Decorated!

I took off the week of Thanksgiving to get the house decorated for Christmas. It took me all week, but I finally finished. Here are a few peeks.

The only spot in the house where the tree fits - and I have to move furniture out just to put it there. Husband and I are having a contest when we undecorate the tree on how many ornaments are on it.

A display by the fireplace.

I did a completely different mantel decoration this year. I wanted something that used our everyday pieces, but dressed up for Christmas. I kept several of the basic pieces and added mercury glass ornaments, silver cups and candle holders, and a few homespun pieces. I changed the items in my mirror garland to Christmas images and photos.

Then I went to Lowe's and gathered up some of the pine cast off from their trees. I tucked these between ornaments and around the candles.

Husband thought I was crazy. Why pay for fresh pine when the store just throws it away?

Christmas Cards

I have this year's Christmas cards finished, addressed, and ready to go out in the mail. Just waiting for December 1. Here's the card that I made this year.

I wanted to use a non-traditional color combination this year, so I found beautiful patterned paper from My Mind's Eye in the dark and light turquoise. Bo Bunny red dots give a nice contrast. Of course, the centerpiece is the crocheted snowflake that my scrappy friend Bonnie made for me. Her fingers were busy all summer to get these snowflakes done!

I added a sentiment at the bottom. For as much as I hate snow, I sure am using the "Let it snow" theme an awful lot this year.
 

Crafty Christmas

This past weekend, I took a Christmas ornament class from the beyond talented Lisa Pace. In two hours, I completed the three ornaments. I can't wait to get my tree up (next week) and get these on it.

This ornament was the messiest - we painted an old jello mold with cranberry alcohol ink. My fingers were dark red all weekend.

I signed up for the class just to make this angel ornament. Lisa found two dozen vintage angel candle holders that we embellished and turned into ornaments.

This ornament was even prettier in person. All the glitter is really going to sparkle in the tree lights.

I've been busy with more Christmas projects! I'm anxious to start decorating. Patience.

Christmas Tags

I'm participating in a Christmas/Winter Tag Swap, and these are the tags that I made. I tried to use up some paper scraps and add embellishments to make the tags extra special.

On this blue Santa, I used Tim Holtz paper, snowflake paper scrap, tinsel trim, and a few other embellishments.

On Oh Christmas Tree, I used more Tim Holtz paper and a scrap of sheet music. I added a grunge board tree that I decorated by painting with Distress Ink, Crackle Accents, Stickles, Liquid Pearls, and snow.

This one is called "don't get on the naughty list." I used Tim Holtz paper, a vintage image, vintage Christmas label, and tinsel trim.

This one turned out to be a favorite. I used more paper scraps and decorated a grungeboard ornament with paint, Crackle Paint, ink, and Stickles. I made a branch to hang the ornament by snipping a piece of greenery and embellishing with tiny pinecones, berries, and tinsel.

For this tag, I used Rock Candy Stickles to create the icicles at the top. I stained a vintage image by dragging it into ink that I smeared onto my craft mat and then sprayed with water - creating a very wet ink. I painted a grunge board ivy branch with Distress Ink and then added Crackle Accents on top. A little piece of tinsel gives it just the right sparkle.

Lastly, I used more paper scraps to create a snowflake tag. I love the bold blue with the shiny white. I covered a grunge board snowflake with white Enamel Accents. I added rhinestones randomly on the tag (for "snowflakes"), and then typed a title on my old typewriter.

I can't wait to see what the other ladies made!

Oklahoma! O-K!

We explored a few of the parks in southern Oklahoma, searching for changing leaves and beautiful scenery. Here's a photo log of our expedition.

We left home early and made our way to Lake Murray State Park in Ardmore. We had breakfast at the lodge restaurant before taking a scenic drive around the lake.

