PINTEREST... OH HOW I LOVE THEE

Last night, I was awakened at 3:00am by my oldest, who wanted something to drink. After helping him quench his thirst, I couldn't go back to sleep, soooo...

I got up and decided to do a little crafting. There were two projects that I had recently "Pinned" on Pinterest that I thought I would like to try to make. And since I already had all the supplies, they would be perfect for a little early morning creativity.

First was a Bird's Nest necklace.

The tutorial for this cute and super easy necklace is here.

Then I made a Poinsettia brooch.

The tutorial for this beautiful festive pin is found here. I did modify the design slightly. When she attached the petals to the backing she just laid them flat. I wanted there to be a little more dimension, so I pinched the one end of the petal before attaching.

After getting my creative juices flowing so nicely this morning, I thought I would also share some other things that I have made after being inspired by the Ever So Wonderful World of Pinterest.

Rosette & Ribbon Bracelet...

The tutorial for this fun, chunky piece of jewelry is here.

Here's a self-portrait of myself wearing one of these bracelets.

Pom-Pom Pendant... I made two of these as Christmas Gifts for my son's teachers.

The simple tutorial for this Way Cute necklace is here. I did do mine a little different than she did. I didn't use a charm. My pendant is actually a full sphere. I did two halves, each attached to a circle of felt, and then glued them together.

Trinket Holders... These are going to be found in my boy's stockings come this Sunday morning.

The tutorial for these adorable little trinket holders is here. I Love the carabiner's that I found with the little compass. They were less than $3 at Walmart. I found them in the Camping department.

Initial Gift Tags...

The inspiration for these simplistic tags came from here.

Pretzel Kisses... I made these this afternoon for my son's little Holiday party at school tomorrow.

The instructions for these little bites of yumminess is here.

and finally...

Coffee Filter Wreath...

I posted about this earlier, but to see how I used plumbing pipe insulation for the wreath form, go here. To keep my form from "kinking", I put a wire hanger inside the insulation.

Be sure to check out my Pinterest Boards and follow me if they interest you. I'm always pinning TONS of DIY projects... many many things to get YOUR Creative Juices flowing.

HILLBILLY WINEGLASSES

It's that time of year again... my neighborhood Christmas Bunco Night. Every year, all of us ladies always have a little something to give to each other at the December Bunco. Last year, I was all about Yumminess (Salted Caramel Cupcakes in a Jar), but this year I wanted to go the Silly but Functional route. Through my adventures on Pinterest, I am currently all about making my own cake stands using a plate, a candlestick and the proper glue. So with those inspirations swirling around in my head, I thought I could use that same concept to create something for my friends. I had seen these on FB a while ago, and decided this is what I would make...

Hillbilly Wineglasses...

Mason Jar glued to a glass candlestick. How hilarious is that?

I already had the proper glue - E6000, so I was off to the Dollar Tree for the candlesticks, then to Walmart for the pint sized Ball Mason Jars.

After following some sound advice that I got from Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous and her Facebook followers, I set about making 12 of these.

Their advice included: 1). be sure jar and candlestick are clean and dry, 2). sanding the top of the candlestick seems to help with adhesion, and 3). a little bit of glue goes a long way.

It really was a very easy process. To complete the gifts, I made these cute little tags with the little mason jar using my Cricut. I added a few sweets, and I placed some Christmas colored paper in the lids.

I hope they all liked them. Normally, before we start playing for the evening, we all open our little goodies. But not this year. So I was a little disappointed to not be able to see their reactions. Hopefully they all got a good little chuckle.

I'm linking up here...

Tatertots & Jello Handmade Gifts

A LITTLE HOLIDAY CHANGE UP

Last weekend, starting on Friday, I got everything out and decorated for Christmas. Friday mostly consisted of putting together our artificial tree, which went fairly quickly thanks to the assistance of my little helpers.

Since this is to be our last Christmas in this house (more on that later), I thought I would do a little more decorating than normal. Being that I have two small boys (4 & 2), I don't normally put a lot of things out on low lying flat surfaces. Being that our house is small, we don't actually have a whole lot of low lying flat surfaces.

The first place that I started was my Entry table. This is the only place, other than our mantle, that I decorated last year. The Snowman and J O Y artwork are returning favorites, but everything else is a little different from last year's display.

First up, the branches, which I originally used them in my Easter display. For Christmas, I kept it simple with small red bulbs.

Since these branches are right in front of our security panel, every time we would set the alarm, the branches would get knocked and the ornaments would slide around. To remedy this problem, I simply tied a little green ribbon around the hook and branch.

The table scape has two new pieces... the scrapbook paper Countdown blocks, and the Decorative Tray. I made the Countdown blocks last year, they just weren't originally displayed on this table.

I found this adorable little tray at Dollar General for $1, and added the popular "Elf" movie quote...

Then I decided I wanted to add a little something to our Entry mirror. Originally I was going to do some kind of holiday bunting, but then I went this route. And really, it still has the "bunting" feel.

Santa and his Sleigh...

Flying Reindeer with Rudolph leading the way.

Before we put our house on the market at the beginning of the year, these three little frames had pictures of our three boys. Then to "Stage" the house, I put little Fleur-di-Lis' in them. So for the holiday, they needed something "Jolly".

This was a Christmas Card that we got last year. I LOVED it, and saved it. This year, I put it in a frame - one of the frames I used in my Farmer's Market booth. It's actually plastic - I found it at Goodwill and spray painted it.

This was another Goodwill find. This cute little metal bucket was $1. I added the vinyl saying and fabric rosette, and it works perfect to collect all of the Holiday Cards we will get.

