FRONT PORCH MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Here is wishing all of you a blessed Merry Christmas from our house to yours.



NOEL PLAQUE MADE FROM CABINET DOOR

For some reason, the spacing in this posting is skewed. I tried to fix it but to no avail, I could  not.  I apologize in advance for this.



When I found this cabinet door at Habitat for Humanity, I grabbed it as fast as I could.  I know most of you  would say, who would want a single cabinet door that had peeling paint? 

Well, I saw a new life in this once cast aside treasure.  I went to my go-to box of cabinet pulls and knobs and pulled out a pair of pulls.

Next, I asked Mr. Thrifty if he could drill the holes for the pulls.





Because there were layers of paint, I decided to go to my trusty Klean Strip stripper.  I know it is  messy, but the door came out very clean.

This photo shows before I did the final sanding with the mouse sander.



I did find a nice bit of beautiful gray green paint left on the surface. Because I wanted to show it a bit chippy, I left some behind.  You'll understand once you see the final product.

I then placed clear bumpers underneath the door so the screw would not scratch the surface of any table that I would place it upon.

 

I picked up this vintage Christmas image on the after Christmas sale for 90% off a couple of years ago.  While picking another scrapbook paper, I layered the 3 papers together.  I then placed them in the center of the door.

I went to the glass company and had a piece of thicker glass with buffed edges to lay over the design.  Because of this, the image can be replaced with other seasonal designs so the tray is multifunctional.



I added a cute holly branch to the handle to add a bit more Christmas cheer.



CHRISTMAS 2016-BIRDCAGE FOLLY

Since receiving this beautiful birdcage from my dear friend, I was hoping to use it as the base of my displays throughout the year.  After the Christmas holidays are over, I am sad having to put all the glistening ornaments away.  This year, I decided to extend the holidays into winter and keep some of that spirit in the house.

For autumn, I filled it with faux gourds.

After Christmas, I was excited to bring some holiday cheer to the fixture.   I removed the autumn gourds and replaced them with my crystal embellished ornaments.

Very carefully, I took off the top tower in order to place the ornaments inside.  After taking the tree down, I take the handmade tree skirt and lay that as the first layer on the dining room buffet.

Next, I take all the crystal and silver ornaments and  carefully start stacking them inside the birdcage.

Close the top and I'm done.

Notice how the natural light catches all that glistens.

Putting the two mercury glass candle sticks on each end of the buffet.

I love the fact that I can use the Christmas ornaments in more than one way.

CHRISTMAS COLLAGE WINDOW 2016-CHRISTMASTIDE

For some reason, while writing my posts lately, the spacing has been rather erratic.  While writing these posts, I don't see those extra spaces.  I apologize in advance.


You know I love to make collages.  I don't know if it reminds me of making Barbie shoe box houses growing up or not.  I couldn't wait to get a old Sears catalog and cut furniture, drapes and appliance pictures out to paste into the shoe box.  Those were the old days!

Or it could be that it is the one visual piece that doesn't have any rules.  Casually thrown multiple textures of images onto a canvas don't look pretentious.  When carefully looking at this new collage, there is a very clear idea that comes through.  Placing the collage on a clear window using vellum papers gives the visual a romantic vintage theme.  Memories of Christmas gone by allows you to sift through those memories:  The birth of Jesus, winter frolicking in the snow, cutting down the annual Christmas tree, singing Christmas carol, receiving Christmas messages in the mail and angels watching over the entire scene.  You just can't help having a good feeling come over you after looking into this collage.  I hope you enjoy it!




It all started with one of my vintage windows.

I wanted to incorporate the door decoration that I made for Mom from a porch baluster years ago.

Besides using picture images, I wanted to use other textures, thus came the thought of using multiple ribbons.

Glittered ornaments would be used too.

When I printed off my images from the computer, I used only translucent paper.  I was thinking that once placed on the window glass, the light cast between the two would be very soothing.  All of the images share my thoughts on those important Christmastide scenes.

At first, I placed the images behind the glass.  This caused a problem in that I couldn't use any adhesive because it would cause imperfections in the overall project.

It was easy to remedy the situation to place the images on top of the glass. I used a white glue stick to attach them.

Then the ribbons and glittered ornaments were attached with the glue gun.

Let's look at the end result.

You see Religious music, Angels, the Annunciation...

vintage French Christmas tidings,

German Christmas tree gathering...

pleated ivory ribbon...

the birth of Jesus....

a Christmas carol....

and attached to the top of the window frame, a vintage gold embellished picture hanger.

It felt so appropriate to hang the new collage next to the upcycled chandelier.

You can see why I named this piece-Christmastide.



CHRISTMAS COOKIE LIST 2016-AND A QUICK COOKIE

It's cookie time.  And here is the ambitious list for Christmas this year.

However, if you look closely, you will see that I already have one of the cookies made--well, I cheated a little bit.

It's that time again to start prepping for cookie making for the Christmas holidays.  I have written out a list and already made my first cookie.  Ok, I cheated a bit, but I thought this would be great for working Moms.


I bought these Spekulas at my Aldi's down the street.  Each bag contained 60 cookies.

 

In order to make them look a bit more homemade, I bought a bag of Wilton's white chocolate candy melts.

Once the chocolate was melted in a double boiler, I dipped each cookie so half of them were covered.

Within 20 minutes, I finished icing all of the cookies and once put in a tin, my first Christmas cookie was finished.

Now, only 13 more to go.  And the Christmas cooking begins!!!




As I update this list, as of today, I have finished making 9 of these cookies and just need to pipe the frosting in the thumbprints.  So lets get started.

 



ADVENT WREATH 2016

 

While attending the first Vintage Market show here in North Alabama, I spied this unique silver plated footed bowl--had to have it.  By the way, it polished up beautifully.






Last year, I used my wire vegetable stand to set up my Advent wreath.  I did love that idea, but wanted to change it up this year.

 

 

 

As I'm sure I told you before, when I first lived on my own, my Dad made this wooden base for my Advent candles.  It was just a wooden circle with 4 holes drilled out to insert the 4 candles of Advent.

 

It must be at least 30 years old by now.  Originally, using my staple gun I  attached fake greenery. 

Now, I'm ready to change up the Advent base.  Here is the before picture.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to use live greens or cut apart one of my faux garlands.

 

The first step was to remove the staples and fake greenery.

 

 

 I did not want to attach the live greenery until after Thanksgiving so I am sharing this blog with you today because it is the first day of Advent.  I will finish the wreath tomorrow and update it with the Christmas greens.

Well, I went to Home Depot this afternoon and picked up some nice greens.

 

 

Using my glue gun, I began gluing the longer branches fanning them out from the middle.

 

Once I glued around the complete circle, I took the shorter branches and did the same to cover the first layer branches.

 

When inserting the candles, this time I glue gunned them into place.  If they look a bit off, it's because of that.

 

Now, we can light the first candle tonight.  Let us prepare.