Happy Wednesday! Here at the Castle it’s still Christmas in July! Today I’m sharing DIY Pour Paint Ornaments.

Pour Paint has been a hot craft this past year.

I’ve seen everything from canvas art to drink tumbles done in this medium.

So I’m pretty excited to give it a try today.

DIY POUR PAINT ORNAMENTS

SUPPLIES:

Pour Paint – In your choice of colors. I found mine here.

Ornaments – clear glass or plastic

Small disposable cups

Styrofoam blocks

BBQ Skewers or Popsicle sticks

Tin Foil Trays – I used lids to disposable baking pans

Step 1:

Place styrofoam on tin tray and make a stand for the ornament

I cut 2 BBQ skewers in half to form 4 pieces.

Place the skewers in the center of the styrofoam block.

Make sure that they are evenly spaced and the same height.

This will form a stand for your ornament that will keep it from touching the styrofoam while pouring and drying.

Take the silver cap off of the ornament.

Flip the ornament upside down and place on skewers.

Step 2:

Pour the paint into your cup

Pour your paint into a small plastic clear cup.

I didn’t have any, so I used a solo cup.

The smaller cups are highly recommended as they limit the amount of paint used and they are easier to handle.

Pour about 1/2 half ounce of red paint into the bottom of the cup.

Then pour in the same amount of white paint.

Repeat.

DO NOT MIX THE PAINT UP!

By alternating the paint colors you will get fun layers.

Mixing it up will create a single color.

Step 3:

Pour Paint over the ornament.

Slowly pour paint over the ornament, working from one side of the ornament to the the other, moving the cup toward your body and then away from it. Back and forth.

Depending on how fast or slow you go you will find that you can create thin stripes, fat stripes, swirls etc.

Be creative and have fun.

Step 4:

Set aside to dry

This process could take hours or days depending on how much paint you’ve applied and how humid your area is.

Once the ornament is completely dry, lift them from the stand and replace the silver top.

Step 5:

Decorate the ornament.

This part is optional as the ornaments are pretty just as they are.

However, here at The Castle we always lean toward being “extra”.

So decorate we did!

As you can see these DIY pour paint ornaments are super easy!

I think it would also be a great kids craft with a little supervision.

One quick note, if you don’t want or can’t find pre-made pour paint you can make your own.

Simply use regular acrylic paint and Floetrol.

You can find Floetrol here.

FIY: The Craft With Us team made videos showing how we made our Christmas in July projects. You can find those here.

Be sure to head on over to Terrie’s site, Decorate And More With Tip, Corine’s , Junk to Gems  and Jemma’s At Home With Jemma to see what they have created.

Until next time….

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How many of you have started decorating for Christmas? This year it seems like a lot more people than just bloggers are decorating earlier than ever before. I get it. In a year where nothing is normal, you might as well do what makes you happy! With that in mind I started a little earlier than usual myself. Today I’m sharing my glitzy reindeer banner with you.

You know, just in case you need a little inspiration.

This year I started in my living room. Put the tree up. Decorated the shelves. Everything was rocking right along, until I started on my fireplace mantle.

I ran into a big brick wall and it took forever for me to figure out why!

In my head it was going to be this really fun, glamorous, multi-colored fun fest.

But when the dust settled, I realized that I was fighting where the decor was telling me to go.

I hung several banners off the mantle.

A big, beautiful red pom pom banner and a white pom pom, tassel banner with wooden beads.

It just needed something extra.

I searched on-line and in stores for something that I loved to add to the mantle, but came up with zilch.

Then I remembered this pack of reindeer that I picked up a few months ago at the Dollar Tree.

Step 1:

Paint the reindeer gold.

Step 2:

Mod Podge.

Paint your reindeer with a healthy coat of Mod Podge.

Really any glue would work, I just had this on hand.

Step 3:

Glitter.

Give your glue coated reindeer a generous sprinkle of glitter.

Step 4:

String and hang your glitzy reindeer banner.

I figured I had enough bling on the reindeer so I strung my reindeer on twine.

Once I had it on the twine, I simply hung it above the existing banners on the fireplace.

Once my glitzy reindeer were hung the rest of the mantle fell into place!

I love it!

Another bonus was that it only cost me $1.00 and about an hour of time total.

I still have a few more things to add to finish up my Christmas Fireplace Mantle.

But it’s mostly just sprucing it up and fluffing it here and there.

I love the simplicity of it compared to years past.

I know I say this every year, but this may be my favorite Christmas mantle ever.

And all because of a $1.00 glitzy reindeer banner!

Until next time…..

Our November DIY Challenge is shopping your home, DIY Christmas.  In other words, at least in my case, it’s “Get busy finishing up all the projects you bought from last year.” Procrastination, in this case, is a good thing!  Seriously, we were challenged to make Christmas decor out of the things we already had, without buying anything. So what did I make? A Christmas Advent Calendar.

If you are coming here from Cindy’s, Cloches and Lavender, WELCOME, I’m so glad that you are here!

Also, I want to extend a great big thank you to Terrie from Decorate And More With Tip for a fabulous job of hosting.

