Filling frames for Christmas

I have been lovin' all the Christmas printables I've seen on blogs lately.  I don't change the photos in my frames as often as I'd like and I had never considered using something seasonal.  Now that I've swapped a few frames, I know I will do it every year.  It adds another layer of interest, plus it was quick and inexpensive.

This is one of my faves.

First, I used prints I'd found online.  This year I just printed them myself, but I will probably have them printed professionally whenever I notice a a good deal so that they're ready to go next year.

I knew I wanted this print to be near my humble nativity scene.

 They're actually ornaments, but I love the hand carved looked.  One day we'll probably get a bigger, more complete set, but for now, this one is perfect.  Our printer was low on ink, so the color turned out to have an orange hue.  Our living room has a red and orange color scheme, so this 'oops' moment turned out great!

We were given a frame with 7 spaces for 4X6 photos as a wedding gift.  Eventually we will use the frame to spell out our last name- Roberts.  But when I saw this printable, I realized we could use it now to spell BELIEVE.  Because we do!  Brandon wasn't keen on the stretched out quatrefoil border.

I cut out each letter and used a background of scrapbook paper.

Then I had some ideas of my own.  I found classic pictures of Santa in various sizes.  Brandon and I always look forward to watching the Rankin and Bass movies with some hot cocoa, so of course I had to include those.  Do you recognize some of the others?

Our guest room as a traveling theme...really unique, I know.  Although I do like that we've used our own vacation pics so it really holds memories for us.  We normally just have these frames filled with pretty scrapbook paper.

 Rather than replacing it entirely, I made letters that could be layered on top of the existing paper.  And to go with the room's theme, I chose to add "JOY to the world."  Perfect, right?

Here is the printable.
It was very easy to do with Word Art.  I found a print I liked and saved it to my computer.  Then choosing a fill color for the letters, I chose that picture file.  You can also make changes to the outline.

My Unconventional, Handmade Wreath

What constitutes handmade?  Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that we call an object handmade even though everything I used to make it was man-made?  Am I being too literal?


Let me tell you a story.  Girl wants wreath.  Boy doesn't like wreaths.  Girls drops the "Oh, look at this one" line nearly every time they pass a wreath in a store.  Boy does not fall for this.  Girl finally resorts to using materials she already has, with a kooky modern design.

This is what I used:

Lamp (metal frame) 

Ribbon  

Duct tape

Step 1- Rip lampshade to remove the metal frame (good stress reliever)

  

Step 2- Use duct tape to center the smaller circle

Step 3- Wrap circles with ribbon.  Use whatever spacing appeals to you.  I used a wider spacing for style (and money saving) purposes.

After trying a few methods, I found the best way to keep the ribbon tight enough without slack is to do a twist each time you go around the outside circle.

Step 4- Add a bow!

Oh and by the way...Boy likes wreath.  Girl wins!

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Who else sang that in their head instead of reading?  Not just me, I hope.  I think my kids (and by that I mean students) are finally warming up to my singing.  For about a week I've been singing carols with them during dismissal.  Secular carols of course.  And even though they've been very complimentary regarding my singing voice, they didn't really participate in the singing much.  They mostly just stared at me (wondering who is this crazy lady??).  Maybe they weren't sure of the words.  This week they've finally started chiming in and I will miss the last school day of December because it will mean no more carol time.

The main reason for this post is to show off pictures of my tree.  My sister in law is a florist, but the shop where she works also carries home decor and during this time of year they are hired to do "installs."  AKA putting up someone's tree and holiday decorations.  So she is quite literally a pro.

I took two tree tips from her this year...

First, when hanging ornaments, remember to vary the depth.  So simple, but I think it gets overlooked.  Placing the ornaments within the tree adds interest.  I tried this with ornaments that would catch the light from within the tree.

Second, put larger decorations in the tree.  Now she tried this while hanging out at my house and when she first picked up the Santa and shoved it in there, I was thinking I would smile and nod and take it out right after she left!!  But I loved it!  Just make sure you find a stable branch and use the surrounding branches to support the object.

 I have a makeshift treetopper.  I used two starburst ornaments, overlaped them and twist ties are being used to attach it.  I just haven't found the perfect one.  I want something silver and modern.

I'll leave you with the no flash pic of the tree so you can get the effect of the shining lights.

Candle Redo

 My project today was inspired by an ugly candle.  Well, it wasn't really that bad.  In fact, any ugliness was certainly my own fault.  The candle is a lovely shade of blue, but I clumsily dropped it, leaving two bruises in the wax.  To make matters worse, my cat rubbed his head against it (because somehow cats can sense what objects in the room are most moveable/breakable and those are the ones they choose as scratching posts) and another dent was made to the opposite side.  So the option of just turning it around to hide it would no longer work.

And as I thought about how easily the wax had chipped, it made me think- why not use this quality to my advantage.  I decided I wanted to dent (more like carve) the candle purposefully.

This project is super easy and all you need is your candle, hot water and a carving tool.  I went with a plain ole butter knife because I will be creating an argyle pattern with straight lines.  Easy peasy mac and cheesy. 

First step- Get water boiling hot.  I nuked mine in the microwave.
Second step- Put butter knife in the water for a few seconds (10-30) to get hot.
Third step- Apply even pressure to create your design. 

To make the argyle pattern, I started at the top and made my to the bottom at an angle.  I held the candle with one hand and carved with the other so that I could turn the candle while I carved.

I went over each line twice to get the depth I wanted.  I continued to worked left to right making parallel lines.

Once I had made the first set of lines, I did the same thing moving in the opposite direction.  Using the same starting points, I figured out that I needed to cross 3 lines to get the correct angle.

Fourth step- Realize you are making a mess and get a plate to collect your pile of wax.

 Final step- I ran hot water from the tap over the candle to clean wax from the grooves.

It only took me 15 minutes to do!  Now I don't even mind the little dings because it looks like it's part of the distressed design.  Now I'm wondering what other designs I could try.  Do you think a rubber stamp would work??

What I SHOULD have named my blog

...is The Summertime Blogger.  Let's face it- I am a teacher.  A teacher who does not really want to blog and vent about my work day.  So now that school has started, there's not much time to actually write a blog post.  And even if there was, what on earth would I say?

I've been eating out of take-out boxes this week, so no recipes to share.  And yet the sink has somehow managed to be overflowing, and while that would be a possible 15-minute cleaning before and after, who really wants to see that?  Needless to say, the only decorating or crafting going on in my life right now has been arranging classroom bookshelves and using my label maker.

We're only a week in, and I'm not going to lie and say it gets any less busy from here.  All I can say is I will be back, hopefully soon, and if not, I'll see you next summer.