Book Page Christmas DIY

Most of you have figured out I am a color freak with an obsession 

for turquoise, red and cobalt blue. 

However,

I also obsess about the beautiful neutral tones of natural muslin and old book pages. 

Especially book pages! Christmas is no exception.

Here is my bakers rack decked out in more book page covered decor than you can shake a stick at.

I love the pages with the grey boards and the white milk glass!

And below you can see a sweet ruffled muslin garland with a mini star 

book page garland, plus book page rosettes and book page covered balls, 

stars and even a pedestal cake stand.

I will cover practically anything in Mod Podge and old book pages. This way my old beloved books live on in my decor. I also make as much paper art as I can with book pages.

Per request, I am showing you the big stars covered with book pages in this post.

I just love how they come out!!

                             This is an example of the cardboard star patterns I found online. 

There are oodles I tell ya. LOTS. Google is your friend in this.

I like the old dictionaries with dense printing for these projects. I've used clean cut pieces with straight lines for this project plus loads of Mod Podge.

Simple and FAST, folks.

Once dry, sand the edge paper off with a nail file. Spray with clear acrylic to seal.

Book page stars and Christmas balls, oh my!!

                                     

There is no end of ideas using book pages and Mod Podge. 

Including the display stand made of a sundae glass, ceramic plate and book pages! 

And pinwheels and stars and, of course, book page stars.

Sometimes, even for me, a restful neutral look is just what I need during this busy season.

Merry Christmas, friends. Make it a good one!

Sweet Post It Note Flowers Tute

Here are the simple book page ornaments we've made for our little tabletop trees. 

 I call them Post It Note Flowers because they work up beautifully using a 3" x 3" square of paper,

 so in a leap of naming logic there ya go. 

 They are really origami kusadama flowers and they've been around forever.

 I'll give you a link to an origami website at the end of this post in case my instructions lead you hopelessly astray. ; 0 )

                     Start with a post it note or any size of paper as long as it is perfectly square. 

                 IF YOU USE post it notes, you will start with the gummy side at the bottom right

                                        and gently separate the layers if they become stuck.

Fold bottom to top, then sides in to form a diamond, then fold each side out from the middle.
Unfold each side "wing" so it looks like a kite, then fold the top of these side kites inwards so now you will have a middle kite shape with matching side triangles. Fold each triangle once inwards.
                                  Roll into a cone and hot glue the two folded sides in the middle. 

                   You need at least five to form a flower shape, tho I have seen them with more. 

               Hot glue all the cones together and don't worry if you have a little gap in the center, 

                                     even real flowers have a little opening in their middle.

We've made ours out of vintage dictionary pages to go along with our simple white Christmas theme.

And the Live, Laugh, Love ornaments?

 Simply book pages cut into small rectangles then Mod Podged onto Christmas balls.

 I hand wrote the words on each ball with a Pigma pen, then sealed them all with clear acrylic. 

 You could also use a Cricut or Silhouette for the words,

 or print them and cut them out to match the book pages and Mod Podge them on. 

 Simple, pretty and inexpensive. We like!

Here is a link to a real origami website with great instructions and lots of samples for these pretty flowers...

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/origami_kusadama_flowers

Wintry Snowflake Chandelier-Dollar Store Decor

!!!!!!

Okay, here is the early 90's brass and glass chandelier in my dining room. 

I'll give you a moment to bask in fond nostalgia.

Yeah, well, we're still living with this chandelier until I find exactly the right fixture and can wave a big ol' bag o' money at it, so right there it is going to stay. 

It's just so....brassy and perfectly functional and by the way, 

The Welding Man loves it just the way it is! 

So here are a couple of my ideas for coping with it's golden funkiness each season. 

Dollar Store to the rescue! 

Years ago I saw Martha Stewart's pretty hanging autumn wreath light and it stuck with me.

 So in October I decided to make my own version with several autumn leaf garlands around 

and around and around my light's brassy framework but

 without the candlelit mini pumpkins.

 

We tried it with and without the glass panes and the glass just 

gave it some extra shine at night, so they stayed. 

Ooh! I like it alot and it is a sure sign of Autumn in my house.

Come Christmas time and wintry weather,

 I hit my stash of Dollar Store decorations again and found 

many different styles and sizes of snowflakes. 

We took off the glass panes and hung the snowflakes willy nilly,

 just like they would be in a blustery winter storm.

With just a few icicle strands here and there and oooh! I like this alot, too! 

Even in the daytime in natural light the

 layered textures of silver, white, and glittery gold and 

silver pack a beautiful festive punch.

Even The Welding Man, who does not like it when I mess with "his" light, thinks that this is very pretty!

Note-If you hang enough Dollar Store snowflakes on a brass light fixture you can mostly hide it's golden shininess!

And kapow! Here she is all lit up! She is dazzling!

        

Ooh aah! So pretty! And with the cold, wet, rainy, snowy winter weather hanging on, I'm leaving these snowflakes on my chandelier at least until Easter!

