Junior League Christmas House!

In the midst of the One Room Challenge hoop la

 I was invited to be part of the design team at a house on the

 

2015 Junior League of Woodstock Christmas Tour of Homes

.

That's a mouthful.

And pretty "big league' for me.

 

The lead designer at this home invited me to help and I chose two small areas.

Let me preface by saying that this was a model home. 

 The only nonresidential home on the tour and it was drop dead gorgeous

 from top to bottom.

It's very industrial chic and lots of moody colors and textures.

 To die for painted brick in the interiors in some spots.

 Really amazing.

I want to move in.

 

 

 

I chose a desk/study area in a small landing at the top of the stairs.

It's the hallway between the master and the other bedrooms. In many floor plans it's open in this area like a catwalk but this is a great use of space.

 I knew I wantd to do a gift wrap station.

And I wanted it to look like it was in use right now!!

 

We covered existing framed art that we couldn't move with pictures of the Big Guy in Red that I printed off of the internet.

We typed notes to Santa to go in the antique typewriter and left lists of naughty  and nice people laying around on the desk!

This cart was very popular. It's a hand me down .

It is really used to store floor plans in a drafting office but I like gift wrap better :)

 

 

 

It was a ton of fun and the hit of the whole deal was my tomato cage tree in a galvanized bucket.

 It's so simple and easy but sometimes that's the best.

We have a couple and I use them on our screened porch at Christmas. They have pebbles in the bottom so they don't blow over and I use plastic ornaments.

 

 

My other spot was in th kitchen on the main level.

 It was a huge bakers rack in between the kitchen and eating area.

 I knew what had to happen there the minute I saw it ... cookies for Santa!

 

This popular guy made an appearance at the Christmas Tour of Homes

 and, once again, was a big hit!!

 



 

I made stacks of air dry clay gingerbread men (I use Crayola Model Magic), painted them  and glued them to cookie sheets, spatulas and drying racks from the Dollar Store.

 

 

The "Fresh Milk" sign was a last minute, night before the tour project.

Someone asked how old the sign was and we said, "24 hours :)))))"

 

   Mollie helped me swirl white paint in milk bottles and add cute straws.

what did we do before you could buy cute straws in every color??

 

It put us all in the mood to decorate at home after Thanksgiving.

And that may be all the cookies that get "baked" this year.

 

Think I can get away with it??? 



Burlap and Bunnies

While the burlap and paints were still hanging around

 from the Quick and Easy Burlap Banners

 I made last week for a friends' Girls Night Out activity,

 I decided I should at least make an effort to put something on the front door that would give us a little Easter decor before it's too late.

 

 

So Burlap and Bunnies it is!

 

 

A quick outline on the burlap runner remnant.

 I just use a flat paintbrush about 1/2 inch wide and paint the shape.

 

I filled it in with a larger brush and then while the white was still wet,

 I gave the bunny pale pink insides of his ears and cheeks.

I love to paint leaping bunnies.

 

 

I sketched in some carrots at the bottom

 and started painting grass in multiple shades of green.

All very quick and simple.

 

I painted lots of blades of grass.

Then I used a Spouncer and added yellow polka dots all around the bunny.

 

I gave him a pink nose and a black dot for an eye.

After he dries I will erase the chalk outlines you can see around the carrots.

I'll use a sharpie to draw a few whiskers!

 

And it's on the front door -and it's not the day before!

Time to spare.

 

I didn't have a dowel rod long enough so I used a fairly straight branch from the yard.

 We've been pruning so plenty of branches on hand.

 

 

It was impossible to get a non- shadowy picture on the front door yesterday so I took one of it flat on my kitchen table so you can see the branch.

I just added a hanger from orange gingham ribbon.

 I had it on hand and it looks good against my SW Urbane Bronze front door.

So quick and easy with the hemmed burlap table runner.

Other than drying time this whole project takes less than an hour.

So, hop to it and get one made before Easter!!



Burlap Banners - Quick and Easy!

I know these are everywhere and there are tons of tutorials

but after I posted a picture on

Facebook and Instagram

I had a bunch of how-to questions and promised a tutorial.

