Apothacary Christmas 2012

I received apothacary  jars last year for Christmas and I wanted to create a snow scene on my antique buffet table.  This is just a few items I have so far.  The snow is Epsom salt.

Christmas in downtown Houston

I enjoy working in downtown Houston but during Christmas season I enjoy it even more.  The past 5 years that I've worked for my company, I've been disappointed in our company decorations.  This year though, they out did themselves.  These are some of the prettiest decorations in Houston. These trees must have cost a fortune!

The pictures just don't do them justice!

Now, let me show you the decorations up close.

Halloween 2011

I just love Halloween and I always try to get at least one new project done each year.  This year I decided on a new decoration for my dining room table.

I bought a witches hat at the dollar store (of course) a dollar.  I already had some of the other accessories.

I started with a tall candle vase that I had left over from my wedding.  I then taped a piece of black sparkly scrapbook paper to the vase.  The back side wasn't taped to the paper;  I used straight pins to pin the paper down.

        

I then used a mercury glass candlestick as the base.

Why not add more glitter?  I added a bright green glitter ribbon to the top and bottom of the candle and then added the same colored lettering. 

 Next I started on my witches hat.

I had an old Styrofoam cone,
 that as you can see is held 
together by straight pins!

I measured the circumference of the hat to add the band of ribbon and then I made a nice fluffy bow with a long tail. (I pinned the ribbon on to the band of the hat with straight pins).

Next, I added the green vines and purple spider pics.
This increased the cost of my hat by $6 more but I loved the shocking glitter effect!

              This is the final product!  All I need now is a black  spider web table cloth to finish!

Fall Decorating - Using a drapery rod to display subway art

I have a long hall way where I have placed an antique buffet table.  I change the decorations for the seasons but I've never found a painting or art work to adorn the wall.  I finally decided on using a drapery rod to display subway art that I've found on the internet.  It will be fun to change out the pictures for Christmas and then I will probably change all the subway art to family photos.

This is what the antique buffet looked like when I brought it home and added my favorite scarecrow and pumpkin decorations.

This is the after picture.

I bought the 6 foot pole and hardware at Home Depot.  The three pieces cost me about $40.00 which included the rod, end caps and wooden hangars.  I opted for the wooden pole instead of the less costly metal poles because of the antique buffet and surrounding antique furniture I have.

The subway art came from free printables I found on Pinterest and the web.  All were printed on plain or colored scrapbook paper.

The frames were purchased for $1 a piece at the dollar store and I hot glued ribbon to the back of the frames.  I then slipped the ribbons on to the pole.  I found that the pictures twisted if I used only one strip of ribbon.  The one on the far right has two but instead of spacing out the ribbon, I placed them close together.

Wedding Bell Ghosts

I have Betty White, the actress, as one of my "friends" on Facebook. She posted this picture which I think it will be one of my next little projects.  I think she found the picture and idea on Country Living Magazine.

Buy wedding bells, add tulle and construction paper facial features.  Too cute!

Halloween Eye Chart

I was doing a little internet surfing for something new for Halloween decorations and I came across a website for designing your own eyechart.  I can't find the website I saw this on but when I do, I will provide the link.

Subway art is really big right now and doing one yourself takes a lot of time.  Go to http://www.eyechartmaker.com/ to design your own eyechart.  Type in your phrase and it will design the chart for you. Unfortunately for what I wanted to post I couldn't get it all on the chart so I had to design my in Microsoft Word.

Cone Trees

This beautiful tree came from "The Creativity Exchange" at http://www.thecreativityexchange.com/2010/12/fabric-covered-poster-board-christmas-tree-cones.html (be sure to read the bottom of this post)

 And this is my tree.  My first attempt.  I didn't have a poster board like she used so I tried using a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper.  Mine is Ok but it's not like hers.  I think the biggest difference and most important one is that hers is much taller and skinnier.  I didn't have a candle stick that I wanted to use for this project so I used a champagne flute.

I just finished making a few tree cones for my niece.  I think they turned out very pretty.

Read carefully the instructions on tutorial.  1.  after cutting the 2 inch strip from the poster board it says use another poster board.  Don't use the board you just cut the strip off of.  2.  cut four inches off the strip for the second height cone and then another 4 inches to get the measurement for the smallest cone.

Thoughts?

May all who enter as guests, leave as friends

This is the inside my front door.

I used the vinyl wall art directly to the door.

Sometimes little things add just the right touch

Easter Apothecary

I know, it's not Easter yet but I found these eggs and couldn't resist seeing how they would look in my new jar.  I removed the yellow ribbon with just a little tug since they are made of  Styrofoam.

I think it needs a little something.  Plain Easter grass or glittery like the eggs?

Kaleigh

Kaleigh is my great niece and she is the cutest little thing.  Beautiful little red head and her mama is "payin for her raisin'" .  The other big kid in the video is my wonderful husband Steve.

Light bulb vase

My daughter and I made light bulb vases for Christmas presents and everyone loved them!  I even made a few for my co-workers and we have them hanging on our "dog bones" at work.

You will need just a few supplies for the project.  

You will need a light bulb, pliers, wire, screw driver, and a nail (not pictured).

I didn't have any burned out light bulbs so I had to buy some at the dollar store.  I found 4 bulbs for a dollar which makes this project pretty cheap.

 The first thing you want to do is remove the tab on top of the bulb. The easiest way I found to do it is to take your thumb nail and push up the tab and then grab it with the pair of pliers and pull off the top.

 Underneath the tab is the black (maybe purple) ceramic glass.  You will need to break this glass with a hammer or pliers.

 I cover the bulb with a plastic bag. This keeps the glass from flying (possibly in your eye) and since the bag is somewhat clear I can see where I am hitting the bulb.  I also hold the bag around the bulb so I don't get cut if the bulb accidentally breaks.

 After you have broken the glass and cleaned out the glass you will see the filament inside the bulb.

 If you did not break this filament while trying to break the ceramic glass, you will need to use the screw driver (or something equally pointed and hard) to break it loose from the bulb.

 The filament may be in more than one piece so be careful removing it.  Shake out any excess glass into a trash can.

Next, I use a nail (and something to drive in the nail-hammer or pliers) to make a small hole in the bulb base on each side.  This will be for the wire to hang the bulb.  You can either clean out the bulb now or wait until you have the wire attached.  I found that it's easier to clean without the wire.  I think the hardest part of this entire project is getting the white film out of the bulb. I've used crushed ice, rice, beans and stuck pieces of paper towels inside.  Use what works best for you.

This isn't an endorsement for the wire, it's just a picture of the wire that I am using.  This wire is nice because it has a built in cutting system.

 I cut off an eight to ten inch piece of wire and thread it through the hole, then twist to secure.

 And now you are finished.

 Fill the bulb with water and add a plant.  This is a great starter for ivy plants.  The picture below is a hosta plant.

Some options for the filling the bulb include the crystals for water arrangements, small lights, glow lights, etc.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.