Tiny Twig Trees

 

We’re on the holiday home stretch right now and if you’re looking for ideas for a super cute gift or party favor, you’ve come to the right place. These tiny twig trees are fun, easy, and sure to please.

You’ll need:

• Twigs
• Hot glue gun
• Tiny containers to compliment your tiny trees
• Moss
• Dry floral foam

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create the tree by laying out five pieces of twigs on a flat surface; one is the trunk, second is the base of the tree, the third and fourth are the sides and the fifth is the center.
2. After you have the shape desired, place a dab of hot glue where the twigs touch each other.
3. When the glue is dry insert dry floral foam into the container then insert the tree into the foam (trunk first).
4. Glue some moss to cover the foam and you are done!

Happy Holidays and Happy Crafting!

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Flannel Shirt Holiday Gift Tags

 

If you’re thinking about trashing those holey flannel shirts – think again. You can repurpose them into one of a kind holiday gift tags.

With the exception of the flannel shirts, you can find all project ingredients at your local craft store. Here’s what you’ll need.

• For the flannel shirts, you’ll need to clean out your closet or visit a thrift store
• Repositional spray adhesive
• Card stock
• Circle punch
• Eyelet punch with 1/8″ eyelets
• Scissors
• Ribbon or twine

Here’s how ya do it:

1. With the circle punch, cut circles out of card stock paper to create a gift tag.
2. Cut a piece of flannel to cover the gift tag and set aside.
3. Spray the gift tag on one side with spray adhesive.
4. Place the flannel over the gift tag and press firmly and remove any wrinkles. You can reposition the fabric until you have the desired placement.
5. With a scissors, cut away the excess fabric from the gift tag.
6. With the eyelet punch, create the hole for the ribbon or twine. Note to crafters, if you don’t want to use an eyelet punch, you can use a regular paper punch.
7. Insert ribbon or twine in the hole.
8. Your done!

Happy Holidays and happy crafting!

Glitter Christmas Trees in Milk Glass Vases

Who doesn’t have loads of milk glass vases sitting around? Okay crafters, maybe just me but I’m going to show you how to turn those vases upside down to create charming bases for glitter Christmas trees.

You’ll need:

• Milk glass vases (flea markets, antique stores are a good source for these beauties)
• Styrofoam cones
• Elmers Glue
• Foam brushes
• Glitter
• Glue gun

All of the project ingredients, with the exception of the vases, can be found at any craft store.

Here’s how ya do it:

1. Turn the vase upside down to make sure it doesn’t wobble when sitting on a flat surface.
2. Then choose the appropriate sized styrofoam cone to rest securely on the bottom of the vase.
3. Using a foam brush, completely slather the styrofoam cone with glue and douse it with glitter. Glittering 101: To avoid a massive glitter fiasco, find a large cardboard box and position it so the opening is on the top, place the object to be glittered inside the box then sprinkle glitter until you have completely covered said object. Don’t forget to glitter the bottom of the tree!
4. When the glittered cone is completely dry, use a glue gun to affix the cone to the bottom of the vase.
5. You’re done!

Happy crafting!

Merry Christmas!

Milk Glass Treat Pedestals

Yes, we’re all in Holiday countdown mode right now and looking for quick solutions to our entertaining needs.  Here’s a simple project using items you may (or may not) have lying around the house.

I have loads of milk glass vases.  You see there’s something about the knobby textures and shapes that call my name and cry out, ‘Buy me, buy me!’.  And the fact that there are two humongous antique malls close to work contributes to my crafting insanity.

However thanks to my obsession, I’ve created these easy to make treat pedestals.  Here are the ingredients for this project:

• Milk glass vases
• Mismatched plates
• A permanent bonding adhesive (I used the E-6000 product)
• Treats

For two of the pedestals (the one on the left and right of the photo below) I turned the milk glass vase upside down and using the adhesive, glued the bottom of the vase to the plate.  Let dry overnight and you have a unique and easy-to-make pedestal.  Load with goodies and PARTY!

I also separated an old globe and placed it on top of a milk glass vase.  If you ask me, this is my favorite.

Happy Holidays and happy crafting!

Unique Holiday Flowers…grocery store style

How’bout a quick and simple holiday flower arrangement how-to?  Okay.

1. Go to grocery store.
2. Avoid crabby grocery folk.
3. Pick up flowers of choice.  I chose roses; hypericum berries; hydrangea; gerber daises; alstroemeria; and asian pears.
4. A round vase (okay vase people why the need for so many sticky labels…enough already!)

Place four rows of rubber bands around your vase.  Stick with me folks.

