Beautiful, simple book page Christmas decor

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and then you know what happens.....time to decorate for Christmas, ladies! Woohoo!

I love the riotous color that comes with Christmas decorating as much as the next creative gal, and yet when Insanely Creative Christy and I started brainstorming about little display trees for our tiny craft mall booth, we decided to try a shabby chic look using, what else, vintage dictionary book pages. Here's the start of our project and we're liking this clean, white, crisp look very very much. So wintry white and elegant, we think.

Of course there's the book page decoupage balls with hand written script that say Live, Laugh, Love, Family, Joy and Peace. We'll try some smaller balls too just for a bit of balance. And don't forget the tiny paper chains. Book pages and hot glue, baby, easy peasy and cheap! The snowflakes are punched then glued together for a REALLY REALLY lovely garland, very simple and beautiful. LOVE IT! For a little extra body we suggest gluing two layers of paper together before punching. We're also trying some garlands of hearts and primitive stars. If you've got some craft punches try them out for some lovely and creative garlands for your Holiday House.

I crashed my stash for the metal star and the 18" twiggy trees, but really, everything and anything is a candidate for this classic, simple look. The paper looks so sweet against the deep green of the trees.


Christy made these gorgeous gorgeous paper flowers, they are so sweet nestled in the branches and give the whole tree a bit of needed texture. We're working on angel tree toppers made of more book pages and a couple of other surprise projects and we're having so much fun! We'll add a few more things and a bit of bling and who knows what else. We're a little giddy that way ;0)

I'll be posting the how tos for these sweet flowers starting this Saturday on the blog parties on my side bar. Please check back, they are super clever and easy to do, you'll want to make some for your own projects!

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday, dear friends, and be sure to count your blessings during this most personal time of the year. Life is beautiful. And please, as James Taylor sings, "Shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel, things are gonna be much better if you only will."

See you on Saturday!

Gallery of Dolls on my Ruffles and Crows Doll site...

...come check it out and see if you find something you'd like to order for the Christmas season of giving or just for yourself.

http://rufflesandcrows.blogspot.com/2010/11/gallery-of-dolls.html

I'd be so glad to see your visits and comments over there! Thanks!

Thar she blows! My hair, that is.

My hair came out in clumps and handfuls yesterday. Awesome. The doctors, nurses and oncologists have been telling me to expect this for a couple of months and boy howdy, here it is. And so, I'll deal as usual and make the best of things. Here's a lame bathroom mirror shot from last Christmas a year ago.

Thin hair but lots of it.

Sort of a modified version of my high school flip.




Pinned up in back most of the time since hair in my face annoys me. Little did I know....

Short crop after first chemo thanks to my clever daughter. This length was doable and spikable and kinda sassy. I thought I'd sneak up on the bald thing by going shorter every couple of weeks.

But my hair brush tells a different story. Wow, it came out fast once it started to go. So scarves and ballcaps and crocheted beanies to the rescue. But hey, I've discovered a newfound love for dangly, pretty earrings. Yes, Insanely Creative Christy is making them for me ; 0 ) Even futzing around here at home I'll wear them cuz I like that little spark of pretty when I look in the mirror.

I knew I wouldn't be blogging about my breast cancer woes, but in keeping with my whole outlook you'll see entries like this...me making the best of the situation, hopefully with grace and humor. And you know, the more I try to keep my chin up, the better I feel, even with heavy duty chemo and meds and multiple testing and the various aches and pains. So, a good attitude is working for me, looks like I'll keep it up!

Thanks ladies for all your wonderful wishes. Bless you!

Thankful wreath and autumn display.

Despite everything, I do have alot to be thankful for this year, and I knew I wanted this display to remind me and cheer me everyday. I love the way it came out!


Here is "display central" on the end of my kitchen counter. The textured wallpaper
looks good as a background no matter what I put up there. My first round of chemo went smoothly, and it surely did not keep me from switching up my Halloween decor to Thanksgiving. If you'll recall, this is how it looked for Halloween.....

...crepe paper bats, mod podge balls, a rosette wreath, black spray painted branches and foliage plus Dollar Store knick knacks. That was fun! Now I've changed it up for autumn and Thanksgiving using a bag of Dollar Store leaves and a bit of stash shopping. So this changeover was not only fun but it was CHEAP. Win win!



