Christmas Cloche Ornament…on the cheap!

Hey ya’ll! I’ve been wanting to show you these ornaments I made for a while, but I’ve been sitting in the hospital with our middle son for four days.  He was having an extended video EEG.  I’m home now, so here’s  my ornaments and how to make em’!

I saw a tutorial for these on the internet from My So Called Crafty Life…she did a great job, and I just had to make them too!
To make these stinkin’ cute ornaments you’ll need some plastic wine glasses from the Dollar Tree…(oh, and don’t throw away the bases of the glasses..I have another project I’m going to show you that uses them!)……

Here’s a pic of them outside the package.  I used my dremel tool and cut off the top of each one…you can see in some of the other pictures on down, how much I cut off, I forgot to take a picture after I cut it. If you don’t have a dremel, I suppose you could use a fine tooth hack saw or something like that.  Ya’ll are smart, I’m sure you could figure out another way to cut it off too!

You’ll also need a 3” scalloped punch, or if you have a cricut or silhouette cutting machine, you could use that to cut 3” circles or scallops too I’m sure. (or you could just do it the old fashioned way, and trace a circle and cut it out!)

I used some chip board and my punch and punched out a dozen circles. That’s how many wine glasses I bought. :0)

I went to Hobby Lobby and they had all the little items for miniature trees 1/2 off, so I loaded up!  I LOVE miniatures!
Have I ever told you guys I have five doll houses?!! (one is still not built…I’ll get on that one day) 

Next, I just hot glued my little miniatures on the chip board I had punched out, making sure the tallest thing was in the middle so the cloche would fit over it without touching.  I then put a nice bead of hot glue around the bottom of the wine glass, and stuck it down to the chip board base. (OH..and you can see how much of the wine glass I cut off with the dremel tool here too!)

I made a hanger for the top with a  styrofoam glitter ball I got at Michaels, and just stuck some wire through it and made little hooks on the bottom to keep it from coming back through. (I’m thinking if I had it to over, I would have used much thinner wire…hindsight is 20/20) :0)

I made a little funnel out of paper and used it to pour white glitter into my ornament…..

I found some tinsel at Walmart that looked like vintage tinsel…it was only $2.00 for a pretty decent sized roll. I used it to camouflage the top of the glass where I cut it off…..

Then I just hot glued the tinsel and the glitter styrofoam ball on top of the “cloche” wine glass, and it was finished!

I made several different ornaments…some with nutcrackers, some with mini Christmas trees, and some more snowmen ones. I LOVE them and they really were so easy! The hardest part was cutting the tops of the glasses off.  I made 12 of them while sitting in a hospital chair……why yes, I did take a craft bag to the hospital! Including hot glue! Ha! Did you expect any less?! lol :0)

Hope you all enjoyed the ornament! Stay tuned and I’ll show you what I did with the bases to the wine glasses. The next project literally took 15 minutes to do!

Blessings
Missy

How to Make a Drop Cloth Burlap Stocking

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…

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)

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

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….

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

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!

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.

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….

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

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

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….

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.

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

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

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What a Week!

I have been away from the blog for a bit because of all the things that have been going on around here!  Is it just me, or is Christmas time the nuttiest, but most fun time of the year?! Just this last week alone, we had church on Wednesday night, Thursday night was an ornament exchange party, Friday night was ANOTHER ornament exchange and cookie exchange party, Saturday night was our annual Music Ministry Party at our house (we had 35 people in our home!),  and then Sunday was church with my hubby (the music leader) and our choir performing “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.  It was such a crazy busy week, but I thought it might be nice to share this song..especially in light of the mass shootings in Newtown, CT.  This song was written when the composer lost his wife on Christmas day, and also found out his son was wounded in the war. Listen to the words and be blessed.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day with the Trinity Choir

Here are the words…

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."
Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Only the God of  Heaven can bring peace.

Blessings
Missy

If you’re reading this through RSS feed or subscription, you’ll have to click over to the blog to watch the video. :0)

Christmas is Coming!

Hey Everyone! Are you getting ready for Christmas?! 
I'm finally not feeling so totally overwhelmed! My decorations are up, my gifts are almost completely purchased, and the ones I do have are wrapped. I'm finished with Christmas cards, and have mailed out the ones I can't hand out at church. I feel like I'm at least on track. :0)
We're having a big Music Ministry party at our house on December 15th, so I have to start focusing on that.  My house is SO dirty! (ok, maybe I am a smidge overwhelmed on that part, but it'll be ok...I just keep telling myself to breathe...there's lots of time) I also have a friend coming over to help me the day before the party, so that will help a lot. :0)
We have some Christmas traditions we do every year that we haven't exactly started on.  We ALWAYS make a gingerbread house, and of course bake cookies.

This is my little man, age 4, making cookies with me :0)  (I can't believe he's already 11!!!)


