A Little of My Rustic Christmas Decor

Is everyone having a good Christmas season thus far?  I know we are.  Having small children really brings back the excitement and joy of it all.  Our 4 year old is full of anticipation for the advent calendar each day and excited for there to be presents under the tree soon.  The 1 year old is fascinated and entranced by the twinkling Christmas lights.  It's so cute to watch him sit and stare and say his own little version of  "wow."

Anyways, I wanted to share a bit more of my Christmas decor this year.  (You can see my rustic "wreath" that I'm absolutely loving here.) 

I put together this little rustic "junky" candle holder, and I really like how it turned out. 

The old wooden firken type container came from my grandfather, it was from his farm.  The punched tin thingy-ma-bob was from a yard sale, I picked it up for .25 or so.  I have no idea what it was originally for, but I immediately saw it as a candle holder.  I added in a few sprigs of fresh greenery, leftover from trimming the tree, and a few faux berries to add some color.

It's sitting on my vintage suitcase table, along with a Christmasy fabric coaster.  A must have for all those mugs of hot chocolate and yummy holiday flavored coffee.

It gives off a perfectly rusty glow. 

The other little bit I wanted to share is the corner of our porch where I put together this display.

The "gate" and the star were $1.50 for both at a church rummage sale, the skates were $1 at a yard sale, the mini-tree was .50, and the minnow bucket was $4 at the Restore.  (I still have the insert that goes inside it that I want to use elsewhere.)

I love the rustic simplicity of it, it's very "me."

I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas and remembering that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Linking up to:

Farmhouse Friday - LaurieAnna's Vintage Home

Fabulous Friday - Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors

Simply Christmas, Inspiration Friday - Shabby Art Boutique

Christmas "Wreath"

Several months ago I came across this idea for a Christmas "wreath" at a blog called Pink Postcard and I loved it.  I saved the link to refer back to later because I knew for sure I wanted to steal copy her idea. 

Back in May I found the bicycle baskets at a yard sale for $5.  One side is being used as a magazine holder in our upstairs bathroom.  The other half has just been sitting in the attic waiting for Christmas.

I bought a little spray of greenery and berries at Walmart for $3 and filled the rest in with leftover trimmed branches from our tree.  I added twine to hang it by and a bow.  Yes, I know my bow making skills leave much to be desired, but I'm pretending it adds to the "rusticness" of it all.  I shaped my old wooden folding ruler into a star and tucked that in as well. 

Look at all that rusty goodness!

It took me all of about 5 minutes to put together, only cost me $3, and I am LOVING it!

Linking up to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday - Coastal Charm

Saturday Nite Special 110 - Funky Junk Interiors

Farmhouse Friday - LaurieAnna's Vintage Home

Fabulous Friday - Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

Saturday Nite Special 144 (Wreaths) - Funky Junk Interiors

Party Junk #256  (salvaged wreaths) - Funky Junk Interiors

A Unique "Advent Calendar"

Hellooooooo....anybody out there?  Do you still remember me around here?  Ugh, it feels like it's been forever since I've been able to post anything.  I actually have one of the sneak peek projects completed, I just haven't had time to take the pictures yet.  But...I just finished up a little Christmas project and I wanted to share it with you to kick off December....a day late. 

Let me just start off with a little explanation.  I love the idea of advent calendars.  How it helps the kids countdown to the big day, builds the excitement, gives them a special little treat each day, etc.  Some people have a traditional calendar that they use every year.  But when my daughter was a baby I decided I wanted our tradition to be to have a new and unique calendar every year.  And so I've been saving pictures and ideas ever since.  She's now 4 years old and sadly enough this is the first year I've actually completed one.  I'm big on ideas and puny on follow through.  I kept telling myself, "Oh she's too little to know the difference anyways."  Haha, good excuse for pure laziness and procrastination. 

So this year comes along and I decide that I HAVE to do one this year, no laziness allowed!  November kept creeping along, and I was running out of time.  Then one day, in the not so distant past, I came across this idea of using toilet paper rolls.  It seemed easy and quick, I already had a good stash of tp rolls just waiting for a great project, and I knew I had a stack of Christmas scrapbook paper that I've had forever, so it was perfect.

