pink flamingos

I like to play with bottle brush trees every year.

This year Lucy McGillicuddy had some input.

The super easy how to:

(kids love this project too)

Darice Sisal Trees from the craft store

Wooden spool or some other base

Acrylic paint

mod podge

Glitter

Bleach

First, I dilute the bleach (about 1T bleach to 12 oz water). Then I soak the trees in the diluted bleach, one at a time, about 5 minutes. They come out a pale green - which is nice too. I give them a good rinse and let them dry. Once they're dry, I paint them with watered down acrylic paint. Thinning your paint will give you better coverage without clumping. When the paint is dry, you're ready for glittering. I just brush on some mod podge and then shake on some glitter. Ultra fine glitter is a what is a like to use, but chunky glitter would look great too. Last step is painting the wooden base under the tree a fun bright color and when that's dried, gluing it onto a base if you want to.

I hope you liked this little how to ... chances are you've already been there and done that ... and I'd love to hear your own twist on the tale. 

as promised a few weeks ago

book cover boxes

(a how to)

a few weeks ago I posted about pocket poems - which are actually a by-product of my book cover boxes

Any hardcover book covers will do.

I get my books on the free shelf at my local thrift store.

They're mostly business books or textbooks

(nothing to fret about sacrificing)

I first mark out lines on the back side. 

For this example I marked a line 1 1/4" inside from each edge.

Next, I cut out the corners.

I use scissors for this.

Then I flip it over and using my ruler and an xacto knife,  I score each side that will be folded.

This is how it looks after folding

I like to finish the edges with paper.

These are 1 1/2" inch strip of paper that I will fold in half and glue over the edges.

Sobo glue works the best for paper to paper gluing. 

Then I tie a ribbon to hold all the sides firmly in place. Voila - a cool box for pencils, paintbrushes, oddments, or a sweet gift.

***

With the left over squares I make the pocket poems

I back these with home made marble paper and line the edges with copper foil tape.

I hope you enjoyed this how-to ... 

cheers, 

kimmie

yummy goodness

yesterday, I got together with my two moms to make Christmas cookies

we made french shortbread, brownies, spritz cookies

snowballs, rugelach, macaroons, palmiers, and I forget what all else

- get ready for the cravings to sweep over you -

spritz cookies:

macaroons:

rugelach:

still to make:

gingerbread boys and chocolate crinkles

maybe tomorrow?

quilted goodness

I have some more vintage quilted goodies to show you

the first one is from the blue and white Ohio Star quilt I used for the little heart ornaments

it's a tree topper star to replace the Barbie-esque angel from China:

and with a mint green and white pinwheel quilt 

(which is in pretty good shape except for one edge which I had to cut off)

I made these embroidery hoop ornaments:

(the ornaments are in my Etsy shop Christmas section)

I'm off to go make Christmas cookies today

it's a real production

I'll show you some Yummy Goodness tomorrow 

:)

saving some green

I forego the luscious evergreen wreaths every year.

Originally, I was motivated by pinching pennies.

But once I learned about evergreen poaching, 

it's super easy to turn up my nose and glide right past them in the market.

this year I snipped some holly and cedar from our own trees in the backyard

I stuck them in some woolen mittens - tied on a red ribbon accent - and there you have it

guilt free

and lest you think I have it all together over here

- I'll show you my whole porch -

rotting and frozen pumpkins and all

victorian kissing ball

this last Sunday afternoon, I took a class at a local nursery and made a victorian kissing ball

- hey - 

a girl can never have too many kisses

:)

I loved how it turned out, so I came home with the supplies I needed to make more of them

The How To

what you will need :

an ivy plant in a 4 inch pot

floral wire

a heavier gauge wire for the hook

sphagnum moss soaking in water

miscellaneous greens

pliers for bending the heavier wire

first step:

remove your ivy plant from the pot, keeping as much dirt attached to the root ball as possible, and wrap the dirt ball with sphagnum moss. Wring out the moss after removing it from the water, or you will have a soggy mess on your hands.