I hot glued the leaves to the spray painted branches and also used them on a twig wreath that had seen better days. I added some book page leaves leftover from my garland redo and then painted a banner for the middle of the wreath saying, "Thankful." Painting the muslin with country white paint gave it enough body to curve and hold it's shape when I glued it in place. Simple, easy and almost free! A colorful spray of silk leaves is in the white vase now instead of the black foliage.


These are my Thanksgiving napkin rings made of grapevine wire, more miniature silk leaves and tiny book page leaves. A few have tiny berry sprigs. They look GORGEOUS with white dinner napkins but until I need them, they look pretty on this tree.


We've found that with a good pair of craft scissors we can cut 8 layers of paper at a time, so very quickly you can have LOTS of maple and oak leaves cut from book pages for your autumn decor. They are very versatile, I've used them ALOT this year.


I added my restyled candlestick trio to the mix. They started out as tired, old and white but now look pretty cool in gloss black, thanks to my daughter, Insanely Creative Christy. Wrapping the candles with jute and giving them some mini bows of satin ribbon dressed them right up. I kept some of my mod podged balls on the tree and added a few small grapevine balls, too. My fat fabric pumpkins stayed, as well as my little apothecary jar. Looks like all the mini Reese's cups are just about gone, lol!


Peeking out through the candlesticks is a bit of graffiti art my middle daughter, No Nonsense Mom Kelly, did for me for Mother's Day. I'll have to do a post on it all by itself, it is too cool for school! I am enjoying this bright display everyday now that the weather has turned grey, cold and wet. I have BIG plans for my Christmas display, plus lots of projects that feature my two rules....they have to look good and cost next to nothing. Can't hardly wait.

And for all you wonderful ladies who have left such wonderful comments for me, you make me teary eyed with your positive thoughts. My second round of chemo is this week and I know it's going to be a bit tougher, so I truly love and appreciate all of your support. I'm so thankful for all of you! Bless you.

Ahem. I'll be posting to the parties in my sidebar since they are so much fun. Come check them out, the creativity out in blogland is amazing.

Personal memory book...the BEST family gift ever!

My middle sister hatched the idea for this memory book for our parents, who had unceremoniously wrenched us from our comfortable Southern California subdivision ranch house to the wilds of 60 acres in Southern Oregon's beautiful cascades when I was a junior in High School and my three sibs were just pups.

Talk about culture shock.

That said, it's the best thing they ever did for us besides birthing us and raising us into the hardy souls we are today.

Thus, years later, the project was conceived in appreciation and loving nostalgia. Behold the book of our childhood....


Props go, once again, to Insanely Creative Christy who gave me a crash course in the construction and binding of a simple journal style book. She totally rocks, my daughter does! I used every bit of natural twigginess and embellishment that wouldn't deteriorate in time and then we went for it. The burlap and the scripty paper were a natural choice.


So my classy cool middle sister suggested a beautifully written collection of our memories and asked that I illustrate it with some pen and ink, colored pencil and even watercolor paintings. Ah, what a fine idea it was at the start......


...and indeed, the first pages off the press were pristine and lovely, courtesy of my youngest sister (known as Fantastic Singing Voice Sister) who edited our gleefully giddy emails and contributions to this work and delivered these crisply printed sheets to me for embellishment with fine artwork and beautiful sketches.

I had good intentions, really I did. I pictured wonderful pastel watercolor landscapes of the beautiful hills, creek and fruit trees. But the memories and my own sense of humor just wouldn't let me be so...um....PLAIN. After a quick warning email to my sibs, I just went for it and illustrated the margins with lots and lots of fun sketches. LOTS.


Our first winter was HARD and snow quickly lost it's glamor. We quickly learned that the survey stakes left by our friendly country road crew made great fishing poles and brush beating sticks.


Our mom discovered her green thumb extended to vegetable gardening. A half acre of vegetable gardening. That hill of beans is no exageration. And we raised goats. Even today we love the miserable creatures and think of them with malicious nostalgia, the little buggers.

The main charm of our Oregon home was our very own Creek. Not fenced off like in California, but free flowing and wild and fringed with fern, blackberries, mint and willow thickets laced with animal trails. Brings tears to my eyes remembering that Creek. Love it so.

Ah, the plastic bags + socks + red top rubber boots are still fashion riguer, I hear. We learned fast.

Oregon banana slugs, ahhhhhhh!

