Handmade Christmas Tree Decorations

Made some trees:) After seeing some ideas on pinterest --

last year right after the Holidays I pinned the wire ones because I had just made a slew of wire stars...

See that post here....

I had thought about using cardboard cones then as forms to help make the wire ones.  My sister used them to make angels years ago recycling cereal boxes and pop boxes 

(or soda boxes whichever you prefer...)

The styrofoam ones are expensive--

Or maybe I'm just cheap

Then this morning I saw this post...
Time to make some trees!

At this point I decided to spray paint our little cones just in case the salts or whatever I put on them didn't cover completely 
we used silver and gold of course--

We colored some Epsom salts for the 3 small ones. Rolled the trees in Mod Podge and then the salts.... 

And that was probably a good idea since the salts don't really cover it solidly...glitter would probably have been a better choice.

The one on the far left is gold with lentils glued on...

They're a nice little handmade decoration to add to the ever growing collection at our house...

Clothespin Snowflake tutorial link

Last year when I finally caved and started on pinterest I pinned these from Stephanie over at Under the Table and Dreaming...
Here's a link to her tutorial 
Tutorial from Under the Table and Dreaming

This is my version that Doodlebug helped me make....there's ALOT of glue on these snowflakes!!!!    
I chose to paint ours silver but this is a nice fairly inexpensive Christmas ornament.  We already had a huge bag of clothespins but even if you had to buy them they aren't expensive....

After we made some of those Doodlebug started making a bunch of these little angels....(the star is a separate thing I made last year)
Smart boy!  

Christmas Decorations

Love these vintage ornaments my husband bought for me last year...especially the box and graphics...

Doodlebug found 4 pinecones at Mamaw and Papaw's house and insisted on bringing them home "momma will use these to decorate" 

oh yes she will!  So I added those to our bookcases after lining the glass with wrapping paper...

My pottery barn twig reindeer knockoffs....

He also wanted garland around our dining room doorway so we decided on a string of lights with cupcake papers.

  He picked the red and green polka dots and I chose the silver... Mighty chose snacks :)

Hanging stars this year over the mantel...

With lights of course....

And I did a post on these last year.  I used water balloons and paper mache to make these....

And our old sled by the front door....

Reupholstered Slipper Chair FINISHED!

I did several posts on the process of reupholstering this slipper chair....you can click on each one below if you're interested in all the nitty gritty details....

 Post 1

Post 2 

Post 3

Post 4
Post 5

She is finished!  I think this is probably my biggest DIY accomplishment so far...

This is how she started out in my garage awaiting her new "look"....

All transformed and ready for a whole new life!

I used drop cloth ---because I knew I was going to sell it.  

That would never fly at our house with two little hooligans....only as slipcovers I could wash.

I really like the tailored look with no skirt...and legs showing.

I have done small projects--drop in seats, dining room chairs, etc. but I've never tackled anything this involved.

Tearing it down to the springs and replacing stuffing...diamond tufting....hand sewing piping...

And she already has a new home to go to...

Along with her twin which will get reupholstered after the Holidays....

Final Slipper Chair Photos

This book is awesome.  If you want to learn  how to upholster pretty much anything you should take a peek at this one....

It covers everything from simple dining room chairs to a leather chesterfield (tufted) sofa

 The final piping is tacked onto the bottom edge and then hand stitched around the legs.  You can also see how I linked the start and finish of the piping together...when I finished tacking it all in place; I folded about an inch of fabric under and nested the other end of the piping inside then tacked it down. 

 My husband stapled on the dust cover (which I bought at JoAnns) we only have the manual stapler and I'm just not strong enough to stretch the fabric and get the staples in the right spot...

 I am SOOOO excited that she's done 

This is  something I've always wanted to try-- and wondered if I can do-- and now here it is all finished up...

 I'm going to try to get the "blogtastic" beauty shots while Mighty is napping and Doodlebug is outside....

Hand Stamped Mother's Necklace

 A new mother's necklace I just gave as a gift today!

 Their wedding year on the copper tag....

 And a "C" for their last name...

 His name is already Charlie and he's coming soon!

Lovely light this morning...I'm so glad we bought our camera.  I'm taking photos in full Manual mode finally!  I've been trying to experiment with the settings and really learn how to use all the functions to create photos...

I'm really happy with these...of course it's easier when the light is good!

The slipper chair is also FINISHED...photos to come...

Reupholstering Slipper Chair finishing touches

 I am getting so close to finishing up---getting really excited to see her all done.  

 This is the cotton wadding which covers the springs and the knots tying off the tufting.  The wadding on the seat back (in the front) and seat would get this and then a layer of Dacron.   The gentleman at the upholstery shop suggested using a high loft poly Dacron on the seat as opposed to the cotton wadding then then the thin Dacron.  He said the cotton wadding is similar to down in that it tends to mash down only it doesn't return.  I thought that was helpful information and appreciated his help!

 This is the cardboard tack strip --

Underneath my hand on the left is the roll part at the top of the chair (the chair is still upside down)

 You can buy metal tack strips that work differently but I just decided to go with the card board and tack it in by hand

 At this point the fabric is tacked down the sides and a few on the bottom--
 just enough to hold it in place 
(you can also see the second chair on the left in the background)

 Here's a photo of the side...

 Here's a photo of the front too all finished up...

 I'm hand stitching the piping and side panels on as well...

I did a post on how to do that here.

 I pinned and stitched the side attached to the front of the seat first then added a very thin layer of cotton wadding, pinned and stitched the side that attached to the back.

This process definitely requires alot of skills and patience...

Caring for Zinc Counters or Tabletops

 Here's my big zinc experiment....after doing several table tops and reading quite a bit about the zinc I mentioned at the bottom of this post on aging it that the patina and wax is not permanent...it wears.
Anything acidic can take off the wax and patina...

If you leave the zinc bare it will darken and grey on it's own over time.  Or you can patina it yourself and wax the surface.   Either way the following things will still affect the surface....

 This is a piece I specifically aged and waxed for this purpose.

Anything acidic will eat through the wax and of course then the patina too....

 And pretty quickly...

 And rubbing the liquid off made it worse...blotting it seemed to affect the surface less.

 Another angle --it seems to look different from different angles but either way it's a definite "mark"

 Leaving it longer didn't really seem to make that much of a difference...

 The photo above is immediately after 

 I've had this piece on our kitchen counter in one spot or another for a couple of months now...
And the spots are darkening back up.

 If you are a neat freak this may not be for you!  I think that if I lived with it as my counter I would just let it just keep building some character of it's own....

You can use scotch brite to take it back to it's original (which looks alot like stainless steel) 
If I had a really huge spot or something that left a very distinct mark I'd probably use that to gently blend it all in and then let it go.

The place we buy our zinc from sells a clear coat that you can spray the surface with but we have not used that and I'm not sure about it being "food safe"...
The general information out there says to just use a damp cloth and mild soap to clean it.
I've also read that you should use a cutting board because it scratches and protection for hot pans or dishes.