Let me play catch up~

And I’ve missed all of you!

It’s been MORE than a little tough on this end.
In fact, as I half type–half peck this out with a broken finger…
in a splint…I’ll have more to share.  But later on that one!

I’m settling into my new role as a care giver,
I’ve actually gotten to work on a few projects,
I finally took down *everything* Christmas—except the tree.
It’s sooooooooo pretty I can’t do it!

Picture this~ 900 white lights, some twinkling.
300 blue lights, some twinkling.
Varying shades of white,
tarnished silvers & golds.
Crystal & rhinestone crosses, glittered pine cones,
crystallized branches & feathery doves.
Garlands of white Poinsettia and snowflakes.
A punctuation of cobalt blue vintage balls,
and a large vintage mercury glass tree topper!
Oh!  And a sheer, fluffy, delicately ruffled skirt!

Could YOU take it down yet?

W e l l—I’m not ready.

It’s the only thing left!

Catherine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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scrap wood STARS!

Before Christmas I spent a gOOd bit of time cutting out STARS.

No joke-

a LOT of them.

I wanted them for holiday decorating, for REsale, and for an afternoon of play with some young nieces!  (pictured are 3 of said characters!)

I dug through my wood stashes~and found a good variety to play with!

I’d already drawn out a bunch of star shapes till I was happy with one, then printed it out on heavy card-stock paper in different sizes—to create a pattern.

I cut out my stars on a band saw.  I want one SO badly, but can’t afford one yet.  The strippers are pretty kind to let me use theirs—I bring FOOD BRIBES!

I sanded the edges of all then– Painted some, Decoupaged others on one side, and just left some RAW.   Drilled holes at the drill press for jute string to hang them.

Had a lot of fun cutting out those thick “PUFFY” stars—which I’m keeping!

Catherine

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“trash” to treasures!

Penny-pinching.  Tight.  Cheap.

Hoarder.

Thrifty.  Frugal.  Economical.

Sparing.  Careful.  Prudent.  Efficient.

O k a y—a pinch of Parsimonious.  Yes, I’m a bit of all of the above.

I cut a LOT of wood.  And I’m not very fast to toss the scraps into the garbage OR burn pile.  You just NEVER know when you’ll NEED some small scrap.  For a test cut, a spacer, all kinds of—things.  And then there’s always that UNexpected—Project.

Call it a WooD CraFT project!

Like-

-made from SCRAPs!

AND-

All kinds of STARS for Christmas!

From all kinds of scrap wood AND some leather-clad wood!

AND-

Do you SEE why I don’t toss wood scraps so capriciously?

I picked up a CRAZY CHECK today for—

a variety of my stars, the Christmas Tree shelf, a scrap wood box, and the bottom rustic coat hanger-shelf!  Woot-woot!

From the TRASH to Paid TREASURES!

Catherine

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my butt-kicking start for 2018

I’m not off to a good start.

My computer “crashed.”  I’m struggling with the new one.  EVERYthing didn’t transfer as they said and I still haven’t figured out where my pictures are loading—just TWO of the issues.

Apparently I got a bit run down with my big To Do List before Christmas ~which all came crashing in on me.  Surprise, surprise.  No matter the flu shot, I always seem to catch something.  I am NOT a winter-girl.

Whatever I caught this time really took hold—mostly all in my chest.  And so goes the cycle of taking expectorants to cough out the gook, but cough suppressants to get relief  from the super sore throat-pounding headache-no sleep from coughing.  And the Dr’s office says it’s just a virus~not antibiotic grade.  The OTC stuff is making me loopy -so power tools are off limits- and I’m not level-headed enough for painting.  I’m bored silly.

It’s been 3 weeks and I think I’ve coughed out a gallon of mucus.  I’m finally getting some quality sleep and this morning can finally feel a difference breathing.

I’ve put away virtually all of the Christmas decor— s l o w l y.  It’s about all the energy I could muster.  Just one item remains—the upstairs Christmas tree is the last vestige and one source of –comfort– while I’ve been sick.

A n d  Christmas songs and Christmas movies!

But since I’m not a Christmas baby and tomorrow is my B’day. . .

I guess  I should take it down now.

Catherine

Actually~ where’s the wine? ♥

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…is there such a thing?

…as a Christmas

 hangover? 

My body, my energy, my motivation has called a big ole time out on me.  I spent the 2 days after Christmas doing…absolutely…NOTHING.  Nada.  Zilch.

It was  W O N D E R f u l !

