Creative ideas, and decorative items, and techniques that I have used in my home, or would like to use. DIY, and how to post and videos of things that I am working on in my own house. I also encourage all of you to share your own thoughts, photos, and projects.
I welcome you to this unique Holiday House Tour for a very special time of the year. See all of the sights of Christmas in my home, and maybe even pick up a few ideas that you can use in yours. Take a few minutes to join in the fun.
It's beginning to look a lot like Vintage Christmas
The living room is dressed up in a bygone era with simple swags of greenery over the fireplace mantel, and doorway. Old pieces decorate the mantel, as well as large ornaments, and a pine swag. The wreath seemingly suspended in the air over the fireplace is accompanied by floating snowflakes that add to the magic of Christmas.
"Vintage" handmade Christmas Stockings hang from the fireplace, and a simple pine wreath was placed in the center, with additional embellishments surrounding the hearth. Last year the stockings hung on the front door, but you have to change things around from year to year to keep things fresh.
In the dining room a Christmas Cone Tree dominates the table, and that piece was also handmade. It's very easy to make, and if you wish to see that process you can Check out the Video on Youtube. I am certain you would be very happy with a few of these for your home.
The table is also decorated with flower filled vases, as well as old outdoor garden pieces, candles and bowls, and a hand painted raven by a local artist.
A little tree in the corner of the dining room.
Nutcrackers fill a side table in the dining room too!
On top of an old sewing machine is another vintage Christmas scene.
As you will see in the video, Snowmen fill the kitchen.
Even the bathroom downstairs gets into the Christmas Spirit.
Have you ever wanted one of those Cone Christmas trees that you see in the stores, but you really don't want too spend $19.99 and up?
Well I am going to show you how you can do it for the cost of a $2.00 piece of poster board, and a few other items, many of which you may already have at home.
1: Take your poster board, and a pencil with a string tied to it, the length equal to the length (shorter) of the poster board. You will be using this to draw your curved line on the poster board. This is going to give you the flat bottom of the cone to sit on...so it's not a crooked tree.
2: Place one end of the string in the top corner (hold it there), and stretch out the string with the pencil attached to the bottom corner. Draw on the poster board the curve that the pencil will follow.
3: Cut the curved line that the pencil has drawn, and tape the 2 edges together to form a cone. I also taped the inside just to make sure that it would not come apart.
4: Now that you have your cone shape the fun can begin. You can decorate it any you with by using glitter, lace, Christmas wrapping paper, or what ever you can think of. I would suggest searching Google for "Cone Christmas Tree" and look at all of the ways they are decorated. In no time you will have found your favorite, or favorites.
For decorating my tree I had chosen lace that I had left over from another project. I hot glued the lace in three rings around the tree starting from the bottom. I then hot glued some wood shavings, a jute cord bow, and some pine cones to the top for an added rustic touch. For the finished I glued a few glitter snowflakes around the tree, and I thinks it looks just as I had wanted it to, but as I said...you can do what ever your little heart desires.
I plan on doing another with Christmas Songbook sheets glued to it, and stained with coffee for an aged look. As you will find out...the possibilities are endless, and you will probably end up wanting to do more than one of these since they take about an hour and a half to do. Let me know if you do, and Happy Holidays!
Why buy Fall and Halloween decorations when you can make them yourself? 4 quick and easy Fall/Halloween crafts to get you inspired to try something on your own.
https://youtu.be/9t5XXE3zTAY
I was feeling crafty so I searched photos for a little inspiration and came up with a few quick and easy DIY ideas for Fall/Halloween crafts that anyone could do. I hope you like them.
1: The Primitive Wooden Pumpkin
2: A Trio of Primitive Wooden Pumpkins
3: The naming of the House (You can name your own too)
4: The Raven "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,..."
All pieces were made with recycled wood, and painted with acrylic paints. People have already been stopping by to ask me where I got the pieces, they love them.
DIY How to make your own Ghost/Spirit for Halloween, or all year long if your creepy. You won't believe how easy this is. #Budget #Recycle #DIY
This little guy took no time at all, and saved me a lot of money from the one that I was thinking of buying online. It was everything I had wanted in a primitive ghost, and it only cost me a little time, paint, and recycled wood. Best of all...I did it myself!
My garden was doing well, but it lacked points of interest. Looking online I found many things that I would like, but they all had one thing in common... They all cost more money than I was willing to spent. I started thinking that I could, with a little effort, create some of those things on my own with things I had around the house.
The Old Ladder Trellis
I had been wondering for awhile what I was going to do with this 40 foot wooden ladder that was no longer safe to use. Someone I knew showed me how they had made one into a little garden fence. That got me thinking about my garden, and what it needed. It only took a few minutes to see that yes, you could make a trellis out of an old wooden ladder, and the next day I did just that.
It wasn't complicated in the least. Just measure the 2 side pieces equally. and another for the top. Attach with screws, and brackets, and bury each "leg" about 1 food below the ground, and it was done. After that I hung some plants from it, and attached an old looking bird house (that I also made), and it looks great. It also adds interest to that part of the garden which I thought was lacking. I used left over ladder pieces for porch decoration, and tomato plant holders.
The Old Garden Signs
I had been wanting old signs for awhile to put around the outside of the house, but if you look at the prices, they can be a little costly. Again I used what I had at home already, which is wood, and paint. You need only to choose what you want your signs to say, and paint it on them. I then sanded mine a little to give it an aged look, and finished by staining it to seal it, and I was finished. You also have to paint in what you would like it to say, but don't worry too much about that, it doesn't need to be perfect. The sanding, and staining will hide any mistakes you might make.
I don't know what I will be doing next, but I an sure that it will be as fun as these two projects have been. Will you now be trying out something for your own home???
I hate the thought of spending money on things I think I can do myself, so we are going to make a Spring/Summer wreath decoration for my entry door. As it turns out it is very easy, and inexpensive, and fun as well!
I had some left over old lattice lying around, and wanted to put it to good use. I also needed new Christmas Decorations for the front yard, and I like that "Primitive" look, or rustic, whatever you like to call it. Anyway I had this lattice, and the idea came to me...Christmas Trees! As mentioned in the video the most time consuming part was painting the lattice, but other than the white paint (which I already had) the cost was really nothing. I reused old nails, and the lattice, so it really cost me nothing but the time, and you have to put your time to good use. Let me know if you like this, and the projects that you have done yourself. Who knows...I may get some ideas from you.
Below I will go through all of the steps that I took in the video to make my Primitive Christmas Trees.
1: I picked out the shape that I wanted for my Primitive Christmas Tree, and began to cut the lattice. I placed it going across a vertical piece of wood. and drew a line down each side, following a tree shape. I then Cut the pieces, and nailed them to the vertical piece of wood (the trunk).
2: I then chose the color that I wanted to paint the tree, and proceeded to go about painting it. This did take a little while, and since the lattice had been painted before I had to give it more than one coat, but I had expected that. I painted both the front, and back just to make sure that it would be sealed from the weather.
3: You may, or may not do this next step... I decided that where I was placing the Primitive Christmas Tree was too large for just one tree, so I made another one. This tree was made in a different way, but the set up is much the same. Place the lattice on your vertical piece of wood, and trim accordingly.
4: Again, after you have cut, trimmed, and nailed your lattice to the vertical piece of wood in your choice of tree shape you then paint it. I attached a picture hook on the back of each tree so they would hang up on the wall. and my trees were now done, and ready to decorate the front of the house for Christmas. This only took me a few hours, and cost nothing since I already had all of the materials on hand. Definitely worth the time spent doing it.
