Santa Paper Wreath for Charity Event

Hello there! I'm a busy little elf this week. I bet you are too!  Here's a quick shot (as in 7:30 in the a.m. while I'm drinking my coffee and packing lunches kinda shot - lol) of the Santa paper wreath I made this week as my donation to the Festival of Wreaths silent auction. 

Thanks to Karen at the The Graphics Fairy for this great Santa image. I just can't stop using it!  See my freebie in my previous post.  I still love making these paper wreaths.  The paper is an old atlas. Appropriate for Santa since he travels the world on Christmas Eve.  The border is ruffled crepe paper and vintage tinsel. I hope she does well at the event! 

How about you?  What project is on your table this week?  Somehow I can just guess it is holiday related.  If you are not making something are you in full swing decorating?  I bet.  Until next time...xoxo

Free Santa image on music paper

Hello!  I hope that you each had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We sure did. Today, we are trying to get some Christmas decorating done. The next few weekends are very busy with holiday parties and my parents 50th wedding anniversary. 

While unpacking the Xmas favorites, I came across this Santa image from The Graphics Fairy.  Thank you, Karen! I had printed it on a vintage copy of "The First Noel."   I wanted to share it with you.  Just right click and save the image to your computer. This is an 8.5 x 11 print. You can resize in your photo editing software. Always best when printed on card stock.  I'll be back with more Christmas goodies this week.  Until then...xoxo

Free Vintage Thanksgiving Images

Hello, friends! I have scanned a few of my vintage Thanksgiving postcards for you. I love to put these out in flower frogs or hang them from my shutters during the holiday.  I hope you can find a good use for them.  Just right click, save image to your computer and then you will be able to print and use.  These are best if printed on cardstock.

So sorry if I have not been visiting as much these past few weeks.  November and December are always extra busy for me at work, on top of all the normal hustle and bustle of the holidays.  It is hard to squeeze it all in sometimes. I am certain that many of you can relate.

I hope that each of you has a blessed Thanksgiving and safe travels too.  Stay tuned for easy ornament tutorials! Thank you for your comments and follows.  xoxo

Altered bottle brush tree project

Hello!  I'm finally posting the altered Xmas bottles my friend Jodi and I made last weekend.  These are simple to make and so pretty. I love the way they turned out.
 

Here's what you need to make yours: 

Old bottle(thrift store)

Bottle brush tree (craft store)

Bag of faux snow 

Champagne or gold tinsel glitter

E-6000 glue

Liquitex matte gel medium

Fabric scraps 

Jewelry pieces for decorating

 

Jodi came up with a great concoction for decorating the bottle brush trees.  She mixed faux snow from Michael's with champagne tinsel glitter in a bowl.  This really helps stretch the glitter and gives it more texture.  We bleached bottle brush trees from the craft store.  Removing the green makes them easier to cover.  We then applied spray adhesive to the dried trees and sprinkled our mixture onto the tree until covered.  It did take a few layers.  Tip: Create two stations. A spray station in a box or over newspaper then a second station where you apply glitter mix. I put newspaper down and used a plastic bowl to mix and apply glitter.

 I think this is an inexpensive alternative to using all your fine German glass glitter.  I really like how easily it covered and the texture it creates. We glued the trees onto the bottles with E-6000.

The bottles were finished off by wrapping them in fabric scraps. I used gel medium to adhere the fabric to the bottle. It dries clear.  The coordinating jewelry pieces were attached with more E-6000.  The large bottle has a strand of pearls hanging about the neck.  These will definitely be part of my Christmas decor this year!  Hope you had a great week.  More Christmas projects on the way!

Great Day in the Country

It sure was a Great Day in the Country!  Saturday was our town's annual craft fair. The weather could not have been better. It was a cool 50 degrees to start out and warmed up to the mid 70's.  There was not a cloud in the sky. 

Kara and I got an early start. We were inside the fair before the 9:00 start so we could get in line at our favorite booth - Tuckers.  The owner always seems to have something great with rusty old wheels. They sell out quick. This year we were lucky enough to score this adorable barrel above. I plan to use it by the front door and put a Charlie Brown Christmas tree inside.  Like her?  They also had these great wagons. I grabbed a few for my friends who were still parking.

Here are a few more Christmas goodies from this great booth.  I love this altered skate and suitcase below.

These signs are really cute too. Made from old cabinet doors.  Some still had the latches.  Hard to take pics with so many people trying to grab the merchandise!

Just like in blogland, there were tons of fabric pumpkins to choose from at the fair.  Here are a few that I found interesting and thought might inspire you.

How about this gorgeous three dimensional stained glass with vintage glassware built in?  Amazing and just gorgeous out there in the sun. 

We always have to stop and visit the local honey vendor.  Kids love the honey sticks. This booth is a favorite at our farmer's market too.

Found some good Christmas gifts at this next booth. Too crowded for pictures but managed a few!

I hope you enjoyed coming along.  This weekend is Renningers.  I need to replenish some supplies. I always find great bottles, books and jewelry pieces at this antique fair.  I'll be sure to take you along again.  Christmas craft coming next.  Get ready to alter some bottle brush trees and bottles!

Heart you

Kara found this rock on a recent trip to the beach.  Don't you love it?  Just wanted to share this picture and take the opportunity to thank each of you who visit me, follow me and leave such wonderful comments...I <3 (heart, love) blogging and all the friends I've made here. Some fun posts coming this week. Hope to see you back here for Christmas projects and Great Day in the Country pictures.  Have a great week!

Holiday Open House Part 2

Hello, friends! Here are the rest of the pics from Hidden Treasure's open house.  This is our local antique store. Check out this assemblage Santa.  Lots of old goodies used to create this guy.  Here's a close up -

Here's another Santa for you.  I thought these were really neat. I didn't check the price.  Probably best!

The store was crowded but I managed to snap a few more photos of things that caught my eye. 

Tomorrow morning  I'm headed to my town's annual craft fair , "A Great Day in the Country." Don't worry! I'm taking you along too.  I'll have my camera in hand. I was hoping to hit the Fancy Flea Market sale in Lakeland, Florida tomorrow afternoon. It's a good one!  But, my son has an important basketball game at noon that this mom just can't miss.  Wish us luck!  Have a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!

Magnolia Leaf Display

I've been looking for something to put in my cute little window for Fall.  Our magnolia leaf art, from my last post, fits perfectly.  I decided to put a vintage book page behind each leaf. What do you think? Any other suggestions? Maybe a white book page instead?  I also added a small branch to my letter "M."  I would love to add a few more branches.

If you want to take a closer look, visit here.  I suggested using these for a banner or perhaps framing a few. You guys had the great idea to use them as Thanksgiving place cards.  I also had a few questions about whether I used dried leaves or fresh from the tree.  I picked leaves off the ground for this project, although the colors on the fresh leaves are so pretty.  I was worried they might change shape as they dried, so I tried to pick ones that had already started to dry and appeared mostly flat. The magnolia leaves are super thick and waxy.  These held up extremely well with the machine sewing.  Here in Florida, we have high humidity and are not running our heat.  These should be fine through Thanksgiving. I made some suggestions on my previous post on how to preserve them with gel medium. Maybe I'll run a test for us!

I hope you are having a great week!  More pics of the Hidden Treasures Holiday Open house coming up next.  Thanks for stopping by.