Decorating Cents

Good morning friends.  It's a week before Christmas and I'm running like a mad woman trying to get last minute gifts and decorating the house for guests coming over for Christmas dinner.   I wanted to display something for Christmas that told the real reason we celebrate in our house.  I began to go through my drawers and the garage to see if I had any free supplies.  I came across some leftover paint sticks and had an idea.  I can make some art from it. I started by gathering my supplies.  I used paint sticks, stain, white paint, and a handmade stencil. I laid out my sticks to see how I wanted them arranged.   After deciding where each stick would go, using wire cutters, I cut each stick to size and sanded the rough edges.   On goes the stain.  I even used a small leftover piece and painted it yellow for my star at the top of the tree.   After the stain dried, I laid my stencil out.  My stencil was just card stock that I cutout the letters with

Once again, I am doing blue and silver for Christmas colors this year.  I re-used the ornaments from last year and added some more blue to fill in some of the empty spots.  I wanted it to look a little fuller.  This year I also wanted to start something new, putting a handmade ornament on the tree each year.  To go with the blue theme, I decided to add some blue glitter and a little personalization for each one of us. I started with some clear plastic ornaments from Michaels, glitter, and floor cleaner. Take the tops off each of the ornaments.  Pour a little floor cleaner into the ball and swirl around.  Pour out any excess cleaner. Pour some glitter in the ball.  I made a funnel from paper to get it in the hole.  Put your finger over the hole and shake the glitter all around until it is evenly coated on the inside. The next step was personalizing each one.  I wanted each family member to have an ornament.  I traced letters onto small strips of contact paper.  Us

I always see nice tabletop decorations but refuse to spen d an arm and a leg o n a piece that won't sit out but a month.  I wanted something festive and sparkly for the dining table and decided I can make my own. I grabbed some garland from the dollar store and rolled up some poster board to make my own tree forms.  Using hot glue, I started at the top and rolled the garland around the sides, gluing every couple inches. Now I have three trees for cheap.  The blue and silver one is my favorite.   I set them on the dining table.  Here are the silver ones. And the blue and silver one on the other end.   I mixed some red along with the blue in my table to pull the colors from the rest of the downstairs.  I grabbed the blue chargers in Michaels last week.  The centerpiece is a glass vase with silver and blue balls.  A small wreath with red berries sits at the base.  I kept the smaller vases and candles on the sides.   There are more tweaks I want to ma

I'm excited to share a fun and easy Christmas project you can do with the kiddos.  My daughter loves any kind of crafting so this is something she was happy to join along in. Let's get started.  You will need craft sticks white craft paint brush  black marker felt or fabric  scissors glue string 1. Start by painting the craft sticks white.   2. Cut small squares of felt to use for the hats.  Cut small strips at the top so the hats will look fringed.   3. Wrap the felt around the tops of the sticks and secure with glue.  Tie a piece of string around it.   4. Cut small strips of fabric and tie around the snowmen necks so they become scarves.   5. Using a marker, draw the faces and buttons down the front.  I used small strips of orange paper to make the noses.   Aren't they cute?  Something you can have the kids do without too much mess.  They would make good ornaments or fridge magnets.   Sharing with I Heart Naptime * Un der