Tag: Hometalk

Industrial Whimsy Equals Spring Rustic Wreath

Posted on March 6, 2016March 6, 2016 by Mama

Welcome to my little stop on the DIY My Spring! blog hop sponsored by Hometalk. If you visited yesterday, you know I promised to reveal my rustic wreath made from an old $8.00 metal spool I found antiquing with my sister this week in Oklahoma. . . and here it is!

When I saw this old rusty thing in the antique store, I just knew it would make a cute wreath, and with a little help from Mom (she’s the most awesome bow maker I know) and a few adders from Michaels (all on sale), we came up with this super cute Easter wreath that brings a bit of whimsy to this industrial find.

Here’s what the spool looked like when I found it at The Cranberry Merchant in downtown Claremore. This rusty old thing once housed a medium-gauge wire, known only because there was still a bit left behind. I decided to leave the wire on the spool for authenticity’s sake.

By the way, folks, if you’re looking for a good antiquing destination in Northeast Oklahoma, you should probably give this small town a try. Wills Rogers Blvd is lined with antiques shops, small boutiques, coffee shops and cafes; there are also other shops and good eateries sprinkled throughout town, like The Rusted Rabbit and The Pink House tea room.

A not-so-quick trip to Michael’s supplied all the other goodies for this wreath, including some grapevine wrapped carrots, cute orange ribbon, a metal painted bunny and a magnetic wooden initial letter. Now let me tell you, picking out all my goodies for this project was by far the most time-consuming and difficult task of this whole thing. Once I got all the parts and pieces home, Mom and I put everything together with a bit of floral wire and a dab of hot glue, and that was all it took.

I picked the orange ribbon because the carrots weren’t orange and that just didn’t seem right. The bow also adds some much-needed color to the project and who doesn’t just love polka dots. The magnetic initial letter was a bonus since it stuck right to the metal rabbit I found. Of course, it’s our family initial, but I’m thinking some folks might think it stands for “spring,” and I’m okay with that. Although you can’t see much of the carrots, I really like those rustic veggies and think the grapevine kind of mimics the wire on the spool. I gotta say I’m pretty in love with the way this little rustic wreath turned out, but I’m also thinking about how to change it up to suit the next holiday’s décor.

If you are looking for more spring inspiration, you’ll definitely want to visit other bloggers at the DIY My Spring blog hop listed below and watch for the hashtag #DIYMySpring.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mad for Plaid at Home for Christmas

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Mama

Welcome to the 2015 Home for Christmas blog hop hosted by Hometalk.com and Country Living.com. I’m so excited to be a part of this fun and can’t wait to share a little Christmas decorating tip with you. You also might want to grab a cup of cocoa (with loads of mini marshmallows), find a comfy chair and follow all the other bloggers along the way. You can also follow the hop at #homeforchristmas.

Plaid is absolutely the bomb right now. . . wait a minute, I don’t think “the bomb” is the bomb right now, but eh, I’m going with it anyway. If you are as mad for plaid as I am, I have an easy and affordable way to add this colorful tartan to your holiday décor.

You could venture out to find just the right kind o’ plaid ribbon spools to fit the bill, but these seem rather difficult to come by and often don’t successfully mimic the original. Instead, shorten your quest for perfection by just buying the real thing. That’s right, purchase a few yards of actual plaid fabric (which comes in a huge variety of colors and patterns) at your local craft or sewing store and cut it into strips to use wherever you normally would ribbon.

Simply decide how wide a strip you need, make a small cut in the fabric and tear it to full length going with the grain. This tearing technique gives your tartan pieces a more rustic look and let’s you decide exactly how wide your fabric “ribbon” will be for each specific use. Here are just a few uses for tartan tidbits around my holiday house, but the sky’s the limit when it comes to plaidifying your place.

This little lantern vignette sits in the front porch wicker chair that has been stripped of its cushions. The little touch of tartan adds a whimsical and rustic flare to the my Christmas decorations.

My son and I took a nice stroll into the woods this week to cut the evergreen boughs that adorn my childhood sled. The skates were a garage sale find from many years ago.

These homemade plaid bows are perfect for the store-bought faux pine wreaths that hang in my two front windows. It’s almost as if I cut up one of my husband’s cozy shirts to give our home a warm hug for the holidays.

These petite grapevine wreaths hang in the decorative windows in my living room. I used to hang them with ribbon, but in my search for the perfect plaid I found that cutting strips of material just the right width was a better solution.

An InLinkz Link-up

Autumn in the Air and Thanksgiving ’round the Corner

Posted on October 8, 2014February 11, 2015 by Mama

Fall is officially in the air in Missouri with cooler morning temps and beautiful warm afternoons. When we string together a few of these fabulous days, I’m always reminded why this is my favorite time of year. The family also made its first of what promises to be many trips to a local apple orchard yesterday for hay rides, chicken feeding, apple picking and pumpkin gathering. I’m thankful that we have so many great local orchards, pumpkin farms and corn mazes so close to home. It makes fall such a fabulous family time of year.

Speaking of autumn and the thankfulness of it all, I’m afraid it’s time once again to look ahead to November and the family-focused holiday of Thanksgiving. If you happen to be hosting this year, why not get a jump on things while the weather is still cooperating and start planning your spectacular gathering today. When it’s our year to host, I like to start with a theme for my decorations and tablescape — the menu can always come later. Will everything be whimsical, woodsy or traditional? Maybe simple or modern is the answer? What’s the color of the day — browns, whites or antique greens? Well, if you need a bit of inspiration for your Thanksgiving table, I have a special treat today.

Hometalk recently asked me to curate a board of Thanksgiving tablescapes to share with readers and I gladly accepted the challenge, which turned out to be easier (and a lot more fun) than I first imagined. Hometalk is simply full of wonderful holiday ideas; but as you’ll see by visiting my board, I tried to pick a plethora of tablescapes to suit several different design tastes and aesthetics. When you visit the board, you’ll see all types of ideas collected from bloggers across the country — some look more professional than others and some are more basic than others, but they are all great jumping off points to help make your personal celebration memorable. So why not visit me on Hometalk, and let me know which one is your favorite.