Now, using small sprigs of pines (I chose arborvitae) insert the sprigs under the bottom row of rubber bands.

Continue inserting the sprigs of pines around the vase then start on the next row, and the next until…

To conceal the rubber band at the bottom of the vase, I added a couple rows of twine.  Okay, you’re almost done.  Add some water, your flowers and you’ve got one unique holiday centerpiece!  The asian pears were added last by inserting food-grade skewers into the pears then I placed the pears into the arrangement.

Happy Sunday and Happy Holidays!

Flannel Shirt Wine Bottle Bags

I’m getting awfully good at hacking up ties and have now moved on to shirts!  Making decorative tree bags from a collection of my hole-ridden, paint-stained, and horrid flannel shirts seemed obvious.  See photo below, and for the ‘how-to’ see the Holiday Hostess Video on my YouTube Channel.

Being a person who doesn’t like to waste, I also repurposed the shirt sleeves into wine bottle bags to give as holiday gifts (with wine in them of course).

This project is super easy.  You’ll need:

Flannel shirts and a sewing machine although you could stitch them by hand.

1. Cut the sleeve at about 13″ from the cuff so you have a tube.
2. Turn the cut sleeve inside out.
3. Sew up the bottom of the sleeve (not the cuff end).
4. Turn right-side out.
5. Insert wine and tie with a gift tag.

Enjoy and happy crafting!

 

 

 

 

 

Pines in Ties … or something like that

I took a long hard look at my ties and the thought that comes to mind is, ‘what was I thinking!’  Kinda like those black platform shoes and elephant leg bell-bottoms I wore in High School.

'That's hot.'

Where is this going?  I know, I know…I’ll make this short.  Alas those long-forgotten ties have been dissected, cut and sewn into the perfect wrapping for some miniature spruces.  They look better on them than they ever did around my scrawny neck!

Bye ‘fir’ now!

Now to figure out what to do with those shoes…….ideas anyone?

The Night Before Christmas

Nestled in the tiny village of Emmaus, Pennsylvania is a charming store called Cottage.  The owners of this shopping treasure, Emma and Heidi, asked if I would design their 2011 holiday windows.  You see, there was a local window decorating contest and the theme was, as you guessed, The Night Before Christmas.  How could I resist the challenge!  The winner receives free ad space in a local publication and a plaque.

Armed with my sketch pad, white paint, glue, props, eco friendly artificial snow, and tons of glitter I set my mind to the task hand.  My kitchen served as the workshop for the creation and well … my house now looks like Katy Perry spent the night.

Last night at 5:00 pm sharp in the center square of Emmaus, with the village Christmas tree towering over us, the winner was announced.  COTTAGE WON!  Hey, it’s a small victory but appreciated nonetheless.

Here are a few pictures of the windows.  Enjoy, Happy Holidays and don’t forget to do your holiday shopping at Cottage!

PS:  On Saturday December 10th from 10 AM to 12 Noon, I will hold my very first trunk show at Cottage featuring my holiday collection of home decor and gifts. Please stop by!

Photos by Andrew Vollo

Twig Christmas Trees

Photographs by Christa Neu

Hi y’all!  We just returned from a super trip down south to visit Andrew’s dear aunt Cheryl.  Needless to say we had a BLAST and loved every blessed second we spent with her (and the beach of course).

While we were away I was cooking up new creative ideas for the holidays.  However, before we traveled south, I concocted a Twiggy Christmas Tree.  Here in the northeast, we’ve been having the strangest weather; hurricanes, tons of rain and how could we forget ‘Snowtober’!  As a result, Mother Nature provided some beautiful craft materials in the way of limbs, limbs, and more limbs!

So, let’s get twiggy with it.  You’ll need:

• A natural disaster
• Twigs
• A base for your tree (I used a Birch limb)
• 16 gauge floral stem wire
• Drill & drill bits
• Hand pruner and a sharp saw
• Wire snips
• Wood glue
• Moss (optional)

1. Cut the limbs in various lengths so you can layer them to create the tree’s shape -think triangle.
2. Cut the base for the tree.
3. Using a drill bit to accommodate the 16 gauge floral stem wire, drill a hole in the middle of the twigs.
4. Drill a hole in the base and insert the floral wire into that hole.  A little dab of glue will keep the wire in place.
5. Starting with the largest twig, place a dab of glue into the drilled hole and slide the twig onto the wire — repeat with the remaining twigs.
6. Snip off the excess wire at the top of the tree.
7. Optional, finish off the base with moss.
8. Done!

Easy right?  Happy crafting!