Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I Know It's Only November, Don't Shoot Me

Well, it's no secret that I like crafting.  And Pinterest.  And that I may perhaps be a future candidate for pinterest rehab.  But I digress.  Anyway, now that it's November I am working on my Christmas tree plans.  Because I don't just like to buy stuff to put on the tree.  (I do that too, but I like semi-homeade ornamenting as well.)

I haven't had my own tree in four years.  I've either been living with other people, or in the case of last year, barely staying in my own place.  I have never NOT had a real tree, so these four years have been tough for me.  Because we have a larger house, we've decided to have two trees: mine in the dining room and my mother's in the sunroom that opens into the living room.  

We each do "theme" trees.  Mine is red, white, and metallic.  Mostly red.   My mother does a blue tree with blue and white lights.  You will of course receive pictures of the final products.  I know you are on the edge of your seats.  

I thought I'd share with you my works in progress. 

The first project was partially inspired by my mother and partially by Pinterest.  Last year Mom bought a bunch of clear glass ornaments when she was working at Michael's crafts with the intention of painting them for her blue theme tree.  We never got around to doing it although we talked about it.   They make a variety of shapes. The ornaments looks something like this: 




However, when I was on Pinterest I came across this idea for swirling acrylic paint INSIDE the ornaments.  Genius!  My mother had also toyed with the idea of swirling blue glitter glue inside them too, so this idea was already sort of formulated. 

This is the Pinterest final product and a link to my pin. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/56295064063505223/

And these are my final products.  Incidentally, my new black spray painted candelabra served as an excellent drying rack.   I tried to make them all different.  All use acrylic paint, but I found that my thicker artist style worked best for coating, but that the Martha Stewart glittery acrylic and metallic craft paint was thinner and mixed well with it.   The only problem I had was that they take a really long time to dry.  My mother recommended taking dixie cups and flipping the ornaments upside down until the excess paint dripped out.  I didn't do that.  But you might want to listen to my mother.  She usually knows better than me.  I just finished it up by cutting lengths of satin ribbon for hangers.  I also did two blue ones for my mother and they came out marbled and awesome.  I used silver metallic, white pearl acrylic and two different shades of blue on hers.  











I also bought two wooden stars, and four white, plaster ornaments from Michaels to paint with red acrylic and glitter.  Simple, but they should really catch the light.  I painted the ornament "bulb" tops with the metallic gold and used the same ribbon to hang.  



Lastly, my current project is making star needlepoint ornaments.  I haven't decided yet, but I might back them with red felt.  I am just using regular old yarn in matte red, sparkly red and sparkly white to do these.  I started out with plastic ornament grids (purchased at Michael's).






As you can see, Michael's is one of my favorite stores.  In fact, it's downright dangerous for me to walk through those doors.  

And lastly, I'll leave you with a picture of Shannon and I from last year in front of my mother's tree.  I am trying to get that thin again (15 lbs to go) because I thought I looked pretty good last year.



2 comments:

  1. Seriously, will you make some of those for me?? you are so talented! I love your ideas and creativity!! A tree has always been an afterthought for me as I have lived alone and even when I was married. And want a special one this year, even if it has to be fake where I live. You made gorgeous ornaments! (send me some, seriously, I'll pay you! set up an etsy shop! you are good!). And you look great now and you looked great last year too. You got this!

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  2. I love all the crafty things you have done. That is so cool. I can't wait to see what the trees look like.

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