Shutter Project!

Some time in early November I posted an Instagram picture of this super cute shutter that I snagged for a song at Vintage Hardware (WHERE ELSE?!) There were more, and I was SO tempted to get another, but was good and stuck with one! My aunt Kathy and I were talking about just how adorable the shutters were, and how they were just perfect for a neat project. How on EARTH could I say NO?!

Here is the original shutter. Chipped paint, dirt and all!

Wiped the dirt and grime off and went to town on that chipped paint! I used a palm sander to eliminate quite a bit of paint, then used a 5-in-1 tool to scrape even more paint from the shutter. And then it was MoRe sanding! Then more cleaning to get rid of all the dust!

I then used cream colored paint, the same leftover paint that the candlesticks received! I debated on a second coat and opted against it at that time.  It was still a bit rough looking and imperfect, as you can see below. But as projects go, I changed my mind at the end.  

I then used cardboard letters as stencils. To go with the Christmas tree design at the top of the shutter, I opted for a holiday classic, NOEL. To do this, I measured from the top and bottom for my first and second letters. Then split the difference for the middle letters. Each letter ended up being 1 inch apart from the other! I didn't have an N for tracing so I had to fudge a little with help from an H and a straight edge. 

The final tracing result! I know they are a bit light, but that is okay since I need to paint over them!

I used a RED Sharpie paint pen in order to give it a holiday feel. Once the paint had dried, I took a high numbered grit sand paper and roughed the letters up just slightly. I wanted them to have a bit of wear-and-tear to match the rest of the shutter. 

In the end, once the letters were painted, I used a bit more cream paint to touch up around the letters and give a second coat to the really rough patches.  One thing that I am still debating, and can continue to debate,  is whether or not I want to outline the tree with dark green paint. Hmmm!!! Decisions, decisions!

What are your thoughts? Should I outline the tree? Or leave it? Readers, HELP!

From Rags to Riches. Or Spindles to Candlesticks?

Just another DIY project with materials from one of the best LOCAL stores in town! VINTAGE HARDWARE, OF COURSE! Snagged these great spindles for a decent price! 

The project as a whole only cost me about $15! The sandpaper is already EVERYWHERE in the woodshop, and the paint was leftover from my bookcase painting endeavor at school this summer. 

Cut the top and bottom off each piece so they were smooth and flat, sanded each spindle until they were smooth! 

Had to ask for a bit of help from my handy tool man father. I was too afraid that I would absolutely destroy the spindles if I tried to drill the candle holder holes! I'm semi-skilled with power tools, but I know when to get help in order to maintain project perfection! Thanks PA!

Look at that beautiful cream colored paint! Lots of left over for the spindles. (And for the shutter! Stay tuned for that!) I used two coats of paint for each spindle for the best coverage. 

This one is technically upside down! Whoops! But the finished product looks pretty great. At least I think so!

These lovely spindles were a gift for my even lovelier sister-in-law! Their final resting place is in the Midwest. Rachel will have to send me a final product photo once they find an official home! 

Card Making!

Let me just start by saying that I love hardware stores or home improvement stores for the free treasures...

I have used many a paint chip or color swatch for many a project! 

Generally when I walk past a paint display I grab a few new color samples. Who says I'm not constantly painting walls?! Super simple card making. I love a clean looking card, with a bit of fun detail or color. ENJOY! 

I attached the paint chip to the front of a trimmed card using double stick tape squares. My favorite part of this card would be the paint colors and how PERFECTLY they match the theme! Green giggle, bright foliage, bold bark, and retro green, all for my Secret Santa Christmas card. 

I added the cedar bough stamp using a chocolate colored ink! SEE?!?! Too PerFecT!

Using an edge cutter, I trimmed up the front edge with scallops. Then cut a card sized piece of this FuN gold and white patterned scrap book paper.  I figured it was Just Right for a WEDDING card. Oh my! I attached the piece with more double stick tape squares! 

Look at that! Using extra paper, I cut out a rose from the gold and added it to the top right corner of the card.  Silly ME! I failed to take a FINAL product PiC! Whoops! Maybe Tori or Joe can attach a photo in comments! CONGRATS!

ScRaBbLe CoAsTeRs!

Making Scrabble tile coasters was such an EASY project! Which maybe I shouldn't say, so I can keep giving these unique gifts to people! 

