Category Archives: Home Decor

BIRCH TREES AND BIRD HOUSES–PART II

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Thank you for stopping in again! Let me start by saying that, never in a million years, did I think that there would be a Part II to this project; that there would be a “rest of the story” to tell! I thought that this was a one-time gift that would be brought out each year at Christmastime.

What I couldn’t predict was how much my mom enjoyed her tree–especially the 6-hour timer feature. Her tree came on every day around 3;30, and she loved the soft light it added during the late afternoons and evenings. So she decided that she would like to keep her tree up all year long. While I was thrilled that I had found something that she really enjoyed, I wasn’t prepared for the implications of her decision. I couldn’t let her have the holiday decorations up all year long, nor did I want her to have a bare birch tree for 3/4ths of the year, so this is how the Part II of this project came to be. This is how the birch tree evolved from a tree with Christmas decorations to a tree with seasonal decorations!

The design concept and “construction” of the spring houses came together fairly quickly.

I chose a color scheme of blue and yellow to represent the return of blue skies and bright sunshine. For the accent decorations, I chose sweet white daisies and bluebirds of happiness, both of which also return in the spring. I have my spring decorations up right now, so I took a picture of how they look on my tree:

I have to say that out of all of the sets I have ended up making, the spring set is my favorite. I love the patterns of the papers for the roofs; the sweet white daisies; and how happy and cheerful the tree looks when all of the decorations are on it.

I’m not sure if you have been able to notice any design consistencies yet, but I’d like to talk about my design concept, and point out some of the features that I carried through with each of these sets. One of the things that I have learned is that when you are creating a set of something, the set becomes cohesive and looks like it belongs together when you carry certain features consistently throughout each part.

Having 2 sets side-by-side may make it easier for you to visualize the consistent design features I have used for each set:

  • White card stock for cubes and outer peak side pieces
  • Solid coordinating card stock for inner side peak pieces
  • Designer paper patterns for roof pieces
  • Heart cut out for all side peak pieces
  • 11/4″ white bakers twine loops for roofs
  • 1″ single strand white embroidery floss loops for accent decorations
  • 6 houses per set
  • 5 each of 2 double-sided accent decorations per set
  • Same decoration box layout and label elements

Just like carrying through certain design features in each set, it’s important to note how critical a role the designer paper played in this project–it IS the project! This paper sets the mood; it drives the color scheme; and it guides the accent decorations. I wasn’t successful in finding the perfect paper for a summer set, so Summer of 2021 came and went without a new set of houses.

I was able to make a fall set for that year, and I took a few creative liberties with these decorations:

I used 6 different colors of solid card stock as part of the side pieces, rather than the usual 2 or 3 colors, and the double-sided leaves were two-toned, instead of being the same color on both sides. It’s fun, and possible, to create some subtle distinctions between the sets while staying within the design parameters.

We would have to wait until Spring of 2023 for a summer set of houses. I found that summer paper packs were more theme-oriented than the other seasons of the year–i.e. vacation, beach/ocean, pool party, ice cream etc. I wanted, and kept looking for a pack that focused more on bright colors and fun patterns rather than on a specific theme. I finally found the perfect paper pack this spring, and I didn’t waste a second before starting construction of a summer set!

I loved the mix of colors and patterns included in this paper pack, and I knew it would make really bright and cheerful houses. Since one of the paper patterns had butterflies on it, I chose butterflies and suns as my accent decorations.

While I was working on this set, I tried to take a few “behind the scenes” pictures of different aspects of making each set. This picture gives you an idea of the many pieces involved in assembling each house and accent decoration. For instance, the roof is made up of 2 layers of card stock; one designer and white. Designer paper tends to be thin, so I layered it on top of white card stock to give it some weight and stability. The cube starts out as a 3 x 3 piece of white card stock, which is then scored at 1″ on all 4 sides. Then, once the flaps are cut and lots of adhesive is applied, it can finally be assembled into a cube.

Eventually, all 36 cubes and roof pieces are complete, and it’s time for “roofing day”.

Adhering the roof pieces is the most tedious and time-consuming part of the whole process. It’s not easy to get the solid roof piece to stick to the thin edge of the peaks on both sides. I have tried several different kinds of glue with the various sets, and I have found that the glue with the best holding and staying power is E6000.

Once I have all of the houses and accent decorations assembled, I like to put a complete set on a tree as a final test to make sure I like how everything looks together. It was at this point that I noticed that something was “off” with this set; there was something that I didn’t like.

I couldn’t put my finger on the issue at first, so I just kept coming back to the tree, and I finally figured out that it was the suns–they weren’t sweet and charming. I matched the yellow card stock to the yellow in the paper pack, but it was too dark. I also concluded that one of the best parts about the suns is the happy face, and you couldn’t readily see it.

So, back to the drawing board. I decided to use white card stock for the front of the suns, and one of the yellow patterns from the pack for the back of the suns. I stamped the suns rays and happy face in yellow, and, bingo, we had a winner!

This design change made all of the difference in the world to me, and this is why I always test the decorations out on the tree before calling the set finished!

Now that the summer sets were done, it was time to make all of the boxes. Here are pictures of the box lid colors and label designs–I make 2 of each color:

I can’t tell you what a thrill it is, and how excited I am that I have finally brought this project full circle! Now my mom, and all the rest of us can truly enjoy our birch trees year round. But, especially my mom.

