Clay Pot Wreath

 

I saw this wreath over at Cherry Hill Cottage awhile back.  SO cute!!

It took a very LONG time to collect enough clay pots, though!

Simple to make… clay pots individually wired to a grapevine wreath. 

A few notes –

Even with sales and 40% coupons the pots were around $30…. a lot more than I usually pay for wreath supplies.  It would definitely be cheaper to hunt for them at thrift stores and garage sales instead. 

(If you’re more patient than me).

This wreath is HEAVY!!  It weighs much more than I imagined!  So plan to have sturdy hanging supplies available. 

You may need a few extra clay pots to replace any that are broken, say, by an errant baseball ;) 

This post explains how the pots are wired to the wreath.

Homemade Hand Cream

Wanted to share our time-tested recipe for hand cream.  I started making it when my 20-year-old daughter, Lacey, was 2 and had eczema.  Not only was it was a miracle for her skin, but we all loved it and have been using it ever since!

Here us our recipe, so you can make some too.  The original recipe calls for baby lotion.  We have found it works well with any lotion and not just the baby kind.  Just make sure to use the same number of ounces :)

Homemade Hand Cream:

2 (15-16 oz.) baby lotion
8 oz. Vaseline
2 jars (8 oz.) Vitamin E Cream

First, whip the petroleum jelly with a mixer, then add in the remaining ingredients:

Whip until fluffy.

It will look something like this:

I wash and reuse the jars from the vitamin E cream and petroleum jelly (and any other empty jars from creams, butters or lotions that I can find).  Any plastic container with a lid will work just fine.  No need to purchase fancy new jars…. unless you really want to :)

Use a rubber spatula to get every last bit of cream into the jars:

Don’t forget to fill a couple travel size jars to keep with you in your purse. 

It seriously looks like a LOT of hand cream, but we use it so quickly!  There is now only 1 jar left and it will be time to make more soon.  I am going to try using coconut oil instead of petroleum jelly in my next batch… I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Lamp Makeover

Found this shade-less lamp at a local thrift store and gave it a little makeover. . .

Taped off everything I didn’t want painted and gave it a good sanding, then painted it with chestnut brown spray paint.

Since it came with no shade, so I used a lamp-less red shade I’d saved from a broken lamp.

You may have seen it in this recent photo:

It looks sooo much better and I love it!

Top Posts in 2011

Hello!

Last year I enjoyed some of the top posts of the year parties and thought it was so fun to see all the projects!  Everyone listed their favorite or most viewed posts with links attached.  So this year, I'm joining in too.  Here are some of my posts from 2011.  Since the top 10 viewed posts are listed in my sidebar, I thought it would be fun to list the posts below in order of the most comments received :)

Thanksgiving subway sign.  This was my #1 viewed AND commented post of 2011… Wows!  Guess I’m not the only one who loves Thanksgiving!

Love Never Fails Valentine’s Box.  A simple old oak sewing drawer filled with handmade hearts, flowers and doves, along with some vintage Valentine lovelies.

Scarecrow Crunch – a jumble of crackers, cereal, pretzels and Reese’s Pieces, along with both candy and caramel corn. . . need I say more?

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer was a big hit this year… a fun fall treat that you can enjoy more affordably (and more often) when you make it at home.

Embroidered John 3:16 Valentine.  The favorite verse is arranged to spell the word “Valentine” and embroidered on a pillow.  But, it’s not limited to embroidery.  This verse is so sweet to use in many different mediums and Valentine’s Day projects!

Americana Flag Placemats.  These grand old flags got a lot of views and comments, as did the patriotic star table runner in the background. . .

Clay pot wreath.  Not only did it get a lot of views and comments, this is the one I still get the most email questions from.  Start collecting your clay pots now to make a wreath this spring :)

Ranch Corn Salad.  A quick and easy comfort food that’s an especially yummy compliment to summer grilling menus.

Luke 1:49 Christmas Collage Art… My first attempt at collage art and a follow up to the Thanksgiving subway sign, it was a fun learning experience!

And {finally} my solution to the candy corn cookie dilemma :)

It's hard to believe how fast the year has gone by!  Many thanks to all of you who visited, commented and followed this year.  You all are a huge bright spot in my day!

xoxo

Shelley

the Mighty One Christmas wall art

So.  I wanted to make a collage art piece, using this verse: 

Only here’s the thing.  I had a general idea of how I wanted it to end up, but not a clue how to get from idea to finished painting…

Started with a board and used gel medium to glue old phone book pages all over the top and sides of the board:

After it dried, painted it with gesso and added some shading around the edges with brown:

 

When I got to the actual painting part, I realized, hey, I have NO idea how best to go about this.

And thus ensued a massive amount of trial and error. 

At which point I decided it would be best to leave the art tutorials to the um, actual artsy type peoples of the world.

