LIVING IVY CHRISTMAS WREATH

I promised myself I wouldn't make my life any crazier this holiday season by decorating this house while trying to renovate the other.  However, with company coming this weekend, I felt like I needed to make things just a bit festive so they wouldn't think I was a complete scrooge.  Time to put creativity to the test, using what is at hand.  In this case it was an ivy plant I had in my kitchen.  Looked like a perfect candidate for a Christmas wreath to me. 

This went together so fast and was so easy!  You could make this out of any trailing plant.  You just need a couple of things you probably already have.

Hot Glue Gun

Twig Wreath or any wreath form

Dowel Rod or stick

 
All I did was shove a dowel rod into a twig wreath form and secure it with a generous amount of hot glue.  After it was set, I just broke off the dowel rod to the length I needed and shoved the whole thing in the center of the plant.

At this point I separated the ivy vines and began winding them around the wreath form.  Every now and then I secured it with a few "twist ties" I made from this twiggy looking paper-wrapped wire stuff, which I loved because it blends right in.  (Floral wire would work fine too.)

Add a pretty bow and you have a lovely living wreath that won't dry out and lose needles.

Add a wooden deer with a festive ribbon around his neck for that extra holiday decor cuteness factor.

How easy was that?!  After the holidays, I'll just remove the bow and leave the wreath form in for a pretty ivy topiary.  (I suspect it will make a grand reappearance sometime around Valentines Day.)  Not bad for just using stuff I had.  Zero dollars......perfect for my holiday budget!
I still have one or two more easy holiday decor magic tricks up my sleeve.
  

STRANGE THINGS ARE HAPPENING

Some strange things are happening at Silo Hill Farm.....

Let's start with the above picture.  Remember my Succulent Planter that I made?

You know....the one with the cute/creepy little plant called Baby Toes?

Well, succulents don't normally grow very fast, but it seemed to be "still alive" every time I looked at it, which made me happy. Then one day, this appeared...

Just a little bud.  So I watched it and this is what happened.....

Exotic, isn't it?  You can see that it has 3 more little buds on it so I'll get to watch this happen again.   
Other strange things are happening here at the farm as well.  For instance, after years of living here and loving it, we have made a decision to sell our farm.  Yep, that's a big one.  During our 23 years of marriage, we have always lived in the country or the mountains.  This time we are stepping out of our comfort zone a little and we're going to buy a house in town.  A little more house and a lot less land is in our future.  Should be interesting.
Along with that decision, I have also given up my job.  One more week and I'm done.  I have a lot on my plate getting this house and farm ready to sell, but I suppose I'll have a little more time for creativity as well.  I'll also have time for a little more blogging, who knows?  I do have several things to share, like, I met 2 more awesome bloggers this summer AND I did learn some furniture painting which I have yet to show you AND, I'm still working on my black and white bedroom makeover.
Another thing I know that I'll have time for is a little more reading....something I have missed in all of my busyness.  I'm starting out with this....

I read "The Great Gatsby" in Jr. High English class.  I have zero recollection of it (hello...it was Jr. High....boys and fashion were the center of my world) so wanted to read it again before I saw the movie.  When Jessica at The Thriftiness Miss asked me, along with Mel from Mellywood's Mansion and Shatzi at Love and Laundry to join in a read and then watch challenge, I jumped right in!  Care to join us?  It's not too late (I'm picking up my book tomorrow) and you can read about it and sign up at The Thriftiness Miss:  The Great Gatsby Challenge.  These are some great girls, a great book,  supposedly an awesome movie.  I'm looking forward to reading, watching and discussing it and I'm hoping some of you will join in!

PEBBLE CANDLESCAPE: ONE FOR THE GUYS

I think gifts for guys are some of the hardest gifts to find or make.  (At least I always have a hard time with it.)  Usually when I go to a cookout, I just take a bottle of wine and a side dish.  Most guys are pretty proud of their grilling skills, so I wanted to make something to give the chef of the day.

This project was inspired by Linda at "With a Blast" when she made a really pretty one that you can see HERE.  I was going for something a little more masculine.  
My supplies were simple...

plastic container with a lid

aquarium pebbles

smooth stones

box of matches

candles

raffia

double stick tape

Not shown:   scrap of burlap, brown paper bag and a stamp

This was so fast and easy.  I put the pebbles in the bottom of the container along with a few larger smooth stones and pushed the candles down in.

I used a piece of brown paper grocery bag and wrapped it around my match box and secured it with double-stick tape.

I thought it looked too plain and the white ends drove me nuts.  I colored the white ends with a brown marker.  I took a scrap of burlap and stamped it with the letter "B" for the guys initial and secured it with double-stick tape.  Much better.

