A Holiday Project made of Wood and Paint

I decided that this year I would change up our Christmas Decor. 

(I'm fibbing I do that almost every year!)

This one had red feather boas all over and a red and green theme.

This is for the retro 50's tree.   Turquoise and red.

And this was preparing the Grinch tree!

We have had most every style tree you can imagine.  We went through the shabby chic phase, the gold and glitter phase, traditional red and green, a little bit country, vintage creamy colors and crystals, and Yes even the Grinch tree.  Real ones, artificial ones, indoor, outdoor and even in the bathrooms!  Chandeliers festooned with ribbons, crystals, and ornaments.  It's the one time of year when... MORE IS NOT ENOUGH!

  

We all know how popular "farmhouse" has been, so we decided to try that style this year.    My elf was working to put together a wooden tree collar.  I will stain and paint it with a stencil or two.  I realized I can paint more than one stenciled message since the box has four sides!

And Since we are doing sort of a Farmhouse effect, I will paint and decorate our Chicken Wire Tree as well.  I will use our Dixie Belle paints as a base and decide what to do when that is dry.  I have a few ideas rattling around.   We have 4, 8 and 16 oz jars of Dixie Belle Paints, plus glazes and clear coat.

We downsized our tree this year and it is a 7' slim profile artificial tree (we have two - one for the Family room and one for the Pool room).  Therefore to accommodate the base of the tree the wood collar is 20 inches square with an open bottom.   The corners were reinforced with 1 x 1 pieces halfway up the interior sides.  

A personalized stencil was created on the Silhouette.   The EST. year we were married was added, what fun!

Another heirloom for the future!  The tree colors this year are Red, aged silver Shiny Brite ornaments and a soft blue.   

  

  

Thanks for stopping by, we enjoy your comments!

Holly Jolly Times

Are you READY?
We have a giveaway!   

I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and Grinch cookies so far.  I had an amazing helper who is THE best at watching the clock to ensure no burnt cookies!  Something I am guilty of not doing (multitasking diversion).

I am in process of making a variety of sweet Biscotti today.  I also found a recipe for Savory Biscotti with dried tomatoes, olives, basil, and parmesan!

I will also make chipotle cheese crackers and a pomegranate covered cheese ball among other things.  

I got tired just typing this!  It is the time of year that brings out the cook and baker in me.  I have always loved to cook and bake.  I'm not a Julia Child, but prefer honest, simple, homey foods.  

I will do a giveaway of the beautiful mason jar lids for the Holidays. 

Comment below and share to Facebook to have your name in the drawing.

Here are some tried and true recipes for your gifting and eating!

Beer Cheese Spread

1 lb aged natural cheddar cheese

1 lb natural swiss cheese

1 clove garlic, mashed

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 -2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

8 ounces beer  (regular or non alcoholic)

DIRECTIONS

Grate the cheeses finely.

Mix the cheeses with the garlic, dry mustard and Worcestershire.

Gradually beat in the beer until the mixture is well blended and of spreading consistency.

Place in a small mason jar for gifting.  Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Serve at room temperature.

                         ********** 

 VERY CHERRY FLUFF

1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling

1 (8-ounce) bowl frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (any kind)

In a large bowl, fold together all ingredients.

Spoon into a serving bowl or individual dessert glasses. Chill before serving.  You can add a pirouette cookie to the glass for a garnish.

                          **********

Make sure to comment!                           

Perfect for Gift Giving

Let's make a beautiful gift box!

Today's project is a great upcycle using sturdy packaging from a recent purchse I made.  It is very much like a circular wine bottle "box", but a bit shorter.  It will be great for odd shaped gifts or plyable type gifts like a scarf, kitchen towel or a cute pair of fuzzy socks.  So, let's get started...

Here is what we started with.

YOU can see the complete supply list & links at the bottom of the post.

Here we have the first layer of vintage text pages decoupaged onto the surface.

Next, I dry brushed ivory colored chalk paint, added a bit of black chalk paint here and there, then the final layer was a thin coat of gold metalic using my gold metallic Gelato.  I was going for a worn, vintage look. 

Then, it was time to decorate the lid.  I added more gold metallic, laces, big chunky glitter and die cut snowflakes that I painted white and added more chunky glitter to.  I initially thought I would use a pretty glittered Prima flower on the lid (seen in the top pic here), but decided on the glittered snowflakes. 

 

Now, it was time to add my digital images.  For the back of the box I cut out a number of smaller vintage Santa images and decoupaged them in a random pattern.  I then added more glittered snowflakes.  You can see in the image below that I added beaded trim to the lid of the box...you can never have too many embellishments! 

