He is, after all... The Reason for the Season

"The Spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul. To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the spirit of CHRIST." -President Thomas S. Monson

I really wanted to focus on the Savior this Christmas. Who he is, what he did for ALL of us. I wanted to make something that would help me do just that. I wanted to make something with meaning. Something that every time I looked at it, it would fill my heart and soul with the true spirit of CHRISTmas.
I thought for a long time about what I would actually put on the frames! I finally came up with "For unto us a Savior is Born." I wanted SAVIOR to be the main frame. He is our Savior, our king, and I love him.
I chose white and Ivory, because he is our healer and cleanses us from sin. When I think of Christ I know that he is pure and holy.




I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that he lives! I know that he was born in Bethlehem to a Virgin. I know that he is the Son of God. How Grateful I am for him and his Atoning Sacrifice on my behalf. Oh how we have so much to be Grateful for this time of year, and all year long.

As Promised... My completed Tree!

Well here is my completed tree! I think it turned out beautiful! I cannot believe that I made almost EVERY ornament on it! Wow!

The Buttons stand out the most! I love love love the Buttons!!! I think they are my favorite! If you didn't know already, I made them! Find out how, HEre!
I made these Chipboard ornaments last year. Just chipboard and scrapbook paper. I glued and distressed the edges. punch a hole in top for ornament holder and there you go! Too Cute!


I used more raffia around the tree as the "wrapping." It looks great with the distressed look of each of the ornaments.

Made the button snowflake ornament as well... copied the idea from Anthropologie!

Blurry but fabulous!

Tomato Cage Christmas Tree

I did this project and thought that it was totally cool and unique and right as I am about to post about it, I see on my dashboard two other posts about tomato cage trees! OH man! I guess it isn't too hard to see the tomato cage and think Christmas tree. Great Minds think alike!! Well Anyway, here is my (what I thought was original) version of the tomato cage christmas tree.

I started by pulling the top of the tomato cage together and gluing it together.

I then spray painted the cage white so that it would not be so dark against the white of the fabric.
I strung icicle lights around the cage (on the inside)holding it to the cage with twist ties and hot glue. I then just draped the semi sheer white fabric around it. I like the folds in the fabric. I used twist ties in places to make it stay. I don't want the fabric to be permanent, just so that I can take the fabric off and store for use next year!

This picture just does not do it just whatsoever! It is really pretty in person. They light up and add to the warm mood and feel of the room.

For the topper, I used snowflake ornaments that are clear and glittery that I already had.

Adorable Stocking & Candleholder from... you'll never guess!

So I was shopping around the local Dollar Tree the other day. I have seen all over Blogland all the cute ornaments that everyone has been posting from the Dollar Store. Sadly I did not find those ornaments that I was looking for, but I did find a very curious and rare find. I found THE perfect Ivory knit sweater. It was actually an Express sweater but there it was in the clothes bin at the Dollar Store calling my name.
I picked it up and I will show you what I made with it!!! I am so pleased!
I made this beauty just by drawing on the sweater (with a blue sharpie... way pro, I know) the stocking shape that I wanted. With the cuff. Thankfully a Lovely lady saved me and surged it for me... She saw me sitting there trying to "hand sew" this knit material and she took pity on me. She sewed it in about 1 minute! So sweet!

I just took the remains of a red Gerbera Daisy that my dogs tried to eat and attached it with a button onto the front cuff. I used jute as my hanger and voila. a cute stocking to match these....
Sweater Candle Hurricanes

I seriously just cut off the end of the sleeve and put it on the glass hurricane. I didn't even glue or sew or anything. They just fit right on.

I love them lit. They look so good! Especially with the Ivory frames I have above my fireplace. It looks so good!!! They look so much better in person. I promise!

Can you believe that I made these beauties for a $1.00?
I love being fabulously Frugal!
Here they are on my Mantle!
I love my mantle and was really pleased with how it turned out!!!

WARNING: This project contains Glitter!

AND LOTS OF it!!
I saw a drawing of the North Pole somewhere. I don't remember exactly where, but it was the inspiration I needed to create this purtty little craft project.

I started with this foam ball. Styrofoam works great for this as well!

It is the foam used for flower arrangements so I had to spray paint it to keep it from shedding everywhere and to hold the glitter.

I put my red glitter in a pie tin. This works great as it will catch any loose or extra glitter that falls! I used this big plastic glitter. I love it

I used diluted Elmer's Glue and just painted it right onto the ball

then smash the ball into the glitter. I did one half at a time so the glitter wouldn't get everywhere.


After the glitter had dried I sprayed it with this gloss just to really seal it to the ball. This helped ALOT! Glitter wasn't flying after this step.

Next I took the "pole" and spray painted it white. This is the inner tube for Vinyl. You can check at your kids school and see if they have the middle tube for their butcher paper. Or check at a craft store, see if they have any lying around. Or you can use a skinny pole or wood pole. Be Creative!

I loved this tube because it had two "lines" that I could follow as a guide to make my red glittery stripe.

I just painted on with my diluted Elmer's and put the glitter on. Let dry and spray with gloss again. Very easy!
DO NOT OVERSPRAY the glitter on the pole. IF you do the red on the glitter will run. It happened. I always tend to overdo it on the spray!! ahhaha but It is an easy fix if it does happen. just wipe away as much as you can while it is wet and then paint over with white.

I then added the strand of red blingity beads... just for a little extra somethin somethin!

Next I grabbed an old flower pot from the garage. You need something to set your pole it and have it stay standing up!
Spray Painted it REd! I Love Spray Paint!!
the Bottom inside of this pot was perfect. It sat perfectly in the center!

Hot glue it as best you can, but do not worry. We will add more to stabilize this bad boy in there!

Now you will take these little pine pieces and glue them around the inside edge of the pot. filling that space as much as possible!

Next take some pinecones... "MMmmm... Pineconessssss..." haha I had to go all the way to Utah to get some good pinecones! I gave them a frosted look with some Ivory Gloss spray paint! (Don't you just love my spray painting board?)

Glue on top of the pine... oh so puuuurrty!

Oh the completed pole, but wait there is more...

Now, just in case you cannot tell by looking at it, that it is supposed to be THE North Pole. I made a cutesy sign to go with it!
First paint your board...

Then do some speckling. I dilute white acrylic paint. I just add a little water to my brush and then pick up some white paint. Hold your brush like this in your hand.
A toothbrush works great for this as well. and slowly let go of the bristles to let the paint splatter onto the board.
Aim down toward the board in order for it to splatter in the right direction. onto the board and not onto your clothes.

Splattering gives you this look... It is very country to me! Love it!

After it has dried you are ready to put your letters on. I used my favorite... Vinyl of course. But you can use stencils or hand paint the letters just as easily. I used the leftover snowflakes from this project
ahhh... How cute a North pole sign.


Welcome to the North Pole!

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