Well.....it took much longer than I expected it to, mine didn't turn out as smooth and perfect looking as hers, but I like them.  My original plan was to hang them in some creative way, but after committing about 5 hours to cardboard rolls my creative juices were drained and I just dumped them all in a bowl. 

 It works.  : )

I used scrapbooking papers and embellishments that I already had.

I tried to make each one different and unique in its own way, but without going overboard.  Afterall, these are for a 4 yr old and a 1 yr old.  As long as there's candy inside they wouldn't have cared if it were inside a dirty sock.



Some of them have the numbers written on the back.



I put a couple of pieces of candy or gum in each one (leftover Halloween stash), and a few of them have a slip of paper for something extra special for that day; such as "Bake cookies with Mommy,"  "Stay up late for popcorn and a movie,"  "Skip naptime and bake a Christmas cake for Daddy," etc.

It's only day 2, but so far they're a hit!  And it didn't cost me a dime.


Linking up to:
Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors
Sunday's Best Party - My 1929 Charmer
Whatever Goes Wednesdays - Someday Crafts
Fun Stuff Fridays - Toys in the Dryer

Sneak Peeks

I apologize that things have been a little slow around here lately.  You might have noticed over on my side bar that I've opened an Etsy shop (and I'm also selling on Ebay).  I've had a few sales, so between listing items, packing boxes, and shipping items things have been a little busier for me lately. 

But.....I have 2 projects in the works that I hope to have completed very soon. 

Here's a little sneak peek.

Bear with me while I get my schedule adjusted to include Etsy time.  : )

Vintage Suitcase Table

Donna, over at Funky Junk Interiors, is featuring vintage suitcases in her Saturday Nite Special Link Party so I'm sharing a picture of my suitcase table.  This was originally taken for the post about the lemonade tray I made (which Donna featured on her Facebook page, thanks Donna!), but I thought I'd share it here, too.

I found the suitcase at the Restore for $3 and the luggage rack at a yard sale for $1.  It makes a great end table, and of course I love the $4 price tag.

Linking up to:

Saturday Nite Special #106 - Funky Junk Interiors

A Sweet Little Pitcher

Whew!  The past week or two have just seemed so busy and I haven't done much as far as projects go.  Even now, my kiddos are probably wreaking havoc in my daughter's room, and I really should be getting supper started.  But for me, once I get a bee under my bonnet  a blog post forming in my mind, I just have to get it "on paper" before I can cocentrate on anything else.  Anyone else out there like that?

Anyways, today I'm {quickly} bringing you a little project that I actually did complete.  Can you believe this took me like 2 weeks?!?  So it goes with 2 little ones running around. 

I found this ugly interesting little pitcher at Goodwill for .99.  With it's looks I thought it might sit on that shelf forever, so I figured I'd breathe a little new life into it.

I spray painted it white and used Antique Gold Rub-n-Buff to "shabby" it up.

I think it might be a tad bit easier to love now.

Linking up to:

Thrifty Thursday - Thrifty Decorating

A New Picture....Finally!

Below is the picture I've had on my sidebar since I started this blog.  Titled "The Current (Rented) 'Farmhouse.' "  It's had a caption underneath promising ''an improved picture coming soon."  Well.....FINALLY I got around to taking a few.  (But now Blogger is not allowing me to update it in the sidebar, so I'll have to try to fix that later.)

This was a super quick picture, taken with my little point & shoot, before we ever moved in.

10 months later I finally got around to taking a better one.

Can you believe I only paid $4.25 a piece for these mums?!?  My landlady told me about the place, a local greenhouse.  They are gorgeous!  I bought 4 of them.

The rusty orange plant isn't quite as fully in bloom as the red ones, yet. 

(You can see the yellow one sitting in the birdbath at the far right end of the house.)

Anyways, just wanted to share an updated and improved picture of the "farmhouse."