Merry Christmas & Pine Cone Swag

Hello, Bloggy Friends
I wanted to take this time and thank you all for making these last four months wonderful. I have been so Blessed by all of you and I pray you and your family will have a wonderful Christmas. My dear Bloggy Friends, you are so lovely and I am truly grateful for the encouragement and support you have given me. Thank you.

Here are the supplies you will need -
About 10 medium sizes pine cones (go around parks, wooded areas, friends/family)
Spray paint
Floral wire
wire cutter
ribbon

I took my pine cones and spray painted them gold, carmel latte and red banner by Krylon. I gave them two coats.  

Gold and Carmel latte

Coat of Red Banner.

After the pine cones are dry, take the floral wire and wrap around the end of the pine cone, then twist.

Make sure to cut each floral wire different length when wrapping to the pine cones. The pine cones will lay better.  

You can see the wires are all different lengths and I gathered at the top and twisted. I clipped off any long wires and made a loop on top to hang over my hook. 

Once I arranged my pine cones, I added the bow. 

I added floral wire to the back of the bow and tied it to the hook.

I am not a bow maker, so I googled how to make a bow. Here is the site I used to make this easy bow.

Love the different colors.

I really love how this Christmas swag turned out and you can even used pine cones to make a lovely center piece for your Christmas dinner. Thank you for stopping and have a great Christmas.  I would love to hear from you so leave a comment. 

Vanessa

Guest Hosting At - Pocket Full of Pink

Hi, Ladies

I am guest hosting over today at a "Pocket Full of Pink". Karen is the author of this lovely blog and she has so many lovely tutorials. I would love for you to stop by over there and see my new tutorial. Remember, I LOVE your comments, so drop me a line.

Vanessa

Handmade Gift with Love

I can't believe Christmas is 6 days away? Where did the time go.
Today, I am also going to highlight some of my favorite Etsy Shops, just because I LOVE their shops. By the way, none of these shop owners know I was going to do this, but like Oprah, these are my "Favorite Things" for Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary or Just Because.    
This list is in no particular order. 
1) Saressa
2) Sewella - The Little Treasures
3) Mitzis Collectibles 
4) A Lapin Life
5) Generation Gap
6) PBJ Stories 
7) Lavender Garden Cottage
8) Keep Sakes By Katherine
9) Pitter and Glink
10) Vintage Home Designs 
Stop by these lovely shops and take a look around. If you have any last minute gifts to buy, I am sure you will find a lovely item in one of these shops.

I bought this broken chain at a yard sale for $1 and the gold ribbon and jump rings I had on hand. Created your flower from ribbon and if you are not sure how, go here.

Next take your chain and make sure it fits over your head. 

I sewed the jump rings to the back of the flower.

Finally, attach the chain and you have yourself a new and one of kind necklace.

If you need a last minute gift or not sure what to give someone, give this a try and don't forget send me a picture. What is nice about this up-cycled necklace is I can interchange the look by adding a red flower for Valentine Day or Christmas or a brooch. The possibilities are endless. Thank you so much for stopping by and I LOVE your comments so drop me a line.

Merry Christmas,

Vanessa

Merry Christmas Tour

Happy Friday!
Hard to believe Christmas will be here next week, it seems unreal to me. All I want to do is enjoy every minute I can with my family, so this weekend we are going to be doing some baking. I can't wait. Yummy!
Here are my Christmas decor for this year. I actually changed it up this year from the last 10 years. I love traditions Christmas colors and I used red and gold this year.

Little G made this glitter garland this year.

Our Family Christmas tree. Love my new star 

Some of our ornaments on the family tree. If you haven't notice I love snowmen!

I added the mesh this year and I really love it.  

Love all my snowmen. 

This one is my favorite.  

My son made this for me about 13 years ago.  

My icy branches.

I bought this over 10 years ago when my husband and I first got married.  Love the little sign "We Are Warm"

My son made this for me 7 years ago.  Its my favorite.  

Bottom half of my fireplace.

Believe sign, I picked up.

My Christmas Mantle.

My mantle and my JOY sign.  

This is the top of my entertainment center

Since the birth of my children, I buy a new ornament every year for them and I put it on their Christmas tree.

My little girl's ornaments.  

My favorite doll when I was a child.

Elmo!

My little girl's angle. 

My little girl's Christmas tree.

My son's ornaments. He loves playing basketball.  

Both of my children have this ornament, because its very true about how I feel about them.

My son's Christmas tree.

Our front door, simple this year. 

My little girl made this for me.  

This is my dad's walking stick that I hung ornaments on.

My Christmas decorations, are not over the top, but I love to use things that have meaning to me. This is very important to me when I decorate because to me Christmas means family. Merry Christmas to you  my bloggy friends and I pray you have a great weekend with your family and thank you for stopping by.  I LOVE your SWEET comments, so drop me a line.

Vanessa

Icy Christmas Branches!

Happy Wednesday!
My kiddos and I have been under the weather these last 5 days and did not have the strength to do anything. I did a lot of resting. : )

Today, I have a really inexpensive way to spruce up your Christmas decor.

Materials you will need:
Branches
White spray paint
Epsom salt fine
Spray adhesive

Spray paint your branches and let dry. 

Next, you spray the adhesive in small section and by the handful add Epsom salt. Let branches dry over night.

Take foam and moss and insert into a vase or anything you want your branches to go into.

Here it is all done. I was going to add ornaments or small garland, but I love the icy look better. 

I love how these turned out and most importantly this project only cost me $4 dollars. Love it and I also LOVE your sweet comments. Drop me a line. Have a great week.

Vanessa




Spray paint your branches and let dry.

Christmas Glitter Garland For The Children

Happy Monday!
Today, I am going to share with you a tutorial you can do with your children, but I want to share some wonderful news first. Tomorrow, Dec 6, 2011, I will be guest hosting over with Janny, from Que Linda Blog. If you have never be over at Que Linda's before you need to stop by and see her awesome tutorials. Diane from "The Girl Creative" challenge bloggers to stopping pinning and start creating and thus Creating Christmas was born. Janny and other bloggers are hosting Creating Christmas this whole week, so don't forget to stop Janny's blog tomorrow and see my Christmas tutorial. Remember leave a comment on Janny's blog because I LOVE your SWEET comments.

I did a super fun and easy project with my little one over the weekend. The both of us love crafting and glitter so we decided to make a Christmas glitter garland.
These are the supplies you will need:
A box (cereal, cookie or cracker box)
Glitter
Glue
Yard

For this project I cut out circles and a star out of a cereal box.

Use templates, stencil or free hand your design 

Once I cut out the circles and star, little G brushed on glue on the shiny side of the box and then added glitter. Once the cut outs where all dry, I taped them to yarn and hung them up across a mirror.

I added a red bead garland on top of the mirror  

Glitter just make everything look pretty, don't you think? 

I'll always treasure this project.

I love how this project turned out and most importantly I create a sweet memory for little G and me. Thanks for stopping by and I will see you at Que Linda tomorrow! I LOVE your sweet comments so drop me a line.

Vanessa