So just picture lots of:  a) painting and b) repainting… mmkay?

Anyway.  This is how it ended up:

It was fun trying something new and I will give it another shot sometime :)

Merry Christmas!

Santa’s Beard Advent Activity

 

 

 

 

Saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to make for Nolan and Skyleigh….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: oopseydaisyblog.com via Prairie on Pinterest

My version has a little brighter colors, but it’s close :)

Santa is a little different, too.

Sorry for the picture quality.  I was racing to get Santa to the post office before they closed!

Hope they like it!!

Thanksgiving

Source: 3meadowlakecottage.com via Prairie on Pinterest

When I turned on the radio the day after Halloween, I heard one of my favorite sounds... Christmas music!

But I remember thinking, Christmas music already?  It seems the airwaves are not alone… from store ads to emails, blog posts to Pinterest pins, it seems the world can think only of Christmas.

And it saddens my heart that Thanksgiving is deemed less worthy of the months of preparation given to Halloween and Christmas. 

In all my memories of childhood, November was for Thanksgiving and it was celebrated first.  Time stood still for a moment while families were thankful… for each other and all the blessings enjoyed over the years.

And guess what -  Christmas was not diminished in the slightest.  In fact, it made the Christmas season THAT much more special and anticipated.  

Lately, I find the more Thanksgiving gets pushed to the side, the more intentional I become about celebrating it…planning, decorating, crafting, cooking and baking with the same enthusiasm as I do Christmas. 

Here are some of the projects I have made for Thanksgiving this year… in hopes my children’s memories of this holiday will be as fond as mine are!






  Thanksgiving Subway Sign

                                     
                             

                               Scarecrow Crunch

    Thanksgiving place cards

Source: brownpaper--packages.com via Prairie on Pinterest

Make ahead this week (and freeze) gravy, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing and pie crust.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

Thanksgiving subway sign

This sign was actually finished last fall, but it was too close to Thanksgiving to get it posted before everyone was focused on Christmas!

I’ve seen a lot of subway tutorials floating around, but they always seem to involve some sort of vinyl cutting device.  And I’m sure they’re fabulous to have.  But since I don’t have one…  my subway signs are of the hand painted variety.  And really.  It’s not that bad to paint a few words on a sign.  It may not be as perfect as vinyl would be, but that just adds to it’s “vintage” charm ;)

It all started with a plain pine board I found in the shed.  After a good sanding, I based it in dark walnut brown acrylic paint.  Next came a layer of mustard yellow and then a coat of red, allowing drying time between layers.  The final coat is a called old parchment. Perfect! 

Before the words were added, I gave it a another sanding.  Because I wanted it to look aged, I made sure to sand enough to allow a few areas of red, gold and/or brown paint layers to show. 

Then it’s a matter of printing out a variety of words in different fonts and arranging them on the board.  Once I was happy with their placement, I used graphite paper to trace the letters onto the board, removed the paper and started painting! 

Another bit of sanding after the letters were finished….

a coat of clear matte spray paint to seal and protect….

And we have a vinyl-less subway sign. 

Did anyone else notice the most prominent word is “pie?” 

Guess now y’all know what we’re really thankful for :)

Be Ye Thankful

I have this little watercolor I painted a long time ago.

But I was never happy with the frame.  This fall, it was finally Thankful’s turn to have a little makeover.

I found an inexpensive frame at the thrift store, gave it a coat of orange and a chocolate brown glaze. 

SO much better and

a fun reminder to count our blessings!

Grand Ol’ Flag Placemats

I wanted to show you these strip pieced flag placemats from a few years ago….

waayyy before I had a blog, so no step-by-steps :)   

You’ll need red, white and blue fabric, a rotary cutter and mat, backing fabric, fusible fleece or cotton batting (optional).  Oh, and an iron – lots of pressing in this project!

I’m sure most of you sewing types out there will be able to figure it out, just from the pictures!!  Just in case, here’s a quick rundown:  The stripes are all 2 inches wide x the length of my fabric.  I sewed them in long sections before cutting them to final placemat widths.  The blue piece is 5 inches by 6 inches.  All seams are 1/4”.

I made the bottom (4 stripe) section and then top (3 stripe section) separately.  Press each time you sew a strip together… be sure to iron the seams toward the red stripes, so they won’t show through the white fabric!

When the top and bottom striped sections are finished, cut the bottom stripes to 18” wide.  Before cutting the top section, I sewed the blue piece to the left side, then cut the right side (the stripes) the same width as the bottom. 

Cut a backing piece the same size as your flag.  I didn’t use any batting, but you could use fusible fleece or cotton batting at this point.  Sew right sides together, leaving room to turn.  Clip corners, turn right side out, press.  Topstitch around the edge and be sure to get the opening securely sewn. 

I can’t wait to put them out every summer! 

HaPpy sEwiNg!