25 Days Of Christmas, Day 12

I think I got a little obsessed with this one.  I saw string art cards on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.   I loved doing string art in middle school.  

I put a lot of effort into coming up with different designs.  I have a couple more that didn't make the picture but I am pretty much out of ideas. 

It is hard to pick a favorite. 

I love all of them. 

I am thinking of making a framed arrangement instead of sending them out as Christmas cards.  

But I have plenty of string (and no, I didn't have to buy any) so I could always make more.   Looks like they sell for $5-$10 on Etsy. 

Merry Christmas, card. 
 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 11

It is a little challenging coming up with a new centerpiece every year.  So of course,  I checked out Pinterest for ideas.  

This year, I used the vases that I had bought for Emily's wedding last year.  

I used some Epson's salts at the bottom, then layered tinsel, ornaments, and pinecones.  The pinecones that look like flowers came from Richmond 40 years ago.  My aunt Jean had a friend that lived in a townhouse that had a pine tree in the yard.  The year I lived there, Jean went and picked up a bag full for me.   When I google it, it says they are Cedar Roses from the Deodar Cedar tree.  I had used them years ago to make a natural wreath and have been hoarding the rest ever since.  The beauty of this project is they are still reusable. 

I topped the vases with a sprig of Douglas Fir cut from the Christmas tree.  I think it looks nice for something that I haven't done before.  I might add some more pine branches over the mirror.  
 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 10

Today's treat is another Pinterest success.  

I made these cute little trees from, you guessed it, scrape wood.

First, I drilled the hole, then cut the triangle.  I used the circle from the hole as the tree stand, then hung a tiny mirror ball.  Sadie loves mirror balls.  So do I.  

They are very cheerful lined up on the windowsill above the sink. 

The Pinterest linked to an Etsy store where my inspiration piece is priced at $20.  I don't think they have sold very many. 

 Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas holiday season as much as I am.  

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 7

I'm going with another Pinterest success on this one. 

I started with a couple of old wooden pallets.  I don't have much scrape lumber to chose from so I am having to get it where ever I can.  

I also used a foam paint brush handle, chair spindle and a wooded closet rod. 

This was my inspiration piece.   I found it on Pinterest but traced it to Etsy.  The store was closed temporarily but there were several examples using a variety of color combinations. 

After a lot of trial and error on getting a circle with wedged shaped pieces, I finally settled on this arrangement.  

After using some of my "spare paint", this is what I ended up with.  

I love it.  Now that I am looking at the inspiration piece side by side with mine, mine may be a little busier.  

I had trouble deciding where to hang it.  I tried several locations.  But I ultimately ended up hanging it next to the china cabinet.  There usually aren't quite as many plants crowding the corner but I had to make room for the Christmas tree somehow.  

 

Slumber Party

Sadie and Allie came over Saturday evening to spend the night.  I thought it would be a nice time to have a slumber party with their new unicorn sleep matts.  The only problem was that there was too much party and too little slumbering.  After multiple rearrangements of blanket, pillows, stuffies, rooms and room mates, they finally went to sleep on the bed in Virginia's old room while I stayed in Emily's old room.  It was after 1 am before they were asleep.  Granted, the wind was blowing at 50 mph and it sounded like parts of the house could come off.  But then they were up at 6:30! I let Joe entertain them for an hour while I rested in my own bed.  Then it was time for Mimi fun.  

I had planned a string art craft that I had seen on Pinterest.   Sadie was excited to work on it.  Allie, not so much.  

Sadie worked and concentrated on hers while Allie wanted to go downstairs and play with balloons. 

I think it turned out spectacular.  Another Pinterest win. 

Anticipation of the balloon returning.  

Consequence of the balloon hitting a spiky plant. 

Of course we had to have a tea party.  Since I wouldn't let Allie use the fancy dishes yet, we used a table cloth and bunny figurines as a centerpiece to fancy things up.  

Kit Kat joined us for our flower picking journey.  

Allie was still not sure she wanted to be too close to him.  

There was some tricycle riding before going back inside for flower arranging.  

After playing dress up we went back out to check on Draper.  

Sadie is still in love with the horses.  

And even though they are princesses, 

they are not afraid to put on their boots and go to work.  

Not the most practical barn attire but it is certainly pretty.  
 

Pinterest Birding

I have been having birds show up on my Pinterest feed.  

The quilt pattern was free and easy to follow.  There was even a YouTube video on it.
Apparently, it was pretty popular a few years ago.  I am just a little late to the game.  But it was so cute I thought I would give it a try.  

Each bird can have a different personality.  

The legs can go different directions. 

And the beaks can be different sized.  

The wings can also be fussy cut to include whatever pattern you want on the fabric.  

I am having a good time matching fabrics.  But I only have a small flock so far. 

 

Pinterest “Nailed It”

I had another Pinterest inspiration. 

I needed a fence board, 

A barrel hoop, (had to untangle one from a volunteer tomato vine) 

I did purchase a welcome cutout from Hobby Lobby.

And I got out some bling,

To dress up one of Otoelene’s shoes.  Assembling everything plus some grasses that I picked out of the field and….

A wine barrel hoop welcome sign. 

This was the $85 Etsy inspiration piece.  I am going with, Nailed it!  I ended up gifting it to yesterday’s wedding couple.  I still have 5 more hoops.

 

Afternoon Pinterest Project

Sadie loves to play dress up.  I have a bunch of costumes that I had saved from when Virginia and Emily where little.  They are all stored in a box that Sadie digs through to find what she wants.  Recently, I put the dresses on hangers and hung them off the ironing board.  Sadie could see them better and seemed to like the new arrangement.  But I didn’t think the ironing board should be their permanent home.  So I googled DIY clothes rack. 

This was the one I picked out as my inspiration.  It looked pretty simple and doable.

 And this is what I ended up doing with some stuff I already had on hand.  I haven’t decided yet whether or not to cut off the overhanging shelf.  And when the weather is better I plan to paint it white.

But I think it worked out well.  The box with the accessories fits under the shelf, there is plenty of room for outfits, and the shelf can hold the shoes.  I might add pegs on the ends for scarves and purses.  I am calling this a Pinterest success.