The Ghost of Christmas Past

Did Christmas just happen or was I dreaming?  It feels like I spend all this time in anticipation and then... POW it's over.  It seems the most fun is had during the wait.  Pooh.  I'm going to start preparing for next Christmas NOW!  I'm putting it out there folks, next year will be a homemade Christmas.  No more spending upwards of two grand on my kids for things I'll find covered in dust and barely used.  Every year it's a request for a new video game system and it rarely gets used because once the novelty wears off my kids return to being yard dogs.  They would rather be outside that is.  Here's how this year panned out. 

The kids each get their own tree because I don't let them touch the other trees.  Here's Midgy decorating his. 

Greatroom "nature tree". 

Foyer "winter peace" tree.

Santa's "official" tree.

        It's Christmas morning and everyone looks like something a cat would drag in. 

Midgy presented his Christmas present to the family.  I was impressed and I think we'll be making more. 

Isn't it to die for!!!  Fireworks in my heart, hearts in my eyes, I love it!!!  I'm a sucker for school crafts. 

                                               

A few over the top reactions later and we were done.  That's it, that's all she wrote.  Actually, not really because then we went to Granma and Poppop's and did it all over again.  See what I mean though?  Lots of prep, one big bang, and lots of cleanup.  Ahh but alas I wouldn't have it any other way. 

                                 The engineer in charge of the whole operation; me.

New Jersey is in a state of emergency

So... I make candles.  Well I don't really make them I embellish them.  See for some time I've been eyeballing candles like these.  Pottery Barn had them beautifully displayed and it was love at first sight.  I took one look at the price and suddenly my burning passion cooled to a mild crush.  Still, I couldn't get these lovelies out of my mind so here is my version.  With a cost of $0 it really fits well with my decor and budget. 

                                             The first step was admitting I had a problem. 

I took the candle from the stand and cut some music to size.



I mixed up some glue and water concoction to adhere the music paper.

Here's the finished product.  Bamm!!! Fancy candle.

Here it is in its proper place next to Saint Nick.

Mama like.  Best of all, if you change your mind all you have to do it wet it and take it back off.  DO NOT, FOR ALL THINGS HOLY, LIGHT THIS CANDLE!!! For obvious reasons.

Noel Pottery Barn Knockoff Sign



Ok, yeah it took a blizzard to finally get me to start a blog.  Why blog you ask?  (As if anyone will actually read this.) Well, I make a lot of crap, observe a lot of unusual things, and get very crafty at times and I was told by my therapist felt the need to share it with others.  Here is some crap I made recently.  I saw that everyone and their dog on blog land made one of these, so I decided to jump on board.  I spent about $8.00 on this and Pottery Barn sold something similar for $150.00.  Full disclosure; theirs is MUCH better quality.  However, if you're not much of a quality freak this version will do nicely.  What can I say?  I have low standards.  Actually, I'm broke.

First I got some wood type letters from the craft store and arranged them like the picture in the Pottery Barn catalogue. 

I turned them over and went crazy with the staple gun everywhere the letters touched.  After the staple gun gave out, I took my trusty can of oil rubbed bronze and went to town on it. 

Here's the final product.  Ta da!  I got yelled at by my husband because I didn't wait for the paint to dry completely before putting it against the wall.  Yup you guessed it; paint on the wall.  I'm a happy camper!!!