Christmas Shutter Decor

I wanted a new decoration for the front door this year, so I came up with this little lovely.  Very easy to put together and also easy to take apart in case you want to use your shutter again for something else.

I found and pinned THIS idea on Pinterest (Thanks Linda!) and went from there with my idea.  I decided not to paint my shutter.  Mainly because I made this during our recent Texas ice storm and I really didn't think painting was an option!

To recreate my shutter decor, you will need:

1 old shutter
A few Christmas tree trimmings or greenery of some type
Nippers to trim your greenery
Light weight wire
Pliers or wire cutters
Pine cones
Twine
Ribbon for a bow
Miscellaneous decorations (I used some glittery twigs)
Hot Glue Gun

Arrange your greenery and secure with wire.  Add as much or as little as you like until it looks good to you.

Next, glue the twine lengths to your pine cones, make your bow and then tie everything together and hot glue it to your greenery.

Lastly, make a hook with your wire and attach it on the backside of the shutter for hanging.  Not too shabby for a craft made in 20 degree weather!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn
The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible
Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Our Burlap Forest

Normally at Christmas time there are snow people everywhere in our home.  This year I decided on something a little different...just for a change.  Oh and by the way.....we still have a few snowmen here and there.

We both love old and rustic stuff, so that was my theme this year.  On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby I gathered up a few supplies to make some burlap trees for the mantel.

I made 4 different trees.  The first one was the tallest and it was already a cardboard form.  I simply wrapped it with burlap ribbon.

Nothing hard are too much to tell, just grab the glue gun set on the lowest setting and glue the beginning of the ribbon to the form.  Continue wrapping and gluing all the way to the end.

The smaller trees were Styrofoam forms, not so easy to just wrap and glue.  I had to cover them with Kraft cards stock paper first.

Do a test run by just wrapping the paper on the form until you get it the way you need it to cover the form completely.

Again, using the glue gun on the lowest setting, glue the paper to the form.  Make sure you get all the edges glued for a smooth base.

Finally, trim the paper down to the size of your form.  Save the leftover paper as filler for your larger forms.  The 8 1/2 x 11 paper doesn't quite fit the larger forms.

Now that they are all three wrapped, I can get to gluing the ribbon on.  NOTE: I know I keep repeating myself about the glue gun and using the lowest setting, but burlap has holes in it and it WILL get on your fingers.  The lower setting is safer but still be very careful!  Ok, I'm done harping! LOL!

For the smallest tree I used a thin woven ribbon with fringe on both edges.  This does not have to be perfect, just wrap and glue as you go.  Tuck in and glue as you need to.  No two trees will look the same.

For the largest of the smaller trees, I used a wider ribbon with fringe on both sides.  This is the same ribbon I used for the really tall tree.  I cut little sections about 2 1/2" long and started gluing them on slightly overlapping them as I went along.

Ok, here's the first two all done.  Looking so cute!  I decided to use some more of my burlap feed sack to make the medium tree.

I just cut up some strips, no certain size, just cut strips, long and short.  I started at the bottom and moved my way up to the top overlapping and layering as I went.

Here are the 3 smaller trees.  I think they turned out really cute!  I was having so much fun that I was kind of sad when I was done with the last one.

Here they all are up on the mantel hanging out with our ruler star we just picked up at an antique mall recently.  So cute! I love them!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn
The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible
Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Chalkboard Art for Valentine's Decorating

Although the post title states Valentine's decorating, I suppose you could this phrase all year long if you wanted to.  All you need is love, love is all you need.  No truer words could be spoken in song by the Beatles.  While browsing Pinterest, I noticed a lot of people using Beatles songs for their chalkboard art...I love it!

Mr. Bear seems to be smiling in approval of the chalkboard art that is hung above him...or maybe its his flower made with cupcake liners that he holds in his hand.  I found the idea HERE.  So sweet, but very time consuming!

To create my chalk masterpiece I used white chalk only.  I wrote out the complete phrase first and then went over it several times to make it more bold.  The "love" was gone over probably about 4 or 5 times.  To make the white area that the "love" sits in I simply turned the piece of chalk on its side and ran it across the surface and then rubbed it with my finger tips to make it blend better.

To create the shadow effect I used a damp paper towel and removed the chalk back to the black chalkboard color. Cool huh?  And just for a little added Valentine's detail, I dotted the I(s) with hearts.

Only 11 more days till Love Day!  Good thing we decorated early so we could enjoy all the colors of Valentine's Day a little longer.

