VALENTINE YARN WREATH

When I went to my Facebook page to post about my earlier blog posts from this morning, my Cover photo reminded me that I had forgotten about my Valentine wreath project.

Back in January, a good friend of mine decided she needed a "Girls Day", and thought it would be fun if we did a craft.  From a blog that she follows, she saw where a group of women had gotten together and made wrapped yarn wreaths.  So on a Sunday afternoon, we gathered at her house and started to do some serious wrapping.

I had always wanted to do a yarn wreath, and from all the ones I had seen, I really liked the Argyle style.  So I decided to integrate the Argyle style with the Valentine Holiday.

Here are the beautiful wreaths we all made that day.  Can you guess which one is mine?

It was a fun afternoon spent with good friends, yummy food, and amazing creativity.  

This type of wreath is really very simple, and doesn't take a whole lot of time to create.  So give it a try sometime!!

Patriotic Clothespin Wreath

I have now made two Clothespin wreaths.  The first one was for a friend for her little consignment shop, and now I've made one for myself - specifically for The 4th of July.

After spray painting 54 clothespins white, I used five different scrapbook papers to cover them.  

I placed them randomly around an inside piece of a 6" Embroidery hoop, which I had also painted white

Then for a subtle tribute to the holiday, I added three star cookie cutters.

To hang it, I had bought some patriotic ribbon, but the brightness of the colors didn't work with the soft shades of the paper.  So I took some scrap denim that I had from an old pair of jeans, and using fabric glue, created a 2" wide band to hang it from.

So Excited to now have one of these for myself, and to Finally have some Patriotic decor.

FEATURED... ONE YEAR LATER

Remember this....

Who would have ever thought that a simple, no cost project that I did a year ago, would have such staying power.

A great website called AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com is Featuring it for the upcoming Holiday, this year. Please be sure to go check it out, along with all the other Great Ideas!!

BURLAP & DENIM WREATH

At the end of this month, we are moving. Luckily, it is to a home that is in our same neighborhood. So beginning the week between Christmas and New Year, we started the process. I love the fact that we can take things over in multiple little trips, rather than doing EVERYTHING all on the SAME day.

Anyway, the house we are moving into is a Log Cabin. You'll be seeing lots of pics, because I have TONS of projects planned (mostly all inspired from Pinterest). Before I started packing up all my craft supplies, I wanted to make a New Wreath for our New Front Door.

Here's what I came up with...

The wreath form was made using plumbing pipe insulation, and the denim is from a pair of jeans that originally, I was going to turn into a skirt, but when cutting the jeans apart, I didn't realize I was cutting the front and back at the same time - therefore, total screw up. WOW, that was quite the run-on sentence.

Anyway...

I cut little triangles and hot glued them to twine and added white vinyl letters.

The flowers are a combination of rosettes and poof.

I think it adds a little Rustic Charm to a Rustic type home.

I'm linking up here... be sure to go check out all the other great stuff linked up.

Tatertots & Jello

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.

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.