Pom Ornaments & Ornament Swap

Hello All! I hope your week is going well! I'm still busy getting things done for my handmade Christmas gifts. I have several projects lined up to show you AND a great giveaway coming up soon so come back and visit!

A few weeks ago I signed up for an Ornament swap over at Tutus & Tea Parties - such a fun idea!

 While I was trying to decide what kind of ornament I wanted to make, my friend (who I made this Christmas decor for last year) sent me this picture she found on Pinterest:

Source

My friend is a big fan of poms, and she really loved this. This is the same friend I made the tissue paper poms and pom cake toppers for, for her wedding. So I decided to try these out for her and for the ornament swap - since they are so cute. 

The method is very similar to the cake topper tutorial. Start with some regular glass or plastic ball ornaments. Cut small squares or circles of fabric, fold it in half, and then half again. Place a dot of hot glue on the end and then press it on the ball ornament. Place the pieces close to each other so it covers all of the surface of the ball. A tutorial is also included at Love Stitched.

Here's the one I made for my ornament swap buddy:

I used burlap and a Christmas-y fabric.

And for my friend I used burlap and lace to match the stuff I made her last year:

These ornaments were simple to make, but time consuming. I love the way both of them turned out thought! They are so cute! 

I here's the ornament I received from my swap buddy:

SO adorable! She actually sent me two - they are so perfect! I love candy canes! (You can check our her blog here).

Have you made any ornaments this year?

Thanks for stopping by!

Barn Window Jewelry Holder

Happy One Week until Thanksgiving!! Are you getting excited? Planning your menus? Well I'm doing no planning, since we are going back to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year, and my mom takes care of the food shopping and menu hoopla. We haven't been at my parents' house for Thanksgiving in several years, so I'm pretty excited.

Also, since I don't have any hostess planning going on right now, I've had some time to get some more homemade Christmas gifts made. This week I made jewelry holders for my mom and my sister. They both love jewelry, I am the odd one out there. They also both have a vintage-y, country-chic decorating style, so I decided to combine those two loves and create country-chic looking jewelry holders for each of them.

I started with two barn window frames that I got from my parents' stock of "treasures," as well as some chicken wire that Handy Andy had (obviously he has that lying around, don't you??).

I removed some old nails that were still sticking out of the window frames, and then sanded the frames down. Then, I spray painted them -- man, I love spray paint, so easy.

 

They were a little splotchy, but that's fine because, after they dried I sanded them again and brushed some dark wood stain over them. (No, I did not do them Christmas colors on purpose, thanks to Handy Andy for asking. Those are colors they each use to decorate with often).

Once the stain dried, I finished them with Minwax Finishing Paste (love that stuff). Rubbing that on them lightened up the stain a bit too, I really like how the colors turned out. After that dried, I added the chicken wire to the back with a staple gun -- I suggest wearing gloves, I didn't and my fingers were killing me when I was done.

To finish them off, I added some lace and burlap embellishments, and some scrabble tiles to my mom's and...

Done!

These were pretty simple to make, and I think they will really love them...AND they are useful - score! I also bought some little hooks to add for them to hang their necklaces on, but I haven't gotten around to putting them on yet.

 

Are you making progress on your family Christmas list this year?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Dollar Store Fall Wreath

Hello All! Have I mentioned that fall is my favorite is my favorite season? I love all the colors, and leaves, and weather...

Since I'm doing this October Overhauling thing, I'm supposed to make projects with supplies that I already have, and not buy any more. Lucky for me, I'm well stocked with supplies. Last year I bought a bunch of fall stuff from the Dollar Tree [love], including a wreath form and some fake leaves. I made a wreath last year that I didn't really like, so I decided to try again this year. I used the wreath form, fake leaves, hot glue and some burlap I had.

I cut small squares of the burlap and glued them close together on the wreath almost the whole way around the form. For the remaining section I layered and glued some of the leaves on the form. Then I made some rosettes out of burlap and glued them together on the wreath. I took some of the remaining leaves and glued them around the form. Then I finished it off with some fake berries, I glued them with the rosettes and around the wreath.

Here's how it turned out:

I like this wreath a lot better than the one I attempted last year!

What's your favorite part about fall?