So, I have finally reached the end of this project, and I have reached the end of my story. After making:

  • 144 seasonal bird houses
  • 240 double-sided accent decorations, which translates to 480 individual pieces
  • 24 box bottoms and lids

and using:

  • 16 yards of white baker’s twine
  • 6 1/2 yards of white embroidery floss

I am ready to hang up my hard hat and tool belt and retire from house construction! I love how this project began and how it evolved into something beyond my wildest imagination, and, for me, it will go down as one of my most favorite and best projects of all time.

It’s been wonderful to finally be able to share this project and story with you–this was a long one and I appreciate you sticking with me. Please take care, and, as always, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet, / the sand be your seat, / and your friends out-number the stars.”

-C-

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BIRCH TREES AND BIRD HOUSES–PART I

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I just finished the last part in a series that has taken 2 1/2 years to come full circle. I have been waiting to show you this project for what seems like forever, but I didn’t want to post anything until the entire project was complete. That day has finally come, and I couldn’t be more excited! This is like no other project that I have ever done, and it has become very near and dear to my heart. There is a lot of information to cover, so I have decided to break my story up into two parts. In this first post, I will concentrate on the project itself, and, in my second post, I’ll focus more on the design concept, with plenty of step-by-step pictures.

Let me start at the beginning…..

This project began with my quest to find a Christmas tree for my mother. She lives in a retirement community, and, in November of 2020, the facility was in full lockdown due to COVID. She hadn’t had any in-person visits since the spring, and, with the holidays approaching, I wanted to make sure that she had a sweet little Christmas tree to brighten her space and lift her spirits.

I envisioned her having an artificial, table-top tree that was lighted and had colorful decorations. Leading up to the holidays, you can find artificial pre-lit evergreen trees everywhere, and some come with decorations. The one caveat is that in order to follow the facility’s safety regulations, I needed the tree to be battery operated. Since the evergreen trees are plug-in, I needed to look for other options.

I happened to be in a local gift shop when I spotted this lighted birch tree.

The minute I saw it, I knew that I had found my mother’s Christmas tree. It wasn’t what I originally had in mind, but this was a lighted, table-top tree that was battery operated. And, not only was it battery operated; it even had a 6-hour timer feature! As I stood there looking at this tree, I decided that a white tree was going to showcase the decorations much better than an evergreen, so I purchased the tree and headed home to concentrate on the decorations.

By the time I pulled into the garage, I knew exactly what I was going to make for the decorations–birdhouses! Yes, birdhouses, and it was all thanks to a new stamp set I had received earlier in the week.

The set included dies that made the side, peak pieces for tiny birdhouses. I was still going to need to figure out how to make a box and a roof, but I thought if I could do that, these birdhouses would be perfect to hang on the birch tree branches. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to make a cube to go in-between the side pieces, and I was also able to make a roof out of designer Christmas paper:

And, when I assembled all of the pieces together, it made the cutest little bird house! I am not an engineer by any means, but I was able to figure out all of the measurements and create this really sweet decoration. I was so excited about my success that I went back to the gift shop and bought more trees so that I could give these as gifts to other family members, along with one for our house! So now I had a total of 6 trees to decorate!

After deciding that each tree looked good with 6 bird houses, I quickly got busy making 36 of them. This took more time that I had anticipated, as there were a lot of pieces to die-cut and assemble. I also decided that the trees needed more decorations than just the houses, so I also made some double-sided pine trees and glittery snowflakes, which filled in more of the branches and added more charm and sweetness to the tree. Here are some pictures of a finished set on and off one of the trees:

I get goosebumps every time I look at these pictures! This is the sweetest, most unique Christmas tree I’ve ever seen, and I made every single one of the decorations. A lot of love and ingenuity went into this project, and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I was anxious to get these trees wrapped and in the mail, but there was one final thing I needed to do:

Decorations this fragile needed a box, so I custom designed a box by laying out all of the decorations on grid paper to get the measurements.

Not only will this box help protect the ornaments during shipping, but it will provide a designated place to store the decorations off season. Once I had all 6 boxes made, I quickly wrapped everything up and got them in the mail. I’m happy to report that everyone loved their trees and decorations, and I felt a great sense of pride and accomplishment at what I had been able to create.

This is the perfect place to end this post, but it’s not the end of this project. I hope you’ll be able to come back for the rest of the story….. In the meantime, have a wonderful week, and, as always, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet, / the sand be your seat, / and your friends out-number the stars.”

-C-

HEART-SHAPED TREAT HOLDER

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My husband and I are having our Valentine’s Day dinner tomorrow night, as he will be traveling next week. I always like to make some sort of table decoration, but time has gotten away from me, and I need to come up with a quick and easy project for this year. I came across a tutorial for a cute heart-shaped treat holder yesterday that I think will be perfect, so I thought I would share it with you in case you, too, need a quick and easy Valentine’s Day decoration idea.

To give you an idea of the finished project, here is the picture of the treat holder from the online tutorial:

This project really caught my eye and I thought the design was really clever. I love how the box is incorporated into the simple heart shape, and I also love the curved banner on top. This design could easily be adapted to any number of occasions, depending upon the paper and the embellishments that you used–Valentine’s Day, “Gal-entine’s” Day lunch, or even a Bridal shower to name a few. The possibilities are endless!

