Wednesday, December 10, 2014

How We Made A Beautiful Christmas Tree with Supplies Around our Property

This year we wanted to have a few trees for decorations but I didn't want to cut down a lot of trees and I didn't want to have to spend a bunch of money to get the look we wanted.  So being the creative people we are we decided to make trees from the items we had sitting around.

We ended up using the tomato cages for our garden, some zip ties, some branches from our huge evergreens and a string of lights.  Viola'  We had some super cute and very beautiful trees for the cost of nothing.


We started out at the bottom of our tomato cage and attached branches with the zip ties in a opposite pattern.  We did one on the left, one on the right, one in the front and then one in the back.  We did about 3 layers and the whole thing was covered.  We ended up attaching a couple of smaller branches were it looked empty or lopsided.


After we were all done, we wrapped it in a string of lights and added a bow.  We then put in the front yard over top a turned over pot so it would be a little more stable and plugged in the lights.  
It turned out looking like a real tree and I am happy it cost us nothing.  It seems to be a favorite spot of our kittens and looks even better at night.





Happy Holidays from Our Family to Yours


Happy Holidays!

Here is the final picture we decided to make our Christmas Cards out of.  We all just kept laughing and what better way to spread holiday cheer then with a funny card.
Kids and Animals, how could we go wrong.

We hope the holidays are all that you expect and more.  May you be blessed with a full heart, a full tummy and surrounded by comfort and love.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Tiny Pieces, Tiny House, Tiny Bird Baths and Tiny Lanterns... So many adorable creations


Mom made this amazing little house this weekend with so many little parts.  This sides are cut up pine cone pieces and the roof is pine cone pieces she collected when she was out camping.  A squirrel had already gone to town on them and she liked the way they looked so she collected them and finally found somewhere to use them.


Mom came across some super cool tiny lanterns for fairy houses on Pinterest and showed them to me and I decided to try my hand at creating them with the supplies I had around the studio.  I am pleased with how they turned out but it is quite the challenge to work on such a small scale but I think they will be a lovely addition to her fairy landscapes.

I also decided to make some tiny bird baths for her landscape.  We have had this box of copper scraps forever and I hadn't quite found a purpose for them but they came to mind when I want to create these tiny bird baths.  I hammered in the shapes and wired and twisted the legs.  I think it turned out great.

Delicious Russian Tea Cakes from Betty Crocker ... The kind you just don't want to share.

I love the holidays and I love holidays cookies.  Every year I think that I'm going to be good and not eat so many but that is just not true.  They are beautiful, tasty and really someones feelings could get hurt if you didn't eat their cookies.  In fact I like to think I am doing mankind a favor but eating delicious holiday cookies.

Well one of my favorite cookies is Russian Tea Cakes.  It seems they only pop up around the holidays and when I eat one it is like a party just happened in my mouth.  They are almost so good that I want to grab the plate, smack away other peoples hands and horde them in my room.  Which by the way I don't do but it does cross my mind.  Well this week Mom made some for me and I am assuming for the rest of the family and they were so tasty.  She got the recipe from bettycrocker.com but we have included here too.  I give it 10 out of 5 stars.  Yup they were that good.





Betty Crocker.com

Russian Tea cakes

1 cup butter or margarine softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4  cups flour
3/4 cups finely chopped nuts I used  walnuts ground up
1/4 teaspoon salt

More powdered sugar for rolling cookies in

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Mix butter, powdered sugar,and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy. Stir in flour, nut, and salt until
dough holds together.

Shape into about 1 inch balls and put on ungreased cookie sheet about one inch apart.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes  do not let brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and put on cookie rack to cool slightly. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar and let cool then roll in powdered sugar again.

What I learned about making a Handmade Leather Cozy for a Mason Jar.


This weekend I spent some time in my husbands shop helping to create items for his Etsy store and holiday presents for friends and family.  It has been so nice that he has lots of ideas for presents and I was very happy to assist him.

I learned a lot about the process of creating with leather.  He makes it all looks so easy and usually he just shows up with something awesome he made and I don't think twice about all the steps involved.

 Well I learned this weekend he makes it look easy but there are a ton of steps involved with his creations.  Besides creating a pattern and cutting all the leather to size, he has to carve the leather, punch all the holes for sewing and that's even before he starts to make it look amazing.  He then has to personalize it with leather punches.  Then its off to be stained and then painted.  That was my job.  I spend the morning hand staining all the pieces and then painting all the edges so it looked nice and finished.  I then traced and painted the design so they would pop.  When that was all dried he had to seal and condition the leather and then he hammered in rivets to attach the handles. Then sewed the whole thing together.

  I love how the cozy turned out and we posted it in his store but now I have a new appreciation for all the little details that go into his leather creations.  As a creative myself I know unless you are standing in someones shoes you never quite know how much work goes into making something and making it right.  I really appreciate all the work that goes into a handmade creations and I am happy there are other people out there that realize the work that goes into each product.