I found this paper mâché advent calendar box last year and couldn’t wait to get started on it.

However, we all know that didn’t happen.

It got put in the back of my craft closet until I had more time.

Good news, if you want to make one, they are on sale for 50% off right now at Hobby Lobby.

I dug around in my 5000 pages of scrapbook paper and found 5 different complimentary patterns to cover my boxes with.

To help count down the days, these felt stars and trees with wooden numbers were a perfect size for the front of the small boxes.

I found these last year also, however, they have them at Hob Lob again this year.

Step 1

Spray paint your boxes.

Honestly, if I’d had red spray paint I would have used it instead of the black.

Still, the black looks good with my paper.

Step 2 and 3

Lay the front of the small boxes onto the paper and trace around the box.

Then cut them out.

Once you have your paper cut out, paste the paper to the front of the boxes.

I used Mod Podge, however regular glue would work also.

I also covered the outsides of my main box with paper.

Tip: I painted glue onto my boxes, positioned the paper, then painted a thin layer of  Mod Podge on top of the paper and box.

Step 4:

Once the boxes are completely dry, put the boxes back into the main box.

Then it’s time to put the numbers onto the fronts of the small boxes.

My numbers went from 1 to 24, however there were 25 boxes.

On the 25th box I placed a felt Santa face for the 25th.

These numbers had sticky dots to attach them to the boxes, however I added hot glue to the dots to ensure that they didn’t pop off.

Step 5

Add a festive bow to the top.

I thought that it would look cute to make my calendar look like a Christmas present.

It’s just not a present without a bow!

I dug out my Christmas ribbon and made a bow from scraps.

Step 6

Add a name tag.

Since my Christmas Advent Calendar is going to my sweet great niece, I added her name to a wooden tag and glued it to the top of the box.

Just like you would with a Christmas present.

Step 7

Add treats, candy, or money to the boxes.

What better way to make it fun than by adding tiny inexpensive treats to each box?

When my boys were little, they couldn’t wait to open each box daily on their Christmas Advent Calendars.

I’m going to try and fill the boxes with fun things my niece will love.

I’m so glad that our DIY Challenge was to make something out of what you had.

Otherwise I might have never finished this Advent calendar!

Next on our stop, is Michelle’s from Blessings By Me!

Then, I hope you will join me in visiting all of the other DIY Challenge participants.

I can’t wait to see what they have done!

DECORATE & MORE WITH TIP | cloches & Lavender | PATINA & PAINT

BLESSINGS BY ME | BLUESKY AT HOME | JUNK TO GEMS

PALLET & PANTRY | THE HOUSE HOUSE | B4 & AFTERS

                                                   Remember, if you liked it, be sure to PIN it!

Welcome to Christmas in July Part 2! Last week I shared how to make a fun Christmas decoration with you and today I’m sharing another one. Why?Mainly because I couldn’t decide which one to share last week! So, I made two.

Do you know who Brooke from Re-fabbed is? If not, you need to head on over there. She’s adorable! A few weeks ago I caught her live video with Stacey from Wilshire collections.

They made the cutest Christmas present craft.

I could not resist making one of my own!

As I watched the live, I knew while I didn’t have the supplies to make one like they did, I did have a few other things on hand that I felt would make a cute one.

I started with an 8″ x 13″ piece of unfinished lumber.

Step 1:

Paint the wooden plaque black.

Step 2:

I took a 12″ x 12″ piece of scrapbook paper and cut it to fit the painted board.

Making sure that the paper would wrap around both ends of the board.

Everyone knows that a perfectly wrapped present is covered on all sides!

Step 3:

Next, I gave the board a generous coat of Mod Podge, placing the scrapbook paper on top of the glue, gently rubbing it to adhere and get rid of all of the air bubbles.

Once that was done, I added an even coat of Mod Podge to the paper covered board.

Step 4:

Now that we have the base of the present finished it’s time to add the lid to the top of the present.

After trying out several papers, I chose a red with white polk-a-dot paper.

I cut a 2″ x 10″ strip and Mod Podged it to a paint stir stick.

( not sure if “podged” is a word, but I’m running with it!)

Step 5:

Once the glue was dry, I hot glued the stir stick to the top of the black and white board.

Now, it is time to embellish the my Christmas present!

Step 6:

Brooke and Stacey added tiny wreaths, jingle bells, ribbon and a tag to their gifts.

I didn’t have a tiny wreath but I did have this large roll of small garland.

Which made a perfect small wreath!

I simply wrapped the garland around a can of spray paint a couple of times to form the wreath.

Then, for a little glam, I added a strand of tiny red berries my wreath.

Next, I tied two of jingle bells to each end of a piece of twine.

Once I had both the wreath and the bells put together, I glued them to the top of the present.

Step 7:

Every present needs a pretty bow!

Using scrap pieces of ribbon, I added this bow, gluing it right on top of the twine holding the wreath and jingle bells.

Now it was actually starting to look like a present!

The last thing I always put on my gifts is a tag.

I had a few small wooden tags lying around.

After painting one white, I addressed it with a black sharpie pen.

My Christmas present is complete!

I love this project simply because it is so versatile and can be adapted to any decor or theme.