And here is the front again with a much larger focal image of a very cheery St. Nicholas and a cute little angel peaking over his shoulder...along with a few more glittery snowflakes to tie it all together. 

I hope you are inspired to upcycle your own creation!

DIY Design Studio has everything you need to do just that!

Happy Holidays and Happy Crafting! 

Steph S. 

Supply List -
Santa Brings Cheer Digital Art Collage
Embellishments, Lace and Trims 
PPA glue
Vintage law books  for text pages
Chalk Paint -primitive
Chalk Paint - relic
Gelato Metallic - gold 
Die cuts and other embellishments

Reveal of TREES with Holiday spirit

THE REVEAL!  

A forest of FUN!   Colorful, Happy and Bright!

Our Dixie Belle paints come in such luscious colors and are so easy to work with, YUM!  We have brushes, sanding tools and glazes too.

  

Wood was cut, added papers and paint, then sanding it all...E6000 was used to hold the trees to the bases, that is usually a strong holding adhesive, especially since they get packed away for the next year.

AND HERE THEY ARE!

  

I am debating about adding ornaments and baubles to the wood bases.  I think it would be festive!

We decided to share a treat with you all.  Order a Dixie Belle Paint Starter Kit (3 paint colors to choose from) and receive 25% off by using the coupon code Dixielove.  You get to choose the paint color, clear sealer, brush and a sanding pad  (supply is limited)    

Lisa Kettell Holiday Card Exchange

HO HO HOLIDAYS

You may know Lisa Kettell, an artist,  a joy-bringer, a Bright Spirit and all around super person!  She exudes charm, positivity and such a warmth.

Lisa organizes a Christmas card exchange on Facebook each year for anyone (please follow the rules) to participate.   By the time you read this, the card exchange will be closed but you can make a note to remind yourself for next year.

I thought I would share my card creations with you and in a December blogpost I will share the cards I receive.

Forming ideas.  I grab a stash of supplies and GO.  It helps me to get the creative mojo going!  I knew I wanted the cards to be lush and wonderful.  Maybe soft lavender or lime green!   

Yes, I often have a schizophrenic style.

I began by painting chipboard diecuts with chalk paint.

But when going through boxes I found a template that inspired me...I may change in midstream!

More to come from this fun event with Lisa.

Lisa is taking a short break for now, but you can still follow her Etsy shop. https://www.etsy.com/shop/LisaKettellDesigns

Want to go for a ride?

I love the style of this old-fashioned bicycle.  It's one of the chipboard die cuts available at DIY Design Studio and it is a lot of fun to use.  

My first idea was to try and distress the image with ink.  The StazOn is good for distressing chip board because it's permanent and dries quickly.  It just wasn't the look I wanted today.  So I decided to paint them instead.  Perfect for my project.

I liked the gold bike so well that I decided to paint the other one, too.

I added some rhinestones just to blint them up a little bit.

For the gold bike, I chose the Life Time pad of Prima paper.  You've seen me use this one before.  It's one of my favorites because of the range of shades and splatters.  They are beautiful papers.

I needed a piece of paper 6 x 4 1/4.  I opted to make the darkest section the body of my card and then use the part with the sentiment as a layer.  

I added some light brown ink to the edges of each piece so that they stand out once they were pieced back together.

This paper pad has a sheet of tags and embellishments.  I wanted to use a mini brad on the mini tag.  I could have used the cream color but it matches the paper a little too much.  I painted it the same gold as the bike to pull it into the card more.

Because the bike is chipboard it really stands off the page.  Foam adhesive squares hold the little embellishments up off the page to balance that out.

Card one - great for a note card or special occasion.  But it's almost Christmas and the other bike is red, sooooo...

I painted some chipboard snowflakes white to go with the second bike.

I found this piece of snowy scrapbook paper in my stash and added a washi tape sidewalk, then glued on the chipboard pieces. 

Products Used:

Die Cut Chipboard Bicycles

Die Cut Chipboard Snowflakes

Inks and/or Acrylic Paints

Adhesive Gemstones

Prima Life Time paper pad

Dimensional Foam Squares

Double-Sided Adhesive Tape

Glue

Scans of each card

Thankfully Able

What traditions do you have at your Thanksgiving Day?

We create gratitude notes at our house.

We give a small note to each dinner guest for them write down something they are thankful for this year.  

Turkey, friends, whipped cream, health, anything that comes to mind that may bring them a smile.

We want to share our tradition with you and created these lovely notecards* to use at your dinner or as gift tags, wine bottle hangers or placecards.

We hope they bring a smile to your face.

Gratitude and Peace to Everyone.

* right click your mouse on the image and then save to your desktop.   Enjoy.