Christmas Time's A Coming - 2012

 Oh the best laid plans of mice and men - and Grandma.   Today was going to be the big push to start work on special projects for the grandsons for Christmas.  But it did not happen, because one daughter had a writing deadline to meet and the other daughter's nanny called in sick.  Know what that means?  Right! Grandma and Pawpaw combined forces and did some babysitting to help out said daughters.  But, that is all right.  We will just begin the project tomorrow.  (I hope)

Tonight, I wanted to show you our sunroom, or what I can photograph of it.  It is a long, somewhat narrow room and I can't find a way to get a good photo of it, so I will just show you the highlights.  Pictured is my pencil tree.  It reminds me of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and there was something about it that spoke to me and I just had to bring it to our house to live.  It is decorated with my favorite Christmas memory from childhood, bubble lights.  They are not easy to find, so I keep a good supply of replacement bulbs in case any of them burn out, which they do from time to time.  Did you ever have bubble lights on  your tree?  It is totally mesmerizing to sit and watch the different colored lights as they bubble away.  It is one of my most favorite things to do at Christmas time.  Most of the ornaments on the tree have been handmade by yours truly through the years and it just makes my heart happy to look at this tree.

We have a large entertainment center that holds our dinosaur of a television and all the other things that go with a television - DVR, Wii, DVD player,  and a wireless printer for the computer - so much stuff, so many wires.  Ugh.  Anyway, it serves somewhat as the "mantel" in this room and it has always been decorated.   Yes, I have a thing for birdcages.  Don't ask why, I don't really know.  They just intrigue me.  The birdcage always sits on the entertainment center along with the big red candleholder our youngest son gave me for Christmas years ago.  You see, I love red glass.  Did you know it takes gold dust to make red glass?  There's a bit of trivia for you.  The red goblets are used as tea light holders (have had them for many years), along with red glass candlesticks and red mosaic candles holders.  Throw in some large red and gold ornaments, glittered stars, greenery and lights and you have a beautifully decorated entertainment center.  If you look really close, you can also see the red jeweled garland that is intertwined with the greenery.

See that big blank space on the wall behind the candles sticks?  I am working on a project to go there and will share the DIY with you when its complete.  I can't wait to get it finished.

Our sun room is our tv/family room.  All of our movies and games are stored in bookcases, there are cabinets holding overflow of china and casserole dishes that won't fit in the kitchen cabinets, my telescope is housed in this room, and there is  a play space for the grandsons.

Next to their little table is a chalkboard that Dan and I made for them to do art on.  We used a piece of 1/4 inch masonite that we found precut at Lowe's.  It is 4' high x 2' wide.  Dan cut the trim from a piece of 1 1/4 inch trim.  We painted the entire thing with black chalkboard paint that you can get at any hardware or paint store.  We put an anchor chord on the top and anchored it to the wall with a cup hook.  The little ones like to throw some elbows when drawing on the board and we didn't want it falling on them.

Grandma drew them a little Christmas message.  Guess who's coming to town?

This little shabby chic hutch is one of my favorite furniture pieces in the house, have had it for years.   It is decorated with some of the Santa Belly candles I wrote about in my post of November 12, 2012.

There are 6 windows across the back of the room and last year I put garland and lights over them.  It was a major chore and I decided not to do it this year since we had to move all the furniture to hang the garland, so I used some of my Dollar Tree snow flake garland and I made some 10 " snowflakes from the Martha Stewart paper my daughter gave me.  They look very pretty hanging above the windows.

 Here is the last decorated cabinet in the room.  My favorite piece is the little frame that holds  an antiqued piece of fabric that was hand embroidered and says "Dear Santa, I can explain".  Makes me laugh every time I look at it.  The oil lamp on the right belonged to Dan's grandmother and is one of my prized possessions.

Every room in our house is decorated for Christmas.  The bedrooms have trees and small decorations, even the bathrooms.  I know it's a lot of work, but I love it.  Some day we will be unable to do it, until then bring it on!

