DIY Valentine Heart Wreath

January 15, 2018 by Florence 67 Comments

Time for the first C’mon Get Crafty Blog Hop of the year, and I’m joining many other talented bloggers to show you a craft we create from our stash of supplies. Pink is my favorite color; Valentine’s Day is approaching; our weather has been dreary, and this little DIY Valentine Heart Wreath seriously makes me feel cheerier just looking at it.

Every month a group of bloggers are challenged by C’mon Get Crafty to create a new craft or project from their own stash of goodies! Check out some awesome creations you might be able to make from your own stash! #CraftRoomDestashChallenge

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I created this beauty using everything I had on hand from the bit of cardboard, to the scrapbook paper, to the ribbon and buttons, I didn’t spend a dime. Per the rules, we are to not spend over $10 for needed supplies.

By the way, in case you couldn’t tell, my wreath is a girl. And she is modeled by “Flossie,” who took time out of her busy schedule modeling Square Dance clothes for my 2nd Etsy shop, SquareDanceNWestern.

She is wearing the fullest petticoat I own, and she really knows how to make those skirts swirl! And I’m talking stand-out-straight swirling. When a gal gets twirled by her guy on the Square Dance floor…? Well, she better be wearing those frilly pettipants. Don’t know what “pettipants” are? Ha! Don’t feel bad. I didn’t have the slightest idea what they were either. Think ruffled panties and you got it…just like baby girls wore over their diapers.

Oh excuse me, we’re talking about wreaths here. “Flossie” gets carried away talking about Square Dancing. She loves to cut a rug too.

Do you want to know how I made this? We’ll talk about it below.

All I used was a circle of cardboard, various pieces of cardstock, paper ephemera, vintage buttons, ribbon, and old paper coasters.

The world is your oyster here. You can let your imagination run wild and create anything you want. I just fooled around and made something I liked. And Flossie likes it too. In fact…sh-h-h, don’t tell her yet, but I might give it to her for a job well done.

Start with a circle of cardboard like this.

Honestly, I think your cardboard is the most important choice of the whole process. Pick a heavyweight scrap piece. This came from a box originally holding steel cookware. Flimsy cardboard will bend and your wreath won’t hang right. Take your time cutting it out too.

Remember these compasses from 4th grade math? That’s what I used to draw a nice shaped circle because I didn’t have a large enough dinner plate to trace around.

Guess who couldn’t remember how to use a compass from 4th grade math?

Guess who never really understood how to use a compass from 4th grade math?

So I asked that man of mine. He may not know how to Square Dance very well, but he can sure work circles around me when it comes to math.

OK, back to the wreath.

Next, decide what kind of hanger you want to use. If you’re like me, sometimes these basics get you stumped, right? You sure don’t want to figure out a way to hang it after you have it decorated. This needs to come first.

Decide how you want it to hang, (ribbon or twine is best with cardboard). Then choose a color that complements your decorations.

I used pearl ribbon I had on hand. Wrap it around the cardboard. You can tie a bow at the top if you like.

Next I knew I wanted a border to go around the outside of the wreath. I didn’t have any small paper doilies on hand which would be cute, so I used these Christmas coasters I’ve never liked.

You can see they have a scalloped edge and look decorative. I cut them in half, gluing them around the outside of the wreath. My only regret is that I still have some left!

Most of this border will be covered up, but I like the look!

Now begins the fun part! I knew I wanted a heart wreath in pink colors, so I began cutting heart shapes out of my pretty scrapbook paper Mod Podging them on. I also cut hearts out of old magazine pages I found free last year at a yard sale. Just glue them on, overlapping as you go.

(Here are a few supplies for making your own wreaths. If you purchase, I make a small commission, but it doesn’t cost you a penny more. For more on my disclosure policy, see here.)

This is the part where you make it you! Use cut-outs of tractors and dump trucks…whatever you want.

It’s done, and I believe “Flossie” is about ready to carry it down the aisle, don’t you?

Don’t let me keep you. I’m off to ask if “Guy” popped the question yet….

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When You Get Paid in Collards There’s No Money for Christmas

December 24, 2017 by Florence 37 Comments

On the cusp of Christmas Day, I thought I would share a magical Christmas memory, and explain “when you get paid in collards there’s no money for Christmas.” My dad was a doctor, but we were far from rich, as people automatically assumed. My dad was kind and big-hearted, and more often than not, took payment in the form of:

a bushel of collards,
a bushel of turnip greens,
a bushel of green beans,
a bushel of cabbages, and
the yuckiest-looking, stinky, fishy-smelling fish I’ve ever seen in my life.

