Crafting Christmas

Plus my Christmas Mantel 2013

Yes, I've been crafting the last few days. Better late than never....I guess but 

seems never might have been fine.

But...I'd agreed to make something using a $50 gift card sent to me 

by Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores as part of their

Celebrate the Season campaign.

So I HAD to get my craft on!

http://www.joann.com/celebrate-the-season/

Check out the Jo-Ann Creative Holiday Booklet here

Lots of great ideas in there!

and now here is how I made my trees

Vintage Inspired Bottle Brush Trees

First, I decided to make some vintage inspired bottle brush trees to add to my collection.

I found everything I needed to make them at Jo-Ann.

All on sale...which is a huge plus.

Supplies Needed

First, a tree from the holiday village collection.

Some small baubles and glistening snow tex to create the snow.

I also used Elmer's glue I had on hand, a little white craft paint and fine white glitter, food color or RIT dye.

oh...and hot glue and gun.

That tall green one is the tree you viewed in the package above.

Others in this photo are either made by me or vintage or new but look like vintage.

I made the far right one the other night too. 

And the pink one peeking out behind the green one with small pink ornaments. 

Far left one is a new one also.

These are so much fun to make...but messy. 

My kitchen counter looks like it will never be the same.

Oh...it's just glitter....glitter never hurt anyone...I don't think.

Although...I bet people working in a glitter factory are susceptible to glitter lung.

Here's how you make the trees.

1. First...if you want your trees a different color than the green they come... you are going to have to

bleach them. I bleached two trees...the one above is a pale blue green and the other I made

is pink.

Be sure to get the trees made of natural fibers. Many of the cheaper trees you find at Walmart and such are actually made of plastic. They won't bleach and they won't dye. You can still decorate those though and they turn out very nice...they just won't have the same vintage feel. I've decorated them before

and they turn out pretty too...you just can't change their color...so don't try.

2. Once you have your natural sisal trees...you can bleach them.

To bleach...use 50% bleach and 50% water mixed and soak your trees in the solution upside down.

It's beneficial if you can find a container that the tree can fit into upside down.

That big one was too tall and I had to scrunch it a little. It got it's shape back but it means you have to fluff it and stuff afterwards. It's just easier if you have a bigger container.

Soak the tree till it becomes the color you want. 

I went to white with mine. Which is actually a yellowish white.

It took about 30 minutes for the color to come out of my trees.

Then rinse them very well in water.

Let dry over night.

3. Now you might want to decorate them in their white state which would be very nice.

I decided to dye mine. I've read that RIT dye is the best to use for this but I didn't have any on hand and

I didn't feel like getting out in the cold to get some.

I tried a watered acrylic paint. That was a huge fail.

So I used food color. That worked just fine although I'm sure you could get much more interesting 

colors if you used RIT.

Soak the trees till they are the desired color you want.

I think I soaked mine about 15 minutes.

Rinse with cold water.

And let dry over night.

I hate crafts that you have to wait over night to complete...don't you?

I guess you could dry with a hair dryer but I had other things to do any way.

4. After they've dried thoroughly, you are ready to decorate.

I used hot glue to attach my ornaments.

Use larger ornaments on the bottom and I used beads for smaller ornaments towards the top.

Move the branches apart a little and pour in some hot glue and then shove your ornament in

with the top of it where the hanger would go hidden into the tree.

5. After all the ornaments were glued in place I heaped on Glistening Snow-Tex all over the tree with a brush

to look like the tree was freshly snowed upon.

After that dried I added more snow by painting randomly with white craft paint, then while the 

paint was wet...sprinkled on white snow glitter.

I loved the way the Snow-Tex looked on the trees but I was out after making two trees.

I made two more trees using only white craft paint and glitter.

If you like lots of glitter like I do, brush on thinned down Elmer's glue and then sprinkle with more 

snow glitter.

These babies dry pretty fast. I put them out to display when they were still tacky.

After making these...I had enough bottle brush trees to make a forest on my mantel.

Which I did but....now I need more trees for around the house.

Those are going to have to wait for another year, I'm afraid.

Snowfall Pom Pom Garland

Snowflake decals made it into this year's display. 

I found those on 70% at another craft store the other day.

That's my Christmas Mantel for 2013!

I decided to make a variation on the garland I did a couple of years ago.