The materials are inexpensive for the most part, and not hard to come buy. 

Scrabble tiles (You can order complete sets from Hasbro!)

Super glue

Cork (I used thin rolled cork from a hardware store)

An Exacto knife or good pair of scissors

Inexpensive bristle or foam paintbrush

Modge Podge (I used the outdoor kind so it works for wet materials)

The first task is simply picking out your tiles, phrases, or words! I created a couple sizes of coaster, 4 by 4 and 5 by 5.

I ordered three full sets from Hasbro for about $12. 

After gluing the tiles carefully to the cork and letting them dry, I used a cheap paintbrush to apply the Modge Podge. Next time, I think I will try a foam brush because I had to work really hard to brush out the bristle lines. 

To be honest, I was so nervous when the Modge Podge was a bit white! But not to worry anymore, it dried perfectly clear! Phew! 

I made these for a few people! Each coaster shows a bit of each personality. I used the blanks as spaces or for letters that were missing, like the L in MALT! Oops!

These were such a BREEZE, and I've already had people tell me that I should make them for sale! Perhaps that will be a New Year's PROJECT! If I do start a side business, I'll let my ReAdErS know! 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas! (Part Three)

Oh my! The Christmas season has been so busy in the best way, but boy am I behind in my blogging! 

Home was not on the list of priorities for decorating this year, the schedule was just so cramped.  We did get a few simple decorations up! The tree as always, with white lights and our collection of family ornaments.  Then a few other pieces around the house.  Check out the quick captions! 

The same triple tiered baskets from my Thanksgiving vignette, kept the pine cones, and added classic color Shiny Brights! Plus a couple fun holiday balls like the snow fun above.

And this lovely seasonal messaged ball! 

My favorite part of this display was the great fabric that I found at JoAnn's! It has a bit of shine so it goes perfectly with those bold Shiny Brights! Pardon my ridiculous reflection! :)

The stairwell in our home is perfect for a gorgeous garland! Add some lights and  berry strands for some pop!

Took that Thanksgiving vignette and simplified it for Christmas! Picked a simple, but stunning fabric that belonged to my grandmother, added the white porcelain nativity set, faux candles, and basic vases with fresh greens.

Look at that fabric! Silver thread pattern!

Late one evening I got the harebrained plan to give the kitchen some Christmas cheer. Red sheer ribbon and holiday shaped cookie cutters! A little Scotch tape and they were just right!  

We Wish You a Merry Christmas! (Part Two - Felt banner)

If you saw my part one post in the Christmas series, you may have noticed the God Jul felt banner that I created for the church entryway wall. The project was SO simple, that I was tempted to make a second one for home, but realized that I was OUT OF WHITE FELT! Oops! 

MATERIALS:

White felt (6 sheets 9x12 sheets or cut the 12x18 sheets in half)

Red felt (I used 1.5 12x18 sheets)

Stencils

Tulle ribbon or other ribbon of choice

Glue (Hot glue was great!)

I printed out the font I wanted from Microsoft Word, and selected Rockwell at size 710! I would have used a much smaller size for home, but wanted these to be large and fill a big wall.

I then cut my stencils and traced them backwards onto the red felt so that when I cut the felt, the front would be free of markings.   

I then cut my 12 inch by 18 inch white felt in half. Using the hot glue, I folded about one and half inches of felt down to make a casing. I ran hot glue along the 9 inch edge and folded the edge down to seal the casing.  Complete this step on all of the pieces of white felt (you should have 6 matching rectangular pennants with a casing at the top). 

I then took the red felt letters that I had previously traced and cut, and using more HOT GLUE! attached them to the white pennants.  I did my best to center them left to right, but kept them a bit lower than centered top to bottom.  That was just a personal choice! Do what YOU want! 

Once I had all of my letters secured, I strung them with red tulle ribbon from Jo-Ann Fabric.  It's about six inches wide, but scrunched up when I threaded it through the casings.  

I tied bows on other side of the banner prior to hanging it on the wall.  The fluffy bows were great for hiding the push pins and gave it just a bit more flair!

