Chic Paper Napkin wreath

Hi Everyone!

I know I have been somewhat MIA lately, and I have really missed blogging.  My little booth has kept me really  busy!  I have been painting and thrifting and creating “stuff” to sell in my little cozy corner. 

This week, I made another paper napkin wreath just in time for Valentines Day.  I used almost exactly the same tutorial as the polka dotted wreath here.  The only difference this time was that I used cocktail napkins for the whole thing, and I made two rows of “napkin flowers” to make it really full.  Otherwise, just wrap your wreath form with napkins and pin them.  Poke holes in the wreath form with a pencil.  Twist the napkins in the middle.  And insert the “flowers” into the holes with a dab of hot glue.  Top off with a pretty bow.  That’s all… easy peasy :)



Till next time…











Linking up to these great parties:

Weekend Wrap up party at Tatertots and Jello, Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes, Sundae Scoop link party at I heart Naptime

Easy Valentines Paper Napkin Wreath

I’ve been painting, cleaning, and sorting through my thrifted goodies all week and am absolutely exhausted!  Like my feet are on backward, and I can hardly walk tired!!!  But this is the happy kind of exhausted.  It’s the feeling that you get when it’s “all done”.  I finally moved into my little booth today.  It’s still a little bare bones, and a bit lacking in color.  I tend toward the more rustic look with lots of wood and metal items.  So, I need to spice it up a bit with some color in the coming days/weeks.  I did manage to put together one little colorful cutie that I’d like to share. 

It’s this super easy napkin wreath that I saw over at Living Locurto in the Fall.  What a great idea!  Thanks Amy!

She used cocktail napkins and a vine wreath.  I used a combination of luncheon napkins and  cocktail napkins and a styrofoam wreath form.

This is seriously so easy!

1- Tear open a package of napkins.  (I got mine from Wal-Mart – 30 for $1.47)
2- Grab the napkin in the middle and twist



3- I wrapped my white wreath form with the smaller cocktail napkins, so that nothing would show through in the “empty” spaces.  I secured the napkins using regular straight pins



4- Then I poked holes into the wreath form with a pencil, so that I could insert the twisted end of the napkin.



5- Dabbed a little hot glue in the end of each twisted piece and shoved it in the hole as quickly as possible.  Do this all the way around filling each hole with a twisted napkin.  It is surprisingly full looking when you are done!


6- Last, I added a ribbon for hanging and a bow to make it pretty!



Sorry for the sad background, but I forgot to take a decent picture of the completed wreath until I got to my booth today. So, you have some worn bead board and a peek of my banner. Want to see more?


 



















Here’s a little more of a peek of it hanging over a red rolling cart that I painted.  And here’s my little booth so far…

It’s a little sparse, as I still have several pieces to finish and move in.  And NO that purple and green desk is NOT mine!  It belongs to another vendor, and it’s just there temporarily to give me some flat surface for display.  I know I need color, but not THAT color!  Sorry, I’m sure that purple and green are great for someone’s décor…just not mine.

Thanks for checking out my little space and my happy little wreath!

Happy Friday,








Linking up to these great parties:

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Thursday, 30 Days Pity Party, Serenity Now- Weekend Bloggy Reading , Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Weekend Wrap up at Tatertots and Jello, Flamingo Toes Think Pink Sundays; I heart Naptime Sundae Scoop link party, Six Sisters Stuff Strut your stuff Saturday, Todays Creative Blog Get your Craft On,  DIY under $5 at A little TIpsy, 

A new year with new adventures

It has been a while since I have posted on the ole blog, and I have really missed it.  I’m not one of those people who makes a jump into the new year with both feet and tons of plans to get fit, organized, and perfect in 30 days or less!  I tend to ease into a new year making my plans slowly and deliberately.  So, that’s what I’ve been up to, and that doesn’t make for much fun blogging content.

But….I did mention in my last post that I really wanted to try my hand at some furniture painting in the new year.  I’ve been reading, researching, and taking notes on furniture painting and refinishing for months.  I’ve even been hoarding collecting furniture pieces in my garage to re-do when the time was right.  Well… I think the time is right!  I got the call at the end of last week that there is a booth opening in a resale shop that I looked into before Christmas.  I was on the waiting list, and now it’s available.  Folks, it looks like “TODAY IS MY SOMEDAY”!!  It’s a big step for me.  I have one week to fill up a booth with goodies to sell.  But, I’m excited to see how this goes.  It’s been a little dream of mine for quite some time.

