Creative Storage

Having been sick since Christmas Day, I am forced to lay around and look at all the projects I'd LIKE to be working on.  You know how you have things out of place for so long that they no longer LOOK out of place . . . until you have nothing but time on your hands and you start to REALLY see things??  For this reason, organization has taken up my thoughts so I've "organized" some clever ideas to share with you and that I hope to be able to implement myself soon!  How about that adorable idea for glitter storage above? Thanks to Little Birdie Secrets for this great solution.

Perfect and decorative way to store trash or grocery bags from House of Grace

Yet another great use for toilet paper rolls to store all of those cables we now have for our gadgets from Storage and Glee.

One of my favorites . . . a cute and inexpensive way to organize our flip flops from Epbot.com  (Here's the link to their tutorial.)

A letterpress box becomes a lovely jewelry organizer with the help of simple cup hooks!

(Source: Storage and Glee)

Simple shower curtain rings, wrapped in pretty fabric and attached to a hanger . . . in their new life, they organize scarves and belts!

(Source: Two Shades of Pink)

I'll think twice before passing one of these by at the thrift store . . . a clever way to organize stationery and supplies.

(Source: Better Homes & Garden)

 Here tin cans are mounted on the wall for yarn storage but you could organize just about anything with these!

(Source: Do Stuff)

 

For now I can only imagine projects but I hope to be up and creating again soon!   

Ornament Gifts

This lovely tag was made by Daniella Hayes and I won it during her "Tag A Day" Party a few weeks ago!  Daniella is quite an artist and each day she featured one of her tags and a coordinating ornament. Here's the ornament I received -- just adorable!

 Also included with my gifts was this gorgeous card she made! Just love the colors and the details on it!

While I was hanging her gifts on our tree, I couldn't help but smile at one of my favorite ornaments . . .

This was a gift from my twin daughters last Christmas. They are SO funny! All of the girls in their sorority were fussing and primping and trying to look just "so" for these pictures.  My girls, thought it would be fun to make those "fake", "over-worked" smiles that all kids make when you tell them "SMILE"!  I laugh every time I look at it! I think they nailed "the look", don't you??
And on either side of this ornament, I hung ornaments they each made in preschool when they were four years old.

This is Sarah (who is on the left in the big ornament)

This is Megan (who is on the right in the big ornament)
Guess no one told them to "smile" for these!
How about your tree? Do you have any favorite ornaments featuring your children or ornaments they've made through the years? Be sure to stop by Layers of Creativity and see what beautiful artwork Daniella has whipped up!

Multi-Purpose Decorations

Here is another example of what I call "multi-purpose" decorating.  I love this re-purposed frame and use it year round, replacing the picture for various holidays.  

 Here I printed a quote on paper, distressed it a bit and added some stamped elements and a bit of ultra fine glitter (which is hard to see in this picture).

 

I added one of my snow baby figurines and a vintage doily as well as a bottle brush tree I bleached.  I got a bag of twenty of them in various sizes at JoAnn Fabrics.  After bleaching, I added some pearls and tied the base with a scrap of vintage lace.

I love this vintage card image so I printed and distressed it and added it to this frame which I also use year round.

  The frame was a garage sale find for 25 cents that was painted with chalk paint.

Tags and other embellishments can be adhered with Sticky Tack so you can remove them when the season is over and you get ready to use the frame for another holiday.

I hope you're all finished up with the 'hustle and bustle' now and ready to enjoy the week ahead . . . may it be a blessed week of reflection on the true meaning of this holiday . . . the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Christmas Mantle

I call this a mantle but it's really just a strange 'nook' in my living room wall.  In keeping with my white and silver theme I used a curtain from the thrift store as the base and then just went at it!  I included some of my Snow Babies collection. When my twin girls were born, my mom began buying me these each Christmas. Sadly, as her memory is fading, she stopped buying them but I have them for the first 16 years of my girls' lives.

