Feeling Ornamental

How are your holiday decorations coming along? I decorate in fits and starts - I'll get ambitious and knock out 3 projects simultaneously, and then I'll have a couple of days of just not feeling it. Unfortunately, I usually get in a creative mood when I'm at work and can't do anything about it (thanks, Pinterest!)

Here are some of the ornaments I made last year. I was feeling very gung ho and crafty. 

The pinecone map ornament was my first one, and to this day is still my favourite. There is something about the shape and texture of a pinecone (real or crafted) that appeals to me.

And that's what made me make one from birch bark as well. It doesn't hurt that birch is my favourite tree. 

Like so many other people, I collect sand from the beach whenever we go on vacation. I liked the idea of displaying some of that sand on our Christmas tree with these glass vacation memory ornaments.

I tried my hand at mod podge for the first time last year as well. I bought a book of sheet music from a local used book store and cut the sheets into strips to be applied to a styrofoam ball. The song I picked was "Jingle Bells" - fitting I think.

The last ornament style was the simplest - just scraps of ribbon inserted into a clear glass ornament. I love this ribbon though - so glittery. And the colour of the outside ribbon changes depending on how the light is hitting it.

Do you make handmade ornaments? 

Are they ones you keep year after year, or do you like to switch them out periodically? 

Mine are still around, but I'd like to try my hand at some Victorian-styled ones this year.

Christmas Mantel with Nature...and Glitter

We are slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y getting the house decorated for Christmas.  I have so many ideas and not enough time to finish them all. And truthfully, I take a lot of breaks. I'm afraid that some of the things I started - like my poor papier mâché reindeer - aren't going to be ready for this Christmas. But I have a huge head start on next year, right?

One area I did finish was the fireplace mantel. I really love it. The colour scheme for the whole room this year was kept simple with only silver, gold, white, & blue. I'll admit I stole this idea from Jessica at Decor Adventures. I did tell her I was going to steal it though, so I don't feel as guilty. It's too beautiful an idea not to emulate.

I started by glitterizing some large pinecones. The first thing you'll want to do is apply glue to the tips of the pinecone with an artist's brush. I think you could also use spray adhesive but I'm not sure if it would dry too quickly.

I then used my bottle of white glitter and shook it all over the pinecone. You'll want to have a plate or paper under the pinecone to catch all of the excess.

Once it's dry, shake off all the excess glitter onto the plate. Isn't that pretty? It looks like sugar.

I bought some small flowerpots from the dollar store and painted them gold and silver. The pots came with moss and a flower already in it - the moss made a great base for the pinecone to sit on, but I just tossed the flower. I used regular acrylic paint on the pots and it took several coats, but I think I ended up with a smoother finish than I would have if I'd used spray paint. Plus I didn't have gold or silver spray paint in the house, so that probably would have slowed me down a bit. :-)

Once everything was dry, I arranged the pots on the mantel and wove some battery operated lights between them. I'm really digging the battery-operated lights this year. So much nicer than having extension cords running all over the place. I then tucked some greenery between the pots and all around the lights - harvested from the forest the day we collected branches for the wall tree.

I also added some silver and white star-shaped, glitter-covered ornaments between the pots. I think they look a bit like starfish, and you know how I like to add a little beach to everything.

And that's the mantel. 

But what about above the mantel? Tom and I built this wall hanging - for lack of a better word - for about $10 - decorations included.

We cut pieces of 1x4 to 26" lengths, and then attached them to each other in a staggered pattern with a piece of plywood across the back. I then used my favourite stain + watered-down paint method of aging wood to look like barn boards. Lastly, I attached some artificial greenery, decorations, and some miniature stockings.

I strung the stockings on some heavy twine and then stapled the twine to the board. I added some smaller pinecones to the stockings so they looked a little full and to bring in more nature. Everything is stapled on so it can be removed easily and changed up for another season if we want.

I love this so much. I can't help but smile at it every time I walk in the room.

Here they are all together. So sweet and so simple. 

I'm glad to have this part done. Tonight we were working on decorating the front porch, but it was way too dark for pictures. And the tree is done (I think). I keep finding more ornaments to add. 

How much decorating do you do?

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I'm linking up here this week!

Barb vs. Chalk Paint. Round #1 Goes To...

So I tried out this chalk paint phenomenon that all the kids are talking about. My friend Joanne, from Muddarittaville Studio, recently became a distributor of van Gogh chalk paint so she gave me all of her leftover Annie Sloan paint.

We have an old bookcase that is cheap and an ugly shade of brown. Not real wood, just one of those particle board jobbies with a fake wood grain. Perfect for my first stab at chalk paint.

I'm completely new to this don't-need-to-sand, just-slap-it-on kind of painting. Kind of scary. I'm not that trusting. But since I didn't like the bookcase anyway, I had nothing to lose. I used Old White for the sides, top, and shelves, and Paris Grey for the back wall.

When I opened the white paint it was very thick so I added some water to thin it out. I think I might have added too much though because it took 4 coats to cover the sides. I didn't water down the grey at all and it only took 2 coats. Also, when the paint is watered-down it doesn't self-level as well as it should and I was left with brush marks. So there you go, lesson learned - leave it thick.

brush marks. boo.

Here we are at the end of the first day. I do like how fast it dries. Even though I had to do multiple coats, they didn't take long at all. 

(How 'bout that Hoosier cabinet in the background? Can you believe my father-in-law was using it to store paint cans and hardware? I can't wait to re-finish it.)

Joanne gave me several colours to play with, so I used a few blues and a yellow to stencil some flowers onto the back wall. Again a first - first time using a real stencil - hey, Martha! - and real stenciling brushes. I like how the flowers don't jump out at you in a hippie-dippy, mystery machine sort of way - they're just there behind the books as a little extra surprise.

I waxed everything and then roughed up the white a bit along the edges with a sanding sponge to give it a chippy look. I didn't sand the grey at all since the back wouldn't normally wear, amiright?

I haven't decided where to put it yet - probably in the craft room since there are never enough places to hold all my stuff. For now I gave it a little decoration and put it in the front hallway.

I don't know if I'm completely sold on chalk paint yet - it's a little heavy for my liking. My favourite wood finish is still to stain it then give it a light wash of colour (and wax of course). I do want to try it again though. I'd love to paint something with one of the bright blues - maybe a stool or a small table.

Have you tried chalk paint? What's your opinion? 

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I'm linking up here this week!