I plan to use this as a table decoration for our Valentine’s Day dinner, and I wanted to try and coordinate the paper with our china. I ended up with a color scheme of coral, gold and white, which isn’t a traditional Valentine’s Day combination, but it coordinated perfectly with our china!!

The supplies needed for this project are pretty minimal:

You need a strip of decorative paper for the heart; a coordinating piece of solid card stock for the box; label/banner pieces; and embellishments. I widened and lengthened the decorative paper for the heart from the original directions, which, in turn, changed the measurements for the box, as I wanted my heart to be a little bit “beefier” and take up more space on the dinner plate.

Tutorial Mine

Heart: 1 1/4″ x 11″ 1 1/2″ x 12″

Box: 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ 2 3/4″ x 2 3/4″

Both of the boxes were scored at 5/8″ on all four sides.

I made the heart first:

Start by folding the paper strip in half, and then add 2 strips of adhesive tape to the bottom edge on 1 side:

Remove the adhesive backing, and bring the strip ends in towards the center with both top sides facing each other, and adhere the two strip ends together. This is what your heart will look like:

The heart is done; that’s all there is to it! Now on to the box:

As I mentioned above, the square piece of solid card stock is scored at 5/8″ on all 4 sides. The first thing you want to do is fold on all of the score lines. To make the tabs, snip the vertical score lines at each corner, and then angle cut both the inside and outside edges of all 4 tabs. Apply adhesive tape to the tabs, as well as the bottom of the box, as it will be difficult to do this once the box is assembled.

Remove the adhesive backing on the tabs, and assemble the box, making sure that the tabs are adhered to the inside of the box.

I made the banner last.

I used on of my favorite sentiment stamps, and embossed it in white embossing powder onto the coral banner piece. I love the script font of this stamp, and the fact that there are tails on either side of the word. I cut the narrower white banner piece in half and adhered it to each end of the coral banner, as I felt like I needed some contrast against the decorative paper pattern. I finished off the banner with some gold foil hearts and a gold trim bow, and the banner is done.

Now comes the fun part–it’s time to put the project together!

I removed the adhesive backing from the bottom of the box and added it to the heart. I decided to use a Ferrero Rocher chocolate for my treat and it fits perfectly inside the box!

All that was left was to curl the banner and add it to the heart with glue dots. I love how the gold embellishments on the banner tie in with the gold treat wrapping, and I think all of the gold accents add a touch of elegance to the overall appearance.

I did want to show you a comparison of what the hearts look like with and without the box, in case you wanted to make the heart but felt that the box was a little too intimidating. The heart could totally be used as a decoration without the box; I think my only recommendation would be to use a decorative paper that had more traditional valentine patterns on both sides.

And, last but not least, I wanted to show you how the heart looks on our china. I couldn’t be happier! The color scheme works really well with the navy in our china pattern, and the gold rim on the plate ties in with all of the gold accents on the heart decoration. I did end up adding some heart table scatter to take up some more of the white space around the heart–it’s not exactly practical, but it helps with the visual presentation.

I’m excited that I now have a handmade Valentine decoration for our Valentine’s Day dinner tomorrow night. This project was exactly what I needed for this year–a simple, quick project that looks elegant and special! Now to plan the menu………!

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Valentine’s Day to each of you, and, as always, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet; / the sand be your seat; / and your friends out-number the stars”.

-C-

A “LOVE”ly Celebration

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Saturday was a very exciting day for our family–my son proposed to the love of his life, and both families were close by and got to watch it all unfold! Witnessing the proposal was a very moving and magical experience, and it meant the world to both of them that we were all there.

After pictures were taken and we had a round of drinks at a nearby dessert bar, we all headed back to our house for a party. Her family had just traveled from upstate New York, and this was the first time that the two families were meeting, so my son wanted this to be a very informal gathering. He wanted there to be plenty of time for relaxation and casual conversation. Even though this was to be a very casual get-together, I wanted the house to look festive because, after all, this was an engagement party! So I made all of the decorations in keeping with the theme and my son’s wishes. As I have said many times before, one of the best parts about paper crafting is the fact that you can customize any project to fit a theme, style, or recipient and, in this case, I did all three!

Now that you know the back story, it’s time to get to the fun part–the actual decorations! My goal was to have some form of decoration in all of the major parts of the house where people were going to be, and I used a combination of banners and table top decorations to accomplish this goal. The color scheme was teal and purple, and these are the patterned papers I used in some form on almost all of the decorations I made:

Let’s start with the side porch door, and I’ll walk you through the decorations as people saw them as they came through the house:

I really wanted to dress up the side porch door, as this is the first thing that people were going to see as they arrived. So I made a vertical banner, which I had never done before. I wanted the words on the banner to speak to this being a celebration for both my son and his fiancé, so I chose to use “Best Day Ever”. The banner ended up blending in with our door color, so I got two bunches of balloons for either side of the door to help draw your eye to the banner.

Here are some pictures of the banner against a white door, so that you can see the detail more clearly:

Each of the 4 x 4 letter blocks was adhered to a long piece of white burlap ribbon. I looped the top end of the ribbon around a piece of dowel and tied coordinating strips of ribbon to the dowel on either side of the banner. I then tied the hanging loop of twine to the small eye hooks my husband drilled in to either end of the dowel.