 We also always get our boys advent calendars.  This year, I got my little guy a Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar...he'll love that...just not sure how I'll incorporate the Bible into it yet! lol  Gonna have to use my imagination!
What traditions do you all do every year?  I 'd love to hear from you and maybe even use some of yours to start new traditions in our home.

Blessings!
Missy

Christmas Treasures Vignettes….

I have so many wonderful memories attached to almost every Christmas decoration I have.  I remember bottle brush trees from when I was little, so they just have to have special spots in my Christmas décor…..

This is a very simple vignette, but I wanted the trees to be the main focus….something so simple can be so pretty when they’re all grouped together under glass. My mom gave me the cloche’ many years ago, so the whole thing reminds me of family and Christmas from years gone by.

I have some of my most treasured antique ornaments behind glass. My mom gave me the old bowl, and it’s filled with well worn ornaments from times past…

This next set of ornaments holds a very special place in my heart.  I received this entire set, including the silver compote, in the mail this year from an amazing blogger friend. She is one of the nicest ladies I’ve ever had the pleasure of “meeting”. I hope to one day meet this gal in person and hug her neck, but until then…you know who you are, and you’re a treasure among treasures and I love ya dearly!

Aren’t they just beautiful! I have to tell you, when I received the box in the mail, I opened it from the bottom and out came the silver piece first and I was just in love…I thought that was all that was in the box and I was thrilled!  Then I noticed more things…I started unwrapping the carefully wrapped ornaments one by one and sat there in my upstairs hallway and cried like a baby.  It sure was a wonderful surprise…..what a blessing! You know, all of you are blessings to me! Every time I see how many people read this blog..I stand amazed. Every time I read your sweet comments, it makes my day brighter and my heart swell…I really do love you guys!

Old ornaments are one of my favorite things in the whole world and they’re getting harder and harder to find, so I treasure the ones I have so much! My favorites are the indented ones….especially if they’re pink!  Do these ornaments just scream my name or what!?!

Do you all love old ornaments too, or do you prefer the newer stuff?  I wish I could go back in time and gather all the things I love from years gone by and bring them back with me to today…wouldn’t that be fun?!

Hope you all have a very Merry CHRISTmas and a blessed New Year!

Missy

Technorati Tags: christmas,cloche,bottle brush trees,vintage ornaments,indent ornaments,pink vintage ornaments

Christmas Foyer Window

Hey guys!   Today I wanted to show you my Christmasfied foyer.
I started out by hanging our white fuzzy stockings…I filled them with some old toys from years gone by. :0)

See the pink lantern?  I got it marked down at TJ Maxx for $7.00….it was red, which would be fine for traditional Christmas colors….but I’m a pink girl, so it got spray painted pink. Besides, I’m using it all year long, so it definitely couldn’t have stayed red…Ya'll know my house has no red in it at all! lol (oh and it has a flameless candle in it, which makes for a festive little light at night!)

The little pink trees came from Michaels last year after Christmas…they were half off….I bought three.  I love my old glitter tree…I don’t even remember where it came from, but it’s a Christmas staple in our home now.

Here are my Dollar Tree vases I made filled with fake snow…also from the Dollar Tree.  Have you seen it?   It came in a little clear baggy inside a can and it was a fine powder….you add water and poof, you have snow! (ok..you have to mix it up..then poof!) :0)
I added my white bottle brush trees and a couple of old books for some height and voila’! (I sound like a magician…poof and voila’!) LOL

OH…you see that cute little snowman?  My middle son made that in 5th grade….I treasure the things my kids made growing up. He’s 19 now and I wouldn’t take anything for all his little Christmas projects we’ve made together. 

So that was my Christmas-y foyer!
I’ll do another Christmas post later this week and show you a few little vignettes around our home.

Merry Christmas!
Missy

Technorati Tags: how to decorate for Christmas,Christmas mantle,tj maxx,Christmas foyer

Christmas Gift Idea….Delicious and Fun!

I told you all about our wonderful Choir Christmas party we had last weekend, and wanted to share the treats I made for each choir and band member.  I found this idea from Pinterest and thought it was a fantastic idea for a gift for a lot of people.
By the way, if you aren’t on Pinterest, if you’ll leave me your email address, I can send you an invitation…if you click HERE, you can follow my boards too!


First I went on Ebay and found two buckets of these Wilton Cookie Cutters…they ended up being less than $20, which is pretty doggone good for 36 gifts!


Then my mom helped me out by baking me her FAMOUS Coca Cola cake in a shallow pan. (hers is better than Cracker Barrels any day of the week!!) This recipe works great because the icing is like fudge and accepts the cookie cutters without getting smashed. This reminds me…. I need to get her recipe!!  (you could also do this with fudge!)

I took each cookie cutter and arranged them on top of the pan of cake first, so I could maximize the amount of cookie cutters I could get on top of the cake.

Then I gently pushed them down  into the cake.  I went ahead and did them all at once, so I wouldn’t mess up any of the cake, taking them out one at a time. 

