Friday, November 22, 2013

Owl Ornaments And The Owl Tree

Owls are such a big thing now , I had to trim a tree with them ! This tree sits on the stairs going upstairs.. Usually it is trimmed with felt Santa's and snowmen. Its a 4 ft. tree , and there are no lights on this one since there's no outlet .
 I started with some snowflake burlap I got at Michaels. I wove that through the tree , made a bow for the tree topper and added pinecones and lots of snowflake ornaments. At an estate sale a month or so ago I got all those white berry picks , and used those too..

 I hopefully will be able to find some more cute owls to add to the tree in the weeks before and after Christmas !
 I made all the crocheted owls from this pattern ... I changed the pattern since I thought they were too big for my tree and also I wanted them in different sizes.
 I used button for a couple of their eyes and also just crocheted their eyes.
 For my owls, use Size G hook and  worsted weight yarn... I chained 3 slip stitch for a circle.. Round 1 ..12 sc in circle. Round 2 ..sc in first stitch 2 sc in next repeat around (18) stitches. Round 3 .. sc in next 2 , 2 sc in next around. ( 24 stitches. Keep crocheting  your rows until you get the desired size owl.. to close and make the ears ..hold the front and back together , do a half dc in first stitch ,sc in next 6 stitches slip stitch 2 rows down ..stuff your owl kind of loosely.. then sc to the last stitch where you do a half dc. Pull up on the ends a little so the points for their ears show. For the eyes ..chain 3 slip stitch to form ring. chain 3 , 11 dc in ring .slip stitch to top of chain 3 . Slip stitch in first 6 stitches then sc in last 6 .When you sew the eyes on the owl the sc part should be on top like an eyelid. Either sew or glue buttons in , or chain 2 ( I used brown ) then 5 sc in first chain slip stitch and leave a tail for sewing. For the nose I used pale yellow, chain 3 ..sc in last 2 chains , turn 1 sc in last stitch , turn slip stitch in last stitch. leave a tail for sewing.

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Monday, November 18, 2013

Book Page Ornaments and The Dining Room Tree

 
Book page ornaments are popping up all over blogland , so I had to make some ! I tried last night to make some I saw on Pinterest that looked like snowflakes, but it took me an hour and it was only half finished..With one !! This morning I made these and they are very easy !

 I also had to add that chalkboard look  element to them as well .. I am using these on my dining room tree.
 To make these I cut strips of book pages .. 3 pages per loop.. each strip  1/2 inch wide and I used 9 loops to make each one. Cut about 1/2 inch off all the way around the pages to get rid of the white margins..
 I started out trying to hot glue each loop but then a lightbulb went off and I got out the stapler ! Staple each of your loops together..

 Then hot glue them all together..Hold them until they stick...It doesn't really matter what your center looks like because you will be adding something to the top.
 I added Dollar Tree snowflake ornaments and also cut black paper with a paper punch and wrote on it with a white sharpie paint pen.


 
I decorated this tree in our dining room with platinum colored ornaments, burlap woven through the tree, pinecones, burlap flowers, these book page ornaments, Dollar Tree snowflakes and ornaments, some white flower picks from an estate sale and glittery branches from Michaels that I cut apart..there's also some beaded garlands..


 It is sitting in a bucket that we got at a church rummage sale..and oh boy did I fight with this tree to get it to stand in the bucket .. I have a piece of burlap over the top of the bucket so you can't see the big cans of crushed tomatoes , cans of enchilada sauce and a weight from the boys weight set ! :) But it is standing up straight and tall !!!
 
Thanks for visiting ..I love this tree and I hope you do too !
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Sunday, November 17, 2013

Christmas Cross Stitch



Good Sunday morning ! This year I tried to stitch all the remaining Prairie Schooler Santas .. I didn't finish all of them but I did get 13 of them done ! I finished all of them on a flat board , I used ribbons, buttons, ric rac, pom pom trim to finish them .
The worst part was the ironing to get all the wrinkles out ! Hopefully next year I will have them all finished ! On Instagram a bunch of us stitched Christmas on Sundays all year long and tagged our stitchery with #santasundayxs .. It was fun to see Christmas stitching all year long ! I still have 3 other Christmas ornamnets to finish that aren't Santas..
All the Prairie Schoolers go on my Santa tree..

I also finished another stocking this year .. These take so long to stitch since it is total stitches with no background showing through !
They are amazing when finished ! I have another stocking started , hope it gets finished for next year !

Thanks so much for stopping by ! I will be back to start showing you my trees this week ! Have a wonderful day ! I would love for you to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest ..all the links are in the sidebar !
 
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Thursday, November 14, 2013

Christmas Chalkboards and The Pioneer Woman

 Can I tell you how much I am loving decorating for Christmas with chalkboards ?

This one is a frame that my daughter bought at Goodwill ,chalk painted the frame cream and  painted the glass with chalkboard paint and I chalked this design on this morning for her.. The next frame I also used for Fall decorating .. it was purchased at a rummage sale , I had a board cut to fit it that I painted with chalkboard paint . Both of these frames are pretty big !

 
 
 
 




 I used these 3 thrifted  trays , painted with chalkboard paint to do these holiday designs. The top one is in my foyer, the middle in the kitchen by the base of the tree,

 and this one on top of the hutch .



 
This Silent Night design is under the tree in the dining room. Its a frame that we also painted the glass, and chalk painted the frame.
 This little frame , I painted the frame cream, painted the glass with chalkboard paint , glued the little wreath and bow on. Its in the kitchen on a silver tray with a little vignette.
Isn't it just the cutest ?

 This Joy To The World is in the foyer ..this was one of the wood shapes I used in the fall ...simply painted with chalkboard paint.
 Here is another wood shape from my Fall decoating in a little vignette in the kitchen..
 I got this frame yesterday at the Goodwill, painted it cream and painted the cardboard backing with the chalkboard paint ..It worked and looks great !

 Two days ago I decided I needed some chalkboard ornaments on one of my trees.. I bought some wood shapes at Michaels, painted them with chalkboard paint, and used  white sharpie marker to act as the chalk ( so I can reuse them next year ) I had to go over the letters a couple times with the marker to make the words dark enough. I added some red gingham for hanging and bows.. Absolutely adorable !



I used them on my candy cane kitchen tree , I think they are the perfect addition to make this tree even better :) I added 4 more of them to the tree this morning and forgot to take another photo.. I thought it could just use a few more....


This last chalkboard was a piece of wall art from the goodwill , no glass, just a very hard , kind of like cardboard backing. I painted it cream, and then used the chalkboard paint.. added some glittery greenery , a burlap bow, and a jingle bell.
So yesterday my daughter and I drove to Naperville, its about and hour 15 minutes away...we spent the day shopping at thrift stores, pier one, pottery barn ( so many things for inspiration there !) At 4:30 we went and picked up our books from Andersons Bookshops, for our book signing with Ree Drummond.. So exciting ! We were # 351 and 352 in line ! They said they were going up to 700 ! We went and shopped in downtown Naperville, lots of cute shops !  .. at 6:30 we went back to the bookstore to wait our turn.. we finally got to meet her at 10:15 !
 
 


We were so excited to meet her .. She was super nice, super cute ! It was a fantastic way to spend the day !
I have been decorating for Christmas all week , I have 9 trees finished , 2 upstairs that need to be done and the real one that we will get in a week or two. I will be back next week to start showing you my trees ! It has been so different decorating this year because of the remodel , all the openness makes it so much better !
Thanks as always for your visits and nice comments ! I love to hear from you !
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