The next decoration people saw was another banner as they entered the kitchen area:

This time I attached streamers to the 4 x 4 letter blocks, so that everyone would have to walk through the streamers. I don’t know about you, but I think streamers scream party, and I wanted the happy couple to walk through some streamers on their engagement day!

The last banner I made was hung the mantel, and you could see it from anywhere in the kitchen area:

Out of all of the banners I made, this one was my favorite. Because this was a double banner, I used 3 x 3 letter blocks and strung all of the blocks together with ribbon. I put command hooks on top of the mantel and hung each banner by tying the ribbons to the hooks. I know it is customary to put the woman’s name first, but it rhymed by flipping the names around!

Now let’s go into the sunroom, where the appetizer table was:

The plates and napkins were on top of a cabinet that was by the door entering the sunroom. As a decoration for this cabinet, I covered the couples’ initials with some of the different patterns of papers. I kept each letter very simple, except for tying a wooden button on with some twine to her initial. I also added some tiny hearts table scatter to the top of the cabinet as an extra touch.

I didn’t have much room on the appetizer table for decorations, so I decided to use a stack of books. My son and his fiancé attended the same Master’s Degree program in Creative Writing and both work in the publishing industry, so the books have real significance to them.

I covered the books in brown paper–which I haven’t done in MANY years– and it brought back a rush of memories of starting each new school year by making my own book covers with grocery bags. I was so proud of myself when I thought of the idea of adding the equation to the spines of the books! I thought that it not only tied in with the occasion, but also tied in the fact that her undergraduate degree was in economics.

And did you notice the mason jar of flowers on top of the books? This actually is my most favorite decoration of all, and I had one jar on the appetizer table, and one on the kitchen table:

I took flowers from our garden and placed them in the mason jars, with the white hydrangea clusters on top of the daisy varieties. I then covered the flowers completely with water, followed by a thin layer of vegetable oil. I added a tea-light to the center of each jar and lit the candles. The oil layer provides the buoyancy needed to allow the tea-light to float.

I think these jars of flowers are just beautiful, and I know that this is going to be my preferred method for arranging flowers from now on. Flowers and candlelight always add a touch of romance, and I was happy that I found a way to incorporate both in to the decorations.

The get-together ended up being everything that my son had wanted, and it truly was a great ending to the BEST DAY EVER! He loved how festive the house looked with all of the decorations, and the two families had a wonderful time getting to know each other.

Mission accomplished!

Before I close, I have one more project to show you–the party bags. You can’t have a party without favor bags!

I filled bags with 3 different flavors of popcorn from our local popcorn shop, and attached a tag that said “He POPPED the question, she said YES”! This isn’t my original idea, but, when I saw it on Pinterest, I knew it was perfect for our popcorn-loving family!

Here is a closer look at the tags–the background paper used for the tag reminded me of popcorn kernels. The label was computer generated and printed on adhesive label sheets. I punched the label out with a circle punch and mounted it on a solid card stock circle also made with a circle punch. I know it was a little corny (sorry, I couldn’t help myself!), but everyone loved them!

Thank you so much for sharing in this special day with me–this is the first engagement for our family and it’s very exciting! I not only made all of the party decorations, but I also made our son and his fiancé a gift that I would like to show you as well. I will try and get a second post up later this week.

Until then, take care, and, as always, remember:

“May what waves kiss your feet; / the sand be your seat; / and your friends out-number the stars”

-C-

P.S. She said yes!

WOODEN SCOOP DECORATION

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I love my baking cabinet! My favorite parts are the old-fashioned elements–the chicken wire and the ice box latch on the cupboard doors; the bead board; and the butcher block countertop. I have always wanted to make some sort of decoration for this cabinet that would add in some homemade charm and bring in a little splash of pink, but I just haven’t been able to come up with the right idea.

Practicality has gotten in the way of all my ideas over the years. My original plan was to make a banner across the top or a tag for the ice box latch using old, handwritten recipe cards. I still love the concept of this idea but I had to abandon it, because either option would make accessing the cupboard doors difficult.

My next idea was to make tags for my flour and sugar jars, as, at a quick glance, it’s easy to pull down the wrong jar. Again, great idea, but I had to let it go because the tags would be impossible to keep clean. Yes, I could laminate the tags, but that’s not the look I’m going for.

The answer to my dilemma came in a very round about way. My daughter and I got together several weeks ago for an afternoon of crafting. She wanted to make some faux scoops of ice cream for a tiered tray decoration, and she sent me this picture to give me an idea of what she had in mind:

I know I was to be focusing on the scoops of ice cream, but all I could see is this absolutely adorable wooden scoop. Just look at it–doesn’t it just bring a smile to your face and melt your heart! All it took was one look at this picture and I knew I had FINALLY found the perfect decoration for my baking cabinet. And I knew exactly where it was going:

on my cookie jar. I could hardly wait to get started!

In looking at the picture more closely, the supplies that I am going to need are the wooden scoop, 3 wooden beads, craft paint, ribbon, a fish-tailed tag, twine, and some sort of decorative element for the bowl of the scoop.

The miracIe of all miracles is that I have a package of wooden scoops left over from another project. I ordered these from Factory Direct Crafts several years ago, and they are 4 1/4″ long. I just checked to see if they are still available and they are, in case you’re interested.

The first thing that I did was paint my 3 wooden beads, and I used the same three colors that my daughter and I chose for the faux scoops of ice cream.