Thanks for joining me on our tour of the little yellow cottage for Christmas, 2012.  I so appreciate your reading my blog and hope that it inspires you in some way.  Now, it's time for Grandma's workshop to get really busy!  I will let you know what we are making - so many fun things for the grandsons!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Memories are but a journey we take in our minds, but relive in our hearts.  unknown

The Christmas Dining Room At The LIttle Yellow Cottage, 2012

We are counting down the days until Christmas - only 15 to go.  Whew.  Putting that in print kind of gives me an edgy, anxious feeling because I still have so many projects to finish before the 25th.  On top of that, two of our children have birthday's on the 17th (3 years apart - how did we do that?) and one of our grandson's has his birthday on Christmas Eve.  As you can see, December is a very busy month for us.

Today, I thought I would continue with our house tour by showing you our dining area and kitchen. We don't have an official "dining room", it is an area next to the kitchen that is separate, but quite cozy and can be very crowded when the whole family is here for dinner.  But that's quite okay, crowded is fine,  because it's all about being together.

Last year I made a lovely table runner that was ecru in color and it did not survive the season without getting some kind of spot that won't come out.  Surprise!  So, this year I found this beautiful black table runner at TJMaxx for $12.00.  Yay!  It has beautiful holly leaves and berries embroidered on it in red and green and is just perfect for the holiday season.  I put a piece of red deco mesh under it to give it a little oomph and hopefully it won't show stains like last year's.  We will see how it goes.

Texture plays an important part in any centerpiece, so I started by cutting some fresh cedar off a tree in our yard and laying it on the table runner.  In the center, I added a large glass vase that I  already had.  I put a candle in the vase that I glittered by putting Mod Podge on it and rolling it in crystal glitter.  The sparkles don't show very well in the picture, but it is so pretty and easy to do.  They would made beautiful gifts!  I surrounded the candle with fresh cranberries for some holiday color and texture.

There are sequined trees I made on either side of the candle in the vase.  They are very simple but add so much sparkle and glam to the setting.  Simply start with a green styrofoam cone.

I used silver schlung sequins to cover the cone.  Schlung sequins are the flat ones that are attached by thick thread and can be bought by the yard instead of individual sequins.  This makes covering the cone much faster and easier.  I simply used sequin pins every so often to hold the rows in place.

Start at the bottom and place pins every few sequins to make sure they don't slide off the bottom of the cone.  Wrap tightly as you go around the cone and place a pin every few sequins continuing to the top.  Spiral the sequins and pin until you have the entire top covered.  That's it.  Pretty simple isn't it?

These are 6 inch cones and I wanted the trees to have some height so I sat them on some silver flower pots I found at Michael's.  Simply turn the pots upside down and sit your trees on them.  These could be made in any color sequins you wanted.  Another great gift idea!  If you give these as a gift, glue the cone to the pot.

For more candlelight, I added two small mercury glass fish bowl-type candle holders I found at Michael's for $3.99 each.  I had seen the identical holders at West Elm for $12.00 each.  Yes for a major bargain!!

Next I use 2 silver snowflake garlands that I got at "you know where" for $1.00 each (Dollar Tree).  They add some more glitz to the setting.  Simply swirl them around everything in the centerpiece.

For the final texture and contrast, I added a bunch of small pinecones randomly placed.  Ta da!  Done.  It looks very beautiful in the center of the table, especially when the candles are lit and the lights are down low.

By the way, did you see the beautiful mercury glass ornaments hanging from our light over the table?  These were another major find at Big Lots.  They were 6 in a package for $6.99  I simply put some red velvet ribbon through the hanger and tied them over the arms of the light fixture.  I LOVE mercury glass and these were just the added touch I wanted to finish the centerpiece.  Hanging them at varying heights adds more interest.

The corner cupboard holds a collection of glass pieces that are from my grandmother and aunt.  To jazz it up a bit, I added some of the fresh green cedar, some of the mercury glass ornaments and red velvet ribbon which I randomly threaded through the glassware.

It looks so festive and ties everything in with the decor in the dining area.

The finishing touch is the red velvet bows tied on the backs of the chairs with silver glittered snowflakes .  Just that one final touch.  It's all in the details as they say.

When the table is set for dinner, there will be red chargers and gold napkins to finish the setting.  Because we use our table every day, I have not put them out yet.  Just use a little imagination if you will.