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:

Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn
The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick
 
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it Simple
Thrifty Decor Chick

Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Wednesday
Lil’ Luna
Clean and Scentsible
Green Eggs and Goats
Lady Behind the Curtain 
4 You with Love

Thursday
Bloom
Two Yellow Birds Decor

Friday 
Tatertots and Jello
Joyful Stamper
Craftionary

Saturday
Positively Splendid
I Heart Nap Time
Or So She Says 
Your Homebased Mom 

read more

Pretty Rose Kissing Ball

I wanted a few new Valentine's Day decorations so I thought I'd make them myself.  The first one I've tackled is a pretty rose kissing ball.  I've seen these kissing balls around the webs and figured it would be easy to recreate one.  I got my basic idea HERE.

I love how it turned out!  It was simple to do and only took me about 30 minutes total to complete.

To recreate my kissing ball you will need the following items which I purchased at Wal Mart.

(4) silk rose bushes - .97 each
(1) 5" Foam ball - $3.00
(3') Craft Ribbon - $1.97
(10) Pearl head pins - 2.97
Hot glue gun and glue optional

After I broke down the cost of supplies it took to make one ball, the total cost for this kissing ball was $7.72.

To make the ball, remove the buds and the leaves from the stems and start poking them into the foam ball until you've used up all the flowers and leaves.  I used 4 rose bushes and there was still some foam showing on the bottom, so I used more of my ribbon to cover it up.  Just fold your length of ribbon in half and use one of the pins to secure it.

I perched the finished kissing ball on an old black candlestick I had and it was done!  It will be going in on the mantel with the rest of the black and red vignette I've created in there.  What have you made for love day...please leave me a link, I'd like to visit you and see what loveliness you've come up with.

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:

Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn
 
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it Simple
Thrifty Decor Chick

Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Wednesday
Lil’ Luna
Clean and Scentsible
Lady Behind the Curtain
Green Eggs and Goats
4 You with Love

Thursday
Bloom
Two Yellow Birds Decor

Friday
Tatertots and Jello
Joyful Stamper
Craftionary

Saturday
Positively Splendid
I Heart Nap Time

read more

Picture Frame Pine Cone Wreath

My Mama recently sent a basket of pine cones home with me that my brother and I picked up on a family vacation oh about 30 years ago and I wanted to create something with them for her so she could enjoy them for many years to come. Here's what I came up with!

Of course I searched Pinterest, its my go to for inspiration these days, and I saw many different ideas.  The ones that caught my eye the most were the picture framed shaped wreaths. So different from the everyday round wreath.   

I have a stash of old picture frames...crazy huh?  I picked out one I thought would work and then I laid the pine cones around to see if it would be the right size and YES! I think so.

Then I started gluing the pine cones to the frame until I got all the way around and then I went back and filled in the gaps to make it look fuller. WARNING! I burnt my finger with hot glue really bad while making this wreath, so please be very careful while using your glue gun! I thought about adding a picture of my damaged finger to this post, but its much too graphic for some to see...just believe me when I say BE CAREFUL!

This is how it all looked when I finished adding all the pine cones to the frame.  I love how some of the pine cones still have their little stems on.  30 year old pine cones are delicate, so its amazing the little stems made it!

Lastly I added some ribbon to hang it with and then added some smaller version of the same ribbon to hang the last of the pine cones from the inside center of the frame.  I used every last pine cone that Mama saved from our trip from so many years ago.  The only one that is not OLD, it this very bottom pine cone (blurry, sorry) and it came from Mama's yard from last years crop.

Here it is, all 30 years of it! LOL!  It now lives at Mama's house on her front door.  Although it was a Christmas present, I wanted her to have it early so she could enjoy it longer this year.  She loves it!

Mama and I were thinking it needs some type of preservative on the pine cones since they are so old and delicate.  If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm linking to:

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Our Front Porch Tree

We have a fairly large covered front porch. It normally holds our vintage wagon, bicycle and a pair of roller skates. We decided it needed some Christmas cheer too, so we decorated by adding a tree.

I decided to use a natural theme and used little apples and pine cones to decorate with.  I had the little apples in my Christmas stash and the pine cones were some my Mama gave me.  I used some of them in another fun project, I talked about HERE.

I added multi colored lights, the pine cones, a few glass ornaments with leaves that we had from way back, the apples and a string of silver snow flakes too.  You can read more about the sweet package and how to make its Twig Snow Flake Ornament HERE.

I pushed the old wagon up in front of the tree and then laid the skates inside.  I don't know about you, but we would love to received vintage goodness like this from Santa! ;)

I decided it needed a natural topper as well, so I created a twig star for the top.  You can look HERE for how I made it, its basically the same as the twig snow flake ornament I made, only larger.

This is how it normally looks on a daily basis.  The brown paper gift was a real gift for my Aunt and it went inside under our tree in there. We've been getting lots of packages and mail delivered to our front door in the past few weeks and I hope our sweet little tree brings a smile to those who see it...it sure makes us smile!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm linking to:

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