Rustic Winter Pine Cone Centerpiece

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After all of the Christmas decorations are put away the house can seem a little cold and empty. I wanted to create some neutral, rustic, winter decor to fill the gap a bit. I have a few Valentine's Day decorations, but if I put pink all over the place I would start a pretty big fight in this house since we have strong opinions on both sides about that color. Instead, I went with more natural elements (free stuff I gathered outside) for sort of a rustic, winter look.

pine cone box centerpiece

The first thing I made was this pine cone centerpiece. My husband had built me a box that will hold mason jars for a centerpiece. I had yet to fill it with anything and I was inspired by a centerpiece on Pinterest that has a bad link. I stained my box with a weathered gray stain and topped it with dark walnut antiquing wax.

winter pine cone centerpiece

I found two pillar candles in a cupboard. They aren't even the same color, but I don't care.

natural winter centerpiece

Next, my daughter and I went for a walk and collected pine cones. They were wet from being outside, so we baked them in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour or two on a foil lined cookie sheet. This makes them open up and draws out the sap and bugs. I spray painted them with a little ivory just to dust them and give them a frosty coating.

how to bake pine cones
How to open pine cones

Finally, we arranged everything in the box with some white berry picks. Those were on clearance after Christmas and the only thing I had to actually buy for this project.  I really think arranging everything in the box was the hardest part. I also dabbed a bit more white paint on the edges of the pine cones for more contrast.  Some of the pine cones went missing before I took these pictures, too. ;)

DIY frosted pine cones
rustic winter centerpiece box

I like my little box and it will be fun to change it out with the seasons. It isn't perfect, but the girls got to help and we made do with what we could find.

I have a few more rustic, winter decorating projects that I will blog about later this week!

Easy Mason Jar Snow Scenes

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The girls and I had a "craft day" over winter break. Christmas flew by in a blur and we still had a lot of craft projects that were still just big ideas and a pile of supplies. Honestly, some of the supplies were several years old because this seems to happen every year. One of the things that I wanted to make was a "waterless" snow globe decoration. The little plastic deer and bottle brush trees kept disappearing on me over the past year or so. Some of the deer didn't make it because their legs were chewed on. :( I picked up a few more things when Christmas shopping in early November, so before we had any more casualties, I wanted to make this one a priority.

Mason Jar Snow Globes

We used some "mason-type" jars. The "real" mason jars I use for canning, but there were some smooth sided jars mixed in my supply I didn't mind forfeiting.

Mason Jar Snow Scenes

The first one was the easiest. It is a little ceramic fox family and bottle brush tree from the Christmas village section at Walmart. I just stuck them in the jar and my 5yo added epsom salts. I did use a vintage lid and tie some baker's twine around the neck of the jar just to add a little more detail.

Easy winter scene in a mason jar.

The deer scene was probably the hardest. The supplies came from Michaels last year, so they were not in good shape. I made a snow mound out of clay and stabbed the trunkless trees and plastic deer into it. Getting those deer to stay in place was a pain and I needed pliers to push them down in firmly. Then, we also poured in some epsom salts, but I should have let the clay dry first.

Simple DIY waterless snow globe.

The snowman was made out of clay with wire arms, a play-doh orange nose that fell off, a jute scarf, sharpie dotted buttons, and a hat borrowed from our Monopoly game. There is a lollipop stick (unused) to hold all of the layers together, including a rounded base underneath the snowman. Unfortunately, I did not let the clay dry first and the moisture as it dried caused the epsom salts to crystallize up the sides of the jar. I had to take the whole thing apart and redo it. So, if you are making these, have a little patience and wait a few days for the clay to dry.

CLay Snowman Mason Jar Snow Globe

These were really simple to make and the kids like them! It is a nice decoration that I can leave out all winter long.

Easy Mason Jar Snow Scenes

Fall Limited Edition Sale

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When I have make some spare time to create, I will occasionally have a seasonal sale. Today, I began my fall limited edition sale. There are a lot of rustic, fall signs, and some of my best-selling products from past years. give thanks with a grateful heart

count your blessings

blessed

 

thankful

curly thankful pumpkin indian corn baskets

 

thankful pumpkin

praise god from whom all blessings flow

indian corn baskets close

grateful thankful blessed

I always start out a sale on my facebook page to give my friends over there first chance. You can "like" my page HERE. Some items are already sold and I am trying to list the rest in my new online shop.

