C is for celebrate

Earlier in this crazy month, my co-crafterson Heather celebrated her birthday! I made this cute banner for her, and considering she has four daughters, I'm hoping it will be put to good use :)
These come together pretty fast, and they are also cute just plain without any letters. Use a ruler and cut out a triangle from an old cereal box to use as your template. Use pinking shears (zig-zag fabric scissors) to cut the triangles from your fabric, and they won't fray. Then all you have to do is sew the banner to a ribbon and you've done it! One thing I discovered with this one, I overlapped each flag a little and I like how it hangs a lot better than others I've made.

Won't that be great at birthdays and events? I don't even have one :( That's on my craft list. Happy New Year everyone !!! We're partying at Between Naps on the Porch, The Girl Creative, and A Soft Place to Land.

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Christmas Quilt

As Heather mentioned before, we are a threesome of sisters and our oldest sister Amy made this rag quilt for me! It was a couple years ago I asked her to make me one for Christmas, I wasn't a quilter at the time and she made and sold these quilts on Ebay, isn't it fab?? At the time the colors matched all my decorating, but I've sinced gotten rid of red and was so sad not to have this on display, only for snuggling. And then my grand idea, it's my Christmas quilt, and I love it!

One of the reasons I think she did such a great job is that she mixes fabrics and textures. Adding minky was a great touch. Thanks sister, I'll love it forever!

And, I think a rag quilt was one of my very first quilts I ever made for a friends baby. I highly recommend it as a starter quilt, they look great, they are easy to put together and it's hard to mess up :) Happy quilting!

We're partying at the Inspired Room, A Soft Place to Land and Between Naps on the Porch.

Checking it twice

First thing I've learned...I am finishing ALL my projects in November, so the entire month of December I can have a beautiful house smelling of fresh baked cookies and so many adorable things your eyes can barely take it in. The way it is now...fabric everywhere, my sewing machine, ironing board and anything crafty are all over my family room taking away anything that looked remotely festive. Darn.

Here are some glitter balls I tried out this year. I like them, ribbon tied down from the curtain rod with a tie of tulle.

Three years ago Heather and I saw some tree skirts we wanted in a Pottery Barn catalog, so we headed to JoAnn's right that minute to get supplies. Much to our disappoint, we needed to know a decent amount of math to figure out the circles for the fabric, trim etc.. Turns out it had a lot to do with Pi, and not the delicious kind.

Here is the JOY that hangs above an old mirror (recognize it H?). I love mod podging letters, there are so many great ways to do this same trick over and over. This was a project a friend did last year, and I had a great spot for it.


We're getting down to the nitty gritty, so I guess my decorating is over. There were a few of my little spots, and there will be no grand picture, because there is none according to the above explanation! I had so many more plans and thoughts that won't happen, how did your decorating go?

As always, we're attending some parties, so go check them out too! The Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Decor Chick, Hooked on Houses , The Nester, Amy Lou Who and We are THAT family.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Craft from the Past...

My Mommy made these WAY back in the olden days...

Are these not the cutest snowman ever? I believe they are circa 1970's? My mommy is the best toll painter in town. At least she was, and she would be still, if it was still cool...
They just got old enough to be cute again...FINALLY! I remember these snowmen from when I was a little girl. They were around each and every Christmas.


So I had to modernize them just a touch to help out with their coolness factor... I cut 3 5x7 papers from cute scrapbook papers. Love the Christmas Trees...


I still had 3 frames left over from my monogrammed frame project. So I then put the papers behind the glass.


Then I used a glue gun on the backs of the snowmen, and plopped these little dudes on each frame. I did it on top of the glass so I could peal them right off after Christmas, the snowmen are cool, but not cool enough to have their permanent residency in my favorite frames.

Ta-Da...10 minutes. (less time than the post is taking me for sure!)


Now when my girls grow up they will remember the snowman. Then I will give them to the most sentimental of my daughters because she won't give them to goodwill.


Then in about 30 years time, she will dig out the snowmen, and they will finally be cool again for the third time around. Then she will tweek them (because she will be a crafter). And put them on the wall for her children...

Thank you Mommy. See I didn't give your cute things to goodwill. That is why I earn the egg family :)

I will share a post about the egg family around Easter. Megan and I are fighting for them. I think I will win.

My Christmas Mantle...

Here it is. Don't you wish you could keep Christmas up longer? I think I will start earlier this year. I did it on the cheap, used mostly things I already had. I got the big gold mirror from Ross on clearance for $11. I intend to paint the frame, but it worked so great for my Christmas setting. The Tree on the left is my fall/Christmas double purpose decorating. You can see it on my fall mantel too... The apothecary jars have the filling switched out. The Santa is a craft from years back that I made. The Pine cone tree is a 90% clearance from last year. $3. And the only new item is the gold star which I got on %50 off from Hobby Lobby. I like how it turned out this year.

I am definitely a convert to the apothecary jars. I just dumped the fall fixings into a ziplock, and dumped the Christmas fixings into the jar.

Same here. And for the filler, I just chopped up a pretty garland I got for 90% off last year at Joanne's. It has pretty greenery, and pretty pine cones with crystal glitter chunks. Also the sweet white berries, all from the same garland. I think it turned out really pretty. Plus I will keep it out after Christmas, because it is still winter.

Same with this one, it was in my fall mantel too. Same chopped up garland, but added a strand of red wood beads to the bottom.

I used to be a crazy person and did a lot of cross stitch. But I found this line of super pretty patterns. (lavender something?) They are the most complicated patterns I have ever done, but so pretty. I imaging my girls will fight over them after I die. This is probably 60 hours of my time. Crazy, I wish I had that time to craft now.

Isn't he a perdy vintage looking Santa? Love him. Maybe I should keep him up after winter too???

Ahhh, bless this snowman's heart. I made these two stockings right after I got married a 11 years ago. I think the snowman is for me...

This funny dog is for my husband. I copied these 2 designs from pottery barn way back when. I intended to make a whole new batch of stockings for us this year, but it didn't happen. Maybe I should by all the fixings this year after Christmas, and make them right away. No crafting gets done in December right?

Here is the full view fire and all. Do you like?

Linking at The Shabby Chic Cottage, The inspired room, Finding Fabulous, A Soft Place to Land , amylouwho , southern hospitality funky junk, hooked on houses and Miss Mustard seed