GOD JUL or Merry Christmas to everyone! Keep watching for part three! See you soon!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas! (Part One)

Oh hello! It's that magical time of year again! My favorite month of all, December! It's my birthday month and Christmas, my favorite holiday, so needless to say I'm just jolly! This time of year also means that it is time for my Christmas blog series.  Again, you will see this year's decorations at church, around the house, a quick wrapping post, and some very neat gift ideas (those will have to wait though since I have to give them so my readers that receive don't have a spoiled surprise!). Ooh! And I hope to get a post in about a fun new find that I want to put on the front porch! Merry Christmas and enjoy!!!

Starting off with decorations at my church, which features a Scandinavian theme. The theme is highly appropriate for a couple reasons, the first being that the church was founded by Scandinavians, the second being that we are hosting a few events this season that we wanted to give a Scandinavian feel, so rather than re-decorate, it was best to make it the whole theme! Many hands make things go so much faster, so a huge THANK YOU goes out to those that volunteered their time and energy! 

Everything is very simple and traditional; the color scheme is red and white with evergreens and burlap. I'll try to keep the descriptions to a minimum (I'll caption each picture like I did for the Thanksgiving post). Most of the decorations are easy to put together and I have a separate post for the felt banner.

The week prior to decorating is usually spent preparing. Lots of paper chain, and turning my burlap Thanksgiving table runners into squares! 

Picked up a dozen poinsettias from Costco for $60. Best price that I could find in town. They are used all over the building, but we have four that brighten up the altar.  On each side I used a clear cake stand to give dimension in height. 

Here is where the burlap squares came into play! I don't love the gold/silver foil that the poinsettias were wrapped in, so I trimmed the foil down so it could hide under the burlap and sheer red ribbon.

My aunt Kathy (she is so clever, and I like to think that craftiness runs in the family!) decorated the Advent wreath and table so beautifully.  More burlap and burlap ribbon to act as a table cloth. (Pardon the garbage, photos were taken while work was in progress!) :)

We use the same grape vine wreath each year and simply add our own greens and color to fit the theme.  This year Kathy added the greens and some red berry picks that I stole from my mom! Thanks mom! 

We have long and bare ledges that surround the piano areas in the sanctuary, but during Christmas they are filled with color and candles.  Kept them very simple this year. Cedar boughs, the usual faux candles (Costco has these for a decent price usually, and they are the best in situations like this!), and realistic but totally fake poinsettia blooms in red and white.

Rather than use a traditional tree topper in the form of a star or even a beautifully designed angel, we went a bit vintage! This angel is part of a very old wooden manger scene that has been at the church since LONG before I was born. She made the perfect topper for our Scandinavian Christmas tree.

I was having issues getting the entire 12 foot tree in the picture! But here is where part of the paper chain ended up!
Thanks to my dad and Dave for putting on the lights, climbing ladders, and getting that angel to stay put!

The ornaments were simple too! Pine cones with red ribbon and traditional straw ornaments with red thread to hold them together. I know Bev, Dave, and my dad did ornament hanging and they did a beautiful job!

Dave and Bev also helped hang lighted garland from the balcony rail and my mom created bows from red and white checked ribbon that I snagged from Costco a couple seasons ago. (Costco seems to be a theme here too...)

Rather than buy new, we reused the same pillar candles in glass that we had last year with the paper chains. The windows only feature the candles and wood cranberry beaded garland that I also stole from my mom! 

Kathy and Brittany took that vintage manger scene and put it to good use! Since the Christmas program needed a manger anyways, Kathy thought it was a good idea to leave it in place all season! I AGREE! I mean this is the true meaning of Christmas! Featuring real hay bales hauled in by Jeremy, Brittany and Larry. And you can see the poinsettias peeking through! 

In our coffee area and front entrance area there is a large blank wall so I thought I'd take advantage of that space and add some good Norwegian cheer! Check out the easy HOW-TO! 

Downstairs window wells feature more cedar, more poinsettias, and more imitation candles. And the center window features my little IKEA friend.  I also mixed and matched ribbon downstairs, red and white checked with the same sheer red from upstairs. Thanks to my grandma and Kitty for filling the windows with boughs!

Whole window! There are three windows total, all a variation of this concept.  

Somehow I failed to get a picture of the tree downstairs! Uff da! But I can tell you that it features a matching paper chain to the upstairs tree, little red apples, white Christmas balls, and traditional red candles! Thanks to the team of girls and ladies that put that tree together so beautifully!!!

Stay tuned for more festive ideas and creations! Merry Christmas to you and yours!