That’s my kind of Christmas decoration!

Now that Christmas in July Part 2 is in the books, I think I’m ready to get back to a few summer projects.

Although I have to say that a little bit of Christmas in July sure is fun!

Until next time….

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Merry Christmas in July!

Honestly, I can’t even believe I’m even thinking about Christmas as it’s hotter than the devil’s back porch here in North Texas! Seriously, while I’m not excited about the heat and humidity, I am excited to be a part of the Christmas in July blog hop!

Thank you Terrie from Decorate and More with Tip for bringing us all together for a little Christmas fun!

If you are visiting from Carol’s Blue Sky at Home, welcome! Yay, you’re here!!!

Did you know that it is only 151 days til Christmas?

Probably didn’t need to hear that.

However, with a lot of us still staying home due to THE COVID, this is the perfect time to break out all of the Christmas projects.

You know, the ones we promise ourselves that we will get done, but never do?

My poject starts with these Mosaic Wooden Plaques from Michaels.

Today I’m sharing how to make a Christmas tree plaque.

Supplies:

Mod Podge

sponge brush

Ribbon

Scrapbook paper

Hot Glue and Glue Gun

Step 1:

First, paint your plaque the color of your choice.

I painted mine black.

Step 2:

Now it’s time to cut out your Christmas trees.

I used my Silhouette cutting machine to do mine.

Don’t have a cutting machine?

No worries, there are a ton of templates online.

Step 3:

Next, make a background for your design using scrapbook paper.

Step 4:

Paint the back of your wooden plaque with Mod Podge.

( I swear I’ve Mod Podged more things since the pandemic started than I have my entire life!)

Step 5:

Lay your background paper on top of the glue,

Tip: I like to use a clean brush to smooth out all of the wrinkles and air bubbles.

Once your paper is smooth, paint a coat of Mod Podge on top.

Step 6:

Place your Christmas trees on your paper where you want them, making sure to smooth out any air bubbles.

Once you have the trees where you want them, give them a coat of Mod Podge.

Step 7:

While my design was drying, I made a bow to go on top of my plaque.

However, you won’t need a lot of ribbon for this.

In fact, I used a lot of scrap ribbon that I had in my craft closet.

Once your plaque is dry, hot glue the ribbon to the top of the plaque.

Your Christmas plaque is complete and more importantly it’s ready to decorate with.

As far as projects go this one is pretty simple and a lot of fun!

So much fun that I made several for gifts!

Now, it’s time to hop over to visit Chloe at Celebrate and Decorate. I can’t wait to see what she has featured.

After that, be sure and check out all of the other wonderful ideas.

 
Decorate and More with Tip | Sew Sassy by Paula | DIY Vibes | Pretty DIY Home

Bluesky at Home | Patina and Paint | Celebrate and Decorate | B4 and Afters
 
A Vintage Flare Farmhouse | LeCultivateur | Country Road 407 | The House House\

Jessica B Simmons | Living Little John

Another Queen’s Christmas party is in the books. I just love these women! Even though we don’t see each other as often as we’d like, when we get together it’s like we were never apart. I know that I could give any, or all, a call, and they would show up with shovels, tarps, a cocktail and alibis! That’s true friendship in my book. Every year, on the first Saturday in December, we get together to celebrate. We eat. We talk – all at the same time, over each other and at loud decibels. And for the past 4 years we make a “make and take” craft. This year I shared how to make a loop yarn wreath.

I saw a video on Youtube earlier in the year on how to make one and knew instantly that this would be The Queen’s craft this year.

In case you want to make one this is what you will need:

Step 1: Take the end of your loop yarn and attach it to the wreath using a straight pin. Don’t worry about the color of the pin head. You won’t be able to  see it.

Once you have your yarn attached to the wreath, start wrapping the yarn around the wreath form. You want to make sure that you are wrapping the yarn firmly around the wreath. Not too tight though! At first I was wrapping it so tightly that it broke the wreath in half! Every two or three wraps, push the yarn together so that it bunches up tightly.

When you are all done, this is what your wreath will look like.

Next step, decorate your wreath! I used these mini bottle brush trees that were featured in the video; however, The Queens all had great ideas to add to or replace the trees. Trees with a little red bird, mini snowmen, mini angels – the possibilities are endless!

I found these trees on Amazon. You can see the ones I bought here. They came in a box and there were 4 different sizes.

I just tucked the trees into the loops of yarn where I wanted them and they stayed perfectly. However, since The Queens were traveling with them, they hot glued them into place.

The final embellishment was a 6 or 7 inch bow. In the video I watched they didn’t add a bow to theirs. But we are in Tammyland and this Queen liked a little more bling than the one in the video!

Before I share with you the finished wreath, I wanted to show you the Queens wreaths. I think that this was a fun, fairly simple craft project. So much so that a few of The Queens are planning to make a few more!

I hung my finished wreath in my entry and I love it! So simple, yet elegant at the same time.

One last tip.
Hanging the wreath was super easy to do using this Command strip hanger. For two reasons. The Command strip hook sticks to almost anything. And the loops on the yarn make for a natural hanger for the wreath! Ya gotta love how simple that is. Happy wreath making!
Until next time…..

