Wintry Snowflake Chandelier-Dollar Store Decor

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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!

Snowflake Chandelier First Version

February 2014 update here.....
http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2014/02/wintry-snowflake-chandelier-dollar.html

Our 90's era house came with this blingy brass and glass chandelier. Still serviceable but really dated. It will have to do until I find just the right, perfect, beautiful dining room chandelier.

So for October thru November I wrapped it in a double garland of colorful silk leaves, like so....

...and I really liked the way it looked, especially all lit up. Martha Stewart did something similar but with tea lights and real leaves. http://www.marthastewart.com/276216/pumpkin-chandeliers-autumn-wreath
Ok, hers is prettier, but mine won't catch on fire.

Then I found a bag of assorted snowflakes (including a snowflake garland) at Goodwill for 99 cents. Score!!

The big snowflakes hooked over the hanging glass and the mini snowflake garland was just the right length to drape nicely all the way around. Hmmmm, looks okay in the daylight. Then I turned on the light....

KAPOW!
Look at the beautiful, crystally, snowflakey chandelier!
I really really like it and so does The Welding Man. It looks like a big Christmas wedding cake hanging over the table! Or an alien mothership made out of icy crystals!

Ooh aah. With all the snowflake glitz and detail to fool the eye, it actually looks quite pretty.

And I still have snowflakes left. I'll try hanging more around the bottom...or leave it like this? I can hardly wait to see it after dark.

And now, in 2014, here's the current look for this pretty snowflake chandelier....

I guess this means my holiday decorating is kicked into gear. I'll be posting about my favorite gifts and ornaments to make in the next few weeks, including a special request for making simple but pretty yarn angels.

I'll be joining the parties on my sidebar, too. Come check them out for some excellent and creative ideas!

I'm still here...with Christmas wreaths!

Yes, ladies, even chemo can't keep me away from the glue gun and all the Christmas balls I can get my hands on. So even with a bit of fatigue and nausea (British stiff upper lip and steely eyed glare goes here) I'm still decorating for Christmas with a plan and a schedule, starting with crashing my stash so I didn't have to spend more money and then making lots of wreaths.


My daughter, Insanely Creative Christy, made this gorgeous red yarn ball beauty for my counter top display area but we soon deemed it worthy of sale and moved it to our teeny tiny craft mall booth.

Where it joins a table top tree, my wooden spool yarn angels, Christy's creative clothespin sets (the ones on the shelf have chickadees and finches on them, so cute!) and her thread spool prim trees. Surrounding them all, my ruffled muslin garland. That's 8 feet of ruffly creamy goodness, so pretty!


Ahem, back to the wreaths. I made this red yarn ball beauty for the inside of our front door, reasoning that I wanted to see it more than I wanted the outside of the door to look good. I added satin covered balls, glass balls, beads and poinsettias before I said enough. Yeah, in wreaths I am no minimalist. I go for the gusto, baby!


This is the wreath I made to replace the craft booth wreath. Not quite as wonderful as Christy's wreath but full of color and texture and perfect for this empty spot at the end of my counter.




Which did not remain empty for long. Insanely Creative Christy decorated the tree on one of my exhausted days then I started filling in with everything red and shiny and Christmasy. Plus my painted branches got a bit of play after their duty for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I like that!


Whoa, look at all the STUFF! "Less is more" went out the window and "let's cram everything in there" became the operative phrase. So much fun, so much to see! What you can't see on the book page gourds (another Christy creation) are the glittery bronze stems, they look amazing with the book pages and the scalloped wood bowl. I made the paper mache Santa and snowman and put the googly eyes on the bottle cork. Seemed like a good idea at the time and now he makes me smile.

Dollar Store candy canes in a fluted glass and an apothecary jar full of red potpourri and I laughed when I figured out that the satin ball fit perfectly into the tarnished brass doorknob. It's serendipity.

This is the counter area I pass by dozens of times a day, and it lifts my spirits with it's exuberance. It's the first thing you see when you come in from the deck, and it is amazingly colorful and charming. And it didn't cost a bundle, just a few Dollar Store items and lots of "let's put this up there and see how it looks." Win, win and win.

Ah yes, another wreath. This one is for my Etsy shop. Not quite done at this point...Christy and I added a big gossamer butterfly and more beads and a few more balls. Gorgeous nonetheless and NOT just for Christmas. Girly girly bedroom, baby shower, breast cancer warrior gift, pink and silver Christmas.....this pink wreath has lots of decor potential!

And finally, a gold wreath this time. I hung it over the window and am still considering it. It suffers from "big bow syndrome." Perhaps I'll deconstruct the bow and string it in and out of the balls? Add more balls? Add more snowflakes? This wreath, it mocks me. I will do something more to it as soon as I decide what it needs.

The next project is 25' of lighted garland for the ceiling beam in our livingroom. The Welding Man and I will be tackling that today! He is also building me a storage rack for my studio which will let me organize some of my fabric. Did I mention how much he "loves" my spiral notebook full of lists? LOL

Ladies, tomorrow is my last round of "hard" chemo. They tell me the next rounds of taxol will be easier. Let us hope. In the meantime, I'll be making Christmas gifts for the fam and also giving you guys a nice post and tute on yarn angels. Soon. Very soon. Keep in touch, I love your comments!

Bless you.

Sometimes pretty just happens.

Well, we're making the change over from Thanksgiving and autumn decor to Christmas this weekend. Insanely Creative Christy and I have a list and together we have a plan. But sometimes things just happen and you have to seize the day. I have a big, old, oval trencher with a beat up chippy paint finish and as we took things down and put things up we started throwing the odds and ends in that old bowl.....

Hey, neat!

That's looking pretty cool, almost like we planned it, but we didn't. Had to take pics anyway.

Book page Christmas balls, vine balls, shiny balls go in. Chuck in some random silvery, pearly, metallic garlands next. Hey, that looks good!

A pretty yarn angel, a tangle of tiny pearl beaded garland...and a trio of rusty tin stars. Better and better!

Hey, these pretty little string angels need a place to rest before we hang them on a tree. Put 'em in the bowl. Sweet! So many pretty things together in one place, maybe we should leave this as is?

Maybe, but probably not. We've got plans and lists and schedules. But don't worry, old beat up chippy painted trencher bowl, we'll do you good when we're all done with things.

Just sharing the spontaneity of the moment ladies, sometimes good things happen if only fleetingly. Seize the moment and ENJOY!