At this end are included the candle holders I got for a few dollars at the thrift store. They got a coat of chalk paint and a dusting of ultra fine glitter.   They're holding some giant pine cones I got for free! The little silver and glass candy dish and silver trays were also thrift store bargains.

You can see the reflection of these two hugging in the tarnished plate!

This porcelain church and the trees were from the thrift store for just a dollar each!  I didn't do a thing to them -- they were perfect as is!

This year I discovered the battery-operated tea lights. . . I know they've been around for awhile! But being a candle-lover I always scoffed at the idea of "fake" candles.  HOWEVER, they add the perfect glow to the mantle (you can't see them I know) but they're tucked in here and there.  Real candles would of course send this all up in flames so I relent and concede, there IS a place for them after all!

Simple Christmas Ladder

This is another one of those items that is going to get dressed for many different occasions . . . my ladder.

I had a lot of 'grand' ideas for her for Christmas but in the end, I rather like her simple look.

Big Lots had the best prices on garlands . . . $10.00 for this one.  I added a strand of white lights and tied on the ornaments with black organdy ribbon.

 This ladder is kind of like my "dress up doll".  I find I already am thinking ahead to Valentine's Day and how I can dress her!  Glad I'm finished decorating and can now sit back and enjoy the view. 

C&B Thrift Make Over 2 and a Winner

 

This Crate & Barrel piece has had three lives SO far . . . 

  Life One: $5.00 (at 50% off day) at the thrift store . . .

 Life Two:  For my fall table centerpiece . . .

Life Three: Dressed for Christmas!

 This is what I'm starting to steer toward, items that can be re-used from season to season and holiday to holiday.  Another trick:  Replacing just the images in picture frames with holiday-themed artwork.  No need then to pack, unpack, store, etc. as many things from season to season!

And now announcing the winner of my Shabby Apple Give Away: Congratulations to Ann from Moonbeams & Fireflies -- her name was chosen using Randomiser .  Stop by her blog to congratulate her and browse (she was the inspiration for my Christmas Drawer(s)!)

Thanks to all who participated -- I hope to be doing another give away soon!

Vintage Photo Tree

Sort of 'borrowing' again here.  I have seen a few cute photo trees at The Table and Dear Lillie so here is my 'take' on that idea.  I had planned to use a real branch and spray it but it's been pouring all day so finding a dry branch . . . not happening. So I went digging . . . and found this wire tree I forgot I had.

Instead of family photos, I googled and found a bunch of vintage Christmas photos, printed them, roughed them up a bit and using clips I had, hung them on the tree.

Now THAT'S a Christmas tree!

 

This is one of my favorites!

I only had a certain amount of the clips so some branches were bare.  I rooted around in my craft room and found a bag of glass prisms and attached those to some branches.

  Then I found a tube of glass beads in my 'stash' and slipped one on each branch and a few stacked on the top.  And there you have it!

 

A Christmas Drawer

After seeing all of the beautiful and creative Christmas decorations from other blogs, I decided that I didn't like or want to use 75% of my old Christmas decorations!  Not being flush with money (like most of us) I quickly realized I was going to have to get creative (a.k.a. copy) some ideas I'd seen and use things I already had around the house.  

This idea came from Ann over at Moonbeams and Fireflies -- I love all of the interesting things she put in her drawers!

For my drawer I added a doily and an old book along with a tiny silver tray I picked up awhile ago at the thrift store.  The tiny tree was a great find this week for 50 cents at the thrift store.  The vintage postcard is just an image I found, printed and glued to a piece of card stock.  I distressed it a bit to make it look like an old postcard.

The "ornaments" and "tree topper" are vintage clip on earrings and pins.

These black and silver enamel earrings belonged to my mom.

I have two of these strange, little kangaroo pins that I got at an antique shop years ago.  I love wearing them but they look cute on the tree don't you think?
My house looks like a bomb went off and I'm hoping that I'll have it decorated at least a few weeks BEFORE Christmas to enjoy.  More "copy cat" blog ideas to come!