Paper and Letters Christmas Garland

 Every year, until now, I have been swooned by all things 'cutesy' Christmas. I wanted ribbons and bows and polka dots oh my! I had glitter and feathers and monograms galore. This year, however, I was completely caught off guard by my desire to go a more rustic, natural and home-made with my Christmas decor. I found these awesome little boxes at Hobby Lobby and it really got my little vision running!

I've been on maternity leave with my little guy and wanted to get the Christmas decorating done before I return to work next week. As we were putting up our tree Monday night I realized if I wanted to cut back on the cutesy I couldn't use half of my decorations from past years. This meant our tree was looking a little sparse. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and use some spare materials we had to make a few strands of garland, and I loved the way they turned out!

 The first one I made was a strand of stars cut from old dictionary pages. I didn't use a template, but just free handed 3 different sizes of stars. I stacked them all up in varying order, and poked a hole right through the center of all 50 or so stars at one time with a large sewing needle. I used basic white thread on the needle to string them all together. I love the look!! It's so homemade and just perfect for our not so perfect house right now!

The second garland was made from chipboard letters and twine.

I ended up using smaller chipboard letters per hubby's request, which was a good call! I simply hot-glued the letters to the twine in no particular order. I left the letters unfinished to add to the natural (and simple) look. It took less than 20 minutes to make and put up on the tree.

In the end these garlands were incredibly simple and quick to make, and they ended up being exactly what my tree needed. All it took to spruce up the tree was a little cheap thinking outside of the box! What Christmas crafts can you make for free from your craft closet this year? It's certainly not too early to start getting creative this holiday season!

 Merry Wednesday!

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Make it a Last Minute Tradition!

Who out there doesn't love a good holiday tradition? Well, if you have been following the blog for long you know that we love holiday traditions around my house. So if you haven't already, I'm here to encourage you to carve pumpkins with your family each year, starting tonight!! It can be quick, easy, and full of laughter. And in the end, it's totally worth the glow on your little ones faces and those of your pumpkins too!

First, you have to make a quick afternoon trip to a fun pumpkin farm to find just the right one. And just think, if you've waited this long they probably have a sale! (If you can't get out to the farm, I bet your grocer has a great $3.99 pumpkin with your name written all over it!)

Cut the top of your pumpkin and scoop out all the insides, leaving the carving side of your pumpkin as thin as you can. Have a good metal serving spoon? Those make perfect scoopers and scrapers!

To make it easy, go to your local grocery store and pick up a book of carving patterns. The set always comes with these great little tools that make carving a cinch.

 Be sure to get the whole family involved!

When everyone's done, light them up, sit back and enjoy the show!!

Have some fun pumpkin carvings you'd like to share? Link them up to our Flickr account so we can all enjoy! Hope you can 'carve out' some time to get in on this great tradition this year before its too late!

Happy Wednesday, and Happy Halloween!

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Eek! Wreath {A Silhouette Project}

Halloween is just about a month away now, practically right around the corner! It's no surprise that I love to make a  fun wreath to help celebrate the holidays. I still love my wreath from last year for outside, but wanted something new to hang inside the door this year too! Since the wreath was going to be away from 'the elements,' I decided to put my Silhouette SD to work to help create a ribbon and paper wreath.

Here is what I came up with:

 

I won't bore you with the obvious details since I pretty much just combined a myriad of different wreath styles we've all seen before, but I will highlight the different parts of the wreath and give you a quick run down of what I used to create it. 

I grabbed a bunch of supplies to start with, not knowing what I would use and not use. I used the wire ring as the base of the wreath, and began by tying ribbon in varying colors and sizes in knots around about a third of the wire base.

 

 Next,  I used my Silhouette SD to cut out scalloped circles in varying sizes and two different colors. I found a layout I liked and covered the remaining two-thirds of the wire base. I used hot glue to keep the circles in place.

 

I decided I needed some more volume on the paper side of the wreath, so I created some scalloped paper flowers to sort of mimic clouds. Then, I used my Silhouette SD to cut out bats in varying sizes. I created a crease down the center to create death and give them the fling illusion, then glued them in an ascending  fashion 'flying' us the side of the wreath.

 

 As a finishing touch, I added one of my favorite spooky words, eek! (I used this last year in my pumpkin display too.) I picked a fun font from my computer and cut it out from a thick orange cardstock using the Silhouette as well.

And that was is! I tied a big orange bow on the top to hang it with because, come on, who doesn't love a GIANT bow? What do you think?

Have a fun holiday wreath you've been working on? I would LOVE to see it. Upload your version of the paper wreath to our Flickr sight, or leave a comment with your latest and greatest wreath here.

{I'll be linking to the CSI Fall Projects.}

 

And just in case you are interested...

{Last year's wreath, the shoes wreath}

Happy Wednesday!

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Lacing Letters {Americana Style}

I actually went to Home Depot to find a new paint color for my bedroom, however the only thing I ended up coming home with was a ton of the free paint swatches and decided to make one of the nifty banners I often see on tons of blogs.

I also decided just to spruce it up a bit by adding a simple lacing project to it. I'm sure most of you remember playing with these in school.

{It was pretty simple}

Things you'll need
Paint Swatches {free}
Hole Punch
Ribbon

I would just visualize where I would need a hole and punch punch I went.
It was a fun project and super easy.



I love the finished product! Definitely my style.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July!

Jessica

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Pearl Egg Topiaries

I have been incredibly behind in my holiday decorating lately, which is a true testament to how much is going on around here! Anyway, when I had a day to sit down and work on a project, I knew that it was going to have to be quick, easy and worth it. Here is what I came up with:

With less than $10.00 and an hour of working time, these sweet pearl egg topiaries were created.

Here is how. I took cardboard eggs (purchased for .34 cents with an additional 50% off each!) and painted them white. (I tried one with a plastic egg too, and it works just as well, though I am assuming it would be more difficult to paint white!)

Then I hot glued the light weight eggs onto a dowel rod that I painted a fun spring-y green.

Next, I started wrapping pearl beaded string around in a circular motion, from the bottom up. I dotted the string with hot glue as I went to secure it in place.

When I was finished, I tied a coral colored ribbon around the dowel rod to add a little finishing touch. The green and the coral really made each other's color 'pop!'

I didn't plan ahead for what I was going to use to make my topiary stand up in my teacups. So, I resorted to a last minute technique of sticking it in my daughter's play dough as a temporary measure. I was pretty impressed with how well it worked. I am still looking into more permanent solutions.

I covered it with grass and voila! A set of topiaries just awaiting a fun Easter table display.

I'll be linking to these parties this week. Hope you will stop by and find some great spring inspiration there!

Happy Thursday!

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