Some Christmas Crafting

I realize I am posting this a little late so hang on to the ideas for next year - or get really ahead of the game for next year! Here are a few things I made:

Christmas Tree Jars - my sister-in-law, Jenny, got this idea from Martha Stewart, maybe? I got the jars at Target - just a candy jar style - rolled strips of Christmas scrap paper to hide the fabric keychain/wristlets I had made for them that were in the center and took the plastic lid off the inside of the top of the glass tree to stuff the top too - made the tags on my cricut machine!

Silver Branches - saw them all over at Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, etc and couldn't justify the price so got some of my own and spray painted them silver, stuck them in a cheap vase with fake snow and my daughter made the coffee filter snowflakes -

Ribbon Tree- just got a styrofoam triangle and cut ribbon, folded in half and stuck into triangle with pins - put bows on top to hide top row of pins

"Big Red" aka The Beast

Hi! For the few of you who read our blog, I know there has been an interest in the Beast - well, being a good friend, I felt it was only right that I purchase the Beast from Amy and brought it into our home (actually our garage for a few weeks). Couldn't decide what to do with it until we brought it in and my dear hubby helped me arrange it in places from room to room - boy did he love that! Finally, I decided a little nook in the dining room would be nice for it. I kept going back and forth on black or white and then it dawned on me one morning to go with a color - I went with red - hence the new name Big Red. My husband also has an old red pick-up that has this name so his can be Big Red on Wheels and mine will just be Big Red. :)

Anyhow, I primed it with Kilz, found a deep red for my paint choice - the color is a little off in the pics - not as bright as it appears and used Kilz casual colors (or something close to that) and rolled it on with a foam roller. I am very happy with it - then found some fabric to put under the glass - can switch that out for changes- also the lamp was a $6 find at the Hara Arena -Shop 'til you drop - wouldn't recommend the event - not much shopping went on - but I covered the shade with coordinating fabric. Didn't notice it until taking pics that the shade is a bit on small side - will watch for a good deal on one somewhere. I would love to add more pizazz to the table with all of the space but with a 20 month old, I'll be lucky if the $6 lamp lasts more than a month. What ya think? Like Big Red? See before photo here

Lisa

in her new home

table is happy now

painting her red

priming her

Side door curtain

Okay, so I really felt like I needed some form of privacy from the side door to our house that leads into the kitchen. Maybe too many horror flicks when I was in high school but I am always sure that an axe murderer is trying to peek in on me at night - I know this isn't complete privacy but I do feel his vantage point is severely limited from his perspective. I know, I am paranoid! Anyhow, I made these, attached them to magnetic curtain rods since it is a metal door and tied a polk-a-dot ribbon around the middle. I love the look of it from the kitchen.

Lisa

Valentine Wreaths

Unfortunately, I took this picture on one of the few sunnier days we have had - you can't enjoy them as a pair b/c the house across the street is reflecting in our doors so I took a few close-ups of them on the one door. I just bought the foam heart wreaths at JoAnne's and bought Valentine-y fabrics, cut them into strips and used the pinking shears on them, and tied them around the wreath. My dear sister-in-law was kind enough to tie them around one of the wreaths b/c this was much more time-consuming than I thought - I bought 1 yr of the heart fabric and 1 1/2 yds of the red/white and barely had enough to finish! Overcompensate my friends!

Lisa

birthday invitations

just finished chloes invitation for her big sleep-over party. i ended up making little pillow cases and then putting the invite inside with little ribbons to pull it out. very easy!

telephone table

i purchased this adorable telephone table at a garage sale for 15.00. with a little fresh paint, fabric and tlc it has turned into one of my favorite pieces in our home.

-amy

craigs list and the beast

i have seriously had the itch lately to do some painting. so after shopping craigs list for about 30 min i found these beauties. the dark one by itself i will call "the beast". the picture online did not do it justice for its size. it is quite large. jim was amazed that it took up the whole car and asked why i bought it. i told him i didnt want to tell the little old man "no thanks" so i loaded it and brought it home. if anyone would like to purchase i am asking 40.00 what i paid. the next 2 tables i am just giddy over. i luuuuuve them. the man referred to them as crap when i picked them up, but i told him i loved his crap and loaded them and left. can you believe i got both of them for 15.00. i will be posting later the after for them. i plan on painting and trying to modge podge fabric to them. amy

Ryan's Room Re-do

Of all of the pictures we took of this house, even the furnace room!, we didn't have one of my son's bedroom - it had this lovely(being sarcastic here), mauve/southwesterny border and even had switchplates/outlet covers covered with it - after 6 months, I finally removed the border and went to work boy-ifying his room! I must've been so anxious, I didn't think to take a picture of it before. Anyhow, used a blue called "summer cottage" - who couldn't love the name of that - and yes, made those curtains with blackout lining on them. I figured if I was inspired to make my dear friend's daughter some curtains, I better be just as inspired to make some for my son or I'd never live it down! The stripes running opposite directions was actually from an error in my judgement as to how much fabric I would need - when they were too narrow for the window, went back and got more and stitched it on as a trim piece on each edge. Liked the looks of it so sometimes mistakes make us more creative! Also love making names out of those wood letters and detailing them with scrapbooking fabric/ribbon/etc. Have made those for lots of friends-maybe I should sell those? hmmmm.....

-Lisa

We're back.....maybe?.....

I know I can speak for myself and my other crafty momma that we have been BUSY all through December because, of course, we were hand-making all kinds of gifts for our loved ones! I am hoping to backtrack a bunch this month and show you projects you haven't seen and some that have been posted on my family blog and reposted here. I like to have all of my before/after and crafty redo's all on one blog. So, hope we can keep some of you interested in our stuff.

-Lisa

Curtains-handmade with love

My friend wanted some curtains for her new daughter's room - she has another daughter and had a professional make those. I decided I could take on the challenge and save her all kinds of money but boy, did that put the pressure on! This is what we came up with - a mix of the look of the other daughter's curtains combined with the fabric my friend wanted to use in the nursery. I made 2 sets because there are 2 windows and put black-out lining on the backside. They turned out lovely but the blackout lining doesn't let them hang quite as nicely because of the thickness/weight it adds. That bugs me a bit b/c I like them to fall just right but my friend has no complaints. (or at least is polite enough not to tell me). The bottom is not a true ruffle - the "professional" called them a petticoat on the curtains she made. Madeline's picture is posted - she was my client - haha! That sounds funny!

-Lisa