In preparation for this big event, I won a Wagner Power Painter Max from The DIY Show Off in November. 
I submitted this picture of my “unfinished” projects and was selected as the winner of the awesome paint sprayer.  I guess they could see I needed help!




I’m hoping to have my little corner of the world look a little something like this:

(Source)

or this…


(source)


or why not dream big and go for this?

(source)


However it turns  out, it’ll be my little corner of creativity.  And we’ll just see where it goes from there. 

Local friends, my items will be located at Two Women and a Warehouse in Pooler.  You can find the address and store hours here www.vintagefurnituresavannah.com

Until next time, I’ll be painting like crazy!

My top 5 Posts of 2011

I have only been blogging since April of this year, and it has proved to be a great adventure.  I never thought that anyone let alone many of you would like my little projects, but you did.  And it motivated me to do more and try new things.  There are still many things that I haven’t dipped my creative toes into yet.
Furniture painting is at the top of that list, and that’s what I plan to do in 2012.

But here is a look back at my top 5 posts of 2011.  I figured I only blogged for half a year, so I’d do only 5 favorites.
1)

My Thrifty Finds to Fall Décor was the biggest hit on the blog this year.  It was a combination of some really great garage sale finds and cheap Ikea mirror makeovers that created a fun Fall vignette.

2)


This Sweater and Burlap Wreath has become my #1 Pinterest favorite!  I couldn’t be more thrilled that people are still pinning this one every single day.  The funny thing about this wreath is that I made it last Fall, before I started blogging,  and didn’t really love it.  So, I just put it away in a coat closet.  One week this Fall I didn’t have a project to post, so I dug it out and posted a tutorial on how to make it.  Well, it was a hit, and it even got featured on a little blog named Tatertots and Jello!  Maybe you’ve heard of it?  Squeal!!!

3)



This Halloween wreath from upcycled leggings was a lot of fun!  I love the little t-shirt pom pom spider with the crazy eyes!  I like my Halloween décor to be kooky not spooky, so this fit the bill.

4)


My Dollhouse from Dollar Shelf was a hit with lots of moms with little girls, who play with tiny toys : )  It was such a fun and easy transformation using only spray paint, fabric, and a few upcycled items I had on hand.  The best part of all is that I made something special for my daughter to enjoy.

5)


This last post- The Pink Cheeks is my favorite.  It’s my favorite, because it’s about me…and my daddy.  It didn’t get featured on any blogs or awarded for the wonderful writing.  But none of that matters, because I got to share something from my heart that I have only  learned to appreciate since my dad has passed away.  And sadly, it isn’t until we lose someone that we love that we come to appreciate the special things about that person.  It’s too late to tell them.  The moment has passed. 



I hope you've enjoyed my top 5 wrap-up.  I hope to be back with more fun projects in the new year!








Linking up to these great parties:

Top Projects 2011 at Southern Hospitality, Favorites from 2011 at Savvy Southern Style, Show me what ya got at Not just a housewife, Crafty, Scrappy, Happy me Thursday at Crafty Scrappy Happy, Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes, Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime

I love Christmas Cards

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks leading up to Christmas.  I still have more to do tomorrow (Christmas Eve) than can possibly be completed.  But, I am determined to completely wear myself out in order to make things beautiful; cook delicious food; and fulfill as many of my children's Christmas wishes as I can.

I have really enjoyed going to the mailbox over the past few weeks.  I LOVE Christmas CARDS!!  I just enjoy seeing photos of friends and family and reading a bit of what everyone has been up to over this past year.

This post is probably too late to help you display your Christmas cards for this year, but there's always next year.

Here is our little Christmas card display.  It makes me smile whenever I pass by. 

Have a Blessed Christmas as we take this time to celebrate the birth of our Lord.

Window Nativity Silhouette

I am so excited to show you this week's project!  With Christmas speeding toward us and company coming to visit, it may be the last Christmas project I get to do this year.  But it’s extra special to me, because it’s a Nativity scene.  I have started a small collection of Nativity scenes over the years.  I usually get at least one new one every year, even if it’s just an ornament.

But…on to my project…

I don’t really have a tutorial on this, because it’s pretty basic and because I was so excited to get it put up that I forgot to take pictures along the way!

This is in a bay window in my home. 

Materials you will need:

• White bulletin board paper
• black poster board
• X-acto knife with extra blades
• sample of nativity scene for reference
• chalk

This project came to mind the other day as I remembered all the cool silhouettes that people had done at Halloween for their windows.  However, this Nativity scene means so much more to me than any flurry of bats or jack-o-lanterns ever could.  It reminds me of the very reason that we celebrate Christmas in the first place- the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I love the Christmas trees, the wreaths, the snowmen, the reindeer and Santa, but THE reason I celebrate Christmas is to remember the birth of Christ.