W e l l~ I did finally do the Christmas day dishes early Wednesday morning.

I sorted and organized everything Christmas night and then decided—

I just didn’t FEEL like doing the rest.

After 2 glorious days of slackin’ off, I’m getting back in gear (uhgh!).

This year’s decorating seemed to stick close to just Reds and Whites…including decorating all the lighting!

Decorating stayed very simple–and mostly just little touches of Reds & Whites.

 

 

–

And then there were

the TREES!

But~

If you’ve followed my blog long enough, you know I do something FuN & crazy every year for the kiddo’s Christmas tree!

I revisited the long-time-idea of going UPside down!

When I stumbled onto a stuffed lower half of Santa…well, it was meant to be!

Starting with a TREE…

Couldn’t be fake—the “hinged” arms would just fall down.

Okay, REAL.  Would have to be smaller to emphasize being off the floor.  Would have to have firm branches to stay straight out.  Would need to cut the trunk LOW to the bottom branches to lay flat on the ceiling.

I screwed an eye bolt into the bottom of the trunk, and a molly bolt & strong cup hook into the ceiling~& hung it up!

The Santa came with a hook to catch the trunk, and I happened to already have a stuffed Santa Hat to poke through the other side of the tree—HoHoHo!

Santa’s legs were wired so I manipulated them to look like he was climbing in the tree.  Wait a minute~is that really Mr GRINCH stealing our tree?

I strung the lights, I added “snow,” and decorated with lots of CANDY!  (Including licorice tinsel)  The kiddos like to “EAT” the tree here!

This is After Christmas with much of its candy eaten!  But it still looks fun!  The kids LUV’d it—and so did the adults!  I noticed several walking over to take another look at it all!

I found some amAzing lights to put on the kiddo’s tree this year—below are the color options it gives!  You can pick a color or some combo of—that’s not a filter!  There’s also a CANDY-color option of white-pink-purple-orange-red.  Then you can select solid-flashing-chasing-twinkling-fade!

With just the white lights to see (what’s left) the “decorations!”

This year we TRULY took pics UNDER the tree!

(wink–wink)

I used a softer light-scheme!

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my Christmas tree shelf

–

About a month ago,

my good friend Gail wrote a post on her blog

My RePurposed Life

sharing HER version of the DIY Workshop Home Depot challenge going around~

the Holiday tree shelf!

I thought it was such a cute idea and I wanted to play too!

Especially after she shared several versions by fellow bloggers—all SO adorable!  Aren’t they fun!?!

–

–

–

–

First Gail’s

and then some fellow blogger’s creative versions!

See!  Adorable, right?!

Now go check out the great tutorial she wrote so

you can create YOURS too!

And now here’s MY version!

I used scrap cuts from varying projects–which dictated its size.  And you can see I was still playing with the end of my stamped pallet board supply!

I also decided to miter all the joints of mine for a tight, rigid fit AND cut very crude, wonky ends on the “branches!”

Wouldn’t it be even more fun to use live edge boards for the “branches?!?”

What a FuN and simple project!

Thanks for sharing Gail!

Catherine

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juggling projects

Besides MY OWN crazy array of the usual projects,

I have been ~ I am

juggling projects for 2 other families!

For Judy~ REstyling some ladder-back chairs AND a trestle table,

plus a REdesign for a change of TV.

And THEN there is a “pseudo estate sale” for a senior couple leaving their home of MANY years–overwhelming and exhausting in the best of circumstances.  I’ll be helping them sell their treasures at the antique mall beginning April 1st!

The preliminary work is almost daunting–almost.  One bite at a time, it’ll get done!  Dressers are getting stripped–one completely REstyled!  Things are getting painted, even REcreated—

and EVERYthing is getting cleaned and polished!

Bear with me—COOL PICTURES ARE COMING!  I promise!  ; D

Catherine

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“upholstering” a box

I’m still

DEChristmasing

the house.

With 3 floors—there’s a lot to do and I’m still tryin’ to find my MOJO!

All those Christmas cards need to come down off the framed vintage crib springs too.

Now -to me- except for the photo cards, the rest would be tossed.  But my mother keeps them all.  ALL.   -???-

So~shortly after Christmas, while I was out running errands, I happened on these holiday boxes being clearanced for $4.  I thought the IDEA was interesting and her cards could be stored in it.  The EXECUTION however—Uuuuhg!

But it could be improved on!

I taped off the book page edges and “erased” their decorative finish with Kilz.

