Mom's ornaments on the tree

The ornaments I made my mother for her birthday displayed on her tree. Also the advent trees, wreath, and mantle decorations I made to coordinate.

Making Christmas - Super photo-heavy post

This year's tree - red, aqua and white.

Star ornament for Doodlebug.

Star ornament I made for Ladybug.

Shatterproof ornament covered with ribbon.

Red ornaments made with the leftover paper from the stars. Pinwheels made from double sided scrapbook paper. The smaller star is one of the salt dough ornaments I made last year. The ball ornaments in this shot were all purchased.

Scrapbook paper chain and one of last year's salt dough ornaments.

Paper chain, no flash.

Another shot of the tree - no flash.

Another shatterproof ornament with ribbon.

Purchased ornaments - good shot of the color scheme in action. :-)

Paper pinwheel, ribbon ornament and one of last year's dough gingerbread men. I still have 30 paper pinwheels that I am either going to use to make a window treatment, or a garland to go on the wall. I've not quite decided yet.

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

As an artist and mom I love Melissa & Doug toys - their stuff is so creative and fun. There are a few things (like the wooden sushi set) that I would buy for myself if I thought I could keep the kids off of it. LOL
A friend & fellow mom-blogger let me know about a holiday offer just in time for the holidays!

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

Christmas Crafting has begun!

It's not even Halloween yet, but I have already started my holiday crafting.

My mother's birthday is the week before Christmas, and the woman LOVES her Christmas tree. This year for her birthday, I decided to make her a bunch of ornaments.

Since she is an English teacher, I went with book pages as my inspiration.
I did a black and cream color palate, using pages from a water damaged book, scrapbook paper, grosgrain ribbon and crepe paper.

 I got three large, plastic ornaments from the dollar store and decoupaged them with strips of scrapbook paper. I added grosgrain ribbon bows to dress them up a bit.

The oval ornaments are wooden craft blanks that I covered with scrapbook paper. The words are spelled out with Scrabble letter tiles I found at Fuzzimo dot com and printed out on my color printer. I added a ribbon hanger and black crepe paper ruffle to each one, and glittered the edges.

The large twisted ornament is another dollar store purchase that was decoupaged with book pages.
Due to the odd shape, this one took forever to do, so I won't be doing any more like it. I also got a little crazy with the glitter on this one, but I think it looks good.

I also dressed up a dollar store wreath, with circles of the various scrapbook papers. Each one has a crepe paper ruffle and glitter. They also each have a Scrabble tile letter, spelling out "Joyeaux Noel".

I also worked in a Victorian clip art Santa, and a grosgrain ribbon bow.

 This is a dozen 3 inch diameter plastic ornaments that I got at the dollar store. $1 for all 12 - can't beat that price! They are all decoupaged with the scrapbook papers and sealed with satin finish decoupage medium.

These are simple spheres made from alternating circles of card stock and scrapbook paper. I glittered the edges and sewed buttons to the top and bottom of each. These are 4 inches in diameter.

These were done the same way, but with 1 1/2 inch diameter circles, and I added a couple of beads at the top of each one. 

 This is a topiary Christmas tree - more dollar store supplies - decoupaged with book pages, and decorated with vintage buttons and about a metric ton of glitter. LOL

Finally, I made a garland for the tree by stringing buttons onto embroidery floss. They are spaced about an inch and a half apart - I tried to put them closer, but it made the whole thing too stiff and it didn't drape well.
All of the buttons I used for this project were ones I got from my late grandmother. I thought that incorporating her mother's buttons might everything a little more special for my mom.


Now that this project is put to bed, I need to figure out what I am making for my own holiday decorating. Doodlebug is 2 this year, so I know she'll be getting at the tree a lot. Everything is going to have to be non-breakable, so I'll be using a lot of felt and paper. Beyond knowing I want to do aqua, red and white though, I don't know exactly what I will be making.
I'm sure I'll be posting pics before long though. :-)

Back to Blog-land

I have been super busy the past few weeks - Ladybug started back to school and Girl Scouts, I've been working, and we're gearing up for a huge yard sale. I have been productive though. I just finished two sets of painted and embroidered canvases. This weekend they will be going to a new diner in Wilmington that displays work by local artists. This is "Roxie & Vince"

And this set is "Esteban & Maria"

I'm a little more than halfway done with a set of three more canvases. I'll be posting them when they are finished.