For my silhouette, I just measured my window (I wish it did not have those grid thingies in it).  I purchased the white bulletin board paper from a teachers’ supply store to fit the window.  I got 4 sheets of thick black poster board and taped them together on the back.  I took this image from my Silhouette downloads and printed it out on paper so I’d have a reference for my drawing.



It would be a dream come true if the Silhouette would cut something this big!  But alas I am happy with all the cool stuff it does cut :) 

Hubby and I tag teamed and drew this image free hand onto the large poster board with a pencil.  We left out the star from the image above, because I thought it would be a pain to cut with an X-acto knife.  So, I found another image in the Silhouette store with a different star and downloaded it. 




Then I used my slice tool and detached the star and enlarged it in the Silhouette software and cut  this simple star on black cardstock. 



After we were satisfied with the pencil drawing, I went over it with white crayon, so that I could see really well to make my cut outs.  I should have used chalk, because I then had to go over some white crayon marks with a black paint pen when it was over.  If you use chalk, it will wipe right off, duh!

Then I took a really large TV box that we keep in the attic and I used it as my “cutting table”.  I laid out my poster board and went to work cutting out the silhouette of the Nativity.  It was relatively easy, except for the parts where the poster board was doubled.  I only broke one blade, but dulled 2 completely :)  Thankfully, I had won a fabulous box of Elmer’s craft supplies from Lil Luna a couple of weeks ago, so I had a few X-acto knives on hand.

After I cut it all out, we mounted it to the window with thick sticky dots.  We then taped the white paper up behind it.  We took a desk lamp with a moveable “head” and pointed it to the window; turned out the lights; and ran outside to see how it turned out.  I just love it! 

I don’t have any lawn decorations and/or other outside décor except for my front porch.  But this makes such a statement at night when it’s lit up for all to see. 

One more peek from a little further away.





Merry Christmas to you all, and may you be blessed as we celebrate His birth.





Linking up to these great parties:

Show and share at Southern Lovely, DIY under $5 at a Little Tipsy, Get your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s creative blog, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design, Strut your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple, Free for all Friday at Sassy Sites, Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest, Under $100 at Beyond the Picket fence, Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Pity Party at 30 Days, Weekend bloggy reading at Serenity Now, Weekend Wrap up Party At TaterTots and Jello, I'm lovin' it at Tidy Mom, Get Schooled Saturday at Too much time on my hands, Strut your Stuff Saturday at Six Sisters Stuff, Show me what Ya got at Not just a Housewife

Better late than never Christmas Inspirations

Frame your family Christmas cards

I’ve been crunched for time this week, so I haven’t done anything “creative”.  I’m itching to though!  You’d better believe it! 

But I wanted to share something that we have done every year since our oldest child was born.  We started sending out Christmas cards.  We either send out photo Christmas cards or send out a traditional card and include a photo.  Most years our cards have included mom, dad, and the kids.  But a few times over the years, only the kids’ pictures made the cut : )  We save a card a frame it in a festive/Christmas frame.  We then add it to our ever growing collection of family Christmas photos.  Gabe is 11 now, and I count 10 frames in our decorations this year.  We did skip Christmas cards the year I was newly pregnant with Ashby and puking my brains out!  And people called…and emailed.  They wanted to make sure we were okay, since they hadn’t received our card.  They missed us!  Anyway, I get really excited every year when I open the box of framed photos and display them for the few weeks before Christmas.  It’s so fun to see how the kids have grown and the different pictures we have taken over the years.  Oh, and a little tip…if you are using a photo card from Shutterfly, Costco, Snapfish, or some other card template, just order an extra 4x6 or 5x7 print of the Christmas photo to frame.  It fits much better in the frame than the one from the Christmas card itself.

Here is a picture of our little photo display.




I never knew it was so difficult to take pictures of “pictures”  Sorry for the bad glare on those top two! 

We like to have fun with it.  In fact, here’s a sneak peak of what will arrive in some of my friends and family’s mailboxes this year…hee hee



For those procrastinators like me (I know you’re out there), happy decorating!  For those who are finished, you’re are definitely invited over to help me finish mine!

Linking up to these great parties:

Tickled Pink Fridays @504 Main, Friday Flair at Whipperberry, Pity Party at 30 Days, Feature yourself Friday at FOTF, Weekend Wrap up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes