Monday, November 28, 2011

30 Days of Christmas – Day 4

A Scene from a Christmas Horror Movie…

It’s what I walked into when I came home one day last week.

*cue horror music*

Christmas Horror

This would be a 3 foot tall styrofoam snowman my grandmother gave me.  You can call him retro, I suppose.  I call him in sad scary shape.

His paint is faded, his snow is dingy, he lost the present he used to hold – and his hat…  oh, his hat.  My grandmother tried giving him a facelift before with some spray paint.  The paint ate the foam – hence the addition of the lovely knit beanie.

He’s definitely seen his better days.

Lucky for Frosty, he was dropped on the right doorstep.  I was not to be deterred nor to be intimidated (much to my husband’s dismay, of course). 

Off came his bow, his hat and his mitten.  I ripped off whatever it is he’s holding and got to work.

Look at him now!

 Frosty Remade 

He got a fresh coat of paint (acrylics!) and a new scarf from an old scrap of burlap.  I then hot glued scraps of an old wool skirt to his hat and hands.  A strip of remnant fabrics made nice mitten cuffs and ribbon for his hat.  A red sharpie worked great to replace the string that was once his mouth.  I finished him off by hot gluing a frame where the present once was filled with a printable (found here – note that printing it in a smaller size did cut the edges off ever so slightly).

While he may still be a 3 foot tall styrofoam snowman, Frosty was given a new lease on life. 

After many years gracing my grandparents front porch, Frosty will spend at least a few more greeting visitors on mine.

Welcoming Frosty

(Because I did not dare spray him with sealant for fear of more foam melting, this Frosty will be spending his winter days protected from the elements).

Don’t you just love a happy ending?

 

Linking up here:

The Shabby Nest

30 Days of Christmas – Day 3

My little trees on the front porch are still in need of some sparkle.  I’ve been waiting a little because I’ve had them out there for near a month now – that’s a little early even for me to do Christmas decorating.  :-)

(Please ignore my chipped front door.  I didn’t get to it this year but it’s top of the list for next!)

Boring Christmas Trees

I dug out the last two boxes of vintage lights and some twine.

Vintage Light Garland

I’m not sold on it, but it’s cute enough and works for now.

They can’t all be a win, I guess.

You haven’t seen the last of these bulbs yet.  I have one more project lined up for them this week.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

30 Days of Christmas – Day 2

Here’s another project from the Pinspiration Files.

Isn’t this Santa Can adorable?

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Come on!  How easy is this to do yourself?

After a quick jaunt to the thrift store for a couple belts, I gathered my supplies:

Santa Can Supplies

Ok, so 38F is a little chilly for spray paint, but I couldn’t help myself.

I first took the belts and fit them around the cans to find where I’d need to punch new holes in them.  I used a hammer and a nail to punch through the leather.  I then took my two cans into the garage and quickly sprayed them both.  While we patiently waited for the paint to dry, the kids and I went off for a nature hike to cut some greens.

Then we assembled.  Wrap belt around can, dump some dirt into can, tuck greens and colorful branches in using the dirt to anchor and……

Voila!

Santa Cans

I dug up the little trees for the planters.  Now we’ve added our Santa Cans.  Our front door still needs a wreath and I’d like to add a little more sparkle to the front steps, but I think we’re off to a good start!

  Santa Can Left Santa Can Right

Total cost is $1.00 for the belts.

Ho Ho Ho!

Friday, November 25, 2011

30 Days of Christmas – Day 1

The Christmas projects are going full bore in our house.

I’ve hauled out all of the totes of decorations and put most of out.  We still need a tree but with T working this weekend, I must be patient for another week.

In the meantime, I have all sorts of Pinspiration to keep me busy.

My grandmother has been cleaning out her attic and gave me a stack of vintage Christmas light packages – never been opened.  I don’t dare use them as is because I really don’t know if the wiring is safe.

I thought this was pretty cute, but I already have a wreath in mind for the front door – so not for me.

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This is more along the lines of what I was thinking, but I don’t use a lot of candles in my decor because of the kids (A- dangerous B- Monkey likes to scrape them with her fingernails and make a mess)

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Ah.  Here we go.

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I gathered my supplies:

Vintage Christmas Supplies

I used the toilet paper roll in the center to act as a filler.  The gallon jar I first grabbed just was not working for me so I exchanged it for an old quart sized canning jar.

Voila.

Vintage Christmas Lights

I also found some pine cones.

Pine Cones Vintage Christmas Lights

Total cost: $0.  I had everything on hand and got two cute little displays out of it.

I still have another two packages of lights. 

I have another idea brewing for them…  maybe I’ll get to it tomorrow.

Who’s in the spirit of the season?  I sure am!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving

On this day of thanks, this is what I am most thankful for.

Thankful

Everything I do – everything I am – is for these two independent creative free spirits.  (They don’t let me even make them sandwiches anymore.  *sigh*  They grow too quickly.)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Wood for Winter

Half of our supply to keep of warm this winter.

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It took the 4 of us about 10 hours total to get it here, in and stacked.

We were lucky to have a fantastic weekend weather-wise to deal with this.

It’s November.

Now we’re ready.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

My Busy Weekend

Remember this wonderfully inspiring mess I showed you this weekend?

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Oh yeah.  Messy mess.

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I was barely able to function in here.  My work and client stuff were the only things I had organized in any manner – just barely.  There were craft supplies, my personal paperwork, miscellaneous decor I haven’t found new homes for, etc etc etc. 

Oh, something for Jodi to deal with?  Toss it in the office. 

Literally.

Tossed.

Into the office.

The kids and I spent much of our weekend in here.  Just cleaning, organizing and unpacking.

(Excuse the bad lighting.  The lighting in this room is terrible.)

Organized work space, all set up for work.

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This desk deserves it’s own post.  Soon.

Home of my future sewing space.

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I need a second desk for my sewing machine and a very large table for workspace in the center of the room.

Children’s Creative Corner.

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I always like to keep it real.  Check out the last lonely box.  It’s almost empty but I ran out of steam – and time.

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I have plans for this room. 

Big plans.

The layout is basically what I want – plus the two new furniture pieces I still need.

I’m contemplating pulling down the paneling.  This is the one thing that will hold up my painting in here – to pull it down or not to pull it down?  That is the question.

But for now, it functions.  Which I very very badly needed for my sanity.

I actually feel like I can be creative now.  It feels good!

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