When Life Gives you...

When life gives you lemons  broken limbs, make lemonade stuff.

Last Wednesday good O' East Tennessee had a very beautiful and very dangerous ice storm.

Track behind my house

This one above is my favorite

But, because of the heavy ice, I had some HUGE (even though they don't look big here) limbs fall off of my pine tree. Oh well, I was able to make these lovely things from the branches and have an idea for the rest of the limbs (to come much later).

Tealight candle out of a broken solar light (top taken off), glass vase, and branches from pine tree.

Wreath from ribbon, fake flowers, and branches

Tomato cage tree
Tutorial here: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Make-a-Tomato-Cage-Christmas-Trees-112604931

"Oh the Places You will Go" Map Shelf and Vacation Memories Display

This has been an idea at least 10 years in the making. I was one of those odd little girls that enjoyed reading decorating magazines while all my friends were reading Teen. In one of the magazines, I came across a picture of this long shelf with tiny bottles displayed on it. Within those bottles were pieces of the earth from all parts of the world. I remembered thinking how wonderful it would be to visit all those exotic places one day. Right then and there, I decided to start my own collection. Now, 10 years later, I've finally begun to display some of my collection and hope to add loads more from many more destinations to come.

Time: 1 hour

Supplies:
Old spice rack
Old shelf
Recycled Map
Trip brochures
Mod Podge

Steps:

1. Gather supplies

2. Measure shelf ledges and cut map pieces to fit

3. Mod Podge the ledges and cover with map pieces

4. Clip with clothes pins and let dry then Mod Podge the tops of map pieces

5. Find travel brochures from past trips and trace spice container lids on chosen picture

6. Glue on top of lids then label locations and dates on the pictures. When dry, Mod Podge over all.

7. Fill containers with elements from your past vacations (shells, sand, rocks, etc.)

8. Display and visit daily for fond memory recollection



I entered this in Crafting with the Stars, so stop by and check it out!

Where is Santa Now? Presidential Map

I'm a teacher, so old maps are EVERYWHERE for the taking (why is it teachers never want to throw anything out????). I found this old Presidential map and decided to turn it into a silly "Where is Santa Now" decoration.

Time: 30 minutes

Supplies:
1. Old Map
2. Hat and scarf stickers
3. White paint
4. Glitter paint

Steps:

1. Giggle a lot while putting hats on the past presidents

2. Paint over any unwanted wording

3. Hang Santa from a ribbon (He is warming up in Florida right now ;)

A "Bright" Christmas Tree Idea

Time: 1 hour

Supplies:
1. Old light-bulbs
2. Craft wire
3. Punch nails
4. Ribbon
5. Old frame (I got mine at a thrift store for .50 cents)

Steps:

1. Spray paint the old bulbs

2. Nail in punch nails and tie craft wire to each

3. Tie ribbon around each light-bulb and string onto wire hanger
4. Hang with cute ribbon

Bad Sweater Wreath :)

Lauren's "Ugly Sweaters Couldn't be Better" party 12/10/2010

Have you been to your annual Bad Sweater Party yet? If so, you can turn that bad sweater into a good wreath for your door :)

I found this idea here: Green Eyed Monster 

Time: 1 hour

Supplies:
1.Wire hanger
2.Ugly Sweater
3. Scissors
4. craft wire

Steps:

 1. cut out neck and sleeves of sweater

2. Cut into long strips then into squares

 3. Thread through wire while ever so often making a "spacer" out of the rim of the sweater.

 4. Once you get to the end, wire the ends together and cover with remaining scraps of sweater

Then, as an added bonus, you can wear the sleeve to your next Christmas party ;)

Twister!

I am a hard core bargain hunter, but sometimes, you get what you pay for. Take for instance this ping-pong table that I purchased at a yardsale for $10.00 (balls and all).

You can't really tell it's a ping-pong table from the picture because I've already used it as a spray painting station, but let me tell you, this table has been a pain since day one. First off, it is way to massive to fit in my basement. Secondly, when I set it up the first time, it was warped. Thirdly, my wonderful stepfather caused much pain to himself hauling it home for me, and I couldn't ask him to haul it to the dump. So......I've been trying to think of a good way to put it to use! Then, the idea for game boards was born!

Time: 2 hours

Supplies:
1. White, red, blue, yellow, and green left-over paint
2. half of a ping-pong table (legs taken off)
3. Used paint cans
4. Recycled political sign
5. Thumb tack
6. Screw with circle on the end (I'm not sure what these are called)
7. Mod Podge

Steps:

1. Paint entire board white
2. Line up 4 paint cans across the board
3. Line up 6 paint cans down the board
4. Trace circles around each can then move until you have 24 circles (some people can't "eye" things, but I'm pretty good at it. If you want it to be perfect, measure the inches from each circle)

5. Paint in circles. Let dry, then do a second coat.
6. While drying, paint a recycled political sign white (mine was Steve Burns for sheriff, which he won!)

7. Trace and cut out 4 circles of each color (Blue, green, red, and yellow)

8. Draw or trace hand and feet symbols (small children's prints would be soooo cute on this!) and label "Right" and "Left"
9. Glue down circles
10. Mod Podge over entire board then let dry

11. Poke a thumb tack through the end of a screwy-hook-circle-thingy (lose enough to spin it)
12. Make your friends play this at your Christmas party :) (pictures to come)

Craft Room Makeover!

After 

Before

I'm making room for my very first sewing machine (thanks mom) that's coming this Christmas! :)

Ribbon hanger made from "sticky hooks" and old window-blind twisty things

To be sewing station

See, all clean!