Now all I needed to do was tie some raffia around it.  My friend Judy taught me that raffia behaves better if it's wet, so I soaked it in a bowl of water for a few minutes and then just smoothed it out and tied it around the container with a simple knot.

Put the matches in, pop the lid on and done.  So simple and so fast.  Perfect for a deck or patio and if fire is a concern, you can add water to the pebbles.  Also perfect for a quick Father's Day gift.  I guess you could turn this into a beach themed candle by adding a few shells as well, but I didn't.  
I did make a similar floating candlescape for a hostess gift earlier this spring....

You can read about that one HERE.  It was also fun and easy to make.

So there you go Linda....I've knocked off one of your projects...TWICE!  Thanks for the inspiration girl!

FLEUR-DE-LIS TILE

I'm still working up my nerve to paint my bedroom furniture black and white.  In the meantime, I made a tile to hang on my wall.  

I've always loved the fleur-de-lis image and when I found a sticker on clearance last fall, I snapped it up.  I also snapped up another ugly tile at Big Lots.   I even remembered to snap a picture before I painted it.  Hideous, really.

 The last one I picked up was pretty cheap...marked down to $3.00.  This one was even less...

Trust me....they're all ugly back there in the clearance section, but I spray painted it with white primer and had a clean slate.  I gathered a few items from my craft room.....

...including this great black and white washi tape that I found at Michaels.  I almost never buy any craft supplies, but I almost never go in Michaels either.  I was drawn to this 12 yd. roll by my 40% off coupon.

I stuck the decal on my tile and added the washi tape around the edges.  I used a ruler and an exacto knife to miter the corners.

If you look carefully at my corners, you can see that I was way too lazy to line up the pattern.  My friend Tara at Suburble, who inspired this part of the project, did a much nicer job with hers and you can see her project HERE.  Thank you for the inspiration Tara!
Anyway, I used some black silk ribbon tied on to the back as a hangar.  I kind of thought I was done, but it really did need a little sparkle.  Just a few of my favorite stick-on gems.  (Less is more, right?)

All in all this project took me about 15 minutes and I have just the spot for it in my soon to be black and white bedroom.

 I know I can't put off the furniture painting forever, but at least I can have a little fun while I'm stalling!
 

FRAMED CLAY MEDALLION

Last week I showed you this black and white frame that I made as a knock-off project from Mary at Sweet Little Bluebird for our Inspiration Cafe "It's a Steal" series.  

 It was a fun project to make and it started with the medallion that I made from clay. 
I was actually inspired to make this medallion by my friend Amy from While Wearing Heels, when she made this....

Fragile Hearts Made of Clay

Aren't they lovely?!  If you click on that link, she'll even give you a recipe to make your own clay!
I really like playing with clay.  I usually use Sculpey or Fimo clay because I find that I have less fails with those store brands.  I also have some cool clay tools that I got from Hobby Lobby.

You don't need to have these tools.  If you read what they do, you can improvise with things already have.
I made a ball out of some white clay and then flattened it out to a circle using a can of vegetables from my pantry.  I have a beautiful glass plate that has a raised graphic design on the back side and I made an impression of it on the medallion.

I put it the medallion on a foil covered cookie sheet and baked it according the directions on the package of clay.
I got out a few supplies from my craft room....

A black frame that I've used for several projects, some stick on gems, and my some textured paper from my favorite free paper source....wall paper sample books.
I made a circle slightly larger than my medallion out of some black paper and used the textured white paper sample for my main background.  After playing around with the gems for a bit, I decided that just one faux black pearl one was enough. 

I had fun doing this knock off project.  If you have a project that you would like to enter in our Inspiration Cafe "It's a Steal" link party, get started on it because our party will open on June 10th.  That should be plenty of time for you to find some inspiration from another blogger and do a post.  Please don't forget to ask permission and give proper credit links!  

Thank you Amy and Mary!  Y'all are awesome!      

ONE MILLION PEOPLE CAN'T BE WRONG!!

Did you check out that title?  Having a million page views is a seriously awesome thing and my good friend and fellow blogger Mary at Sweet Little Bluebird  has hit over 1 million page views this past week.  Isn't that great?!  

Because all of the girls at the Inspiration Cafe are so proud of Mary's accomplishment, we decided to each pick a project from her blog and put our own spin on it. (Ssshhhh...she doesn't know it until she sees these posts.) 
Mary makes some killer recipes and is a far better cook than I could ever hope to be; but did you know she is also a really great crafter?  I have loved so many of her projects, however, the one I chose for inspiration was a frame project. 
I love the way Mary uses texture and dimension in her frame crafts and I wanted to try to replicate that here using a little medallion I made out of clay.

It was a fun project to make and I chose the black and white color scheme that Mary used on her Strings of My Heart Frame because I think it's elegant and classy....kind of like Mary!

