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Monday, December 07, 2009

decor and more

Anything crafty has been on the back burner for awhile now. Crafting with a toddler around puts a damper on things (no dear, you may NOT stick your fingers under the needle in the sewing machine and please leave the pedal alone when mommy is using the serger with the sharp cutting knives, I need my fingers!). Not to mention the stress of moving. But Christmas was coming and so was my mom (who loves decorating for Christmas). My Christmas decor is meager compared to hers, but it's growing each year and I chose this year to make it grow by leaps and bounds. It never hurts when mom goes to Hobby Lobby with me and can't resist things either and offers up her plastic to pay. My tree is now adorned with a beautiful tree skirt and wooden Merry Christmas sign and my mantle a little brighter with a "Believe" plague. (Click on pictures to make bigger)Inspired by my friends Lei and Kierste I created the ragamuffin garland for my mantle,
I got a little taste of the crafting/decorating bug and created one for the baby/guest room that is done in a vintage Americana theme. It needed a ragamuffin garland:
I will refrain from putting one of these in every room in the house, but a cute pink one just might appear in the big girl's room.

My mom saw a Christmas decoration that she loved---a simple Christmas tree on a square canvas. She didn't buy it and described it to me. So, we created one of our own:
She took this one home with her and it looked so good in my kitchen that I made one of my own:
Sidney has been trying to make all sorts of paper ornaments for our tree, much to my dismay. My Christmas tree is sacred ground. Once it's decorated, it's not to be touched, rearranged, or otherwise renovated. My kids just don't seem to take that seriously and I end up with all sorts of the above. In an attempt to quench her need for ornament making, we made some ornaments for her classroom tree. Taylor joined in the fun and we made a few super cute ornaments:
And then there's my new love.

The Antique (and junque!) store. My dad recently got into Antique stores, so when I passed one every day I knew I must take my dad there. We have this piano that is truly an antique---1901 Chickering. The only thing missing was something to sit on. We've been dragging a kitchen chair to the piano for the last 5 years and have been hoping to find an antique piano stoool to go with it. Guess what we found at the antique store? My dad and Steve have been working on refinishing it and it's looking better every day (pictures when it's finished).

Two other things I got at the Antique store are a couple of pitchers for my built in shelves. One is most definitely not an antique, but the other is and I love them equally.

All of this has awakened the crafter/decorator inside of me and I have, oh, about a dozen projects in mind as of this morning. I believe it was just a few days ago when I was cursing my crafty friends' very names. Now, I'm thinking of joining their ranks again. At the very bottom of the totem pole of course.

1 comment:

De Anne said...

Love the additions to the decor. I'm impressed you can find time to create while raising young ones. Good for you!

I love ragmuffin garlands. I have several in my home too. Such a cute easy way to add a bit of personality to even a small space.