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Happy Holidays, y’all! I am so excited to share with you this months DIY Challenge. Terrie from Decorate With Tip and More is our fearless leader and each month she chooses some of the BEST challenges for us. 

The DIY challenge: Make something using a Dollar Tree mini tree.

The Rules: Be creative!

If you are coming here from Dani’s, welcome. I’m so glad that you are here! I just loved her mini tree DIY and I know you did too.

Here’s what we started with. This little tree came out looking a little like a “Charlie Brown” tree, however once she was fluffed and shaped, she wasn’t so shabby after all. After looking at my tree for a few days, I decided that it was the perfect size for an Advent tree!

My advent tree would be made up of small triangular boxes that were numbered and filled with goodies! I chose 5 different complimentary pieces of card stock to make my boxes.

I found a pattern for my boxes on my Silhouette that I knew would be perfect. Only one BIG problem. My Silhouette decided to take a holiday vacation. Since my morning tea box was my inspiration, I decided to use it for a pattern and cut them out myself.

I simply traced my tea box 5 times on each of my 5 papers.

I’m not gonna lie, this was my least favorite part. However, since it was only 25 boxes, it wasn’t too bad….

To make folding my boxes a little easier, I used a ruler to crease the fold lines.A boning tool would be ideal for this step, however I didn’t have one so the ruler worked just fine.

Looking at my original tea box, I knew that I needed to cut an inch long slit in the bottom edge of the box.This allows the upper tab on the box to be inserted and keep it closed.

 Next step: attaching something to the box to allow me to hang it on my tree. I used 1/8 inch wide ribbon to make a loop to form a hanger for my boxes.Cut 3 inches of ribbon for each box.
Loop the ribbon, then glue to the box using a tiny drop of hot glue. Now put goodies into your box, fold it together and your boxes are done!

I wanted to number my boxes, one for each day of Advent. These small tags and number stickers from Hobby Lobby were the perfect solution.

Thanks to my sister who went shopping with me. Both of these were her idea! Not only were these cute, but they were supper easy to make. Simply put the sticker on the tag.

I applied the tags to my ornament boxes using foam adhesive dots. This gave them a little dimension and since they are sticky on two sides, made it super easy to attach the tags to the boxes. For some crazy reason, I didn’t get a picture of this, but I decided to fill the tag hole with tiny jingle bells that I had in my stash. Even an Advent tree can use a little bling!

Once my boxes were finished it was time to decorate my mini tree. I honestly couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Now I hope you join me and hop over to Carol’s at Blue Sky at Home and check out her DIY Challenge.

I’ve also listed the other talented bloggers below because you know you don’t want to miss a thing!

Terrie – Decorate and More with Tip

Kelli – K’s Olympic Nest

Shae – Sweet Southern Grace

Rebecca – Rebecca Anne Home

Dayna – Just Another Farmhouse

Christine – CD’s Country Living

Dani – Welcome to the Taborhood

Carol – Bluesky at Home 

Mary – Shady Oak and Sassafras

Jessica – Jessica Welling Interiors

Teresa – Through a Vintage Door

Michelle – Blessings by Me

Jessica – Jessica Simmon

Lately I’ve been finding some really great deals! Not only are they great deals, but they are also a few of my favorite things for this Christmas season.  A few of them I’m kicking myself over because I wish that I had purchased a few more of them! So without further a do, let me share a few of them with you.

A few weeks ago I was in Home Goods. Believe it or not, I wasn’t even looking for Christmas items, but I did do a quick head turn when I walked past this garland. It’s so pretty, super well made, and, at $14.99, it’s a steal!

I know that it seems as if I am at Walmart all of the time, but honestly I’ve only been there 4 times in the last 3 months! Okay… maybe 5. Don’t you just love these multi-colored felt stems? And how great is it that they match the garland I bought from Home Goods? I love the colors, the textures and how versatile they are! In case you couldn’t tell, I’m in love with them!

When styling my kitchen hutch I couldn’t resist using a few stems! I bought all of the stems that my Walmart had, but I plan on checking out a few more stores for a few more of them. I have plans. These were only $3.00 each! If you love these as much as I do, you might also love the matching wreath and the table top tree.

These sweet Christmas trees were a Michaels flash sale find. See? It really does pay to spend hours looking at Instagram! They were only $8.00 each, regularly $20.00. I love that they look so real and that they are lightly dusted with snow. Also, they were available for in store pick-up, which I love!

While on Instagram recently, I saw the prettiest Christmas mantle. Lots of greenery, lights, bows and on the corners of the mantle were the most wonderful large jingle bells. I immediately started shopping for a few. Unfortunately, they weren’t all that easy to find, and if I did find a few, they were a little cost prohibitive. Imagine my surprise when I entered Walmart on one of my 5 trips and saw large 5″ jingle bells.

This is what they looked like when I bought them. They look very pretty in the photo, however in real life they are a little too brassy for my taste. So, of course, I painted them. Did you notice the price tags? $3.98 each!