 

 

These are so quick and easy.

 

 

Wow - that's blurry.

I bought a roll of burlap ribbon/table runner from Wal Mart. It was on an end cap.

It is 12 inches wide and has finished edges.

It was $5.97 and will make several.

 

 

I cut a length 21 inches long.

 I didn't measure but a friend texted me

and wanted to know the dimensions, so I measured.

I folded it in half and cut it at an angle.

 

 Think about it before you cut and make sure you are angled the right way!!

I mess up at least one bow every Christmas!!

 

I ended up with this 'pennant" shape.

You could leave it straight like I did on this one.

 

 

This was a scrap of burlap with frayed edges on all 4 sides.

It was drying here - the tape came off later.

 

 

 

Then I took a piece of chalk and lightly doodled a whimsical letter on the burlap.

Just work with it until you are happy with it.

The chalk lines will wipe right off later.

 

If freehanding and whimsical is a little outside your comfort zone

 then you can print off your letter in any font you like.

 Just enlarge, enlarge, enlarge until it's the right size

 and you can see right through the burlap to trace it with chalk.

Seriously that easy!

 

Tonight a friend hosted a Ladie's Night Out and I was the entertainment - LOL!!

They ate and chatted and created.

It was a relaxing, creative evening for all of them -11 total.

They had a great time!

( Two of them work together at a school and

 I think they are going to have this as a staff meeting!!

 A treat for hard working teachers.)

 

 

 

Then take a flat edged, fairly stiff bristled brush

 and trace the letter lightly in your paint color.

The brush I used was about 3/8 to 1/2 inch.

 

 

 

And then with either method just start painting the letter

 and filling it in until you are happy with it.

 

And then we used spouncers to add polka dots.

 

 

I put gold dots on my banner because it is headed for College Girl's front door.

 

 

 And she loves gold polka dots on burlap.

 

Then you can sew a rod pocket at the top and slide a dowel through

or glue a scrap of lattice across the top and then add a twine or ribbon hanger.

 

I didn't get that far tonight but I'll try to put a picture of the finished banner

on FB and IG so be sure to look for it in a day or so.

 

And not everyone painted their initial.

You can do anything you want on a burlap banner.

 

 

 These are so quick and easy (and inexpensive) that you can still make some for Easter gifts!!

 

Linked up at:

 



Whole Lotta Burlap

In addition to painting on furniture,

a "whole lotta burlap paintin' been goin' on."

We started waaaay back with hearts for Valentine's Day.

We got "stripey" (cause I will stripe pretty much anything.)

Then I decided to add an initial

and it would make the heart work for a little longer than just Feb. 14th.

Next up, a burlap heart class. 

They always turn out so differently but each one is so cute!

I love the black and white stripes in the back. This lady drove 2 hours to attend a class that started at 9 am on a Saturday morning. And then she was super creative.

Impressive.

Well, the ladies wanted to make something Springy that wasn't strictly "Easter-y."

So cute carrots it is!

They all turned out so well - more pictures are on madebymolliesmom on Instagram.

Vegetables were followed by fruit.

In case you have not noticed, I use Sherwin Williams Color To Go to paint my burlap door hangers.

 Actually, it's my favorite paint for canvases, too.

I have a SW fan deck in my car and in my studio. All those colors. So inspirational.

(They do not pay me to say this, it's just my favorite paint.)

I actually got a burlap door hanger on my own door this Summer!!

College Girl was in town so she came along to class and 

painted a watermelon for a friend who couldn't make it.

Ms. Dawn this fruit's for you.

Again, a lot of variation but each one turns out great.

 We had to offer the watermelon class twice so this time College Girl decided to paint a burlap door hanger for her place. 
Not being a fan of watermelon as art or food she decided to go with a peach!

 As we say in the South, It turned out stinking cute!!

The gray checkerboard border makes it for me (all her idea!!)

Before long we will be painting owls (but in Fall-ish colors) or candy corn!
As crazy as that seems ... school starts here on Monday. In August. And Hobby Lobby has already put out Halloween and Christmas items. Yikes!!

That means Summer is pretty much over as far as our mindset goes - just not as far as the hot weather  goes.