Which version is better? Daytime or night time? I like them both but the daytime 

chandy looks more wintry to me. 

Go figure.

The Welding Man will be glad to know  I won't be replacing his chandelier anytime soon. 

But I can sure mess with it and make it pretty, can't I? 

 

And maybe I'll learn to appreciate it's brassy vintagey vibe? 

We'll just have to wait and see, lol!

Stinkin' Cute Wine Cork Reindeer DIY

Here is an oldie from 2012, but it's a goodie and one of my top Pins on Pinterest ever. 

They've even been featured in an annual Sainsbury's Christmas flyer in England!

Look! A tiny reindeer made from wine corks and twigs for your Holiday decor!

If you accumulate a lot of wine corks or keep running across them at yard sales and thrift stores, here's a nifty little project for the holidays that is so stinkin' cute and sort of easy, plus cheap. I make these little guys to go with my Santa dolls and while making them today I went ahead and took pictures of the process.

Here he is surrounded by the supplies for his creation. Wine corks, little twigs (some with forks) and round headed pins. You will also need a tool for cutting like a razor craft knife and wire cutters.

Punch four leg holes at a slight outward angle in the bottom of one cork for the twig legs. Use a nail or ice pick or whatever gives you the right size holes. The holes need only be about 1/4" deep. Cut four sorta matching twigs for the legs, about 2" long, using a razor knife or wire cutters like those shown.

Put a bit of hot glue in the hole or on the twigs and insert the twigs into the holes. You can press the sticks in with gentle pressure against your work surface or use a pair of pliers. Stand the body up and if any leg is out of whack trim it JUST A LITTLE with a knife or the wire cutters. If you take off too much you'll have to trim the other legs and then the first leg again and it will only end in tears, trust me on this.

BUT, if this happens you can use a heat gun or blow dryer to soften the glue and remove the sticks so you can start over with 4 new twig legs.

If your chosen head cork is too large, trim one end straight off with a razor knife til the proportion seems right. Do the same same punch-holes-trim-twigs-glue-in-holes for the tiny forked antlers and the neck twig. Notice the neck twig is angled, so punch your holes with that in mind.

Look! Teeny tiny super cute wine cork reindeer!

LOVE these little guys!

But wait, what are the push pins for? This little guy needs a red nose, of course. I snipped the pin off short then painted the ball bright red.

Then I added a bit of tiny green tinsel around his neck. Perfect. You can add more tiny trims like the bow on his brother in the top pic, or a tiny star, or a little bell.

How cute would these be on your mantel or even marching across your desktop at work?  And with just a bit of twine or fishing line in a loop and hot glued to his back, you have a cute tree ornament. They are not strong enough to be used as toys but for your Christmas decor, what could be easier or cuter? And now you have a nifty project to use all those wine corks you have in that glass jar!

Try it, you'll like it and be sure to enjoy yourself. Every time I make one of these little guys they make me smile. You will smile, too!

DIY Wood Stars for Christmas and All Year!

Here's a neat gift idea that comes together so quickly, I was kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner.

I wanted to give a hand made Christmas item for each family on my list. What to do? I needed a dozen of them and I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on the supplies.

I bought this box of wood slats for way less than $10. Thank you, Feed Store brothers!!

I brought the wood home and proceeded to make primitive Christmas stars!

The wood slats are 20" long. Perfect size for a star and easy to work with. 

Each star takes 5 pieces of equal length. Paint the wood first then dry brush with black if you want a bit of a grungy primitive look. Otherwise leave the finish natural.

We used our handy dandy air gun stapler to fasten the joints, then bent the staples over on the back side for added stability. Touch up with paint or wrap with Dollar Store jute twine secured with hot glue. We did them with and without twine. 

You can leave them plain OR you can crash your stash of Christmas decor, which is what I did. Experiment with your placement then hot glue each piece in place. 

Then comes the FUN PART!

I used faux poinsettias in two sizes, fake greenery, wired tinsel, ribbon, small pine cones, glittered branches, plastic decor balls in several sizes and anything else I could lay my hands on. 

 Lots of blues!

Lots of ribbons and twine wrapped joints.

Here's the biggest star we made out of longer grade stakes.

36" across for the entry wall at my grand kids' new house. We twine wrapped the joints

 on this big one and sealed it with clear acrylic spray for outdoor use.

I LOVE the way these came out! 

And guess what? They're a hit with the families, too!

And here's the one we kept for our own house.

It's on the baker's rack I decorate every year.

We even made some cooking themed stars for the Lunch Ladies at the school kitchen.

Now I'm kicking around ideas for decorating Patriotic Americana stars for Fourth of July....burlap and sunflower stars for my summertime porch.....autumn leaves and branches for fall....then back to Christmas with snowflakes, white poinsettias and silver branches.

I'm sure I'll be posting more about these stars. Stay tuned!

Materials used for each star-

five wood pieces of equal length

acrylic craft paint your choice of color

staples or nails to fasten the wood

hot glue

twine

misc. small Christmas decor items

There you go!