I used a little icing spatula to remove each of the cookie cutters. Guess who got to eat the little pieces that were left?!  Oh yeah baby, we all munched on that!  (this picture is making my mouth water….that icing tastes exactly like rich, creamy fudge!)

After I lifted the cake filled cookie cutters out of the pan, I wiped off the outside of each one so it wasn’t too smudgy….you want to make a nice presentation. :0) 

You can decorate them with candy etc, if you’d like at this point.


I bought some really cute little bags to put my goodies in….



Then I put one cake filled cookie cutter in each bag and had an assembly line going with Carson…I bagged, he twist tied.  :0)


We actually took it a step farther and made hand made gift tags and put them on with red pipe cleaners, but I forgot to take a pic of that part and I had already given them all away when I remembered.  Sorry…bad blogger!  lol

I thought this was a wonderful idea for giving gifts in large numbers.  You could give them out to your neighbors, church choir, friends or whatever. 
Have a Merry Christmas…it’s getting closer!!  (Carson lets me know this each day!)  lol
Missy

Technorati Tags: christmas,how to make gifts for a group,What can I give a group of friends,Christmas cookie cutters,cookie cutters,coca cola cake

Our Christmas Mantle

I can’t wait to show you all the decorating I’ve been doing for Christmas, but first I have to share with you the crazy, but fun week I’ve had!  Wednesday night at  church it was my turn to take part of the snack, but apparently we had more bringing snack than we realized…we had SO much food that we ended up sharing with the men’s class in the other room! lol  Then Thursday was our bi-weekly homeschool co-op group at church…we always have fun when we all get together. :0)  Friday night was our annual ladies ornament exchange…we play dirty santa and steal each other’s gifts, and the third time it’s stolen the gift is dead and belongs to that person…what a hoot seeing a bunch of ladies from church “stealing” from each other.  It was all in fun and we had a ball…and ate WAY too much!  Saturday night was the Christmas party at our house for the choir/band/media groups at church! I was a bad blogger and didn’t take a single picture, but it’s because we were having SO much fun it was ridiculous!  We had platters and crockpots of food covering every surface in the kitchen…our church people can cook!  I believe at last count we had 31 people, but we had some others drop in and out all throughout the night, so I’m still not sure of the accurate count.  I handed out door prizes all throughout the night and we just had a wonderful time fellowshipping!  You’d think by now we were done partying wouldn’t you?! Nope…we had our 45th Anniversary at our church on Sunday….what a day! We had most of the pastors represented from all 45 years and had multiple speakers all through the day.  We had an amazing spread for lunch and stayed until about 4:00 in the afternoon, but didn’t have church that night, so we stayed home and watched movies, snacked and played games.  What a crazy fun week! (that’s why I’ve been missing in action on this blog…I didn’t have a spare second!)

Ok…now on to Christmas décor!….hopefully you stayed with me through that whole novel I just wrote! lol
Today I want to show you my Christmas mantle….I love it!

I decided to use my vintage skates, crystal garland, and the cutest little fluffy owls you’ve ever seen! (oh and that window is one of the ones I told you about my mom asking the guy in the drive thru of the bank for! lol)

Here’s a little broader shot so you can see everything.  That chair usually goes where my Christmas tree is sitting now, so I just scooted it over in front of the fireplace because we needed that extra seat for the party and I won’t be using the fireplace for a while anyway.

I got the NOEL letters last year, after Christmas, from Walmart for .25 each…I LOVE them!  You should have seen me after decorating with them though….I had glitter all over my face. :0)

Here are those adorable little owls I was telling you about.  I have to tell you that I got them from last years ornament exchange….and yes, I did have to steal them for the 3rd time to make sure they went home with me. (don’t judge me!)  LOL See their sweet little nest with the golden glitter eggs….so stinkin’ cute!
(they came from Pier 1)

See the little trees on the ends of the mantle?  I got those from the Dollar Tree….I bought silver and gold and stacked them, because I knew I wanted to have both colors on the mantle and I thought it would be a good way to tie them both together…I think it worked out just fine.

I nestled some gold balls, poinsettias and berries into some greenery that I lit up with white lights.  I made sure to arrange things at different heights and levels so your eye would have  a smooth transition from one item to the next.

OH, I have to tell you what Carson said when he came in the room after I had finished the mantle.  Here’s the conversation:

Carson- “mom”?
Me- “yes, Carson”
Carson- “I just have to tell you….”
Me- “tell me what honey”?
Carson- “I just have to tell you, I think that mantle is your best work ever”.
Me-

That made my day!

One final look…..

I wanted to get all my decorating finished early this year so I could take time and enjoy the holidays with my family.  I want to make sure my kids remember the true reason for this beautiful season……..
Jesus came to this earth as an infant babe to offer himself as a sacrifice that we might have eternal life….HE was the first Christmas gift.   Let’s all take the time to stop and remember the first Christmas gift, the one true gift,  as we give to the ones we love this year.

Merry CHRISTmas everyone!

Missy

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