In My Free Time...

In the lull after Thanksgiving and the onslaught of Christmas activities I was able to belt out a few projects. I have a busy week ahead of me including a framing class I signed up for back in August. Not the framing you might imagine (as in picture frames), but construction framing. I determined I need a little knowledge in this area with all the projects I try to start (think chicken coop, shed, greenhouses) and never finish. I am excited, but at this time of year it seems hard to carve out time.
In my last post I talked about big plans for my bottle brush trees. Here is the finished product:

This is a vintage bread pan I found in excellent condition. The former owner must have done as much baking as my sister (which is none). I added mica flakes to the bottom and back as well as two of my bottle brush trees and a paper mache house I painted. I adorned it with glitter and a millinery wreath. I love it! I apologize for these pictures, but I had just brought my camera in from the car and it was COLD.

Here is another creation. I have a few of these candle holders sitting around. I again added mica flakes to the bottom and velvet ric rac across the front. Next, I glued the same ric rac around two candle holders and added a vintage button for embellishment. The center candle holder has a burlap surround with a chenille flower and button. Finally, I added a glitter and chipboard Joy to finish it off. Of course the bottle brush trees add a great touch.

I made this WISH banner last year, but just dug it out. I had to share. You can't really see well in the picture, but the background is old sheet music. The foam board stars are surrounded by tinsel garland and finally topped off with buttons and glitter letters. It looks perfect with my silver and white themed  mantel.

Ughh. If it wasn't nearly ten I would take new pictures.  This is a Merry Christmas banner made from burlap. In the center is a Santa silhouette. I found the image online (I can't remember for the life of me where....Google Images?). I cut it out and glued it on a white and red polka dot background. The frame is round and was a great find at a garage sale for $1. It was a really nice frame, but dated. The red spray paint makes it pop.

This is a cute little lady I found on Graphics Fairy. I added her to my Don Juan sheet music and she becomes instant art in a red Dollar Tree frame.

This fall I went to an estate sale late on a Sunday afternoon. They had boxes of free stuff including about fifteen wooden plaques with awful seventies "art". I am sure some people would have loved it. Maybe I should have put it in a box and in another few years made a buck off of it. I decided to repurpose them instead. I spray painted several and added paper and embellishments. This deer came from The Dollar Tree.Together they would make a great pair.

My bar, I mean crafting, counter is covered with about five projects I need to finish. I have a feeling they will need to wait until Saturday or Sunday before they get done. If I am being realistic it might be when school gets out next Tuesday. Time will tell.

Bottle Brush Heaven

I have a thing for bottle brush trees, but I don't have a thing for their prices. I recently found some at a discount retailer for $5.99 and I nearly bought them because I thought it was a good deal. Almost. Yesterday while perusing Pintrest I found a post on how to make your own. Now I have a ton of things pinned that I want to eventually get to, but most of them are in a cyber holding cell. This time I was so pumped I got in the car and headed to Joanne's to get some trees. You know the kind I am talking about the cheap ones you put in your winter villages.
I bought a of about twenty trees for $7.99 (of course I used my 40% off coupon). When I bought them they looked like this:

Next I added bleach (I don't measure usually) to water:

 Then I waited:

The first group I did sat for about an hour and there is still a hint of green on them as you can see in the picture above. I accidentally left the next batch in all night.

You can tell the ones that sat all night! I am so excited to get home and embellish these babies. Glitter? Mica flakes? More fake snow? Wait till you see what I have in store for these...

FYI here is the link I found this idea on. I have to give credit to where it is due!
http://yankeebelle.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/red-christmas/

She went a step further and dyed hers red. Wait a second...pink, blue, purple.

Silver Lining

Recently we had a few stormy days that caused a huge 9 inch diameter branch to fall from one of our large Douglas Fir trees. Fortunately, the branch did not hit our house, but it did take out one of my beloved Japanese maple branches as well as a limb from my Pee Gee tree. The limb remains in my front yard because my husband lent our chainsaw out thus until it is returned we have no way to cut it into smaller pieces.

I have a love hate relationship with these trees. They provide great shade, but they are a mess. In the spring "pollen pellets" fall from them for a few weeks and in the fall and winter the needles are everywhere.
Yesterday we had BEAUTIFUL weather. It was crisp and clear with no wind. I spent time planting 126 tulip and narcissus bulbs and began cleaning up the yard for winter (better late than never). As is usually the case I began to tinker with other things and one thing led to another and soon I was finishing the outdoor decorating for the holidays. I decided to add some greenery to my big pots by the front door and just as I was about to hop into the car I realized i had plenty of greenery lying in my own yard. I cut some limbs off and stuffed them into my planters  and next added some of the beautiful red and chartreuse green twigs from my maple. I sprinkled in a few other decorations and suddenly I was done. Well sort of. I need to find some contrasting greens, and maybe some reds, and maybe some of this and that. I guess I need to get into the car and go for a drive after all.

I guess this problem actually became beneficial. Anyone want some greenery? I know where you can find some.

Sit down and enjoy the view (of the big limb lying in my yard)

Merry Merry!