I gave it a couple of days to dry thoroughly, and this morning, brought it down to the LL dining table to cut and apply some linen.

I collect old linen from any source I can find it.  I even collect the hideous-ugly embroidered dresser scarves-table runners-table cloths -BECAUSE- there’s usually still a good amount of plain material left to be used in lots of projects!  And OLD linen is often such a better quality!

I wash it in hot water and over dry it in the dryer so it’s shrunken, has a tighter weave, and the fibers end up “fluffier!”  Same with matte lasse!  I LUV using these fabrics for projects!

I used wall paper paste to apply the fabric.  I love spray adhesives and Mod Podge, but they don’t let you manipulate & adjust things while you’re working.  A really good wall paper paste will.  And even if it “bleeds through” your fabric, it will [usually] dry without leaving any marks.

Once the linen was applied and dry, I switched to Mod Podge to get a really good bond turning and gluing those edges.  I also used the antiquing matte finish so the edges would have a little darker edging.

~Have you tried this one yet?  It gives your work an aged look!

I pulled some slight blue ribbon to trim out the edges of the lid—just for a cleaner finish. (mom favors blues and I had no green left)

The cards can be put away discretely with her other books AND be available when she needs them next Nov.

I’m toying with some gold or silver leafed lettering down the spline just like any book would have. . . ehhhhh.

tbc. . .

Catherine

—now put those cards away.

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so~when do YOU take the tree down?

I’ve always wondered about this, so I went online to see if there are any actual “guidelines” on this subject.

“Every family moves at their own pace when it comes to taking down Christmas trees and decorations, but there are certain popular dates to remember that are approaching when people will start taking them down. Those specific dates follow either religious or even just superstitious guidelines.”     SOURCE

New Year’s Eve.

Superstitions would have you take the tree down and UNdecorate before midnight on the last day of the year so not to drag old baggage and bad luck into the New Year.

January 5th.

Tradition considers THIS to be the 12th day of Christmas—the last day of all the Christmas celebrations and merriment.

January 6th.

Taking down the tree on this day is usually in observance of the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day (a Christian holiday).

Now, at the other end of this query lie the folks that take it down and to the curb –Christmas night– yikes!

 

I admit that -for me- it can be the end of January

before I start UNdecorating!

Catherine

 

 

 

 

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but, 2 days before Christmas…

. . . 2 of my nieces came to string marshmallow garlands to go around the candy-decorated “kiddo” tree!  A VERY sticky proposition I was glad to hand over!

*They eat the tree decorations—I have less to take down later~win win!  

The girls and I sat across the LL dining table from each other working on 2 different projects—singing joyously (me probably off key) to Christmas carols!

Hmmmm~ 2 days before Christmas, 2 nieces, 2 projects!  ; D

 

MY project was a little more

–

“Grinchy!“

–

1st~ The night before I grabbed a latex glove and some Great Stuff, which I sprayed into the glove to fill out and create some shape!

2nd~ I poked wire down the fingers to be able to bend and shape the hand.  I tried it out in a few poses -which showed I needed to poke in some more wire.

Next~ I straightened the hand and traced around it on the long haired fur I bought.

I cut out the fur while the hot glue gun was heating up…

and at last began gluing fur to the glove.

–

*my own hands became a little furry in this too!

And that’s the palm side glued on.

Next challenge was to connect the top side fur to the glove and close in the sides of those fingers—a most clumsy proposition.  We all laughed at how much it looked like the girls’ huge Labra-Doodle, Champ!

Once it was all connected, I realized the palm side would need a good hair cut -and the overall fingers- for additional shaping.  And THEN we could finally move on to the dye bath!  The GRINCH is green after all!

That’s me—harassing poor Champ with a Mohawk-do!

We were in a major snow storm while all this was going on and I didn’t feel like running outside to the garage for more gloves, so I ended up dyeing my hands too.  L o v e l y.  In desperation, I sprayed Clorox Clean up over my hands and scrubbed.  Except for under my nails, the Rit Dye came off fairly easily!

–

Unfortunately, the only way I could stabilize it in the tree was to screw it to the tree trunk.  But it’s in there!

That Grinchy Santa hat is the instigator of this whole project!

I just can’t seem to get a good photo of it in the tree, although,

in person it really looked fanTAStic and the kiddos loved it!

This was after the best candy was plucked & eaten!

It’s NOT the Grinch tree I’ve always wanted to do, so I see another to come!

Catherine

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