In our dining area of our Great Room, I have these three chunky display shelves. This is the first year I've added any holiday decor to them. On the top shelf, I wanted to display all of the Christmas Cards that I have made over the last five years.

Three of them are displayed via these beautiful bejeweled place card holders... again found at Goodwill for $.50 each.

The other two are displayed using something that inspired me on Pinterest.

A cute little easel made out of a fork. There is an Etsy shop that sells them using Sterling Silver. I'm sure these aren't Sterling Silver... they're $.25 forks from Goodwill.

The bottom shelf (which now, 6 days later, I know was a huge mistake - shiny bulbs and curious little fingers DO. NOT. MIX. I know you're all saying you could have told me so) I kept simple. Colorful bulbs in square glass vases, and little red paper trees in these cute IKEA frames - two I actually got at IKEA, the third at Goodwill. Amazingly I paid the same price at both places - $1.

Have y'all seen this great contact paper at the Dollar Tree? I love the shade of green and the paisley/floral print.

The day I took these pics, our Holiday visitor, Peter J. Tinslesparkle (Elf on the Shelf's cousin), was hanging out on the top shelf.

My Cottonball Cone trees made a re-appearance this year, but displayed a little differently. This year they have been placed on one of my display trays from the Farmer's Market. Again, found at Goodwill, spray painted, and then added vinyl scroll work.

On Sunday, I decided to try to make a Coffee Filter Wreath. For the wreath form, I used plumbing pipe insulation wrapped around a circle formed wire hanger.

The Snowflake, Ribbon, and small Red Ornaments were all purchased at the Dollar General.

I think this entire project cost me just under $7.00

Then on Monday, I found these great little red Snowflakes at Target. They were 4 for $1.

I brought them home and using fishing line, tied them to a little 9" wreath that I found at Goodwill. I didn't want to hot glue them on because I want to be able to use this wreath for other things.

And that's my holiday decor for this year. I didn't show my mantle, because it's the same as last year - nothing new.

Did you change up your Holiday Decor this year.

COTTONBALL CHRISTMAS TREE TRIO

Little sets of "cone" Christmas Trees are ALL OVER the blogging world this holiday season, and I've been wanting to make a set for myself. There have been paper ones, yarn wrapped ones, tissue paper ones, coffee filter ones, felt ones, candy covered ones... needless to say, there is quite a variety out there. I originally was going to do mine using curled paper strips, but today, the idea of cottonballs came to me. Easy, cheap, and NO hot glue needed. Yay for no burnt fingertips.

Introducing my Cottonball Christmas Tree Trio.

Since it was so quick and easy, I thought I would do a tutorial on it. Honestly, it's pretty self explanatory, but I felt like showing a step-by-step for those of you craftily challenged.

So let's get started!!

The supplies you will need are -

(2) sheets of posterboard (I'm too cheap to buy tree forms)

approx. 200 cottonballs

pen

twine, string or yarn

ruler (not shown)

push pin

scissors

stapler

glue

decorative toppers

I'm showing you how I made the tallest tree.

Follow these same steps for the two smaller trees (obviously).

First, cut a piece of twine about 15" long

(note, I'm using Kitchen Shears because I was

too lazy to run upstairs for scissors after I started doing the project)

Tie the twine around your pen.

Starting from the pen, measure the length of the

radius of a semi-circle.

(note again, I'm using a measuring tape, because still too lazy to run upstairs for a ruler)

My largest tree had a radius of about 10-3/4".

Be sure to pull the twine taught (I obviously didn't do that, but trying to do this AND take the picture was nearly impossible)

Once you have the length you need, put a push pin in the twine.

Find the center point of the width of your poster board, and then measure down that same distance from the end. My poster board was 22" wide, so the center point was at 11" - I then measured down 11" from the end.

I put a cork trivet under the poster board and stuck the push pin

into the poster board at the marked point.

Pull your pen tight and start drawing a semi-circle.

If you have something large enough to trace a circle, go for it... it would definitely be easier.

It took me a couple of tries, but honestly, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Draw a straight line across the diameter of your semi-circle.

Cut out the semi-circle.

SIDE NOTE: My use of kitchen shears and a measuring tape were not really because of laziness, but because I was trying to do and photograph this quick tutorial while my two little boys were eating their lunch not inches from this project.

I'm amazed, food was not thrown into the photo shots.

This is my youngest, Grey.

Please ignore his snot crusted upper lip,

but do note,

the piece of grilled cheese sandwich on his right shoulder.

I digress...

OK, back to the tutorial.

After you have your semi-circle cut out, roll it into a cone shape.

Secure with staples.

There you go... said cone.

For the two smaller cones, I went about 2" less (per cone) on the radius.

The medium cone has a radius of about 8-3/4".

The smallest has a radius of 6-3/8".

Starting at the bottom of the cone, run a line of glue all the way around.

Start adding your cottonballs, and work your way up the cone.

If you pay attention and position the cottonballs with the rolled end out, they look like little fluffy rosettes. I didn't do this with the two smaller cones because at that point, I was just whipping them together to see if my idea would work.

Work your way to the top.

Glue on your decorative topper.

I used a little ornament.

(wow, do my cuticles need some serious maintenance)

And there you go.

Cottonball Christmas Tree Trio.

I sat mine on a large square platter and filled in the negative space

with little glass balls and ornaments.

It's going to be my Christmas Table Centerpiece.

Question... Should I sprinkle them with glitter?

I'm linking up here... be sure to go check them out to see all the other awesome projects.

This project was Featured here...