After leaving the park, we drove an hour to the Chickasaw National Recreational Area in Sulphur, formerly Platt National Park. Unfortunately, half the springs and the beautiful waterfall are dried up due to the ongoing drought. We did get to see some of the springs in action.

The historic Lincoln Bridge.

Pavillion Spring.

Water flow outside of Pavillion Spring.

Hillside Spring.

This was on the trail around the bison viewing area. We didn't see any bison, but did see several deer. We were the only people on the trail, and the deer cautiously watched us until they were sure we were leaving.

The Vendome Well. Husband actually tasted this water. He said it was disgusting and tasted like eggs. We brought a picnic lunch and ate it here before we continued on our drive.

We went over to Davis to Turner Falls State Park. This is the view we usually have (not wanting to spend $12 each in the summer to get down to the waterfall with all the kids on inner tubes).

But, since it's the off season, there aren't many people around and admission is down to $4. So, we went in and took some photos. We saw the most trees changing in this area.

  

Let It Snow (again)

I made another ornament using some old supplies I had laying around. I started with a snowflake ornament that I probably purchased at the dollar store. I painted on some Martha Stewart glitter paint to give it some sparkle.

Then I added an old light reflector and paper rosette to the middle.

I printed these cute Christmas images onto fabric and added one to the center of the star. Then I added a chandelier crystal to the bottom.

 

Holiday Magic

As soon as I put my Halloween craft supplies away, I started making Christmas decorations. I found a large Maya Road bottle cap in my stash, and decided it was perfect for an ornament. I traced and cut out the background paper from a sheet of Bo Bunny paper. After adhering it to the inside of the bottle cap, I added mica flakes and a border of gold Stickles.

Then I added the Webster's Pages trim around the perimeter. The Santa is cut from a piece of Graphic 45 paper. I added a bleached bottle brush tree and then embellished it with mica flakes, Stickles, pearls, rhinestones, and an old mercury glass bead at the top.



I added some snow for the deer to stand in and a chandelier drop and rhinestone bead to the bottom.

Let It Snow!

My niece loves to play outside. Rain, snow, sun - it doesn't matter. I took some photos of her playing in the snow when we visited last Christmas. I had some bare wood snowflakes laying around, and knew they would be perfect to make a winter decoration.

First, I covered the wooden snowflake with fun patterned paper in a snowflake theme. I outlined the snowflake with Diamond Stickles. Then I matted her photo on a contrasting pattern paper and added a rub-on.

I embellished with sparkly snowflakes. I added a little "snow" to the bottom corner so the penguin had a place to play.

I remember Husband playing outside with her this day - until his toes were numb. He had to carry her inside, kicking and screaming.
 

Handmade Book

I started making this book months ago. I needed something to work on at crops when I didn't have other projects to do, so I made little altered pages. I finally put them all together and made a book to display them.

I used a 7 Gypsies book board for the cover, and embellished with a Crafty Secrets image, old fabric and trim, and Prima flower.

I bound the book using a piece of printed canvas and embellished it with old tatted trim.

As you can see, I made quite a few little pages for the book.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

I used images of birds, old postcards, and pages from a small art book.

I layered the images with old paper, journaling spots, rub-ons, trim, buttons.

I'm still going back and embellishing some more.



This little book was fun to put together. I don't know if I'll ever consider it "finished," as I'm always finding something else I want to add.

 

New (Old) Treasures

I picked up a few goodies at a garage sale:

Old sewing basket with a few goodies still inside, including a bone thread winder, old tatting tools and thread, sheet music, 100-year-old French postcards, old reel to reels (I plan to use the boxes; Husband may have a plan for the reels), and a bag of Christmas tree candle clips. I also bought an old shipping crate that I plan to dress up for Christmas.

My biggest surprise was inside the tatting box - I found an old Marines uniform button. I'm trying to determine if it's from the Civil War or WWI. Either way, it's worth a lot more than the $1 I paid for the box full.

I'm already working on some Christmas goodies, so I'll be posting projects soon.