Saturday, December 21, 2013

Wait! Don't Trash That!


As you go about your holiday merry-making, you're bound to generate what many would consider plain, ol' trash. A case in point: this cute, cute almond snowman cookie box.  It's just a heavy stock paper box with the name of the cookies around the band and the typical nutrition information on the bottom. But the design is fun and festive.


Don't toss it. Upcycling a nice box is about a 10-minute project, depending on how elaborate you get with your remake. Because I planned to use my box for a gift that would then be stuffed into a packing box and shipped to Texas, I made my makeover very simple. No point in adding embellishments that would get crushed in shipping.

I decided to add red grosgrain ribbon around the box top using double-sided tape. How easy is that? And, the ribbon was exactly the same size as the lip on the box. Whoa, baby! Simple.



For the bottom, I added scrapbook paper I had on hand that coordinated fairly well with the striping on the box. For a perfect fit, just trace around the box and cut slightly inside the tracing lines. Attaching the bottom paper was easy. You guessed it: double-sided tape.



A good salvaged box, a few fixin's from the craft room, 10 minutes and you've got a professional looking, but nearly cost-free, package.



This holiday season, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for little gems masquerading as trash.



Make it a great day!
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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Winter Under Glass


A light, fluffy snow fell gently all day. No winter wind here. No ice under. Just the sweetest, softest snow we've had in ages.

The late Thanksgiving threw me off my game this year and my holiday decorating is about a week behind my normal schedule. I put most of it up last weekend, hubby decorated the tree and I am now putting on the finishing touches.


One of the items I brought back from Arizona when we started cleaning out our parents' house was a beautiful folk art Santa by Pam Schifferl. I have a couple of her ornaments that I simply adore!

I planned to put the Santa under a cloche I had, but it wasn't tall enough. So, I headed to my neighborhood Home Goods store, which has an extensive offering of clear glass vases, hurricanes, apothecary jars and cloches. Eureka! They had one that was tall enough.

But, alas, I got it home and, not taking into account that it wasn't straight-sided, but rather bell shaped, the curvy section wouldn't fit over the width of the figurine. After an exhaustive and futile search for the right-sized cloche, I gave up and decided to make my own from a large egg-shaped vase.




The cute glittered bird substitutes for the cloche knob. He's surrounded by an ice wreath I already had among my holiday trimmings.

My mom's woodland Santa clearly is from the same clan as my ornaments.



Woodland Santa perches on a vintage milk glass cake stand atop a vintage bevelled mirror and is surrounded by vintage family mercury glass ornaments.




Welcome, Woodland Santa.

Make it a great day!
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