 

second step:

using your thin floral wire, begin wrapping it into a ball shape.

I used a lot of wire - about four pieces that were 16" 

(it might be easier if you use floral wire that is on a spool and then you can use one long length of it)

third step:

 make "hairpins" with the floral wire

these are about 4 inches each and bent in the middle into a u-shape

use these to pin the ivy tendrils into your moss ball

fourth step:

 bend your heavy gauge wire so that it has a j-shape at one end

insert this through the middle of your ball

for best results, have the bottom of your ball be full and the top bare

fifth step:

bend the top of your wire to form a hanger

attach greens with more of the pins (filling in any bare spots)

lastly:

attach a bow at the top

also: dried flowers, pinecones, sparkly baubles ... dress it up any way you would like

(that's the fun part!)

** to care for your kissing ball, simply immerse it in water once a week **
the instructor told us she has one from two years ago
- in the summer, she hangs it under a shady tree -
(remove ribbons etc and refurbish it next year)

orange craving

if you have been reading my blog for a while

you already know that right about this time of year I get a big orange caving

I dry slices in the oven

.... and then use them to make stuff (of course!)

how I dry my orange slices:

slice the oranges relatively thinly - about 1/4 inch thick I guess

lay out on wax paper on a cookie sheet

bake at 200 degrees (f)

check every hour - flipping the slices over is a good idea too

do this until dry (about 3 hours?)

... and save the end bits!

drop them into a saucepan with a cinnamon stick and some water

simmer and smell .... my, oh my, it's like heaven

and then comes the fun part

... making stuff!

like these ornaments

ornament DIY ingredients:

dried orange slice

hot glue pieces of lichen in the middle

hot glue a deconstructed pinecone on top of that 

(or some other kind of bead, button or bauble)

dip in melted beeswax 

(beeswax: a fantastic preservative - and it smells great too)

 .... here's a link to the wreath I made last year ....

candy dish

this once was my grandmother's candy dish

she always had this type of candy in it

as kids we weren't too crazy about it ... wishing for chocolate I guess

and even now, the only good thing in there is the raspberry filled one

but they sure do look pretty

:)

orange wreath

remember the dried orange slices?

I used some of them to decorate a large willow wreath from the dollar store

I attached the slices with fishing line

and tried to alternate the more "well done" slices with the slices that were more on the "rare" side

*

it's a nice patch of sunshine on my entry way mirror

:)

sustainable wreath

every year 

I think it would be so cool 

to have one of those 

giant beautiful evergreen wreaths 

on my front door

*

one year I did .... 

it was a secret gift in the middle of the night and I still don't know who it came from

.... it just appeared on my front door ....

big, beautiful, extravagant and, oh so, fragrant

but

... and this is a big but ...

but

many of the branches that go into the making of those wreaths are harvested illegally

poached from local forests

leaving young trees struggling to survive after being denuded of their branches

(you can read an article about it HERE)

this wreath is made entirely from found objects on the forest floor

pine cones, lichen, moss

and one little token piece of imported plastic

I thought he was uber cute

:)

even though he is plastic

another pinecone project

a couple of weeks ago I showed you some deconstructed pinecone ideas

(click HERE)

what I love about these is the complete lack of anything manufactured in a factory somewhere

(except the hot glue sticks I guess)

I used some of the wooden sewing spools from my collection

sticks, moss and pinecones from the forest

and glued the "deconstructed" pinecone parts to rolled up cone shapes I made from sturdy paper

miniature magic .... fit for any elf

playing with nature

yesterday I was talking about how I live in the evergreen state

this is just some of the bounty from a saturday walk in the woods last weekend:

I tend to get into the minutiae of things

... so I deconstructed them and LOVED what I found!

beautiful pine cone "petals" and "leaves"

ornaments (above)

and a tree topper (below)

nothing beats nature for the coolest of materials to work with

(on etsy)