I forgot to take a photo of the supplies for this craft but it's just two things.

White pom poms and fishing line. 

I got the pom poms at Jo-Ann. I already had the fishing line on hand. 

Oh...and those lights in the fireplace came from Jo-Ann too.

I don't know why I never did that before. 

Those are staying all year...or at least all winter.

How To Make the Pom Pom 

SnowFall Garland

1.  Just cut a length of fishing line...knot it at one end. 

2.  Thread your fishing line through a needle and thread a pom pom on. 

The knot will keep it from going off the end of the line.

3.  Tie another knot up the fishing line about three inches, thread another pom pom on.

4.  Just keep tying knots and threading on pom poms till you get the desired length.

5. I did them in lengths of one through six.

6.  After you've threaded the last pom pom, tie another knot about an inch from the last pom pom.

Tie several knots on top of knots so you have a bigger knot.( Like tie three)

7.  Take a very very small fine piece of wire about 3/4 of an inch long and stick through that bigger knot.

8.  Stick the wire into the snow or fabric that covers your mantel or table. 

I used my scalloped snow batting from two years ago.

I really love the way this turned out!

Maybe better than what I did the last two years!

But I swear...next year I'm going to go more simple!

and for my last craft...this one is super super easy...

Glowing Snowballs

For this craft I used styrofoam balls also from Jo-Ann.

(I'm doing something else with the ornament and felt - we'll see if I get it done before Christmas)

This craft is sooo easy and so effective.

Take the balls and punch one twinkle light from a string into the ball.

The styrofoam balls will glow!

It's hard to see this on a white tree. It's much more effective on a green tree.

But I'll try to show...

Just randomly place them around the tree. I did 24 but wish I'd bought more. 

The more the better...it looks.

I've done these all over green garland and it looks amazing.

I did it at work one year and everyone loved it.

Really adore having the inside of my fireplace all lit up without having to light all those candles.

Which I never do.

I also really love how my sconces look all decked out for the holidays this year.

They usually look so small and plain once everything else is decorated.

This year...I added a little white garland and hung big icicles.

The perfect touch.

Print and use this coupon to get some great crafting supplies at Jo-Ann.

All Christmas is on sale Big Time! 

So you'll use this for something from their regular products.

Check out Jo-Ann's Christmas Pinterest Board - "Holiday Spirit" to see what other bloggers have created inspired by

the stuff they got at Jo-Ann.

I'll be back with more of Christmas at my house on Sunday.

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Putz Houses

Candy Colored Christmas

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I adore putz houses for Christmas.

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I have quit a few both old and new.

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They used to be bought for a couple of dollars.

Which is when most of my collection was amassed.

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New vintage looking ones can be quite ornate.

I just got two new houses from my Mom.

She bought them at Target.

This is them....

Cute, aren't they? I'll be adding details to them to make them even better.

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So that they will be as cute as these I've gathered off Pinterest.

I had bought one several years ago also from Target and totally

remade it last year after Christmas.

I added decorations, cotton batting and more snow glitter.

I'll show it soon.

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That is the plan for the two new ones too.

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Aren't all of these so gorgeous?

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true confections

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They look made of candy with frosting and sprinkled in sparkling snow sugar.

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I truly cannot resist them.

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Love the colors of this one.

So.....

Still my decorations are not up.

I have to say I am pretty discouraged.

All I ever want for Christmas is to just put up my decorations and watch old Christmas movies and 

listen to my favorite Christmas CDs.

Last year I was too sad.... 

and this year....

too many things keep coming up.

Things I have to go do...people I have to help or work stuff.

I have Sunday off...first day off in quite awhile and 

I am not telling anyone that I am off from work.

If anyone asks...I am at work. 

Shhhhhh....don't tell.

I want to spend the day just doing Christmas at my house.

Put up my stuff and make some crafts without being interrupted.

Is that asking so much?

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Finding Christmas

In my Garage!

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Oh...I love these stockings!

Not mine...but I found some in my bins of stuff just as good. 

Because, last night I got brave and did something I've put off for years.

I ventured into my garage which can be a scary place since there is no light and it 

gets darker and darker the further back you go.

Back at the back was a stack of storage bins full of my OLD Christmas stuff.

Things I have not seen in almost ten years.

I kept putting off looking in them.

