All Things Christmas

So Christmas 2019 has come and gone, but I still consider this little space between Christmas and New Years the Christmas season. When you think about it, things aren't back to normal yet. There's still a holiday feel, at least to me. I kept up my stitching during the month of December, only stitching on Christmas-themed projects! I didn't even plan this. It just fell into place.

After I put away "Believe" by Dimensions for the time being, I had a new start! This is "Grandpa's Pick-up" by Little House Needleworks.

Yes, I was really motivated and got a lot done! I'm stitching this on a 30 count linen, but I'm not sure what the color is. I had signed up to get these charts as they were released and I opted for the linen to be included.

More Christmas stitching followed!

This is "Holiday Cheer" by Sugar Stitches. This is also a series called the 2019 Christmas Club and it can be found HERE on Etsy. Two of them have been released as of this post and they're both very sweet. I'm stitching it on the called-for 32 count Gingerbread fabric from Picture This Plus, which I found at 123Stitch. I'm using the Lugana instead of linen. I also am trying something new in the form of a little stretcher frame that I had in my stash. It's simply a wooden frame that you tack your fabric to. So far so good!

I made a couple of cute little zip bags to use as gift card holders for my nieces.

These are made with lace zippers which are decorative as well as functional. The tutorial for these bags can be found at Jean Truelove's YouTube channel HERE. I had a little trouble with these thick seams. It seems that both of my sewing machines are wimps when it comes to sewing through a lot of layers of fabric. They did turn out pretty nice though. If you like the look of these lace zippers, please keep reading. There's going to be a giveaway!

Our neighborhood had its annual Night Of Lights, in which we put luminary bags out at the curbs and decorate our homes. Then we invite everyone to drive through and donate to the charities which were chosen for the year.

Our 1967 Ford truck (complete with Christmas tree) continues to be a hit during this event. This photo was taken right when cars started to come through. The sheriff's department estimates that 5,000 cars drove into our subdivision on this one night! We collected an amazing amount of money and 100% of it went to the recipients.

My Christmas cactus has been a mystery to me since I got it two years ago. However, this year it showed me that it is indeed a Christmas cactus!

I think I was in a baking kind of mood this holiday season. I baked four different kinds of cookies I was sure the guests at our Christmas celebration at my sister's house would enjoy.

Holiday Spritz, Fruitcake Cookies, Chocolate Krinkles, and Coconut Cranberry Cookies filled the bill.

I'm going to do a giveaway for six of the lace zippers! I will choose six different colors of these 12 inch zippers. If you'd like to be entered in the giveaway, please let me know in your comments. Also, please make sure that there is a way that I can contact you if you win. I will choose ONE winner on Friday, January 10th at 12:00 noon EST and then announce the winner here in a blog post. I will ship anywhere.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas. Now we're heading to a New Year and I hope that yours is a good one. Keep enjoying the season and get some stitching and crafting in!

The Christmas Three-Tier Tray

It all started when a little ad popped up on Facebook. You know how it does that? Ads from different stores and websites show up on your newsfeed, all with the purpose of tempting you with their wares. This particular one was from Pottery Barn and it was their three-tier tray all dolled up with Christmasy goodness. It had Santa mugs, candy canes, sprigs of greenery, and festive fabric. Simply adorable. The first thing I thought is "I have Santa mugs!". Well, two of them. One big and one tiny.

I admit that I became a bit obsessed with this three-tier tray thing. It's not much to look at on its own, especially since it's made of galvanized metal. But oh, the possibilities! Off I went in search of an affordable version of it and found it on Ebay. Easy enough to assemble, it took all of a few minutes. Then I left it in my craft room so that I could ponder how I would make my creation a thing of joy and wonder! Here's what I came up with.

First, I wrapped each tier with some mini holly strands which I already had. More things I didn't need to buy: the Santa mugs, bottle brush trees, pine cones, tiny candy canes, a Santa polar bear, tiny Santa salt and pepper shakers, and some little figures I owned since I was a child.

I bought both reindeer at Joann's. I will also use these for my winter tray.

The little ceramic basket was a thrift store find! I did purchase the Christmas fabric and berry picks and the evergreen picks.

Another purchase I made was the larger size candy canes and the all white Santa mug. It found those at a local antique store. The white mug used to be painted, but almost all of the paint is gone. I did like the look of the paint-free Santa!

The whole thing just makes me happy.

It has a place of honor on the sofa table.

So here I was thinking that I was pretty clever doing this, all with just a little idea from a Pottery Barn ad. But nooooooo! It seems that the three-tier tray is a thing. Yes, I Googled three-tier tray and so many different photos of them came up! Well, at least I can say that I didn't copy any of them. I even found out that one of my favorite Flosstubers and blogger, Priscillas2000 (that's her blog name), decorates her tray seasonally. So no particular originality for me, but I do get points for creating a cute little scenario.

I already have plans to use my three-tier tray for winter decorating to cheer up the place during those bleak winter months. But there are still several weeks to enjoy my Christmas-themed creation.

So what do you think? Can you imagine the different things you could put into the tray for different times of the year? If this is something you'd like to do, just Google "three-tier tray" and "three-tier tray decorating", and you'll not only find different sources for the tray itself, but also wonderful decorating ideas! Have fun! I hope you enjoyed this little tour!

A Pinterest (Not Too Bad) Fail

Pinterest is so much fun, isn't it?  You can find cool ideas and photos of anything you're interested in.  In my case it's cross stitch, crafts, beading, and food.  And who knows what kinds of boards I'll add in the near future.  One little crafty idea that caught my eye was a bowl of pine cones painted with a silvery finish.  How festive!  How Christmas-y! 

Look at how shiny they are.  Remember, this is the picture from Pinterest.

All you have to do is get a can of Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like paint!  Well, and some pine cones too.  Funny story about that:  The house I used to live in was surrounded by pine trees.  Before we moved, I picked up a bunch of pine cones and stuck them in a box.  I actually moved a box of pine cones from my old house to my new house.  My husband never said anything about that, but he probably shook his head a little. 

I found the Krylon paint very easily at a big-box store.  Then I got out my box of Rockbridge Drive pine cones and went to work.  And this is what I got.

OK, they're pretty enough, but they just don't have that "mirror-like" finish that the ones in the Pinterest photo have.  See the difference?  I have a funny feeling that I could have bought the much bigger, less expensive can of regular silver spray paint and got the same result.  And yes, I did follow the instructions on the can and shook that thing for 2 minutes. 

To be fair, I decided to try this paint on a glass object to see the real mirror like finish.  I chose a simple glass votive holder.  And the result:

The colors you see are just reflections of me and stuff in the room.

Again, I can't get super-excited about the finished product.  Maybe I could try another coat? 

So, all in all, I like my silvery pine cones even though they weren't exactly what I was expecting.  They're displayed in a bowl on my sofa table.  My Rockbridge Drive pine cones look pretty good and festive.

Thank you for all of your kind comments and for following my blog!  Please leave a comment if you like this post or if you can give me some additional tips for using this paint.  I'd appreciate it!