make It Merry

I'm blog hopping for 14 days with Diane and the Make it Merry Gang...14 days of DIY Christmas decor!

My assignment:  Christmas Trees.

I've been wanting to make a tree out of scrap wood for a few years now, so this just gave me the nudge I needed. 

Should you like to make one...I'll show you how I made mine.  First you need to create a center post stand.  I used a 2x4 and four 1x6 pieces for the base.  The measurements are whatever you want or have on hand. :)

This is what the base looks like.  I suppose there is a name for such a configuration. A stand like this could be used for so many things besides a tree.  A coat rack and sign post come to mind now.

After screwing in the first two boards, you just rotate the stand and add the third, then fourth.  I pre drilled all the holes.

Next, I laid out the scrap pieces of wood I picked out for the tree.  A couple of them I did cut just a little, but mostly I just played around with what I had.  Some are drawer front pieces, one is part of a coat rack, one a cupboard piece, some from tables and so on.  Just keep rearranging until you like what you have. I then scrubbed them all clean with hot soapy water.

  When dry, I screwed each of the pieces in place from the back on the post. (pre drill)  After a few of them, it got awkward and I had to have my husband help me hold them and drill them in.  If my work table would have been cleared off I think I could have managed on my own but it wasn't. :)  It was fun to have him help me anyway.

All done!  I experimented with adding some vintage ornaments and my sparkle light bulbs, but decided I like it just as is with a couple of birds.  It won't be staying in this spot, but I needed to take pictures where I had some natural light.

That teal wainscoting is my favorite scrap wood.  I've used some of it here before.

I left the hardware just "as is" on the pieces. I enjoy the randomness.

Of course, every tree needs a topper.

Mine is baling wire around an old metal embroidery hoop.  Those embroidery hoops come in handy!
I nailed it into a block of wood on the post.

If you would like to see another scrappy DIY tree, click here to see my posts for last year's Junkle Bells tree.

Here's the big list again for the Make it Merry blog hop.  You can click on each one and follow along.

Spoonflower Sale!

Last year at this time, Spoonflower had a buy one, get one free of their fat quarters and I jumped on it.  This year they are doing the same thing this week and I wanted to let you in on it!

I bought some tea towel calendars for gifts and my favorites from last year have been updated for 2012!

This birdie one is so cute!

After I took the picture I cut off the excess dowel rod and fixed the ribbon. :) I was in a hurry for some reason to take the picture.  

The 2012 calender can be purchased here.

The design comes on a fat quarter and then you have to hem it yourself.  It wasn't hard. On one of them, I did have to cut off the extra from the bottom and add it to the top to have enough fabric to make a pocket to place the dowel rod.  I added upholstery tacks to the end of the dowel and tied the ribbon to them.  You could just hem it all the way around and use pins to hang it on your wall or frame one if you're really ambitious. Hmm, I guess you could use one as a towel too. :)

I didn't take a picture of the one I gave my oldest daughter, but you can view it here on flickr.  After hemming it and adding the rod pocket I embroidered a circle around her and her husband's wedding date.  Get it?!  It's a bicycle built for two!!

Do you know anyone getting married this year?  It's a great gift!

The designer (beck&lundy) has updated the calendar and you can purchase it here (choice of two different colors).

For you tea drinkers:  this one!

Spoonflower recommends the linen cotton canvas for the tea towels and that is what I bought.   At BOGO, that's only $7 a piece.

With a fat quarter of this fabric, you can make 3 doll rattles.  Cute!  (I bought it last year and now this year I'm going to have a grand baby.....)

Another favorite of mine...what about a tote bag out of it?

I've blogged about Spoonflower before...wouldn't it be great to design your own fabric?!...on my to do list!

Link for all tea towels.

Remember the sale is for all fat quarters, not just tea towels.

I'd love to know if you decide to order any and how you used it!

A Little Sparkly

Another great idea from craftzine blog via pinterest.  Have you sparkled any of your old light bulbs yet?  We haven't made the transition to LED Christmas lights yet so I have quite a few old bulbs. My daughter and I glitzed these up in short order.  I'll show you our garlands after they dry. So pretty aren't they?

Make it Merry began yesterday!

I'm still working on my project ;)
Each of the blogs listed above is a live link so you can easily check out the Merry Projects and blogs!

Homemade Kettle Corn

You may love me or hate me after this post. :)

I was looking for snack recipes and saw one here for kettle corn.  What?!  Why have I not ever thought to look for these directions before?!  

Here are the ingredients.  When I make popcorn on the stove I never measure.  But, for this I did and really think it was a good idea.

1/4 C. oil (highly recommend the buttery flavor popcorn oil)

1/4 C sugar

1/2 C popcorn

Scant 1/4 tsp. popcorn salt

So, my popcorn pan has seen some use. :)  I think it's a 2 quart size, but a bigger one would be a good idea.

Add the oil to the pan and when hot (when three test kernels have popped) add the sugar and popcorn.  Stir it quickly and replace the lid.

The original recipe said let the pan sit 3 seconds, shake 3 seconds.  I did this and it didn't burn.  However, if you make a second batch, wash out or at least wipe out the pan in between so you don't have any stray pieces or sugar burn while the new oil is heating.

I added the salt after I put the popcorn in the bowl and tossed it to break up the sticky pieces, but I think you could add the salt to the oil too.

yum....mmmmm....yummmmmmmyyyyyyyy.....mmmm....

Just in case you don't get enough to eat tomorrow you can whip up a batch of this!

May you have blessed Thanksgiving!