This is off the track, but I am telling you this for a purpose.  There is a little restaurant here in Nashville called Taco Mamacita.  It is one of our favorite places to go and the decor is divine.  I would LOVE a house interior that was decorated in such a way.  They have a huge assortment of colored mercury glass balls than hang from the ceiling in one area.  There is another area with lots of tin stars hanging from the ceiling at various heights and then there are all the huge copper bells hanging from the ceiling in another area.  There are old doors with light fixtures hanging from them which makes the dark interior have so much ambiance.  I wish you could see it.  All this to say, the mercury glass balls inspired me to do this.

Our kitchen has a vaulted ceiling with a ledge that runs across it.  That is the perfect place to hang some of those large mercury glass balls.  I was so excited to find these last year at TJMaxx Homegoods.  I tied them with velvet ribbon and teetered on a ladder to nail the ribbon into the top of the ledge.  They are hanging at different heights and I LOVE THEM!  The biggest one is about the size of a bowling ball to give you a little perspective on their size.  They make a nice separation between the dining area and the kitchen.

I do have white lights on top of the cabinets which add a lot of effective "glow" when they are on in the evening.  (These lights are there all year round).  They are just plain old white Christmas lights that lay on top of the cabinets, wound through the decorative baskets.  And, there is just a little decoration over the sink.  I could decorate the tops of the cabinets, but Grandma just plain old gave out.  Maybe next year.

To hang over the sink, I made some of the snowflakes that I wrote about in my post of November 8, 2012.  My daughter gave me some beautiful Martha Stewart  Christmas paper she had left over from a project, so I made some of these snowflakes and a paper chain to hang them from.

 These were easy and didn't cost anything other than time.   These are so much fun to make, check out my post with instructions if you want to make some.

Thanks for touring with us once again.  Things are busy here at the little yellow cottage this time of year.  I hope there are things here to inspire you for the coming holiday season and Christmas' to come.  Remember, it's about making memories.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.
Dr. Seuss 

Make A Paper Cone Tree - Make A Memory

Greetings friends.  It is supposed to be a gloomy, rainy weekend so I thought I would leave you with a fun project that is really beautiful and inexpensive.  Back when I decided to make a wreath from old book pages, we made a trip to a huge used book store here in Nashville called McKay's.  If you know me,  you know how I love book stores.  I mean LOVE them.  McKay's is huge and has every kind of book imaginable,  games, DVD's and CD's.  It is housed in a two story warehouse that would blow your mind.  Not only did I load up on lovely old books that cost very little (I'm not reading them, just using the pages this time), they also have a huge section of music books, sheet music and hymnals.  I could not pass those by either, so I purchased a large piano book that had tons of music pages for $5.00 and an old hymnal for $.75.  That was a real coup.

My original idea was for a wreath made of book pages that you can find on my blog dated Tuesday, August 21, 2012.  Although I will be making more of the wreaths for Christmas gifts, I have a LOT of books and music available.  I had an idea to make a Christmas tree from some of the music pages - somehow.  You know me, on a wing and a prayer.   So through a little trial and error, I came up with this method.

I had a styrofoam cone from last year's Christmas projects to use as my base.  It's 12 inches tall.  But, you could make a cone from cardboard, maybe from a cereal box, if you wanted to save some money.  The biggest music page cones were made from tracing a 4 inch square on pieces of sheet music and cutting them out.   Since I don't know what size base cone you will use, I suggest making lots of cones.  I simply cut and rolled them and stapled them on the bottom.

You need a way to attach the cones to the styrofoam, so I used sequin pins which you can get at craft stores.

You could use hot glue to attach them, BUT you cannot move them if you don't get them placed exactly where you want.  Just giving you a heads up on that.  This tree was my second attempt.  I took the first tree apart because I didn't like the way it looked.  Glad I used pins.  If the cones had been glued, that would have been it.

Start at the bottom of the cone and work to the top.  Simply place the cones facing the same direction each time and as close together as you can get them.  Put one sequin pin near the base of the cone, pushing it through the styrofoam.

Here you can see the staples (which are only in the paper cones), and if you look even closer, the little pin heads.  First round done.  Looks like a little tutu doesn't it?

