Deck the Halls

THE MANTLE : The day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas decorations start going up at our house. There's our sweet pup, Zoe wearing her Christmas bell. I added two things to the mantle this year....... the greenery and...........

the Eddie Ross wreath that is all over blogland. You know we had to make one too ! My son and I ran into Goodwill one day and found some boxes of ornaments for $1.25 so we pretty much had to make it.

THE TREE: I finally gave in a couple of years ago and got an artificial tree that is prelit. It is so nice to still have needles on the tree by Christmas day. I only do one tree so it has all the ornaments on it, the kids and mine. I think I'll do a post of my favorite ornaments this week. The ornaments must be put on while singing in your loudest, most off key voice, "Oh Christmas Treee, Oh Christmas Treee, I love to dec-o-rate you !"

The tree skirt is something I made a few years ago from scraps of tapestry and braided cording.

THE STAIRS: Mr. Stitches was in charge of wrapping the stairs in greenery and lights. He also hung some icicle lights and a wreath outside.

THE VILLAGE: I've had this village for a really long time and my son had fun putting it out this year. He arranged everything just the way he wanted it.


THE NATIVITY: And here's the reason for the season, baby Jesus in the manger with Mary and Joseph and the three wise men.


I hope you've had as much fun looking as I had decking ! (does anybody know what that means ?)

I'll be linking up to some wonderful sites, be sure to check them out.
DIY Showoff
Metamorphosis Monday
Transformation Thursday

Home for the Holidays
Hooked on Houses

My Wrapping, Scrapping, Crafting Closet

Stick a fork in it, it's done ! I just wanted to show you the room with all the final touches. The knobs that came on the dresser were cute but they were plaid and I'm not really a plaid person so I painted them black. Here is what they looked like before in case you didn't see them. I cannot remember where I got the canvas with the pillows, I'm thinking it was either Kirkland's or HG, it was $ 5.00. My new apron from the Hip Hostess is hanging on the doorknob.

The canvas needed some work to fit in and match. I know this sign is all over blogland BUT, I'm pretty sure it's nowhere in Cary, NC so I felt good about using it ! I printed it from The Graphics Fairy and Mod Podged it onto the canvas and then blinged it up a bit. (my spell checker doesn't realize that blinged and mod podged are real verbs and blogland is a real place, haha)


That's my thimble collection in the middle and my tea lights are in the container on the right. Thanks for looking and I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving !

I'm linking to A Soft Place To Land's DIY Day.........

PK at Room Remix is having a linky party for craft closets that I'll be linking to.

Craft Closet

BEFORE: MESSY COAT CLOSET

AFTER: MY WRAPPING, SCRAPPING, CRAFTING CLOSET

I have been wanting a craft room forever but I was running out of square footage in my house so I had to get creative. The before pic is what my coat closet looked like at 8:00 am yesterday and the after is what it had transformed into by 10:00 pm. It is only 95 % finished but I couldn't wait to give you a sneak peek. I'm so excited !

The first thing I did was empty it totally out and find new homes for all the junk, I mean coats and tools. After taking down the wire rack I painted it with some paint left over from my kitchen, BM Concord Ivory (it's really a golden yellow, nothing ivory about it). I had planned to buy base cabinets, paint and install them, get a countertop and paint and hang pegboard. While perusing my buddy, Craig's list, I found this dresser/bookcase combo for $140.00. It was red and I decided that I could absolutely live with that ! One hour later it was in place and ready for all my goodies.

All my wrapping and tissue paper, scrapbook supplies and crafting stuff lives here now......
I covered a memo board and containers with some fabulous scraps. There are a few more things to do for finishing touches but so far I love it !

I'm linking this to Metamorphosis Monday.......... go check it out.

Tassel Party and Pillow Tips

I made a new tassel for the tassel party that Cheri is having over at It's So Very Cheri. I made this one with a giraffe that I got from the Dollar Store. I added layers of bullion, brush and ball fringe.

This was the third tassel that I have made, go HERE to see my very first attempt and to see what I use for the inside.

