A Christmas Craft

I mentioned these cone trees in my last post, but I thought I'd talk about them in a little more detail here. I did not create a tutorial, but I can tell you exactly what i did.


First of all, as I mentioned before, when I went to the craft store I was surprised at how much the styrofoam cones, that are generally used as a base, cost. Knowing I wanted to make at least three, but not wanting to spend a lot of money, I went home from the craft store empty handed and racking my brain for an idea for the base that would cost me little or no money. I thought about it for a few days until I found myself in Dollar Tree. I was scooping up items I wanted for crafting when I came across the posterboard. Finally the lightbulb went on. 2 large pieces of posterboard for $1. That's more my price range. I brought them home and just cut and folded into a cone shape. I made all three from one piece of posterboard. (If I ever find a spare moment, I'll probably make more with the other piece.) I just stapled and masking taped the seams and I had three cones in varying sizes.


Next, I wrapped them in yarn. The first one took me forever because I started at the base and worked up toward the tip. I had to hot-glue every single bit of the yarn down. On the other two, I was wiser and started at the tip. It holds together better as you go, and then I just glued a little section every couple of inches.

I added the wire stars on top. I used needle-nose pliers to bend it into the star shape. I left a couple of inches of wire as a stem, then stuck the stem down in the tip of the cone shape, attaching with a dollop of hot glue. The wire I used is very heavy-duty and stiff. I got it at the hardware store. I think it's called rebar wire? I got about a million yards of it for $3-4. I will never have to buy more. Ever. I couldn't find a more pliable craft wire in a gauge I liked or for a price i liked. I've used this on a couple crafts and I've been happy with it, but i know there will probably be something I'll make that I'll wish it was more pliable.


I embellished with twine I had on hand, and a berry sprig I got at Hobby Lobby a while ago for $.50.

I love that they are rustic and cozy. I have always loved the idea of decorating with yarn, and this year I've kind of run with it.

Family Room "Mantle"

I don't have a fireplace. This makes me sad for a couple reasons, but this time of year one of the biggies is that I don't have a lovely place to hang the stockings. What I DO have is a half wall with a ledge. This helps, but it's actually a really awkward space to decorate. It's big, it's not centered in the room, it's narrow. Last year I kind of wimped out. I decorated my piano "mantle" and just strung some lights up on the ledge. This year I was determined to do it up right.

I started with an old shed door. When my cousin moved into her house and announced she would be tearing down the old shed in the backyard, I told her I would be happy to help if I could have the door and some of the barnwood. Thinking I was a sucker, she readily agreed. I haven't used the door until now. It has sat in my garage, much to my husband's chagrin, waiting for the perfect project. Do you ever do that? Find something you love and then not use it forever because you want it to be just right? Well, this is not a permanent spot, but it is perfect for what I wanted to accomplish. Rustic, country Christmas.


I built on the look with a yarn ball wreath I made this year, inspired by this at Recaptured Charm. I think I will add a little greenery to it- sparingly- after our trip to the tree farm on Saturday.


These were inspired primarily by my friend Erin, over at Sutton Grace. My take on the many variations of foam cone trees flooding blogland.


I have a secret though. I found the foam cones to be a bit pricey, so I made my base out of posterboard stapled into a cone shape. I made all my bases for $.50. Not too shabby. The red frames I made from some of that barnwood I scored from my cousin. The little bird is a dollar store find. I spray painted it with oil rubbed bronze paint and I love it now.


The stocking board I made a couple years ago with knobs from Hobby Lobby. I free-handed the letters. Everything here was either hand made, thrifted, or a dollar store score. Except the rattan lights. They are from Walmart.


You might have noticed that the accessories changed a bit from picture to picture, but I think I've settled on the bottom picture. I may be adding some greenery, however. I think that's all it is lacking. We'll see what I can find at the tree farm.

I'm linking up over at The Lettered Cottage's Christmas Mantle Party.

Wreaths are my thing this year...

I love pinecones. I also love acorns. On a recent walk at the state park I brought along a bag for collecting both, because more than anything I like FREE items for decorating. I had been dreaming about a pinecone wreath and piles of acorns.



Yesterday I finally got around to making the wreath and putting the acorns here and there around the house.




First let me tell you that all the acorns we found had lost their tops. So we collected a bajillion tops and bottoms and I hot-glued them back together. This took a little time, but it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be.



For the wreath, I planned on purchasing a Styrofoam wreath form, painting it brown, and gluing on the pinecones. Then I remembered an old wreath in my basement that we (my family) had made a few years back. It was falling apart and honestly, I don't think it was that great to begin with. It seemed nice at the time...

I yanked off the pieces that were still hanging on and was left with just the grapevine wreath form- which was perfect because I didn't have to worry about it showing through. No painting, fabric wrapping, or anything required. I glued on the pinecones in a few different sizes and kept one sweet gum ball from the old wreath because we collected it from the yard in our home in NC. I hung it on the door along with my indian corn and I think I looks great. I have no idea why the wreath appears lop-sided in the picture because it doesn't look that way in real life. Maybe it's the shadows? Weird.


And here are a few gratuitous Thanksgiving decor pictures...

Fall is my Fav

So fall is in the air. I LOVE fall. Like, big ol' heart LOOVE fall. Lincoln and I got married in the fall because of our mutual adoration for the season. I've been putting out the fall decor a little at a time, though I usually do it as soon as the kids are back in school.


This year I have felt like I had a lot of stuff I wanted to get done around the house before I got it out. So as I check something off my list I let myself do a little more. But I think it's time to just get it done now. As I was getting stuff out, I came across this banner I made last fall and I thought I'd share it here.



I used yummy textural items like felt, raffia, and twine.


The cutting and stitching was a little time consuming, but I love how it turned out.

This year I decided to display it in my mudroom on my storage bench- an antique Craig's List find. I love my bench. I was looking for a storage bench for the mudroom, but I didn't want something that looked like everybody else's mudroom storage benches. I fell in love with this old piece, repurposed from an old bed, I'm assuming. I think it had been stored in a barn or something, it was pretty dirty when I got it. But I love it and love that it's one of a kind.