Christmas 2014

Wow…I haven't posted anything in forever it seems. I hope your holiday was good.  We had such a busy holiday season here with family and friends and it was wonderful.  I especially loved spending some time with our little Vera. 

I'm hoping to get back into some sort of routine here now that it's quiet again, so that I can share some creative projects with everyone. Until then, I'd like to share some photos of my friend Marcie's awesome handmade goodies. She has been doing some beautiful things with paper and I was super excited to receive these gifts from her!

Thank you so much dear Marcie!

I will cherish these forever.

Karen

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner.

 I was upstairs wrapping gifts for my family this morning

 and looked at all the stuff on my desk

 and thought how I hadn't picked up my camera in weeks.

 So, I put a fresh battery in my camera

 and got some photos of the stuff on and around my desk.

 I hope you are all busy with happy holiday tasks

and making good memories.

karen ann

Rosemary Candles

This is a super simple way to dress up some dollar store candles for the Holidays.

 I wrapped mine in burlap and then tied little sprigs of rosemary onto them.

 You could wrap them in fabric, paper or just about anything you have on hand and embellish them any way you like. I'm into the "simple is best" mode at the moment. All that fuss and glitter from last weekends projects just didn't feel right.

I spent just $1.00 each for the candles.

The rosemary is from my garden and smells just wonderful.

karen

Making Christmas Bells

Last week while Mother was here visiting we gathered some supplies from the craft room and made a glittery mess in the kitchen.

 To make these Christmas Bells we started by painting a couple of seed starter pots.

The paper mache type.

After the paint was dry we added some glitter.

 We wired jewelry parts for hanging inside the bells, hung them from a pretty bow and embellished them with ribbon and vintage millinery flowers.

 I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, but the glitter was everywhere.

We laughed and talked and Mother loved the glittery mess. It brought back memories of her childhood Christmas crafting.

Maybe we'll do paper chains and ornaments for our next crafty project together.

No glitter involved.

karen

Holiday Craft Project With Fiber

Simple Holiday Project

To make this I wrapped yarn around heavy craft wire securing with a little hot glue as I went along.

I twisted the yarn covered wire around a large knitting needle to make the spirals.

I crocheted and stuffed a few simple balls to hang from the spirals.

It is snowing outside as I am typing this.

The very first flakes of the season.

karen

Holiday Decor Pics

It's been a while since I've had time to post anything new.

A family crisis or two, with the holidays thrown in and there hasn't been much time for anything else.

Since I'm having a quiet evening, I thought I might share a few photos of our Christmas decor.

Okay, so maybe there are more than a few.

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas.

karen

Finishing Touches & A Sweet Little Christmas Lamb

It finally stopped raining long enough for me to gather some pine for the finishing touches on my holiday decor.

I love the smell of fresh pine and it was a much needed break to be able to have a bit of outdoor time, gathering branches. I even found a downed branch with a small nest still clinging to it.

There are pine branches tucked in everywhere.

I found some beautiful moss to tuck in here and there too.

Maybe next year this mantel will have a real fireplace to go with it, but for this year it makes a nice place to hold more pine.

I wish I would have gotten a real tree.

Next year for sure.

Some more decor.

I think I may have taken too many photos today.

It was a nice distraction from cleaning.

These next photos are of a lamb that I crocheted recently.

And last, but not least, there's Jack sporting his new scarf that I made for him.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love & Hugs

KAREN