I made some pillows with iron on transfers last weekend and Karen@StrictlySimpleStyle wanted me to give some tips for making them. I was going to either use a stencil or the iron on transfers. After looking around at AC Moore I decided to buy the transfer paper and download some images from the internet. I found free images you can use at Icon Etc. and finally decided on these king and queen crowns and little flourishes with a retro stripe. I couldn't get it to enlarge to the size I wanted so I just made it as big as I could.

Tip #1. Enlarge your image in photoshop to get it to the size you need.
Tip #2 Cut as close as you can to the image. They say to leave 1/2" around it but it does have a clear shiny spot around it.
Tip #3 Once you put your iron down don't lift it until the image is set or it will move.
Tip #4 They have transfer paper for white fabrics and one for black or dark fabrics so, use the right one for your fabric.
Tip #5 You can easily make these reversible by putting something different on the back.

It's really easy, give it a try.........

Mounting Roman Shades

When mounting roman shades they can either be inside or outside mounted. The type of window will usually determine which way would be the best. If you don't have enough room to mount inside but you still want the look of an inside mount shade then you can mount them directly on the molding as I did in these two examples.

If you want a structured shade the rings are spaced horizontally about every 10" apart as in the above shades.

For a "relaxed" shade the rings are only placed at the outside edges and that gives you the scoop at the bottom like the romans I made for this dining room. You also permanently tie up the bottom 3 rings so there is fullness when the shade is down.

Pillows With Iron on Transfer

My project this weekend was new pillows for the family room. I've been wanting to bring in some lighter colors to the room and I thought recovering pillows would be a good way to do that. This is my pillow template. It is great for cutting out squares that are square and the really great thing is that you can see the pattern on patterned fabrics to make sure it is centered.

I bought some iron on transfer paper at AC Moore so I could add a design on the pillows. After hours searching on the internet for images, I finally decided on crowns and flourishes with a retro stripe. I found lots of Victorian images but I wanted something fun for this room. I printed them and then ironed the images onto my sunbrella fabric and added some bullion fringe.

Here they are in their new home.............. Zoe approves !

I'm posting these at BNOP for Metamorphosis Monday.

Painting a Chest

One day Grandmama Stitches showed up on my doorstep with this lovely hand painted chest from a Chelsea House sale. How lucky am I ? It was really pretty but Everything in my LR is gold/brown and it was just feeling way too dark. It had a heavy crackle finish on it and there was no way it was coming off without some serious sanding. So I decided to go for a leather looking finish.

It was missing one pull so, I'm on the look out for another one....... or 2 matching ones for the top drawers.
Step 1: Spray with Rust-oleum Heirloom White (which was probably a wasted step because the crackle was so heavy)

Here are my helpers.......... and by helpers I mean my son carrying one side of the chest saying, "Mommmmm, why do you have to paint everything!"

Step 2: Paint with some BM semi gloss white I had for another project.
Step 3: Lightly sand edges.
Step 4: Rub with Minwax Bombay Mahogany stain and Valspar Mocha glaze.

Here it is with it's new aged leather finish. I brought in some cream pillows and a cream throw to help lighten the room.

I'm linking this with Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Friday so head on over and look at all the projects. She even has a prize for the winner, how sweet is that ?

I'm Back From Paradise and Fabric Giveaway Winner !

We spent Halloween on a cruise with 100 of our closest friends. It was a lot of fun but it sure seems good to be back home. Here is Mr Stitches saving me from monsters ! I missed my bloggy friends and I'm still trying to get caught up with all of your posts.

I said I would do a fabric giveaway on Halloween but I was in Paradise with no phones and no internet so I'm a few days late.

I started this blog 3 months ago with no idea what I was doing and it has been such a rewarding experience to teach myself and to learn from all of you.

I am so blessed and grateful to have 59 followers that I am doing the fabric giveaway now !

By roll of the dice, the winner is .................... Its So Very Cheri !!! Congrats, I know you will do something fabulous with it. I will email you your choices.