She's baaaaack!

New Year's Resolution numero uno:  Update the Blog

Yes, it's been over 2 1/2 years.  I've been busy.  Don't judge.  My oldest is now graduated from HS and is off to his Freshman year at the University of Richmond.  Since my last post I have probably seen over 300 baseball games and driven 80,000 miles (no joke) getting my 3 boys where they need to go.  All good things I am blessed to do.

I am going to start this update off with pictures of one of my holiday mantles.  Hopefully I haven't posted these before.  Then, I'm going to update with some pictures of the many projects from 2012 and 2013.  I hope you enjoy.

 This mantle was created from glass candlesticks, glass and glitter ornaments, and other sparkly things.  The two trees were an after Christmas score from Wisteria catalog.  I actually have 2 more that are a smaller size.  They're all made from birch bark and are super cool.  Especially at 75% off!  The ornaments range from mouth-blown glass to cheap glittered Michael's finds to modern mercury glass.  In the picture to the right below you'll see the latest addition, a glittered bristled diamond shape found at Crate & Barrel just this year.

My wooden cherub is very dear to me.  It was given to me by my mom and appears to be hand-carved.  In the past, I've made a new greenery swag every single year, accenting it with a great snowflake I found locally at 75% off.  But this year I bought some preserved boxwood which came in a package with some other preserved greenery.  I am hoping it will keep year to year.  I do know there were no needles or dried leaves to clean up when I took it all down!

My holiday style usually has plenty of handmade ornaments made from felt and wool.  This mantle is a departure from that but it is my favorite.  The rope lights make everything GLOW.  It's the first decoration up and the last to come down.

Next year I'm plotting a second mantle that will be all white-based trees.  I've got some metal, felt, bristle-brush, and I'm plotting to make several using all the ribbing scraps from the ivory sweaters I've used over the years.  I've already ordered some tall styrofoam cones for this project.  The strips of ribbing will go around the cones and then I'll cut them into "needles."  I may add some vintage brooches for sparkle or maybe some pearl beads.

I also ordered some small cones (4" in height) and will make some small tree ornaments using bright colored ribbing scraps.  I have an entire bin of ribbing scraps so I anticipate a lot of fun with this project.


Welcome to 2014.  See you soon!  I promise.