Once the beads were dry, I combined them with all of the other supplies I had chosen. This picture just makes me happy–I love the color combination and the scalloped-edged pink polka dot ribbon. You will also notice that I added another tag that will shadow the white one, as I thought I wanted a little more color on the neck of the scoop.

While I was working on the tag, I had my husband drill a small hole near the top of the scoop. The tag took the longest out of any of the different parts of this project. Since this scoop will be going on my cookie jar, I chose the word “cookies” for the tag. With some assistance, I downloaded some Rae Dunn fonts and then experimented with different font sizes until I got the spacing just right.

Once I was pleased with the tag, I cut both pieces down to size and punched a hole in them. I threaded the tag onto the scoop with twine and then attached my three wooden beads to the top of the scoop. This sweet little scoop is really beginning to come together!

I could hardly wait to attach the bow, and I think my heart skipped a beat when I took a look at what I have created. I couldn’t be happier and it’s not finished yet! I still need to add the decorations to the bowl of the scoop.

Knowing that I was going to make this scoop, I made some faux chocolate chip cookies when my daughter and I were done making the scoops of ice cream. They are made with a mixture of light sparkling paste, flour, and craft paint. Once you have them formed, you add in small pieces of black air-dry modeling clay for the chocolate chips. For a first timer, I think these cookies look pretty realistic. I hot glued two cookies to the bowl of the scoop, and here is my finished project:

Even though this scoop isn’t what I had in mind at all, I think this is the perfect decoration for my baking cabinet. The wooden scoop ties in with the other old-fashioned elements, and I love the pops of pink!

I love how the scoop looks on the cookie jar–I couldn’t have asked for anything better!! And practicality did not need to get in the way of this idea–the cookie jar can be accessed without disturbing the scoop at all! My husband took one for the team and tested it out for me!

One more thing before I go, I thought I would show you the faux scoops of ice cream my daughter and I made:

We made big scoops, small scoops, scoops with sprinkles and scoops with chocolate chips. We had a wonderful time and are pretty proud of ourselves!

I don’t have a tiered tray, but here are two little ice cream displays I made to put around this summer. Again, for first-timers, I think our scoops looks pretty realistic! And for those of you that are interested in seeing a picture of a decorated tiered tray, here is a picture of the strawberry themed tray my daughter recently put together:

These decorated tiered trays have become all the rage, and there are lots of Etsy shops that specialize in making small decorations to fit on the different tiers. I think she did an awesome job putting this theme together–she definitely has a good eye and a creative streak! Hmmm–wonder who she got that from?!

Thank you for stopping by today–I hope you are all well and looking forward to a visit from the Easter Bunny. Take care, and, as always, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet, / the sand be your seat, / and your friends out-number the stars.”

-C-

In My Own Little Corner

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One of my favorite parts about my craft room is the chair in the sitting area. It is so comfy and relaxing to sit in, and the combination of the slipcover’s floral pattern and big ruffled skirt, along with the pillow cover made with a vintage handkerchief add so much charm and personality to that corner of the room. However, I have never liked the side table and table lamp, as I have always thought that their scale was too big for that corner, and their style didn’t match the vintage charm of the chair.

My craft room will be 5 years old this Fall, so I decided my presents to my room were going to be to give it a thorough, deep cleaning over the summer and to make some changes to the sitting area. I have had so much fun redesigning the sitting area, and I am so excited to show you how everything turned out! I did all of the planning and work myself, and I feel so good that I was able to use or repurpose things that I already had. I have taken a series of pictures that show my step-by-step process.

Are you ready? Let the pictures begin:

My goal was to replace the side table and table lamp, and also bring in more of the vintage style and charm that I love. The new side table ended up having the biggest impact and, once it was in place, the rest of the changes just fell into place. I replaced the table with a luggage rack

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and my grandmother’s suitcase

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which I spray painted

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pink! Ballet slipper pink, to be exact! I had never spray painted anything like this before, so I read a lot of DIY posts before starting, which boosted my confidence. I am so pleased with how well it turned out, and I can’t believe what a difference it makes in my corner! The overall size and scale fit so much better, and the suitcase just oozes vintage style and charm–and it’s pink to boot!

I originally had planned to use the suitcase as a beverage center for parties or at the holidays. However, it was too big for the space I had, so it has sat up in our attic for several years. I feel so good that I was able to give it new life and a purpose, and my husband is thrilled that one more thing is out of the attic. I’d call that a win-win situation!

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Next came the lamp, and look how perfectly it fits on top of the suitcase. It’s like they were made for each other! This lamp was the original lamp on the other side table, and I honestly don’t remember why it got switched out for the aqua lamp. In any case, this lamp was also in our attic, so, once again, I was able to find a purpose for this lamp. And, once again, I was able to remove another item from the attic. I’m on a roll!

Now it was time to fill up the rest of the table.

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I started by re-covering 2 books with material from an old pillowcase. I didn’t remove the pink ticking material; I just covered over it. I love how the ticking stripes peek through.

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I then took it one step further and added extra interest and charm to the spine of one of the books by making a ribbon marker. I glued the velvet ribbon on top of the lace ribbon; attached a shell charm to a 10mm jump ring; and then looped one end of the ribbon through the jump ring.

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I finished out the top of the “table” with an antique picture frame that I made the center flower for, a journal, and a sweet tea cup and saucer.