I love the fall season and I am really looking forward to it!

Create In Me a Clean Heart Floral Canvas

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I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth or anything. We are just in a busy season. This spring, we had girls on 2 softball teams and a soccer team, plus all of our regular work and farming stuff to do. It has been C R A Z Y!!! So, as far as crafting goes, I am on a little bit of a painting kick. I got my sunroom all cleaned out and it is nice to hang around in there on sunny days- and the paint dries quickly! When I paint, I sneak away for a few minutes to put a coat on or do a few more details. I paint in little spurts and, unless I mess up, it is like a relaxing escape.

I am also focusing on decorating my own home right now! I have been in the process of changing my bathroom color scheme for a very long time. (Wow. I just thought about it and it has been about 3 years!) It used to be a hunter green color, but I couldn't find bath rugs or shower curtains to match. An older lady working at Boscov's told me that color was "out" so I figured I should change it up. I will try to do a full reveal when it is finished, but my towels are in a deep teal and dark plum color.

I used a 12" square canvas and painted on a portion of an appropriate verse:

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
 
 
The floral design was inspired by french press mornings. She has a free printable weekly on her website HERE and a shop with beautiful prints for sale HERE.

My painting matches perfectly with my bathroom and I am happy with how it turned out. :)

Also, if you "like" my facebook page, I am showing some extra odds and ends that I have been doing there. For example, I first tried to make this canvas for the bathroom, but decided it didn't match as well as I wanted. Anyway, you can keep up with me a bit more over there. 
And, I promise that I will have something other than a canvas to blog about soon!

Pink Lemonade Bunting and Basket

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For my daughter's first birthday party in August 2014, I used a "pink lemonade" theme. I meant to make these pennant banners to decorate, but didn't get done in time. I did finish one for in her bedroom, but there were so many extra triangles left over! That became another unfinished project that I added to my Finish-A-Long goals (see HERE).

Well, now they are finished! I had enough to make one more bunting identical to the one I had already made- I think that will make her room more symmetrical and make me feel better- and I also made a second smaller one.

The smaller pennant banner went in a basket for someone special. She had requested pink and yellow accent colors.

I am still working on the rest of my Finish-A-Long goals for this quarter. I am doing all of the easiest ones first, but at least they are getting done!

Scrapbook Paper Collage Canvas Art ~ Zebra & Elephant

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My daughter and I made more collage canvas art pieces featuring jungle animals. (You can see the hippo and tiger that we made before HERE.)

First, we did a purple elephant on an aqua background.

Then, she changed her mind and did a zebra on a pink background. The ribbon on the edges has polka dots.

One thing we learned is that using larger pieces for the background reduces the bubbles. 
All it takes is a canvas, some mod podge, bits of scrapbook paper, ribbon, and a little paint for the details. These are pretty easy to make and it is definitely a project worth trying with the kids! 
 Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Mustache Pillow and Sparkly Pink Pillows

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More pillows! That seemed to be the thing this year. I had an idea to make a huge mustache pillow for my daughter. I had some gray dot minky that I hadn't used for what I originally intended- an elephant taggy blanket- so I used it for this project instead. It goes perfectly with the gray walls and trim in their bedroom!

The back is a fun arrow print in coordintating colors that I knew my daughter would like. I figured cotton on the back would make it a little sturdier. I wish I had used a better quality cotton, though, because it ripped when I was stuffing it and I had to fix that. :/

The other pillows I made are for my daughter who LOVES all things pink and sparkly! 90% of her Christmas wish list was sparkly, which she pointed out with an asterisk and side note. :) One pillow is made from a performance lycra fabric- it was surprisingly easy to sew! The other is a pink sparkly satin.

I used a walking foot to sew these and made envelope closures for the back. They really only took a few minutes to make.

Both gifts were very much appreciated. I thought it was nice to make something fun and frivolous instead of something practical. You are only a little girl once!
There is a funny story to go with the pink pillows...
When I got the fabric, I was Christmas shopping with my husband and took him along to Joann's... again. He was a good sport and I left him at the cutting counter with the cutting instructions while I went to go look for something else. Well, he was not too thrilled to be left alone to get sparkly pink fabric cut. I think that makes him a good dad to his many little girls. :) He then helped me search several mall stores for a reindeer Beanie Boo. I don't care what it looked like- that is proof of a real man, right there. :)

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...