Too many memories.

My things hold the memories of everything that happened when I got them or when I used them.

The last time I'd seen these things...my Dad had been to my house for Christmas.

I thought I was going to have years and years with him.

The next Christmas he was gone...and I couldn't bare to open those boxes

and see those things full of hope.

I started over from scratch collecting different things after that.

But this year....I remembered decorations in there that I thought would be nice 

to add to my current stuff and I guess that means I am moving forward.

Because I was able to look at them.

Still memories flooded me as I opened those boxes and found items

that immediately brought back to mind where I was in my life and my hopes and dreams at 

the time I'd bought them.

I'm really trying to live in the present these days and not think back. 

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I have been lacking in posts this week because my Mom has been going in for some tests

and looks like she'll be having open heart surgery soon.

Another test next Monday and then we'll know more about when it will be.

My dearest cousin Shelly asked me once why so many people we knew were having health 

problems and giving us such pain.

(She herself fighting a losing battle with cancer at the time)

I told her it was because we had so many people in our lives.

We cared about so many...that was why we had so many making us sad.

People who don't have many to worry about...don't have many people in their lives. I reasoned.

My Mom is a very strong person...in very good health except for a heart valve that has quit functioning

properly. 

Doctor says it genetic...and been headed that way her whole life.

Says I should get checked for it too...I will....but too much going on right now.

We are not worrying. We are just taking care of business.

Making plans for what we'll do during her recovery.

She'll move in with me.

And also making plans for when its all done and she feels herself again.

Right now...I'm on my way to take a purple tinsel tree to my Aunt Jane.

(Shelly's Mom)

It looks something like this but better...it's shaped like a feather tree and is 4 feet tall.

I don't know that she wants a purple tinsel tree but I've got one.

And so she is getting it. I figure she needs a little Christmas and it needs to be totally different than 

anything she's had in the past since we lost Shelly last year at this time.

I found it in my garage.

I'd ordered pink and purple came instead one year.

The pink one is here in my house.

Last week I helped my friend, Deidra with her purple tree.

I had hoped to go over and take photos but that didn't happen with Mom and all.

Several years ago, I was with her when she bought a tree much like this...but taller...5 feet.

She's from New Orleans so she loved that it was purple.

She put all kinds of ornaments on it and threw mardi gras beads all over it.

The next year she moved.

When I walked into her new place at Christmas...the tree was up...

but it was missing the whole top section!

It was completely decorated but was flat on top.

I exclaimed, "Where's the rest of your tree?"

She said..."Oh..I knew you'd say something. Only you would notice part of it is missing."

"No", I said, "Everyone is going to notice the top half of your tree is gone. 

It's not a Christmas tree anymore. It's a Christmas bush."

She was getting ready to have a Christmas party and her family in town for Christmas so 

I stressed we either needed to find the top or go get a new one.

She claimed the top had been lost in the move.

She said she absolutely was not going to do anything about it.

It looked fine.

Well, a week later when her sister came to visit, she walked in the front door and the first thing she said was,

"Where is the top of your tree!"

Deidra said..."Oh....Nita said you'd notice."

Her sister, Toni said...."Well of course I noticed. One third of it is missing."

So two years later, last week, I'm at Deidra's and she is saying she is going to put up the tree.

I ask if she found the top.

She says she did but now has forgotten where it is again.

I say..."Ok, we are going to go get a new one....I am not looking at that thing again."

She refuses.

Then I say..."Ok, how about we buy a small tree and stick that in to be the top."

She likes that idea.

So after a few stops around town we go to Big Lots and find the perfect small purple tinsel tree

to stick in and fix her tree. It was only $16!

Only problem was...it was a little lighter in color and a little more pink....but still purple.

We brought it home...I stuck it in and we decorated and 

her tree is now 6 feet tall...and is an ombré tree. It goes from light purple to dark.

I announced this very excitedly.

She said..."Whatever that means."

She did admit it looked much better than the topless version.

She called her sister Toni to tell her how great it looked.

She told Toni..."Nita says it's an ombré tree...whatever that is."

Toni exclaimed..."How Chic!"

Deidra said, "Of course she knew what you were talking about. No one else would."

But I know all of you will know and explained as such to her.

And that is the end of that story.

Ok....I'm off to run to my Aunt's.

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