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At this point, I am just giddy with excitement at what I’ve accomplished! I completely changed the look and feel of my sitting area, and the vintage style of both the table and chair compliment each other.

BUT, I’m not quite done. I had one more thing I wanted to add to the window area–a ribbon garland. I thought that the window area could use some softness and interest, and I was hoping that the garland might accomplish that. So, I read more DIY posts; gathered up various ribbon/material strips and twine; and set out to make one. I cut all of the strips to 20″ long;

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experimented and found a ribbon/material sequence that I liked;

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taped the twine to an open doorway; and started tying the ribbon on to the twine with square knots.

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I had marked off the distance I would need with washi tape, and just kept repeating the sequence until the space was filled. It turned out even better than I had imagined and I couldn’t wait to hang it! My husband helped me attach two small eye hooks under the window trim and up it went.

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I absolutely love the ribbon garland itself–I love how soft, flowing and feminine it is, and even the fact that the ribbons aren’t all the same length just adds to it’s handmade charm.

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I have to be honest, however, and tell you how surprised I was that I didn’t like it once it was up. I couldn’t put my finger on the issue, but there was just something that bothered me initially. Change is hard sometimes, so I just decided to live with it for a few weeks and then re-evaluate my opinion. I am happy, and relieved, to report that I have completely changed my mind about the garland and I can’t imagine my sitting corner without it. It’s here to stay.

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I have enjoyed being able to show you the changes I made to my sitting area. Thank you for coming by and for your continued interest in my little blog. It means so much to me! I hope you are all healthy and safe, and, until next time, and as always, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet; the sand be your seat; and your friends out-number the stars.”

-C-

 

 

 

Ring of Daisies-Part II

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Happy Friday, my friends, and thank you for coming back for Part II of my series. Today I get to show you the coordinating daisy candle rings that I created for our table. I’ve never made candle rings before, but after having so much success with the napkin rings, I was anxious to give them a try!

When I pictured this project in my mind, I envisioned white candle holders and taper candles so that the candle rings would really stand out. I didn’t want to use traditional candle sticks, but wanted to repurpose and paint a jar or glass of some kind to add some charm and interest to the table. I also wanted the holders to be low profile, so that my husband and I could still see each other over the candles. With these criteria in mind, I went “shopping” around my house and I finally settled on using wide mouth half-pint mason jars. These jars have a great shape, but I was a little concerned about the wide mouth. I didn’t know whether I could make a daisy big enough to cover the entire opening, without distorting it’s shape. I guess I was about to find out!

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I have painted a lot of mason jars and I prefer using the chalk paint pictured above. It provides excellent coverage and I love the opaque look it gives the jars. I put 3 coats of paint on each jar and then sanded the surfaces with extra fine sand paper to expose some of the words. I finished off each jar with a coat of the cream wax paint, which softens and smooths out the chalky finish. After you apply the cream wax, let it dry and then rub the jars with a cotton cloth to bring out the shine. Before I put the jars aside, I stuck the tapers in the middle of the jars with this candle adhesive that we purchased from Current many years ago. It really works and a little bit goes a long way!

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With the candle holders finished, I now needed to concentrate on the actual rings. When I initially thought about making the rings, I figured that I would just cut the flowers in half and wrap them around the taper candle. Wrong! I off set the petals as I add each flower layer, so if I cut the flowers in half, the entire flower would just fall apart. Once again, making these candle rings proved more challenging that I originally thought. I have got to stop coming up with these complicated ideas!

Instead of wrapping the flowers around the candles, I needed to make a ring to just slip over the candles. I measured the tapers and discovered that the candles were about 1″ in diameter where the candle ring would sit. I also measured the opening of the jars and determined that using the enlarged flower would cover the opening perfectly. So I put on my engineering hat and went to work. It took a lot of thought and failed attempts, but I finally figured out a way to create an open ring in the middle of the flowers while keeping them intact. Here come the pictures!

 

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And here come the circle punches again! I created rings by punching a 1″ circle out of  both a 1 1/2″ and a 1 3/4″ circle, and these rings helped hold the flower layers together when I cut the middle out of each flower. I ended up just using 2 size layers for each flower, and used a larger scallop circle for the flower center.

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I started out by making 8 enlarged flowers and punching out 8 of the larger daisy punch. I applied adhesive all around one of the 1 3/4″ circle rings and also added a little adhesive to each individual flower petal just beyond the circle edge. I centered a flower on the circle ring and pressed it down. Then I turned the flower over and snipped out the middle of the flower. As an aside, what does the picture above remind you of? You’re right; a ship’s wheel. You might be seeing that return on a future project. But I digress…..

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I then added another flower, offsetting the petals and then turned it over and snipped out the middle again. It would have been much quicker to just put all four layers on and then use the 1″ circle punch to remove all four layers at once, but the hand punches can’t cut through more than one layer of card stock at a time.

I followed this same process until I had all four flowers layered together. Here’s what one flower size layer looked like at this point:

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Look at that–I did it! I created a flower layer that stayed together even with the middle cut out of it! Pretty impressive for a non-engineer!

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I then started over with the next flower size and followed the same process to complete all four flower layers using the 1 1/2″ circle ring. When this size flower was finished, I put some foam dimensionals on the larger layer and attached the two sized flowers together.

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For the inner ring, I carefully snipped each scallop and glued 2 rings together, offsetting the scallops. I’m not planning to attach this ring to the flower layers; I’m just going to slip it on over the flower.