The last of my great finds were from Hobby Lobby. If you love lots of bright colors for Christmas, then this Pom tree is for you! Right now, all Christmas is half off.
At first, I thought that I would just make my own, but if I remember correctly this size tree was $17.99. With the 50% off, this tree came in at $9.00. Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to make your own! As I was heading to check out, I passed these brightly colored bottle brush trees. It was love at first sight. None were over $6.00 and all were 50% off. They are perfect Christmas decor for my new studio.
That’s all of my favorite things, however I promise that if I find more fun finds at great prices I’ll be sure to share them with you!
Until next time…..

When my friend Kris asked if a bunch of us from PoKeeno if we wanted to go to a cookie decorating class I couldn’t say yes fast enough. For many years I’ve tried to do the whole cookie decorating thing. I wanted it to be like a Hallmark movie. Lots of fun, Christmas music in the background, baking with a pretty apron, the kitchen is shiny and clean and in the end we’d have dozens of beautiful cookies. Usually what I got was tired feet, a great big mess and by the time I got the cookies cut out and baked who wanted to decorate them?

So, yes, I needed this class! And to make it even more appealing, the class was held at Lost Oak Winery. Wine and cookies. What could possibly go wrong there? We arrived and this was our set up.
A list of detailed instructions with a recipe for the cookies, how to roll them out and a how to make royal icing.

So what did I learn? A lot! First off,  you want your cookies to be the perfect thickness. Too thick and they don’t get done. Too thin and they will burn. So what’s a girl to do to get perfect cookies?

Buy one of these! This isn’t your mama or grandmas rolling pin for sure. The end rings come off and depending on which one you use, it will ensure that your cookies are the same thickness every time! Yes, please! If you are like me and need help, you can find one of these here.

Also, instead of using the icing bags of old that were stiff, difficult to use and were a super pain to clean up, these disposable bags are the bomb. The are super easy to use, can be used with or without a tip and are super cheap. That’s a win for me!

Also, instead of icing one cookie all at the same time, you do a little decorating on each cookie at a time. This insures that it has dimension and that it doesn’t run all together.

I also learned that drinking wine makes you decorate cookies better!That’s my story…..

Also, decorating cookies is way more fun with friends!

Not only did we have a great time and learn a lot, we also got to take home 5  cookies that we decorated!

The cookies turned out super cute, but best of all, they tasted awesome.
I can’t wait to try out all my new skills on Christmas cookies. Who knows? I may be featured in that Hallmark movie soon.

Until next time….

Here at the castle, the stockings are hung. The tree is up and the elves have finished sprinkling Christmas decor through out the castle. So, what’s a girl to do? Why break out the Christmas crafts at the castle, of course!

For the first time in many years, I have almost all of my Christmas stuff done! I’d love to pat myself on the back, however it’s mostly due to my car being in the shop off and on for the last month! Certainly not because this girl is rocking it! When you are forced to stay home it’s amazing how much you get done. Who knew?

What happens at the Christmas party, stays at the Christmas party. Especially the Queen’s Christmas party!

When the Queens get together it’s always fun, this year was no exception. We ate, laughed, cried, told crazy stories, made a craft and had a cookie exchange.  In other words, a normal night with the Queens!

Pinterest craft – fabulous or fail? That is the question sometimes, isn’t it? Okay, I am fully prepared to admit that I spend way too much time on Pinterest. Doesn’t everyone? No?

I recently saw these cute Mason jars and fell in love with them. They are all over the place on Pinterest and are suppose to be super easy to make. But are they really?

Yay! It’s Ten on the 10th and we’ve got a theme this month. Ten talented and fun bloggers are sharing their ideas for gifts under $10.00! So grab a cup of coffee, tea or pumpkin spice latte, sit back and prepare to have some fun. I have a ton of pictures, so please hang in there with me!

Wrapping a present in an unusual way is as fun to me as finding the perfect present. I needed something fun to wrap small presents for my pre-teen nieces. After searching Pinterest I found Snow globe mason jars and knew that they would be perfect!

If you craft at all, then you are probably a lot like me. You have quite a bit of “leftovers” from past projects.  I decided that making  gift tags with leftovers would be a good way to clean out my office.

I truly do have a lot of paper, ribbon, string, glues, bells, pipe cleaners, wooden pieces, fabric and all sorts of odd items laying around my office. You name it, I’ve probably got it! Every so often I have to clean out or run the risk of the clutter taking over.

Y’all I can’t wait to show you how to dress up your pumpkin! They are so stinking cute!!!

I would love to tell you that this was totally my idea, but that would so be a lie. I was cruising Micheal’s website for idea for a fall project, when I came up Miss Heidi Swapp herself sharing how to dress up your pumpkin! You can see Heidi’s post here.

The Queen’s Christmas is always one of my favorite celebrations. This year was certainly no different! Every year eight of us get together and celebrate the Christmas season.

Normally, we would get together, eat, play few games and open gifts from each other. We always have a wonderful time, but over the years it seemed like we needed a change. So this year, instead of eat, play and gift, we decided to change things up a bit!

My new front porch wreath is probably one of my most favorite wreaths I’ve ever had!

