Easy Burlap Holiday Table Runner

I just made this super easy table runner from some burlap I had lurking in my craft closet. If your table is round, is it still called a table runner? Maybe a table circle? Hmmm..

I cut my burlap into a circle the size I wanted.

I added a decorative stitch about 1 inch from the edge. I can’t resist using my sewing machine every chance I get.

I sketched out some holly leaves and berries on freezer paper and stenciled them on 5 places around the perimeter. For an easy freezer paper stencil tutorial, click here.

Easy and cute!

Linking up to the following fabulous blogging ladies: Inspired Room, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Works for Me Wednesday, Reinvented, DIY Showoff, DIY Day and Today’s Creative Blog.

Sundays in my City

Thanksgiving Day, after the turkey was in the oven, we took a hike up at Augustin Bernal Park. It was a perfect fall day.

Rosie (with her super short new do) had a great hike too!

Check out Unknown Mami for more:

Holiday Gift Deal Alert!

Amazon.com is offering 10 different magazine subscriptions for only $5.00. There are some great choices like Real Simple, House Beautiful, Popular Science and Food & Wine. These deals are good only through December 1st. I just ordered Popular Science for my Father in Law and Food & Wine for my Mother in Law. These are going to make great (and budget-friendly!) Christmas gifts!

Click on the link below to see all the choices:

$5.00 Amazon Black Friday to Cyber Monday Magazine Deals!

Today and Every Day

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
--Melody Beattie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dollar Store Hurricane Lamps

Take a gander at my new hurricane lamps. I just love how these turned out! I’d been thinking of making these and when I saw Kathy’s version over at Creative Home Expressions, I knew I had to give them a try. I thought I’d use the larger size hurricanes, but after seeing Kathy’s results, I decided to make them with the smaller glass hurricanes from the dollar store.

The construction of these couldn’t be any easier. I just used hot glue to attach the candlestick base to the hurricane top. Even with the smaller hurricane glasses, they ended up being about 9 inches tall. They look absolutely perfect on my living room coffee table. Gotta love that dollar store. Simple and pretty, on the cheap.

Linking up to these fabulous blogging ladies: Reinvented, Between Naps on the Porch and The Inspired Room.

Ornament Wreath

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas……

Ok, so here’s the thing. I am usually not one of those people who starts thinking about Christmas before Thanksgiving. But this year, thanks to the economy, I just got furloughed. I work for a consulting engineering firm part time, and there is just not enough work to go around. Being hourly and part time, I was the first one to take a hit. So, for the last week I have had a lot of time on my hands. Thankfully, I am still employed, but won’t be going into the office, or receiving any kind of a paycheck until we get some contracts in.

So where was I? For the past few days, I’ve been busy as a bee finishing up little projects around the house: painting furniture, organizing closets, sewing on Girl Scout badges, running during daylight hours, and cleaning…lots of cleaning.

Today I was driving past the dollar store and decided to pop in and see what kind of junk inexpensive crafty items they had in stock. Lo and behold, they had boxes and boxes of round Christmas ornaments. I picked up a whole bunch.

Exactly eight dollars worth of loot from the dollar store. Last year I had been coveting this wreath that Eddie Ross made. One wire coat hanger, some spare time and hot glue later, and voila!

It was really easy to do and only cost eight dollars, plus some glue gun burns. Wow. A wreath made before Thanksgiving. You can call me Martha.

Linking up to the following fabulous bloggers at Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Today's Creative Blog, The Inspired Room, Between Naps on the Porch, DIY Showoff, Reinvented, and A Soft Place to Land.

We have a Winner…

of the Winter Garden Giveaway!

Commenter #26 Amanda Mae  says:

“I would LOVE to win this!! I just started a "Baby Bucket List" of things that I would like to do and accomplish either pre-pregnancy or pre-birth, and a full garden is one of them! I started a garden for the first time ever in the Spring, and was in love. I talked to it and took great care...I just never realized how wild and crazy those cantaloupe could get :o) Thanks for the chance!!”

Congratulations Amanda Mae!  I’ll be contacting you soon!

Pretty Holiday Pillows – Freezer Paper Stencil Tutorial

I just finished up these sweet holiday pillow covers. If they look familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen these in the latest Pottery Barn Catalog:

Pottery Barn Image

I thought they were cute, but not cute enough to fork over $29 each plus tax and shipping. Since I made covers for pillows I already own, these only cost me about $5.00 total, or the cost of two yards of Wal-Mart fabric. When the holiday season has passed, I’ll just remove the covers and pack them away with my decorations for next year.

These pillows were already on my to do list for the holidays when I wandered over to Creative Little Daisy. Autum has put together a great pillow cover tutorial. If you’re not a seamstress, this is definitely a page to bookmark. Go ahead and check it out, I’ll wait.

Pottery Barn’s pillows were embroidered. Since I don’t have a sewing machine that does embroidery, I decided I’d try to stencil them using freezer paper. Here’s how to stencil:

First, find a font you like and print out a design for your project.

Then, find some freezer paper. It is NOT the same thing as waxed paper. It has a matte side and a shiny side. When ironed shiny side down, the paper will stick to the fabric. When you’re done with your stencil, it can be easily peeled off.

With the shiny side down, place a piece of freezer paper over your design and trace. The freezer paper is easy to see through.

Then, using an exacto knife or a small pair of scissors, cut out your design, being careful to save any of the small interior pieces of the letters.

I stenciled onto a smaller piece of fabric, and then attached it to my pillow cover using a decorative stitch. I cut a piece of fabric approximately 1” larger all around than my desired patch size. Place your new stencil shiny side down on your fabric and press, being careful to adhere all of the edges. Don’t forget to iron on the interior pieces of the letters.

These “Spouncer” brushes work great for applying your favorite craft paint. I bought mine at Wal-Mart.

I used two coats of red paint, and then allowed it to dry for a couple of hours before peeling the freezer paper off.

I turned under the edges 1/2” on each side and pressed. Then I placed the stenciled piece on my pillow cover front and attached it using a decorative machine stitch.

Stitch the front and back of the cover together and you’re done! Don’t forget to check out Autum’s tutorial if you need help making the pillow enclosure.

Linking up to the following fabulous ladies:

The Shabby Nest,

Making Faux Mercury Glass

I’m really enamored with all of the Mercury Glass I’ve been seeing in catalogs lately. I think it’s so pretty and shiny. Perfect for holiday decorating.

Target

Ballard Designs

Target

The other day when I was rummaging under my sink, I came across this old vase that originally held a floral arrangement. I think everyone has these lurking somewhere in their homes. Found: the perfect victim for a DIY experiment.

I purchased some silver leaf, leaf adhesive and sealer at Michael’s.

First, I sprayed the adhesive on the inside of the vase. It looks cloudy at first, but as it sets up, it starts to turn clear.

Next, came the frustrating fun part. The package suggested cutting out a piece of wax paper the size of each leaf sheet, and then picking up the leaf with the wax paper. In the photo below, there’s a sheet of silver clinging to the wax paper with static cling. It really did help make it easier to manage. Then you pick up the wax paper/leaf combo and place it where you want it. It gives the thin leaf sheet more stability and keeps it from ripping apart.

Keep placing the leaf sheets until the whole inside of the vase is covered.

I used my fingers and a brush to smooth out the inside surface. Then I took the brush and rubbed it a bit to distress it. I was really looking for a distressed, well used look.

A coat of sealer on the inside, and it’s done. It’s not quite like Mercury Glass, but I think it’s still pretty. I really like how the spaces and cracks between the leaf stand out. Perfect for the holidays.

Linking up to the following awesome blogs: