Seriously Simple Little Tent

I found this full size vintage flat sheet at an estate sale, and the large embroidery hoop at another sale. I thought they'd make a cute little tent for Claire. 

It was a super simple and fast project. I ironed about 3 inches down on one side and sewed a flat seam. 

Then I threaded a cord through the channel and tied it closed. 

Then I put the embroidery hoop on, about 15 inches from the gathered end. 

I painted it a fun green color to match the sheet. 

We hung it up and

it was an instant hit!

It's just big enough for Claire (those are stickers on her face) and her little pink arm chair~which is at home. When it's hung a little lower, the bottom of the tent can be spread out and weighted with some books or something to make it larger. 
The great part is, when she's finished playing, it disassembles in seconds and takes up very little storage space. It's almost as quick to put together, too.
Thanks for reading! 

Christmas Break

I hadn't really planned on taking much time off from blogging this Christmas, but I've been so busy gathering decorating supplies for the dinner and getting my house ready that I think I'm going to have to.

I sincerely hope you all have a wonderful Christmas  (if you celebrate something else~ I hope it's wonderful as well)  filled with love and peace.  And if nothing else, at least some really good fudge!

Birch Candles

I wanted to do something fun that would maybe get me excited about Christmas, so I started looking for a fun craft. I found a tutorial here for some pretty candles, but I changed it up a little. 

It really was easy. 

 I used these colors, and some cream colored pillar candles that I've had forever. 

 I got a birch branch (from this post) and noticed that it has black speckles all over it. 

 So after I painted some lighter brown horizontal streaks on, I added a few black "knots" and some black speckles. I didn't paint the top of the candle. I just liked the top left cream colored. 

 Then it was as easy as spraying the whole thing with spray adhesive and rolling it in Epsom salts. 

And that was it! Easy, fun and cost almost nothing. 

Thanks for reading!

Add or Subtract?

So I think I told you I'm doing the decorating for a Christmas dinner next week.  300 people (approximately) and the budget is $75. (approximately. If I go over, what will they do, fire me?) 

 So I thought pinecones and greenery. They're free. And antlers. If you can find enough people who will lend you some of theirs, those are also free. 

But here's the problem. I don't like it. Do I add more, or take away some of it? I think it needs more greenery (which will be real for the dinner) and maybe just less of everything else. I probably won't use the candles since we can't light them. No open flames in the building.

And just for fun, I saw those tire track hearts in our neighbor's driveway this morning. It made me smile and sigh at the same time, and I wanted to show them to you before the snow melted. I thought it was such a cute gesture, and I'd never seen that done before.

Thanks for reading!

NOT About Christmas

Because frankly, I'm just not in the mood yet.

So this is just a regular, rest of the year kind of post. I think I'm starting a new collection.

I don't know why these signs 

appeal to me so much. 

This one is metal with raised lettering. I liked the chain, too. 

I also found two more of these bottles. They don't have the paper on the outside 

But they're the same kind of bottle and

the label on this one is kind of cool. Who knew thirst could be violent? 

Also, I had to wonder 

what the heck waterbrash is. Apparently, we call it acid reflux now. Not quite as poetic, is it? Coryza is also much more fun to say than "common cold". 

Thanks for reading!

But It Was Cheap.

I don't need one, and I don't really have room for a big one, but someday I would like an authentic antique dough bowl. 

Like this one which sold on Etsy just a few weeks ago. 

And next time I find one and have a hundred (or more)clams in my pocket that don't need to go someplace else, I'll buy one. 

 But until then, this really cheap thrift store model will have to do.

(I did NOT pay 12 clams for this one. Not 8, either. There were a lot of numbers scribbled on this thing. I couldn't figure that one out.)

 It's a pretty bad imitation, actually. BUT!

 A little sanding

OK~a lot of sanding

 some Danish Oil

 and some stain

and it makes a pretty decent imposter!

Paint Dipped Pinecones

 I've been dipping pine cones all weekend. 

 They're going to go on the tables for the Christmas banquet. 

 It seems like this would be a simple thing with not much of a learning curve, but guess what? It wasn't simple for me, and there was a learning curve. 

 So here is what I learned. In case you get the urge to dip some pinecones in paint. 

A straight pin works well to pierce a spot on the pine cone. 

Then you'll want to use some of those cheap ornament hangers and put one (or two if they're short)through the hole. 

 That way you can hang the pinecones to dry. (Some sticks placed over a newspaper lined box makes a good drying rack.) 

 I also found that you'll want to water down the paint a little and take your time dipping them. You won't get as many air bubbles that way.

 You also won't have to suspend the pinecone over the paint can for 20 minutes while the excess paint drips off. Watered down paint only takes about 10 minutes.

(I kid! But only a little. This is a time consuming process.)

You're still going to feel like you're wasting a lot of paint. And well, let's face it, a lot of paint is being wasted. (Maybe you'll want to use the paint that's dripped off to paint something else. I wasn't thinking "multi-task!" while I was doing this, but it would work.)

 Something else I learned~you don't want to hang the pinecones with the pointy end up. If you do, the paint won't drain off very well and you get this disgusting looking blob that has paint burbling out of it even after 24 hours of drying. I ended up throwing that one away. Even though nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite like oozing paint.

Surprisingly enough, the ones that were hung by the largest part of the middle turned out the best. 

I only have 4 more boxes of pinecones to go!

(see where there was an air bubble on the second pinecone on the left? I didn't dip slow enough on that one.)

Happy Dipping!