In fact, it’s more of a decoration than it is a wreath.  For the past few years, I have been using the same wreath.  To say that it was a little sad and tired was an understatement, but I couldn’t find anything I loved to replace it. It was definitely time for a change!

Woo Hoo! We are up to our DIY Christmas Friday #6! I think that my Christmas/Kitchen sign is probably one of my favorite projects that I am sharing with you.

It all started when I was going to make a wooden” Kitchen” sign for my sister’s new house. With the Holidays approaching I also thought I would make her a Christmas sign too. But, why make two when I could just make the sign reversible?  No storage for the unused sign and easy to switch out!

I started by going to my local hardware store and purchasing a 1 X 8 X 8.  Eight feet was a little too long for me, so I had the Hubs cut the boards down to 6 ft.  Now if you don’t have a Hubs to cut down the boards for you, then often your local hardware store will be happy to do so for you at no cost or for a nominal cost. I gave the boards  a good sanding and base coated with paint.

I printed off the design that I wanted using my computer and printer, then transferred my design to the board by using this projector and a white pencil.  Don’t have a projector? No worries.  Using your printer, print out your design and use transfer paper. No printer? You can easily use a stencil or vinyl lettering!

Here’s a tip: These white chalk pencils! I love them and use them all of the time. They show up better than a regular pencil and they are erasable. Which I seem to need – a lot!

Once you have the design transferred to your board, it is time to paint! Don’t worry about it being perfect… you won’t notice all the little imperfections once it is up on the wall!

As you can see, I couldn’t make a sign for one sister without making one for the other! This one says “Say Grace” on one side and “O Holy Night” on the other.  I added tiny embellishments to my signs,  snow to the Christmas side on the black sign and holly leaves and berries to the Christmas side of the kitchen sign.

After I finished all of the painting, I gave it a little distressing with a fine grit sandpaper. I like a little worn look.

And if you know me at all, you know I am gonna add some bling.  A little glitter paint goes a long way!

The signs are two sided so how to hang them? First drill two holes, evenly spaced, into the top of the sign. I drilled mine 12 inches in from each end.

Then using these screw eye hooks…

I screwed them into the holes I drilled.

It was just that easy! If you can color in a coloring book you can paint these signs!  I like these signs so much I started one for myself… hopefully I will finish it someday.

I hope that you love my Christmas kitchen sign as much as I do. Maybe even enough to try one for yourself or maybe as a gift!

Until next time….

                           Tammy

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Happy Black Friday to you! It’s DIY Christmas Friday #4, where I share a project with you that is super easy. I used to say it was so easy a monkey can do it, but apparently monkey lovers everywhere were offended! Crack. Me. UP!  Today’s project is a Pottery Barn hack on their Jingle pillow.

I made my pillow out of drop cloth material, but the beauty of this project is that you can buy any pillow cover pre-made instead of making one.

Using your computer, find a font that you like and print it off the size that best fits your pillow. Once I printed it off, I flipped it over, then using tracing paper and an iron on transfer pencil I traced the outline of the word jingle. It needs to read backwards when you trace it so that you will be able to flip it over and be able to read it when you iron it onto the pillow cover.

Next, following the directions on the packaging of your transfer pen, iron on your design.

Now for the fun part – PAINT!  You can do this one of two ways. With a paint pen made for fabric painting or by mixing Acrylic craft paints with a textile medium and painting your design with a paint brush. The textile medium makes the paint stay on the fabric and the paint doesn’t make the fabric stiff. I mean, who wants a pillow that has stiff, hard stuff on it?

TIP:  Be sure to put wax paper behind your material when you paint. If you bought a pre-made pillow cover put it on the inside of the pillow, between the front and back sides.

Once you are done painting, cover  your design with a clean white cloth and heat set with an iron.

Sew on a few jingle bells and you have a killer awesome Christmas pillow that is just as cute as the Pottery Barn one!

Not too shabby! And really, if you can color in a coloring book you can do this!!

Don’t want a jingle pillow? Pick something you do like and using the same technique make that! Go ahead. Think outside of the box! Your welcome.

Until next time….

                         Tammy

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It’s DIY Christmas Friday #3! You know where every Friday before Christmas we share a craft that is so easy even a monkey can do it? I’ve been decorating for Christmas like a mad woman here at the castle. When it came to putting up the stockings it occurred to me that our stockings were in pretty fair shape, but the fur babies stockings were pathetic. I’m talking toes up peeps! It was time for some new pet Christmas stockings!

There are a ton of cute pet stockings out there, but if I ordered on-line I’d have to wait forever to get them. Anything I could find locally were really cheesy or didn’t fit in with my Christmas decor. So I decided to make them and, since I am a sharing person, I am going to show you how easy they were to make.

Here’s what you will need:

Pre-made felt stockings

felt

Ribbon

White pencil

White Paint pen

glue gun

Craft glue

Small chalk board signs

I started by sketching out the design I wanted to put on my stockings. After cutting out my sketches to use as a pattern, I used my white pencil to trace the patterns onto the black felt. I cut out silhouettes of my sweet lab Sadie and my crazy, deranged cat Fire hydrant.

After positioning them where I wanted them, I glued them on using a craft glue.