Oh I’ve got some stories about those bushels, and especially that fish! Stories for another day. Just remember, when you get paid in collards, there’s no money for Christmas, and not much else. I remember that year well…

when I was five
when I still believed in Santa Claus,
when I listened for reindeer hooves on the roof,
and woke to a huge pile of presents under the tree on Christmas morning, or at least, it seemed so.

Funny…that year Mama said she didn’t have any money, but in my memory, it was a most magical Christmas! Today I marvel over the precisely drawn knobs and cabinet doors on a simple cardboard box, which was the kitchen counter for the dollhouse I asked for. I ran across it recently when going through forgotten boxes under the bed, smiling at the memories.

If you look past stains, peeling paper, and browned, scotch tape edges, you can see the charm of the old “kitchen counter.”

As I recall, I asked for both a dollhouse and a drum.

And here is the dollhouse!

Opening the bottom doors of the old washstand, reveals the dollhouse. Entirely covered with “wallpaper,” it had “pictures” on the walls, and the doll bed in the corner.

The kitchen counter fit nicely on the opposite wall.

Wish you could see the blue princess doll bed she constructed out of a coathanger, part of a wooden box, a piece of foam, and bits of fabric and lace. It even had one of those halo canopy things with pearls and cascading fabric around the head of the bed. I can just picture her staying up late laboriously putting it together. I kept it for many years, until it finally fell apart. The kitchen counter and the “prince accessories” are all I have left.

You know a “Prince” has to be outfitted properly to woo his princess. He has to have a Prince’s tunic, (blue), and a special cardboard hat (hand sewn with blue thread).

And of course, he has to have his (cardboard) shield (decorated with rhinestone and heart-shaped thingy), and sword (made from a hatpin).

She made the drum from a tall Quaker’s oatmeal container. In my mind I pictured….well, I don’t know what I pictured…but I remember being a bit disappointed by the homemade drum. I didn’t play with it much, but this tomboy played for years with the dollhouse and accessories!

My Grandmother usually spent Christmas with us, but rarely gave gifts. That year was the exception. She gave me 2 little reindeer she made.

Grandmother, who I’m named after, was OLD…utterly ancient. She had little money, and lived in an old white farmhouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She married my 40-something Grandfather when she was 16, and they had 9 children. My mother was the baby.

Funny about her name…”Grandmother.” My brother called her “Granny.” My cousin, Ray, called her “Granny.” Most of the other cousins called her “Granny.” As I was about to follow suit, Mother told me emphatically, “YOU are to call her “Grandmother.”

I still have those little reindeer from over 60 years ago that she made with pipe cleaners, bits of styrofoam and sequins.

Where she got all those things I can’t imagine. This was waay before Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, or Joann’s Fabrics even existed. I can just picture her scrounging through a meager stash to find the right supplies with which to make these engaging little fellas. At the time I wasn’t impressed, and couldn’t understand why Mother gushed over them so. KIDS! I was so clueless and ungrateful. I didn’t appreciate Grandmother’s efforts with arthritic hands until it was far too late to tell her so. By some miracle, the little reindeer survived many moves and purges. They are oh-so-precious to me now.

The only thing we ever gave her for Christmas was…not scented bath powder, not perfume, and not a knick-knack, but a big paper sack full of groceries, and I remember thinking, “GROCERIES??” But Mama said she was giving what Grandmother would never buy for herself. The sack was overflowing with boring things like post cards and stamps, lots of canned food, a great big jar of spiced peaches, and always a box of chocolate covered cherries. I like to think I inherited this from her because it’s my favorite food treat at Christmas too.

So as we’re about to enjoy another Christmas, I’ll be thankful for what I have, for the precious family who remain because nothing is ever a given.

And I’ll be ever so grateful for the unspeakable gift of God’s Son.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas!

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How I Repurposed a Toy Red Ladder in my Christmas Decor

December 18, 2017 by Florence 30 Comments

Here’s a project I’ve been thinking over for a few weeks…How I Repurposed a Toy Red Ladder in my Christmas Decor.

Just a bit of background~

I found it in a hazardous basement in an old house estate sale. Now why was it hazardous? It was a glorified crawl space really. And you know what a crawl space is like, right? Uneven floor, dirty, nowhere to hold onto. Husband hovering with his hands held out…don’t fall, don’t fall! For someone like me who CAREFULLY watches every step, I learned the hard way I can’t be careless. Because I fell 3 times last year, breaking 3 bones, and basically spent 8 months in a chair. So I’ve learned to be careful.

