Christmas 2014 Home Tour

I am very late in posting photos. It seems everything I've done this year has been rushed and nothing was as completed as I wanted and that included decorating.

This past summer I purchased two very heavy hand made wooden bookcases. I lined the top of the bookcases with garland and lights and added large and small ornaments purchased from Dollar Tree. My little color changing tree adds a bit of color to the top of the bookcase.

Two grapevine deer peak out from the garland.

Lanterns are so versatile and I've found that I can change them for each season with just a few knick knacks here and there.

The large vase is filled with ornaments my mother covered with crochet. These have become very fragile and I still want to display them so I added them to the vase with a little "snow".  Pardon the horse plate behind the jars.  It is over 100 years old and belonged to my grandmother.  I didn't want to take the chance of getting it broken so I left it hanging on the cabinet.

My cute little gold glitter tree and a photo of my beautiful two granddaughters.

Two big grapevine wreaths with red glittery bows adorn the front of my shelves.

Ceramic Mr and Mrs Claus that I made for my mother and dad many, many years ago.

I purchase a theme of ornaments each year and when my kids get married, they are given their ornaments for their first Christmas tree.  So far, only Shana has received hers.  I'm going to have to get a bigger tree to hold them all.

Cute little wooden trees made by my sister, Gayl.

I've fallen in love with silver, bronze and turquoise.  The rest of my house may be traditional Christmas colors, but my dining room is decked out with beautiful silver.

Thank you for taking the time to view my blog.  Please feel free to leave comments in the box below.

DIY Styrofoam pumpkins for your door

One of my new crafts this year was decorating my front door with pumpkins.  I purchased two "fake" pumpkins at Walmart for $5.96 each.  Using a serrated knife I cut the pumpkins down the middle.  The pumpkins are made of Styrofoam so you will end up with lots of little Styrofoam beads floating around.  

Next, I painted the three halves white, spray adhesive on the pumpkins then liberally doused them with glitter.  I wanted the colors to coordinate well so I used the same color of glitter on all three halves but changed the ribbon.

One of the nice things about working with Styrofoam is being able to use push pins or straight pins instead of hot glue.  The ribbons, leaves and beads are all held in place with regular sewing straight pins. 

I took one 6 inch metal wire and made a loop, then stuck both ends into the Syrofoam to create the hanger.  Command strips on the door to hang them with.

Fall/Halloween 2014

I don't usually put much on my porch for Halloween but this year I decided to put a little more effort in to decorating.  The first photo is my front door and the ladder I purchased at a Family Dollar store for $10. Each of the little black birds were a $1 each from Dollar Tree.

 Even though I like my nail head pumpkin, I think the area surrounding the bottom needs a few more decorations.

This cute little spring horse was just sitting on the side of the road and I knew I had to give him a new home.  I haven't decided whether I want to "fix" him up or leave him as is.
He sure looks nice on my porch.

I made the Pumpkin sign this morning out of a fence picket I found.  Goes well with my pumpkins don't you think? However, I think I need a few more corn stalks.  Well, actually I need to make another sign as I just gave this one to my sister.

My husband loves, loves, loves Dachshunds so we purchased this inflatable one last year.  I added the pumpkin spider to sit beside him and keep him company.

Needed a little black crow to go with my scarecrow.  Unfortunately my scarecrow needs a little tender loving care before I can put him outside.

This little witch usually is closer to the ground but this year I decided to make her fly.  Her two sisters are right behind her.  You can find the witches at Grandin Road.

Another picture of my pretty little spring horse.

This little guy usually has a solar light hanging from his hook but just for Autumn he is proudly holding a glittery pumpkin.

I can't even remember how old this pumpkin pillow is.  At least 30 years.

 

Fall Decorations: glass vase with grapevine wreath and artificial leaves

I have this glass vase that is very large and I never really know what I want to put in it.  I finally decided I wanted to add some acorns and pine cones but after I added the grapevine wreath and leaves I decided I liked it as it was.

I bought a 5 inch wreath from Michael's and clipped the metal loop holding the wreath together.  First I thought I could just unwrap the wreath and place it in the vase but that didn't work so I filled the kitchen sink with hot water and soaked the wreath for about an hour. This made it pliable enough to bend and conform to the shape of the vase.  You will need to clip pieces of the wreath and work in layers. Next I added the leaves.  My leaves are fake, but of course you can use real ones.  In Houston, we don't get a large variety of colored leaves and being that it is October, nothing is changing yet.

I guess you could add lights, pine cones and acorns.  Pretty much anything as this gives you a base to work with.

Halloween and Fall 2014

I've started a few projects but haven't gotten very far.

I LOVE how my lantern turned out.

 I had a bow on the top but it just took away from it so I left it off.

           

 My big crow needed a little something besides her witches hat so I added the pearls. 

Still needs something...

I haven't gotten far with my Halloween/Fall decorating but this is what I have so far.

My Christmas tree that Steve bought me last year has been so fun to decorate through the year.  It is very hard to photograph though! Some of the ornaments are bought and some are handmade.  To make quick and easy (and cheap!) ornaments, choose the decorating pics that are 99 cents or so, take the stick off of them and make them into a hanging ornament.

 I bought the scarecrow in Oklahoma City at the Country Arts Fair they have every year.  I think he is about 20 years old now.  This is the first time I've put him in the wagon.  I made the white, gold and green velour pumpkins. 

 Here are a few outdoor decorations. I'm working on the door decoration this weekend.  I need to buy a few more black crows and paint a big "old" wooden sign that says Pumpkins 4 sale. 

I found this little guy sitting out by the trash in my nieces neighborhood late at night.  I couldn't decide whether it was for the trash or not.  I finally ended up putting it in my car and then the next day I knocked on their door to see if it was trash or not. It was, so I brought it home.  It needs a paint job and some TLC.

My husband is CRAZY about dachshunds!  This little guy had a solar light hanging from his mouth but it finally quit working. I replaced the light with the pumpkin. Nice and glittery to see when walking to the front door.

I love my front porch.

The wooden candle stick was made by my best friend Kim's dad for a wedding present. I love it and it is very special to me. I haven't decided if I am going to put a bow or just leave it alone.