And the pros and cons of our country life.....no hot home delivered pizza, no Disneyland trips on a whim, no ballet lessons. But we also did not have gang activity, save for the goats at feeding time, and we did have an endless supply of fresh hot apple pies made with fruit from our own heritage trees and warm tea and hot cocoa and EACH OTHER.

And we'd do it all again, you betcha! Our first summer was spent in a camp trailer with a tin roofed deck built underneath a HUGE pear tree. If you are watching reruns of Twilight Zone or Psycho, there is NOTHING like the sound a ripe pears hitting the tin in a horrendous clash and clatter to give your heart a workout. Ah, sweet memories are made of this.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for abandoning the relative ease of city life and moving us all out into the woods for our own good. We love you.

Off center Thanksgiving Twig Wreath

You know me, I don't like to spend money but I do like to decorate for the seasons, and this Thanksgiving season between Halloween and Christmas deserves a bit of bling, doesn't it? So Insanely Creative Christy and I shopped the house and came up with this bit of off center wreath decor for the inside of our multi pane door. The off center design really worked for us this time, tho usually I am totally OCD about symmetry, trust me on this.

The big 22" twiggy wreath is usually outside behind my clematis vine for a bit of summery goodness. We brought it inside and added this....

...one of my dollar store garlands with lots of book page leaves wired willy nilly all over it's length.....
...and a red glittery skeleton key. And some flowers from the various arrangements around the living room....
Off centered with a corn husk wreath I've had floating around for years....and a wooden pumpkin decoupaged with orange tissue and paper leaves.

Ooh, ahh! One off center Thanksgiving Autumn wreath made for next to nothing and it looks fantastic (we think!)

So what have you put up for this in between season? Very very quickly all the Christmas decor will come crashing in on a big wave, can't wait to see it all!

Linking up to the parties on my sidebar, let's all go look at the wonderfulness out there!

Sweet candlestick makeover

Yes, I'm still here! One round of chemo down, 7 more to go, so let's keep this wagon rolling! Here's a sweet little candle and candle holder makeover which was short and easy and makes me smile and smile. And ladies, your sweet sweet thoughts during my cancer struggle is a boon and inspiration to me. I appreciate all your love and concern!

These sad little pillar candles were not looking so spiffy and the shabby chic candlesticks had seen their best days. Their previous sparkly plastic crystals were cloudy and tired and the whole set lacked "oomph." So once again, my hero daughter Insanely Creative Christy, came to the rescue. I told her my thoughts and she gave me hers and off we went!

Ah, the spray paint table also used occasionally for picnics and family cookouts. A fresh oilcloth tablecover always hides our painting sins when the family gets together. Here comes the gloss black spray paint and a whole new look for these curlicue holders! (In the background are some halloween steel cutouts which we have rustified for a real shabby look. Loved them!)

Jute twine and hot glue to the rescue. We weren't looking for perfection here, but a bit of shabbified chic to make the candles look Pottery Barnish and vintage, maybe? Anyway, we like it so far.

And here they are on my over the top embellished Halloween counter, but we like them, we like them alot! Christy tried tiny book leaves around them but they were too plain, so she went tres simple with the tiny black bows and it was genius! LOVE THEM!

AH, here's a much nicer picture without all that background clutter! Don't you love them? They are just so clean and shabby and rustic and curvy and a perfect focal point for a tablescape, side display or even on their own. Twine around the bottom with some book page leave autumn garlands and you have a gorgeous mantel display. LOVE THEM! Now we get to go play with them and set them up with other foofaraw for my Thanksgiving display. Such fun!

I'll be joining the parties on my sidebar for some cool, creative fun. Come join the blogging fun!

Martha Stewart.com picked my necklace!!!

I just got an email from Michelle Toglia, an assistant editor at Martha Stewart.com. I had submitted some of my Halloween creations to their contest and tho I didn't win, they liked my necklace so much they featured it in their picks for 13 Best of Halloween Creations for 2010. I'm so psyched I can't sit still!

Here's a link to the gallery....

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/your-best-halloween-creations-2010

and a link to my necklace in the gallery....

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/your-best-halloween-creations-2010#slide_8


So this is totally cool and a real boost for me, creatively. Considering I start chemo this week and have a long tough road ahead of me, this really cheers me up.

Ladies, this has really made my day/week/month! Go check it out!