But the basement was a treasure trove! A treasure trove of grimy, dusty sacks piled one on top of the other, thrown to the furthest corners of the crawl space…a place you go if you’ve got good knees, are willing to crawl, and get very dirty. Someone who’s young….Ha! Not me! I had to “settle” for stepping blindly in the closer part of the dirty basement. And this is where I found the red ladder among many other interesting items which you can see in this post.

I really wasn’t sure what to do with it. I started to leave it there. I have to tell you my mind doesn’t revolve around DIY projects much. My mind revolves around whether I’m likely to sell it in my Etsy shop or not. I have no idea what it goes with…surely not a game? It’s definitely not meant to bear any weight, so what was it for?

If you know, please leave a comment.

How to Repurpose a Toy Red Ladder for Christmas

But as Christmas rolled around, I thought perhaps I could make an arrangement with it. But craftiness never oozes out of me…LOL. I thought about a front door arrangement, but it’s too long to hang any other way but vertically, so this is what I came up with, and I kinda like it.

Hung in our entry, it’s visible as you come through the front door. Using several finds from the grimy estate sale, and an old faux garland…Our “Wes” is checking out the softer garland I didn’t use.

Here is my original DIY creation for the “C’mon Get Crafty Blog Hop.” Keep reading to see how I made it. And be sure to check out the projects of the other crafty bloggers!

If you’d like to join in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge, you can request to join our Facebook group here!

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Starting off with these supplies, my inspiration came from the objects at the end of the arrows.

Red arrow: old plastic prisms came in a box of lamp parts I acquired back in the summer, and they hadn’t sold. I tried Mod Podge with white glitter on 3 of them, but the Mod Podge left a cloudiness I didn’t like.

Blue Arrow: I found 2 sacks of colorful pinwheel beads at the grimy estate sale and have already used them in 2 projects.

Not everything in the photo was used.

The Process of Decorating the Ladder~

I wound the faux garland in and out some of the rungs and around the back. It was much too long for the ladder, but I didn’t want to cut it in case I could use it for something else next year.
Next the battery-operated string of LED lights
Using fishing line, I strung it through the little holes in the vintage prisms,
followed by 8 pinwheel beads,
then either a clear acrylic icicle ornament or a gold icicle ornament.
Eight beads separated each ornament. How did I come up with 8? I don’t know…a lucky guess because the icicle garland was exactly the right length for the ladder.
When I was ready to put the icicle garland onto the faux greenery, I used ordinary wire ornament hangers to fix the icicles and prisms on the branches while arranging the beaded garland where it would stay.
I added a few colorful ornaments for extra pizzazz, and there you have it!

I would love it if you’d pin! Thank you!

Now all we need is a Christmas tree! I’ll have to tell you that story soon!

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How to Make a Shotgun Shell Christmas Garland

December 3, 2017 by Florence 48 Comments

It’s a Unique Garland!

I’m quite proud of this garland and am loving its final look, but it took a bit to get it there. That’s why I call it unique. I’m going to show you how to make a shotgun shell Christmas garland. Making it into a string of lights is not my original idea….I found it on Pinterest a while back.

Hubby and I used to love to hike until bad knees and feet forced me to quit. The places we hiked were frequented by hunters, and target practice folks, so we often found the ground littered with shotgun shells. Way back when I thought they were pretty, but hadn’t a clue what to do with them. These didn’t come from hiking, but instead were found in an old barn at a run-down lake house estate sale. With their colored plastic tubes and metal bases, which I’ve seen made into jewelry, these are versatile bits of flotsam.

This is just a small part of the whole stash, but I began working with these.

Ideas on Pinterest for Shotgun Shells~

Pinterest has many other ideas for shotgun shells such as boutonniere’s for a wedding, little flower vases, bracelets, coasters, and multitudes of ideas for the metal bases. I’ve seen them made into wreaths, but the idea I liked best was as a string of Christmas lights.

The Assembly~

All we had to do was stamp 2 holes in the base of the shell, one on either side, followed by a slit made with razor blade or scissors. I needed 100 shells because the light string I had on hand had 100 bulbs. I ordered a string of LED lights from Amazon a while back, but you can use any string of lights you want and use the appropriate number of shotgun shells to equal it.

