O Kitchen Tree

The Kitchen Tree

I bought this tree at Goodwill for $1.  It didn't have it's stand so I sunk it in a vat of Qwik Crete.  Now it has cement shoes and sits in an old gray enamelware colander.

 

The decorations are wooden stars (courtesy of Pammie Sue) and some more little baking tins.

And this is the Santa that I bought at a craft show a few years back. 

This is one of my favorite Christmas things!

Christmas Blessings - B

The Stockings Were Hung

We don't have a fireplace, therefore, we don't have a mantel.  What's one to do with one's stockings?  Go get some "command" hooks and hang them from one of your many pieces of furniture.  Then you cover up the hooks with greenery and when the holidays are complete, pull the hooks off and remove the sticky with "goo gone".  Problem solved. 

And as you look through the pics, yes, it's true, we do have a dead zebra hanging on the banister in the family room.  It looks pretty cool.  Grandpa brought it back from Africa some years ago.  I love it.

Christmas Blessings - B

My Mother!

Just when I think she doesn't know me, I get this in the mail...

It's my very own naked guy Christmas apron.

She has a wonderful embroidery machine...

I think this one is my favorite.  I usually dig dark-headed men but this one is fine... fine.  I can't believe I'm thinking this way about "cartoon" pics of the opposite sex.

Could Mom sense that I was rapidly spiralling to Scroogeville or does she look at fabric with half-dressed hunks and immediatley think of daughter #1?  I don't want to know the answer and neither does M! ha

The only thing better than the eye candy is the pocket full of Butterfingers she included.  In case you don't know this, there is NOTHING better than a FRESH Butterfinger!

Thanks so much, Mom!  You turned my frown upside down!

p.s. #3 (who is 4) just came in and said, "That's awesome.  How'd ya get Dad's boobs on the internet?" 

I'm soooo.. laughing!!

Christmas Blessings-B

A Christmas Coat

While doing some holiday shopping in one of my favorite antique shops, this is what I spotted:

It was love across a crowded room.  We made eyes at each other and for $40 I convinced her to come home with me.  I can't believe I paid $40!  I wouldn't even spend that on an actual piece of clothing for myself!

It is a FABULOUS brilliant red wool coat with a rabbit fur collar. I'd say it's from the 50's.  Doesn't it just look amazing on my dress form!?

# 3 thought she needed to be part of the feature:

Christmas Blessings- B

Tree on the Cheap

The entry:

This cabinet came from Bev's sale and is the inspiration for the whole room.  This room, by far, is the "countriest" of them all.  The tree is the one our family put up in our county courthouse last year for the festival of trees.

The inspiration for the tree came from this adorable cake pan found at the local flea market for a dollar. 

I had visions of the rest of the tree covered in old cookie cutters - visions were squashed when I learned what those cost.  Plan B was to use old "tins".  They run about $3 for 5-10 of the cute little things.  I was so lucky to find the precious little Christmas Trees.

What do I need now? Hmmm... how about making cookie cut outs from salt dough.  What a great idea.  I added a little vanilla and pumpkin pie spice to make them smell good.  Being impatient, I dried them in the oven.

The thing is covered in these creations... holly, gingerbread men, trees, stars, etc.

{If you do this, make a hole somewhere on the cutout with a toothpick so that you can hang them with ribbon - the hole needs to be pretty good size}

What are we gonna put on top?

 I splurged for these 2 cookie cutters and wired them inside the tin star mold. 

They are hard to see but they are a boy and a girl gingerbread people.

I love a lot of floral junk on the tops of our trees [Really? we couln't tell]

I cut strips of burlap for the "garland" and used about 1 1/2 yards of the burlap as a tree skirt.  It's a very homey tree.

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Before M bought yours truly my very own scroll saw, Pammie Sue was my got to person for my letters.  She did a beautiful job cutting out "S A N T A" (on top of the Sellers) on her scroll saw.  Yes, run out and buy more power tools.  You will never regret it and your husband/boyfriend/brother/dad will be thrilled to help you out with this venture.

Anyhoo...the letters have been every color under the rainbow.  A crackled red finish suits them just fine.

Blessings-B

Do You Believe?

I have a new approach to my projects.  Instead of making something just to prove to myself that I can, I've decided that things go much better if I have a spot for said creation before starting the project.

It was so obvious that I needed something between the closet doors in the entry.  Yes, oh so obvious.  With a little help from my Cricut and a piece of old wood I found in the barn, we created this.

It's big and I. LIKE. BIG. {giggle}

It's a 1X10 about 51 inches long.

The prep was a light sanding to remove bird poop and then some spray adhesive to put on the letters and the scrolls.

Isn't it too cool?

Go make something!

Blessings-B