HOMEMADE HOLIDAYS

I enjoy making gifts.  I'm not very good at it, but sometimes I get a cute idea off the internet and it turns out just right.  I made these cute candle holders for some people.  They were pretty plain when I got them:

Then, I cut snowflakes out on my Cricut machine and used the negative part to create a stencil.

 

Then I filled it in with glass etching cream. 

 

I let it sit for about 15 minutes for good measure and rinsed it off.  I removed the vinyl, and voila - custom made candle holders.

 

Get a Cricut machine!  It is awesome!

 

 

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

How's the holiday spirit coming along in your home?  I think I'm off to a good start this year, although I still have a lot of shopping to do and some gifts to make yet (I'm waiting on materials to arrive in the mail).  I work well under pressure, so I'm still calm at this point.  I have however, been making some arrangements with holiday greenery.  I'll share some with you.


Let me give you some background information:  I have this need to shop at consignment stores.  I find some really cool stuff there.  It's true, I'm cheap, but honestly, this is not about being cheap.  It's a treasure hunt.  Garage sales, Goodwill, consignment stores - it's all about what you can find cheap and do something special with it!  It's a sickness, really.  Anyway, there is a new consignment store in Spencer and I stop frequently.  I found this adorable bench there for $5.99!  There is a small water mark stain on it, but that's not a problem!

I fell in love with this cute little thing.  I decided to turn it into a holiday bench and give it as a gift.  I feel badly giving a gift with something I got so cheap at a second hand store, but I figured if I would jazz it up with some greenery, I could sell it for $25-$40, and that would make a nice gift for someone!  Here's what I did:

I just wired in some pine greens, hot glued some poinsettias and then an adorable cardinal.  I was going to add a bow, but it looked too gaudy, so I left well enough alone. 

My second arrangement I made for my sister-in-law, Deanna.  She used her Cricut machine to cut the flying reindeer out of vinyl and added it onto an already painted tin container.  She bought some artificial flowers and greenery and asked me to make the arrangement.  I have to say, I love doing this, especially when I have not paid for any of it! :-)  I thought it turned out okay.  Please remember - I'm not a professional anything, I just goof around until I think it looks okay.  Deanna was thrilled, so I guess that's all that matters.

 
Sorry about the distracting background.

My other little endeavor is to be used on my Thanksgiving table - but since we'll have several tables set up in various locations around my home to accommodate all of our guests, I will probably place this somewhere on the food buffet.  I found this idea on the Cricut message boards; I emailed it to Deanna because I thought it was cute.  I should have known she would have wanted me to make one - she has this knack for seeing something and then deciding "we" should do it :-).  She cut out all the pilgrim pieces on her Cricut and gave them to me along with the silk leaves.  I had the little bucket and the dowel rods here, so I got the hot glue gun out and got to work.  I think it is cute, however, 95% of my guests will probably never notice it - they'll be too busy talking about hunting.  

Isn't Thanksgiving supposed to be about family and being thankful and all that????  When did hunting EVER get invited in?  I could go on, but I'll leave that for another post :-).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:18

CHURCH BUILDING WREATHS

How can you go from this. . . 




to . . . .




THIS. . .

 

Well, with a few tools and a little time, you can do it.   I made 2 of these wreaths for the front of our church auditorium for the winter.  
The total cost for each wreath was around $20.  I got everything on sale - the roses were 70% off!  I love the clearance bin! 

We moved into our new church building last January, I believe - wow, seems like we've been at this place a lot longer.  Anyway, the building is beautiful.  Most of the classrooms and the bathrooms are decorated very nicely.  The auditorium has just plain white walls, so to bring some color in, I started making wreaths to hang on each side of the pulpit/baptistery area.  Here is the one I made last spring:

I love to make wreaths.  Fall wreaths are my favorite, but I make them for all seasons and occasions.  Michaels craft store charges more than $50 for some of their completed wreaths.  That's just crazy!  You can buy a smaller sized wreath at Walmart for around $3.  If you want the next bigger size, you do have to go to Joann's or Michaels, and if you wait until they are on sale,  you can get them for around $8.  I paid $17.99 for the pine wreaths and got another 20% off since I had a coupon, but these are pretty big wreaths.  The flowers you can buy anywhere.  I found some beautiful flowers at the Dollar Tree!  I usually buy the little "accessories" for my wreaths at the Dollar Tree (one of my favorite places).  I buy the cute Santa faces, plastic hearts or cute scarecrows all for $1.  Dollar Tree is also a great place to buy the wired ribbon spools!

Wreath making is very easy, but if you've never done it, here is a quick tutorial from me (and believe me, I'm no expert).  What I usually like to do, is look at the completed wreaths at a craft show or at Michaels (I sometimes snap a picture with my cell phone).  Then, I purchase the flowers/decorations/ribbon I want and the wreath.  For the pine wreath, you have to first "fluff" up the branches.  Then I cut the flower bushes apart so each flower is on an individual stem.  Lay them on the the wreath and play around until you get the design you want, then just hot glue them in - sometimes you may need to use florist wire, especially if the wreath will be hanging outside.  Just a note:  think in the rule of odds - never put an even number of flowers on a wreath.  Either have 3, 5, 7, etc.   That's pretty much it - very easy.   

Well, I know this is exciting stuff, so I'd better end this post so you can digest it all!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  You never know who may desperately need your kindness and understanding.