The pre-made stockings had some decorative trim on the cuff and it was okay… but I want awesomeness! I am in love with pom trim. This lime green was perfect. I used the same craft glue to attach it over the existing trim.

This sweet ruffled red ribbon was perfect to go on top of the green pom pom trim.

I bought these small chalkboard signs for name tags.  Using a small drill bit, I drilled a hole to run ribbon through to attach the name tags to the stockings.

Then it was time to add a little bling and finish the stockings off with a bow.

Here are the finished stockings. I think they turned out so cute and I made both for under $10.00! It took me under an hour to make these from start to finish.

What I really love is that they fit my furry babies personalities. Silly cat…

and super sweet lab.

I honestly couldn’t be happier with them and apparently Sadie feels the same. I couldn’t take a picture of them without some part of her body being in the picture!

Remember every Friday from now until Christmas is DIY Christmas Friday!

Until next time….

                  Tammy

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Hey, Hey! You ready to get your jingle on? Well it’s DIY Christmas Friday #2. Every Friday from now until Christmas I will be sharing a DIY item that even a monkey could make. No offense to monkeys everywhere. I am so excited to share with you how to do a metal hand painted ornament.

You know me, I stalk Michael’s and Hob Lob. So on a recent “M” adventure I found a whole area devoted to metal ornaments. They come in a ton of sizes and shapes. I snapped up this large metal ornament, regularly $7.99 – less my 40% off coupon, of course.

I wanted the metal to show so instead of painting the whole thing one color I measured in 1 inch marked it and then connected the dots.

If you look really close you can see the outline for my painting area.

I gave it a base coat of white, which acts like a primer and keeps you from having to paint a thousand coats of your paint color so that the metal doesn’t show through your paint. Plus, call me crazy, but I think it makes the top paint coat a little brighter.

Follow the white up with your choice of paint color. Since I used red on this one I did two coats. Red is a beast to get good coverage!

Then just paint in your design! On this ornament I painted my last initial and green polka dots.

To get the initial transferred I simple used my computer to find the font I wanted and printed it off. I then colored over the back side of the initial with a pencil, then flipped it over and traced the outline of the letter onto my ornament. Then just paint. You could use the same method for the circles, but I just used a circle cut out I had.

Once it is dry, just add a bow.

It’s that easy.

Here’s another that I made for a client. On this one I used the same transfer method for the initial and colored it in with a paint pen. I freehanded the foliage with a white pencil and then painted it in.

These ornaments are the bomb diggity!

They have smaller ornaments in different shapes that I think would be awesome personalized and used as gift tags, hostess gifts, wine bottle jewelry, on the backs of your dining room chairs for placards or – wait for it – ornaments on your tree!

Don’t feel comfortable painting the design? Use vinyl lettering and cutouts.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve gotta go – I’ve got some more ornaments to paint!

Until next time…..

                         Tammy

I can’t believe it, but it’s time to get your jingle on! Especially if you are going to make some of your Christmas gifts, crafts or decor. In keeping with the spirit, Fridays here at the castle, from now until Christmas, will be DIY Christmas Friday. The Queen has decreed it so!

I’m starting with a craft that is so simple to do I’m almost embarrassed. At the same time it’s so dang cute I can’t help but share it with you! It’s a Christmas tree place card holder! Or you could just use it as a sweet decoration like I have it here.

Here’s what you are going to need:

Christmas trees

Christmas tree decorations – teeny tiny ones

Hot glue gun and glue

White felt

Printer and printer paper

Extreme glitter paint

Silver ink pad

Wire

It all started when I found this sweet tree at Wally World ( Wal Mart). It comes complete with a cool star and bling.

I hot glued some tiny jingle bell ornaments and tinsel onto the tree.

Then I attached about eight inches of wire to the top of the star.  I curled the wire several times on the end so that it could hold a place card.

Using my computer I found a font I liked then printed out the word ” Believe”.  Although you could use any word that means something to you!

Using a silver ink pad I added ink to the edges to give it some color and dimension.

Y’all know that I can’t do anything without a little sparkle. In this case Extreme Glitter is your friend, trust me on this. It gives you just enough sparkle without taking over!

The tree already had a cool base. I just wanted to give it a little more weight. So I cut out a piece of white felt about the same circumference as the base of the tree. Then with card stock, I cut out another circle with zig zag edge scissors about 1/4 inch larger than the felt circle. Glue the felt circle to the paper circle.

I gave the paper circle the same treatment as I did the “believe” sign.

Glue the base to your tree. That’s it. So dang easy!

Cute, right?  I can just see a table with one at each place setting, or in a winter vignette with different sized trees.  These would also be cute with green trees and tons of bling.

I hope that you love these as much as I do. Give it a try – you will be amazed at how easy these are!

Don’t forget to come back every Friday from now until Christmas to get your jingle on cause it’s DIY Christmas Friday!!

Until next time….

                      Tammy

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I was at my neighbors recently and her kitchen was full of the cutest pumpkins you have ever seen.  It was such a great reminder that it’s pumpkin time!