  
Let me show you some of Mary's frame projects and maybe you'll be inspired to make one or two of your own.  

Adorable DIY Fall Decor in Minutes

DIY Framed Key Charms

DIY Best Friend Heart Charm Frame Set

St. Patricks Day

I Can't Believe I Made That!

Love Birds

 Frame It! Holiday Decor

Did you find something to inspire you?  I hope so!  If you are not already one of Mary's followers, you might want to be...if she doesn't inspire you with her crafting projects, I know you'll love some of her mad cooking skills!  Head on over to Sweet Little Bluebird and tell Mary congratulations on her amazing accomplishments.
You can see what projects the other Inspiration Cafe Girls replicated by clicking on these links...

Mellywood's Mansion

NorthShore Days

The Beating Hearth   

You're awesome Mary and we love you! 

 

BUTTERFLY HOOP

I know that embroidery hoop projects abound in the craft blog world.  When my sweet neighbor stopped by and gave me 3 of them one day last fall, I had no idea what I would do with them.  Then my great blog friend gave me the spark I needed to make get off of my butt and use one.

Mel, from Mellywood's Mansion has done a couple of hoop projects that were just awesome.   She sews....I don't like to sew.  When I saw her make this one, I looked at it a long time and actually even considered getting out my sewing machine.

Quilt Organizer

Isn't that awesome?  I mean really, it's cute, clever and functional.  Like I said, I don't like to sew, but, she gave me an idea.  I found this cute clothes pin bag at Goodwill for 50 cents.  I don't even have a clothesline, but I loved the fabric and the colors.

This clothespin bag was handmade, double-sided and very well sewn.  I took out my implements of destruction and began to take it apart, saving every inch of that pretty fabric that I could.

Then I took out my 3 hoops and tried to figure out which one the fabric would fit in.  I settled on an awesome oval hoop.  But it was brown.  Not only was it brown, but upon further inspection and much to my surprise, it wasn't even wooden.  The outer part was rubber and just stretched over the inner plastic piece.  Whatever.  I was going to spray paint it with white primer anyway.

 

Once it was dry, I layered my two pieces of fabric and inserted it in the hoop. 

After trimming off all of the excess fabric, it looked pretty good.  Plain, but good.

"Needs embellishment" is the battle cry of every crafter and this project certainly need a little.  I used one of the clothespin bag tie straps and made a ribbon.   Still needs more embellishment.  I decided to go with some fluttery winged butterflies.  

I love these things and I saved them from some some previous crafts, because I cannot throw anything away.  You can get the tutorial for making them HERE.  I attached them with some glue dots, which will peel right off when I'm tired of this look.  In the mean time...it's a little spot of summer right on my shelf in my kitchen!

Thank you Mel for the awesome inspiration!  You're awesome girl! 

  
Linking up to any or all of these fine parties:
 

MAKE AN EASY ORIOLE FEEDER

Once again, I was about to throw something in the trash and realized that I could make something useful out of it.  It's gotten to be an affliction and I might be starting to get a little worried about it! 

I love it when I see that first flash of orange that lets me know the orioles have arrived!  Their song is so beautiful and unique that I often hear them for a few days before they are brave enough to make an appearance.  For years I fed them orange halves that I just sat out on my deck rail because all of my hanging space is taken up by hummingbird feeders.  But....it was messy and the orange halves would draw ants or get blown off of the deck rail.  Then, my sister told me a secret.....
Orioles LOVE grape jelly!!!  I did not know that. Much cheaper than oranges.  I started putting grape jelly out for them and they did love it, but....same problem...either my dish got covered with ants or blown off or worse yet, if it rained, the jelly would flood out all over the deck and make it sticky.  I am happy to say that I have solved all of those problems and did it for FREE...using something I was about to throw away.

You can use any container that has a lid, mine just happened to be the little container that these mini pies came in.  (Thank goodness I'm too lazy, I mean busy, to bake a pie.)  
I primed it with some spray paint and then painted it orange because orioles are attracted to orange. 
I found another little plastic something to hold the jelly in the center, added some of those little decorative glass pebbles around it to weight it down when the wind blows.  Then I put water in the rocks as an ant barrier so they couldn't get to the jelly.  

I sat it out on the deck rail using the inverted lid kind of like a coaster under neath.  When it rains, all I have to do is put the lid over it.  

I left one black...just to see if it really made a difference to the orioles, but I'm guessing once they arrive and figure it out it won't.

They're due any day now and I'm ready for them.  Just waiting for that first flash of brilliant orange!

I think one of these and a jar of jelly would make a great inexpensive Mother's Day gift, don't you?

Linking up to any or all of these fine parties.....