You take the wire, guiding each side of it by the bulb into the 2 slits, centering the bulb inside the shell while snapping it into the hole. This prevents the bulb from slipping out of the shell.

The most time-consuming part of the process was putting the holes and slits into each shell, (hubby’s job.) It’s possible you could use a “Crop-a-dile” punch, but I don’t have one, so can’t say for sure. He used his drill press.

Where to Display~

The second most time-consuming part of the job was putting it all together…each light bulb into a slit and into the holes, but once that was all done, the next big decision was where to display the unique garland.

I thought it would look great out on my Christmas porch, mounted on a metal gate with red bow that I set up every year. The sleigh was a curbside find from last year…Curbside Find Completes the Christmas Porch.

It was hubby’s idea to bring the sleigh in front of the gate and string the long strand of lights around both pieces.

I hated it.

The red shotgun shells glow deep pink, which clashed with the red bow and the red sleigh. Plus it looked a little too bare.

What I wanted to do all along was display it somewhere inside. So I scrounged around in my Christmas decorations and came up with a length of faux pine garland. I had just enough to wind around the shotgun shell garland. I’m not sure how many feet long it is, but it’s LONG!

I wanted to put it on the mantle all along so here it is! Enhancing my DIY Shabby Chic Christmas Tree and my DIY Tabletop Christmas Trees made from Tart Tins and Icing Cones (which I found out later are not “icing cones,” but “cream horns.”) We won’t split hairs though.

I’m really loving the look! It’s a big improvement to have the faux pine garland too, don’t you think?

This is a keeper which I’ll be using every year, and I love that it’s made with LED lights, so low energy consumption, which is a plus.

What do you think?

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If you like the look, Amazon has them all put together!

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DIY Tabletop Christmas Trees Using Vintage Tart Tins and Icing Cones

November 20, 2017 by Florence 42 Comments

I enjoyed creating these DIY tabletop Christmas trees using vintage tart tins and icing cones. I had everything on hand, and most of what I used came from past estate sales. I saw the tart tins and icing cones in my stash one day many months ago, and thought what cute mini Christmas trees they would make with just a little modification, and hubby’s help.

My Beautiful Mini Tabletop Trees

The Supplies

Of course, I forgot to get a photo of the tart tins and icing cones before I started, but here’s the rest of the supplies I used:

binder twine
red and green glitter
2 paper napkin designs
pinwheel beads

Basic Construction

I commissioned hubby to put the trees together for me. He soldered wire to the tart tins, which went up through the holes in the narrow end of the icing cones, leaving about 1-1/2″ of wire extending from the top. It wasn’t at all flexible, so I studied how to decorate it. I found the pinwheel beads at a recent estate sale. Luckily they fit over the wire, and provided nice color.

Decoupage Method

The icing cones easily took napkin decoupage using the accepted method:

separating a 3-ply napkin into the final one-ply with the design
Matte Mod Podge applied to icing cones first
Then the paper napkin was applied to that
As many of us know, it doesn’t work well to apply Mod Podge to the napkin, which too easily tears it.

the-decoupaged-icing-cone-with-glitter-applied-over-that — Glitter applied over the decoupage

I was pleased with how it looked, but a little glitter makes everything look more festive! And I took it a step further to glitter the tart tin bases.

But Wait…There’s More to the Story

Now you really don’t know the whole story here. These look perfect now with their round wooden bases. I found out the hard way that my trees needed wooden bases. They were a bit top heavy, even with the lightweight addition of the pinwheel beads. One day recently, the worst happened. One of my trees fell over on the floor, which was open season as far as my DAWG, Leo was concerned. Yes, our one-year old was about to get in on the act.

Here’s our “angel” with one of his favorite toys…a thrifted stuffed animal that he killed a while back. I should mention that he has a basket FULL of toys, but no, he wants whatever I’ve got, whatever I’m working on. Hubby found him with my treasured tart tin mini Christmas tree on the floor that he was about to kill. Horrors!

Last Step

This is when we realized the trees needed bases. Tragedy avoided.

Here’s a final look at my beloved trees. I really like how they turned out.

You don’t want to miss the rest…

And now, before you go, why not check out the inspired creations by my talented blogging buddies from the “Blogging 50” Facebook group? Yep, we’re living proof that it’s not just the young bloggers who have it all together! We’re an all female group of…ahem…mature….ladies, who have great ideas and lots of wisdom.

The Creative Christmas Link Party is hosted by Janet of Shabbyfufu and the the bloggers of Blogging 50. Please visit all of the talented bloggers below!

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