For the next round, place the bottom of the cone so it comes about half way down the cones in the first row, and pin around like the first row.  Keep repeating until you are near the top.  At this point, I shortened the cones for a couple of rows so you would have the appearance of a tree as it tapers to the top.  You will need about 2 rows of the 3 inch cones.  The very top was another story.

I sat and looked at this tree for a bit trying to figure out the best way to finish it.  Here is what I did.  Make small cones about an inch high.  Pin 4 or 5 of them pointing straight up like in the picture.  Now, go back and pin several rows of the 1 inch cones over the cones pointing up.  It takes a little time and patience and you may have to adjust here and there.  Otherwise, you are finished except for the star on top if you want one and some glitter of course.

Set the tree in a cake pan or something to catch falling glitter.  Lightly brush the cones with Mod Podge or Elmer's glue and sprinkle with glitter.  Easy.  Peasy.

You could use a small snowflake, a button, or a star of some kind for your topper.  I had two small acrylic stars that I glued back to back, put a little hot glue on the bottom and placed it in the top of the tree.  The most time consuming part of the project is making the cones.  I have to say, I am very happy with the finished product.

The little tree next to this one is really easy.  Cut out a piece of cardboard from a box, something with some thickness, not a cereal box.  Use a wooden skewer like you make kabobs with and push the flat end in the cardboard, pointy end on top.  I deleted these pictures accidently, so I hope you can follow me.  This will be the spindle/trunk of your tree.

Now, using book pages or music pages, cut out at least 10 squares for each size needed.  Reduce each set of squares by at least 1/4 inch so you will have a graduated tree effect when finished.  My base was 4 inches square.  To make sure my first set of squares covered the cardboard,  I made my paper squares 4.5 inches - just a little bigger than the base.  I used pinking shears to give the edges a little pizzaz.   Plain scissors would be fine.  If you make a tree with a big base, it will take more squares and a taller "trunk".

To make the tree,  place a piece of paper so the spindle is in the center and push is all the way to the bottom of the tree.  As you place the squares, turn them slightly so you get a "tree" effect. Every 20 or so squares, place a thin piece of cardboard (like from a cereal box) the size of the smallest square so you don't see it.  Put the cardboard so the center of the spindle is in the center of the cardboard and push it down, same as for the paper squares.  This helps give the tree body and keeps the paper squares from collapsing.  Work your way to the top using smaller and smaller squares, leaving just a tiny piece of the spindle showing.  Again, I glued two stars together back to back with the skewer/spindle in the middle.  Glitter the same way as the directions for the  cone tree above if you want.  Done.  This is an easy one for children to do.  The cone tree is a bit harder.

These trees are so pretty - quite elegant actually.  They would make lovely hand made gifts, especially for book or music lovers and they are inexpensive which is even better!   Don't forget to make some for your home also.  Wouldn't this be a fun family project on this rainy weekend?  What's more fun than cutting, gluing, glittering and decorating?  It's certainly better than what's on television.   Remember, we are making memories.


Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

My fondest memories from childhood Christmas's involve things I made, which I have been doing every year since I was about 7.  Take the time to make some precious holiday memories whether baking or making things together, or both.  You'll be so happy you did.

Welcome To The Living Room- Christmas 2012

Welcome to Christmas at the Little Yellow Cottage.  Decorating began the day after Thanksgiving and has been going on since.  Do you have trouble getting done?  I seem to be continually adding or changing.  There is always another idea, something that could look better, another place or use for something.  Creativity is a curse sometimes, but I am thankful to be cursed.

The tour begins in our main living area.  Our living room is not large, but it is very cozy with the fireplace being the focal point of the room.   When you enter through the front door, there is a small entryway with a rustic cabinet that has old windows for the doors.   It holds our crystal because we don't have enough cabinet space in the kitchen.  The decorations change with the season and here is how it looks this Christmas.

Since I am totally enamored with the shutters I painted earlier in the season, I took my book page wreath down for the holidays and added the ornament wreath I made last year.  My "Joy To The World" sign has been part of our Christmas decor for many years.  It is very dear to my heart so it is used every year somewhere.  For a slightly different look this year, I used the burlap ribbon and the large and small sparkly stars.