And now for the moment of truth–what does it look like when I put everything together? Will the flower ring stay together after I slip it over the candle? Let’s find out:

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What do you think? I absolutely love them, and I think they turned out even better than I imagined! The shape of the jars add so much charm and interest without detracting from the flower rings, which is exactly what I set out to accomplish. Now let’s see what they look like on the table along with the napkin rings:

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Notice that my husband and I are practicing our social distancing! I kept the table settings plain and simple so that the napkin and candle rings would stand out. The woven placemats bring in some texture without adding color, and the lace trim on the cloth napkins compliments and highlights the sweetness and charm of the daisies.

These rings weren’t quick and easy to design and make, but they were definitely worth all of the time and effort. I absolutely love having the kitchen table decorated for Spring, and the overall effect is simple, soft and charming. It makes me smile every time I walk by or sit at the table.

It’s been great to spend some time together these past two days, but I am ready to take off my engineering cap; step away from the daisy hand punches; and move on to easier projects. All of this shelter in place time is perfect for crafters like me, so I am sure we will be together again soon. You are in my thoughts and I hope you stay healthy and safe. Until next time, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet; the sand be your seat; and your friends out-number the stars.”

-C-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rings of Daisies–Part I

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I am still making paper daisies here–I can’t seem to put these hand punches down! Once you get a rhythm going, they come together so quickly and are addicting! While I was making all of the flowers for my Spring frame (see post here), an idea popped into my head to try and make daisy napkin rings and candle rings. I could just picture how sweet the kitchen table would look all decorated for Spring. Turning the picture I had in my head into a reality proved to be more challenging than I would have imagined, and required much more engineering that I am used to or good at. I have worked on these projects for two weeks and am finally ready to show you what I came up with. I decided to divide the “big reveal”  into two parts, as each post will be very photo heavy. So, are you ready for Part I? Then let’s go!

Part I is all about the napkin rings. I thought that this would be a quick and easy project–all I had to do was make the daisies, and then velcro some ribbon onto the back of each flower; much like I had done with my Easter napkin rings posted here. Wrong! I discovered that the flowers as is were too small to use as a napkin ring–they really needed one more layer.  If I had a third larger daisy punch, this would have been a piece of cake, but there isn’t such a punch. So this meant that I needed to figure out another way to add one more layer to each flower.

I soon realized that there were two issues that I needed to solve in trying to add on to each flower–not only did I need to lengthen each petal, but I also had to make sure that all of the petals were lengthened evenly. After a lot of trial and error, I finally came up with a process which my pictures will help to explain:

In order for the process to make sense, let me show you what supplies I used to make a 2-layer flower as pictured on my Spring frame:

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The only thing you need to take away from this picture is that you need 4 flowers of each daisy punch size to make up the bottom and middle layers of the daisies like I used on my picture frame.

To make a third, longer layer you will need an additional 8 flowers from the large daisy punch, plus (4) 1″ circles and (4) 1 3/4″ circles. I have punched the 1″ and 1 3/4″ circles out of navy card stock for visual effect:

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I used the different sized circles to ensure that each petal and flower were lengthened evenly. The next few pictures will explain this in more detail.

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The first thing I did was to glue the 1″ circles to the middle of 4 of the daisies, and then I cut off each petal beyond the 1″ circle, so that each petal was approximately the same length as all of the others.

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I then placed a 1 3/4″ circle in the middle of another daisy, and glued all of the petals pieces onto the shorter petals by placing them just beyond the circle edge. This is what it looks like once all of the petal pieces are glued on:

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I continued following the above steps until I had 4 lengthened flowers. This definitely was “futzy” and time-consuming; but worth it! I put an enlarged flower next to the smaller, original sized flower for comparison:

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You get an even better idea when you see the size comparison on actual napkins–I used rubber bands to gather the napkins and just sat the two flowers on top.

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The third layer makes such a difference, don’t you think? The smaller flower just gets lost  on the napkin–it just isn’t commanding enough to stand out.

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To create the actual ring, I used 6″ pieces of a white textured ribbon and 5/8″ white velcro dots.IMG_7556

I joined both sides of each dot together and stuck one in the middle of each ribbon and another on one end. I placed the flower on top of the middle dot and then brought the ribbon around and joined the two ribbon ends together to make a ring.

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And the napkin rings are done. Whew–thanks for enduring all of those pictures! As a reward, here is the picture you have been waiting for–the table all set:

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Well, I can’t show you the entire table yet, but here’s a sneak peak of a table setting. This will have to hold you until tomorrow, when I will post Part II–the candle rings.

Until then, I hope you are all healthy and safe, and that you are adapting to the new normal in our daily lives. It sure is a challenge, isn’t it! You are all in my thoughts, and until tomorrow, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet; the sand be your seat; and your friends out-number the stars”.

-C-

 

It’s Spring?

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When you look at the calendar, today is the first day of Spring. When you look outside, it is anything but Spring. Where is the warmth and the color? Since I can’t detect signs of spring outside, I decided to create my own version of spring that I can enjoy from inside my home:

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When I think of Spring, I think of flowers and pastel colors, so that is how this project started. I had recently learned how to make these paper daisies, and, because they were so much fun and easy to make, I ended up with a whole pile of them. I wanted to turn these flowers into some form of home decor, so I searched online for different ideas. The idea I kept coming back to was displaying the flowers on a frame, and when I found this frame on Amazon, I knew it was exactly what I had been looking for. The frame reminded me of a white picket fence, which was the perfect backdrop for my flowers.

