Boston Baked Beans Christmas Wreath

If you have an hour and five bucks to kill make yourself a candy wreath! 

Perhaps you already have! If so, please share your favorite candy with us!!

I chose Boston Baked Beans, mostly because of the deep red color.  

They look like little miniature cherry tomatoes.

Instead of buying a wreath form, I cut one out of cardboard.

To measure the circles you can either trace two bowls, making sure to trace the bigger bowl first,

or you can create a fake compass by tying a string tightly to a pencil and securing it to the cardboard with a thumb tack.

Cut your circles out with a razor blade.

I would suggest painting the cardboard. 

You don't have to have exactly the same color as your candy, just something along those lines. Especially if you are planning on hanging your wreath on top of a mirror.

I like using hot glue, except for the webs!

It might be a good idea to pick a candy that you don't totally love.

Either that, or learn how to glue really fast.

Have a Christmas wreath that you'd like to show off?? 

Meet me back here on Friday for our first Christmas contest of December!

Link your wreaths or signs for a chance to win!

Easy Neighbor or Teacher gifts

Let's face it, there are a lot of people to remember around the holidays!

Just when you think you're done, up pops someone you're forgetting about!

Here's a fairly easy and inexpensive idea.

Make a trip to The Home Depot and buy an MDF board that is 6'' wide. 

If you can't find them, ask for help! 

Also buy a long piece of casing that is 2.5'' and already primed.  

Cut the mdf and casing into 7'' pieces

Glue the casing onto the mdf with wood glue.

Paint and then sand the casing so the white shows through.

Add vinyl. If you don't have access to a machine, you can buy them from me for $.50 each.

The casing adds a little decorative touch as well as stability.

Do you have a fun idea for a teacher or neighbor gift?
Don't miss the CCC on Dec. 10th

Washroom

The board measures 12'' X 23'' and is painted with Faded Denim by Valspar

It's hung with two picture hangers and a ribbon

The towel rack it's hanging on can be found HERE.

Vinyl now available in 

Bluebird Sign

The winter cold is officially here. The snow inspired my sign for today.

I painted a scrap piece of wood white and made a bird stencil out of vinyl.

I painted the little guy blue and pulled the vinyl off while the paint was still wet.

An electric sander works great to give the bird a weathered look.

I wanted to stick a postage stamp on the bird...just for fun.

Bye bye birdies!

Advent Cans

A couple of years ago, I bought a bunch of these little Christmas cans from Big Lots during their after season sales. I got each can for $.10 thinking that I would fill them with goodies for neighborhood gifts the next year.

Christmas came along and we were in the process of moving, so I didn't end up passing them out. 

Instead we used them as an advent calendar. 

Each can has a number on it and inside there is an ornament and a piece of candy for each person in the family.  We took turns opening the cans. When it was your turn, you hung the ornament on the tree and passed out the candy.  

My mother crochets beautiful snowflake ornament and gives one to us each year, so that's what I used to fill the cans.  

My kids loved this and looked forward to it each night. This year I think I will add a story or scripture that we can read as a family.

Last  year I had them set up on the kitchen cabinets. This year I decided to stack them on the shelf so they are easier to reach.  Once the can has been opened, I put it away so that the kids can easily see how many more days until Christmas!

Do you like to count down to Christmas as a family?

What kinds of things have worked for you?

Craft Contests~Get ready!

Refashioning Decor

It's difficult to buy new decor for the holidays.

Especially when money is tight!

A way around that is to refashion what you already have!

Give some of your decorations a facelift!

Take this green star for instance.

 I like the color, but I wanted a lighter, brighter feel this season.

After I painted it white, I sanded it so the color would show through.

To dress the star, I grabbed something from my Thanksgiving decor and flipped it over.

I didn't paint over it. That way I can still use the other side.

I just brushed over it with 3/4 of a coat of red paint

Put a little vinyl on top

And hung it on the star

and hung the star from the curtain rod.

I really like hanging decorations from windows.
It's nice if you don't have a lot of shelf space and you don't want to put a bunch of new holes in the walls.

Go through your decor! See if there's something you can tweak!
It can be as simple as hanging ornaments on a twiggy wreath!

Have a great weekend!

This post was graciously featured on:

How to make a big sign with small lettering.

If you have access to chipboard letters, or some sort of small lettering 

you can beef up a sign by cutting paper or vinyl squares to place behind each letter.

Make it eye catching by cutting different sizes.

Upcycled Corn Husk Wreath

Time to start flipping decor!

Here's the corn husk wreath we made a bit ago.

Catch the tutorial HERE.

Spray it down with silver metallic paint to Christmas-ify it.

I couldn't tell you why I had silver metallic spray paint in the garage.

One of life's great mysteries.  

I was pleased to find that the corn husks took the paint really well.

You can add a little blingy bling with silver sprigs...or whatever they're called.

I found them at Hobby Lobby...50% off, of course.  

For less than $10 you can cover 2 holidays.

I've recently been drawn in by silver Christmas decor. 

What do you think?  Do you decorate with silver?

If so, what do you like to pair it with?  

Do you match it with mostly white, or do you like to add bright colors like red or teal?

I think silver looks appealing set in a very neutral color scheme

I like West Elm's version. 

Especially the newsprint tassels{{I know they are not silver, and I'm off topic but CUTE}}. 

I love that the branches are wrapped as well.

Here's another great wreath from West Elm  designed by David Stark.

Thoughts??

Will silver make it's way into your home this Christmas?