There are two small trees in the living area.  I gave up large trees years ago due to lack of space and time.  Small trees are much easier to decorate and place.  With 6 grandsons under the age of 9, three of them under three, it is nice to have them up off the floor.  Grandma does have lots of stuff sitting around and the temptation for little hands is great.

This is the flocked tree in the front window that has all crystal and clear ornaments.  There is a small village under the tree and you can see the big snowflake through the front window.

Here is a closeup of our little village under the tree.  The boys LOVE the ceramic train that I have had for more than 25 years.  Such a temptation for little hands.  We'll see how long it survives.

The mantle is decorated in a winter wonderland theme using lots of white lights, snow flakes (Dollar Tree), candles, and mirrored trees.  If you have not made yourself a regular at the Dollar Tree, do so now.  There are such awesome decorations to be had for very little money.  The mirrored trees came from there 3 years ago.  I had seen them at a high end boutique gift shop for $30.00 each.  I scored mine for $1.00 each.  Yahoo!

They reflect so much light and give such a frosty, wintry look.  They make me happy.  The snowflakes are hung with monofilament line from clear pushpins.  It's very hard to get a good picture of them so that you can see the detail, but they are quite lovely.  These will probably stay up until February.

The small tree in the corner in front of the mirror is decorated with hand made ornaments that I made years ago, lots of icicles and red glass balls.  The reflection in the mirror makes it seem much bigger than it is.

See the large rusty snowflake under the tree?  I have lots of those that get used in different places also.  Have had those for years and years.

Here is a close up of the two trees you can see in the first picture.  They are sitting on a trunk that is used as a coffee table in front of the sofa.  I made these using sheet music.  There will be a tutorial on how to make them tomorrow.  They are beautiful decorations and would be wonderful gifts.   The little polar bear came from you know where.  $1.00.  What can I say?

Need a really easy centerpiece or gift?  I saw these at TJMaxx several years ago and thought holy cow, why should I pay for that.  We have lots of sticks in the yard.  Just gather some up and cut them to similar lengths.  Wrap them with wire in the center to hold them together, spray paint them any color you want.  I added some Christmas greenery and made a nice big bow.  Voila!  A lovely, natural centerpiece.  This sits on top of another small cabinet next to my $2.50 candle holder I found at Gordman's a couple of years ago.  I told you, I am the Queen of Cheap.

The sofa table holds one of my prized possessions, a gift from Dan years ago.  She is a beautiful angel from Mexico.  She sits 12 inches high and holds a candle in her hands and another can be placed inside that shines through her robe.  I hadn't gotten the candle in her hands for the picture.  Details.  It's all about the details.  There are mirrored trees on the table and stars that I have gold leafed, paired with white glittered stars.  You just can't have too many stars in my book.  After all, it was a star that led the wise men to the manger.

And this is my newest addition to our Christmas decorations.  My advent calendar made from an antique Coca Cola case.  I have two of these and have had them for 43 years, as long as we have been married. They have followed us everywhere and have been used for several different things.  This was sitting on our hearth looking at me when it dawned on me it would make the perfect advent calendar!  I found these adorable little ornaments at Big Lots (another one of my favorite haunts).  I used little cup hooks which were screwed into the top of each compartment.  I numbered 24 ornaments and hung them in each little compartment.  There is enough space to put lots of little treats for grandsons to find for each day of the countdown to Christmas.

I used a fine point Sharpie to write the numbers on each little ornament.  I must say, it is adorable.  The boys love to find a treat whenever they are here.

Thanks for joining me tonight.  Hope you got some decorating ideas and tomorrow I will show you how to make those lovely little trees.  Next, we will visit the dining and kitchen area.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

My goal is to make memories for our family and grandchildren.  Yes, it is a lot of work, but so worth it to me.  It's all in the details.

Let It Snow - Make A Snowflake

 As usual, I am a day late with this post.  Sometimes the demands of the day catch me wanting when it comes to time.  I write as things inspire me.  I do not write posts days ahead and then set them to post at a certain day and time.  That is thinking and planning too far in advance.  These baby's are hot off the presses as they say - as they come to me.  There are times when my intention is to post one particular thing, and then some shiny object catches the corner of my eye and there is a whole different post that goes on the page.  That's the way I roll.