This frame had a clip on it and was designed to hold a 4″ x 6″ picture. I didn’t want to use a photograph, but thought maybe I could find a free Spring printable to use instead. I hadn’t searched for long when I ran across this printable. I printed out the 4″ x 6″ size, cut it down, and mounted it on a coordinating piece of cardstock.

I now had all of the pieces for my home decor projects; all that was left to do was put it all together. I played around with the placement of the flowers and leaves until I was happy with the arrangement, and then hot glued them to the frame. The printable didn’t require any extra adhesive–the clip was strong enough to hold it securely.

I had so much fun decorating this frame that I ended up making a frame for our son and daughter. Our daughter’s frame looks just like the one pictured above. The frame I made for our son is different in that it uses a specific color combination, and I stamped a spring scene rather than using a printable:

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Here is a picture of the two different frames side by side for comparison:

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I’m happy with the way both of the frames turned out and couldn’t wait to send them to our kids. My frame is now in a corner of the pantry sitting on a metal cookbook holder that I had spray painted last fall. It is just what this dark corner needed!

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This frame has brought some beauty and color to my environment, and, with all of the extra time we are all spending at home, it is amazing how much it has brightened my spirits to have seasonal decorations around to look at.

Take good care, my friends, and, as always remember,

“May the sand be your seat; the waves kiss your feet; and your friends out-number the stars”.

-C-

 

Stars, Stripes and Sailboats

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Let me start by saying that it wasn’t my intention to spend my afternoon crafting, but sometimes impromptu crafting just happens and it is so much fun. And, believe you me, I ended up having more fun that one person should have on a rainy afternoon!

I was looking for some pictures on my computer when I ran across this picture:

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This was the window display of a paper store we walked by, and my heart skipped a beat or two when I saw this. I took this picture and then went into the shop to find out more about these absolutely adorable sailboats. I learned that all of these sailboats were made out of wrapping paper from a simple origami pattern. My favorite design was the polka dot paper at the bottom of the rows, so I ended up buying some of that paper, and left the shop thinking that the first thing I was going to do when I got home was look up how to make an origami sailboat.

Fast forward 2 years. I still have the wrapping paper, and I have bookmarked a pattern for a sailboat, but nothing more. Well…..I really can’t explain all that happened in the next 2 hours–all I know is that this picture sparked an idea, and the results of that idea were totally unexpected and totally awesome.

I began by making a sample sailboat from the pattern I had found. I started out with a 5″ square piece of wrapping paper, and ended up with a sailboat that was 3 1/2″ wide. I thought that was too small, so after some additional experimenting, I settled on a 7″ square piece of paper which gave me a sailboat that was 5″ wide. So it’s important to keep in mind that the end design will be smaller than the initial size paper square you start out with.

In what seemed like only a matter of minutes, I had four sailboats

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You could easily end up with a whole fleet of these babies in a matter of a few hours; it’s that quick and easy! I love the contrast of the white sails against the navy paper, and the pattern gives directions on how to accomplish this. The sailboats in the window display don’t have the contrast, so my best guess is that 2 squares of paper were adhered back to back before folding.

This is the point where things got interesting. I now have 4 sweet, navy and white polka dot sailboats; what am I going to do with them? The number 4 ended up being the key to the end result–I thought about all of the things I would need 4 of something for, and one of the first things that came to mind was table settings. And the rest goes something like this:

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I put one of the sailboats on a plate to check for size, and what hit me wasn’t anything to do with the size of the sailboat, but the fact that I had some major work to do to dress up this plate. Talk about boring! This was a situation! I definitely liked the size of the sailboat in comparison to the inner portion of the plate, but I needed to add something that added color and height, so that the sailboat would have some presence and take center stage.

One of the other pictures I ran across before all of this crafting began was of the rosettes I made to decorate the outside of my hand pie envelopes several years ago:

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I had a “eureka” moment, and decided to make some rosettes for the sailboats to sit on. I’ve never made large rosettes before, but I decided there was no time like the present and dove right in. The width of the inner portion of my plate is 7″, so I started with 7″ squares of paper. I cut 3 squares for each rosette. I accordion folded, or fan folded, each square in 1″ increments and then folded each strip in half and taped it together:

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From there I taped all three sections together, and when you attach the last two parts together, you get a rosette:

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I topped each rosette with a starburst circle to cover up the middle, and now was the moment of truth–were these rosettes going to transform the plates from “why bother” to “wow”?

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Oh I think so, hand’s down! At this point I am kind of in shock! Decorating my table for the Fourth of July was the furthest thing from my mind 2 hours ago, and yet now I am staring at the sweetest; most charming table decorations ever! These decorations combine both the nautical and patriotic themes in a way that I never would have imagined, and I couldn’t wait to see what the table looked like with all four places set!

And so, that is the tale of how I went from a picture of a window display

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to a table display

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all in 2 hours on a rainy afternoon. I was so excited with the end result that I couldn’t wait to show you. I did add some tiny star table scatter, which I know is impractical, but it looks good. Sometimes impractical is worth it!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, and, as always, remember:

“May the waves kiss your feet; the sand be your seat; and your friends out-number the stars.”

-C-