My friend is a principal at a local private school and want to give her teachers a bit of fall decor to put in their classrooms. After a visit to Michael’s, I think she came up with the perfect idea to make gifts for her teachers.  Monogramed pumpkins! Didn’t she do a great job?

They were so cute, I asked her if she minded if shared them with you and would she mind if  I made one for myself?

First thing you should know? Pumpkins are 60% off at Michael’s right now. Woo Hoo! Love that. They have several colors, shapes and sizes in pumpkins, I opted for a medium sized tall one. The ribbon was on sale too… I was in “good deal” heaven! If you want to make one for yourself, here is what you are going to need:

Supply list:

1. Pumpkin ( on sale)
2. ribbon of your choice. I used three different patterns and widths. (on sale)
3. Rhinestone monogram – $1.99 ( $1.19 on sale!)
4. Decorative items to add to your ribbon. I got black glitter curly-Q’s – also on sale!
5. Glue gun and glue
6. scissors
7. wire cutters or as the hubs calls them: side cutters

I started by adding my bling to the pumpkin. I put it a little lower than center so that the ribbon wouldn’t hide all that fabulousness!

Next I made the bow. Cut one 10″ piece of ribbon of your choice, you will use this to tie the bow together at the end.

Start making the bow by laying all three ribbons, with the pattern side up, on top of each other.  Make a loop, like you see in the photo.  On the bottom that loop, where the ribbon meets, tightly twist the ribbon 180 degrees. This ensures that the pattern on the ribbon will always show. No one wants to see the tacky back side!

Continue making loops.  The next two loops will be slightly bigger than the center loop -twisting them in the center after you make each loop, just like you did with the center loop. (see photo above) Then make the next two loops, again slightly larger than the last two. Now don’t freak out if it takes a little practice be able to twist and hold all of the ribbon together. You can do it. I promise!

Once you have your five loops completed, cut your ribbon leaving a tail of about five inches. Taking the 10″ piece of ribbon you cut earlier, thread it through the original center loop and tie it around all of the “twists”.  This holds the bow together and will complete your bow.

Now it’s time to “fluff” your bow. I am so thankful for wired ribbon! It makes the ribbon stay in place so nicely.

Next, glue your bow to the top of your pumpkin with hot glue. At this point you can “fluff” the bow again if necessary.

If you wanted to stop here, that would be perfectly fine. But you know I’m gonna give it some bling! I cut 3″ pieces of  tulle and glued them together to form a small bundle. Then glued them randomly to the bow, being sure to hide the glued ends.

I also added those cute black, glitter curly floral picks.  Now that bow just screams “look at me!” My kind of bow.

Honestly, once I got started I could think of a ton of things that I could have done to decorate my pumpkin. Gold or black dots painted on the pumpkin, or dots cut out of vinyl? Michael’s had a ton of blingy stickers – spider webs, curly-Q’s and ghosts that would have looked totally cute as well.  Maybe a witches hat sitting in the bow? Or a glitter spider? Peeps, this could be so addictive!

Thanks to my neighbor for reminding me that it’s pumpkin time and for letting me share her creativity with you!

Until next time…..

                        Tammy

When my sisters and I were trying to figure out what to buy our Dad for Father’s Day we really had to rack our brains to think of something! I mean, he rarely wants or needs anything. Don’t get me wrong, he seems happy with whatever we give him, but we always want to give him something that would be truly special, ya know? So we bought him a small patio set. Bet you didn’t expect that! Well we did cuz he really wanted one, but my sweet sister Darrla also came up with the idea of a memory box. The idea was, that we would all – kids, grandkids, and foster kids,  ( yes, he is 72 and has six foster children living with him, the man is truly a saint! ) write down our favorite memories with Dad and put them in a box for him to read. So today I am going to share with you the Father’s Day memory box that we came up with.

The Hubs has a business called Roxx Boxes. He builds beautiful boxes so we asked him to build us our Father’s day memory box. Unfortunately, cleaning out the garage and an uncooperative tool box resulted in a shoulder injury that has sidelined him from doing a whole lot of anything.

Plan B. A few years ago I bought a big box of cigar boxes for crafts and I had a few left. I started with one of those.

I painted it black, distressed it a little and finished with a coat of spray poly.  I wanted a masculine look and I think this works really well.

Now the fun begins! I wanted to hide the cigar label on the inside of the box, so using scrapbook paper, I lined both the bottom and top of the inside of the box. Then using pictures of my Dad with me and with my sisters, I decorated the top inside lid of the box.  (He really is the ‘best dad ever!”) I wanted to keep this simple since the main focus will be the handwritten notes that we put in the box, but really you are only limited to how you decorate it by your imagination.

Here is a close up… after I already had it decorated I realized that I could have taken my sister Darrla’s photo and converted it into a black and white for a more cohesive look. The more I thought of it though, she is ten years younger than my sister Terri and I are. When Terri and I were younger black and whites were the bomb. No color to be had. Ten years later… it was all color, all of the time! So I am good with the pictures representing the sign of the times.

The hardest part of this Father’s Day memory box was deciding which of my many wonderful memories with my Dad to choose to write about. All it takes is a box, a little creativity and a lot of love!

Happy Father’s Day!

Until next time…..

              Tammy