On Tuesday, when I had promised this post, we were invited to attend a beautiful Winter Garden ceremony at our grandsons' school.  I did not get my blog written before we went and needless to say, it was too late to write when we returned (that's a nice way of saying my brain had ceased to function at that point).  As for the Winter Garden, I am so very glad we went.  It was one of the most beautiful and inspiring programs ever.

Anyway, here is the promised tutorial with directions on how to make your own snowflakes from craft sticks, better known as popsicle sticks.   When I was in elementary school back in the dark ages, I had an art teacher who would ask for strange things for art projects.  It made my mom crazy and there were no craft stores to buy such things as were requested.  One December we had to have a bunch of popsicle sticks.  Where did one get popsicle sticks in December?  No one knew.  So, we bought popsicles and ate them until we had the required number of sticks.  Thank goodness for craft stores!   I bought a box of 1000 craft sticks at WalMart for $3.99.  Can't beat that with a stick.  (I know, I know).  Just couldn't pass it up.  You can make a LOT of snowflakes with this many craft sticks, or lots of other projects if your heart so desires.

I had seen these snowflakes on Pinterest last year.  They were on an interior wall and painted red which were really quite lovely.  My desire was for snowflakes that looked like snowflakes, the white kind like the ones that fall from the sky.  We have always been taught that no two snowflakes are alike so I created all mine to be different.  Wouldn't you?

This is an easy project.  You need some craft sticks, hot glue and paint.  Feel free to glitter these up if you want.  I was in a hurry the day I made these (and it shows, please forgive), so I did not do glitter.  Simply start by making a base for the flake.  The first one I did was the biggest one that is on the left in the windows.  You will need a protractor and some basic math if you want them to be really straight.  Also, the sticks may move while the glue is still drying, so some of mine are a little wonky which totally goes against my need for things to be straight.  (Ever hear of the galloping horse theory?  We used it in costuming.  On a galloping horse, no one will notice if something is not perfectly even).  These snowflakes are hanging outside, blowing in the wind, and hopefully no one will notice that they are not perfectly straight.  If these were on an inside wall where I could see them, it would be mandatory for them to be straight.  Period.  OCD, I know.

Back to the directions.  Make your base.  The biggest flake starts with six sticks in an asterisk shape.   To be perfectly straight, you want 60 degree angles between the sticks.  Remember basic math?  A circle has 360 degrees, so 180 degrees for half a circle, 3 angles per half circle would be 60 degrees. Have fun with that protractor!  Glue the sticks together.

Now, glue the point pieces on.  Yep, mine is crooked because I wasn't paying close attention, trying to work on several things at once and the glue dried before I could move the sticks.  Arrggghhh.  Add 3 sticks to the end of each point or make a design of your choice.  I then took all the finished flakes outside and spray painted them.

I put a black trash bag on the ground and laid each finished snowflake on it, spray painted one side, let it dry, turned it and finished painting.

I leaned the flakes up against the fence around my little secret garden to take the pictures.  When I looked at the picture, my thought was someone needs to clean up that poor garden.  I will talk to the yard man about it.  Here are some of the other designs I made.  It's really lots of fun coming up with designs.  Yep, that one is crooked on the top too.  : (

It's really just a matter of putting sticks in different places and having fun being creative.  After you develop your design, glue the sticks in place and paint away.

Here is how they look hanging on the porch.  Now they don't look so crooked.  See?  Galloping horse!

They are all different sizes and I really do love the way they look - just the right touch for a winter wonderland, especially in this 70 degree weather we have been having.  One of these would be beautiful on a front door also.

This is a project even your kids can have fun with, just help them with the gluing part!   We don't want any burned fingers.

These snowflakes may hang on the porch when the Christmas decorations come down.  I do like the way they look.  Make your own snowflakes and enjoy the creative process.  It's lots of fun.  When friends and neighbors ask where you got them, just say I made them.  Easy peasy.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Every snowflake that falls is one of a kind - just like you!