Friday, November 29, 2013

How to Make a Drop Cloth Burlap Stocking


burlap Christmas stocking (2)

Hey ya’ll!! I have been busy as a bee around here decorating for Christmas!   I wanted to show you the cute little stockings I made for my dining room chairs.  They were SO easy!

First I just hand drew a stocking shape to use as a template and cut it out of some printer paper…

stocking template

I laid it out on some drop cloth I had leftover from making the pillows on my window seat. I just doubled the drop cloth fabric and put the template on top. Notice I used the finished edge of the drop cloth for the top of the stocking…no hemming! (I did iron the drop cloth first…this was just a picture I took to show you how I laid it out) :0)

how to make a christmas stocking

I cut out all of my stockings, I did eight…

dropcloth Christmas stocking

Then, I sewed a straight line all around the stockings..leaving the top open of course.  I used the side of the presser foot as a guide for my seam allowance….

how to sew

Turn your stockings right side out. (see that finished edge I was talking about on top…makes for a nice finished edge)

IMG_5050

I wanted a cuff for the top of my stockings and I started to use lace, but then I found this adorable burlap at Michaels for $6.99, and then used my 40% off coupon! I LOVE coupons!

burlap Christmas stocking

The burlap was a little wider than I wanted the cuff of my stockings to be, so I just turned the edge over about and inch and hot glued it into place.

how to make a burlap Christmas stocking

Then I lined the turned down edge of my burlap, with the finished edge of the stocking and hot glued it all the way around….

how to make a burlap stocking

I finished it off on the back by gluing the edges together…

burlap stocking tutorial

Here’s all eight of my stockings with their pretty burlap cuffs. :0)

Christmas burlap stockings

They were looking a wee bit plain, so I decided to take some extra plain burlap and make some rosettes to adorn the cuffs with….

burlap rose

I basically folded over some burlap and began wrapping and twisting it, tacking as I went with a needle and thread until it looked like a rose. Then I tacked it onto the stocking.   I used some ribbon and sewed it to the inside edge of the stocking so I could hang them on my dining room chairs.

stockings

I just LOVE how they turned out, and they look really cute in my dining room!

burlap Christmas stocking (2)

These were so inexpensive to make!  Basically the cost was just the money I spend on the burlap from Michaels, which was less than $10.00 for both kinds!

Hope you like my stockings, and I’d love to know if you make them!

Blessings to all of you!
Missy

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving~!


Thanksgiving for blog

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful day filled with friends, family and of course, food!

1 Chronicles 16:34
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Blessings,
Missy

Saturday, November 9, 2013

How to Change Your Doorbell Button

how to replace a your doorbell button

Please tell me I’m not the only one with such a pitiful looking little doorbell button as this.  It was hanging on by one little screw.  It’s been like that since we bought the house SIX years ago!! (yes, I know…sad.)  On a whim we decided to replace it Saturday…..Yay…a very GOOD whim indeed! :0)

how to remove a doorbell button

We took a little trip to Lowes and found a pretty Oil Rubbed Bronze doorbell button.  It was a little more than the rest, but after six years of living with the ugly one, $16.00 didn’t sound too bad.  It also lights up!

doorbell button replacements

We also picked up a 1/8” masonry bit.  You have to buy a bit a little smaller around than your screws.

masonry bit

In the first picture, you can see my hubby is unscrewing that one little lone screw that’s held our doorbell button on for all this time. BEFORE you unscrew anything make SURE YOUR POWER IS TURNED OFF!  I had my hubby stand outside and continuously ring the bell until I found the right breaker than turned it off. I was lucky and got it on the first try!  When you take the screws out of your doorbell and take it off, you will have little wires attached to two screws on the back.

replacing an old doorbell

Unscrew each of the screws on the back, and remove the wires from around the screws.

oil rubbed bronze doorbell

You’ll be left with two wires sticking out of your wall.  We had two extra wires, I’m really not sure what they’re for, but they weren’t connected to our old button, so we didn’t worry with them. :0)

installing a doorbell

We didn’t realize until after we opened the doorbell we bought, that it had to be recessed in the wall, so my hubby chipped away the mortar with an old masonry bit and hammer until it was deep enough for the new doorbell to sit back into.

Lowes doorbell

We then held the new doorbell button up and marked where the screws had to go, then drilled holes the depth of the screws that came with the button.

changing out a doorbell

Loosen the screws on the back of your doorbell, and then wrap the bare part of each wire, around each of the screws and tighten them up. 

how do you change out a doorbell

Here we are tightening the screws.  There weren’t any real clear instructions on which of the two wires went to which screw, but it said you’ll know if its right if the doorbell rings. If not, switch the wires around.  Wow…crazy instructions!

changing out a doorbell

Here’s what ours looked like after we had the wires hooked up. (by the way, we got the wires right on the first try…no re-wiring!) :0)

installing a doorbell

Here is our doorbell being recessed back into the wall….

how to install a doorbell

Then just screw the screws into the pre-drilled holes.

installing a doorbell

Isn’t is lovely?!  So much better!!

installing a doorbell

Here’s my honey trying out the new button!

how to change out your doorbell

And I bet you’ll never guess where this button is now…..yep, I trashed it! :0)

how to change our your doorbell button

This was probably one of the easiest projects we’ve ever done….guess we should have done is SIX YEARS AGO!! ;0)

Blessings,
Missy

Disclaimer: I am in no way an electrician, this is just how we installed our doorbell, so I can’t be responsible for any differences in how yours might be hooked up. :0) Good Luck!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...