Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours. We will be taking a small break to spend time with family over the holidays. See you next year!

Faux Fireplace Mantle

 

 

Faux Fireplace – 25.00

I love this project!  It is perfect for Christmas.   I used the plans from Ana White to build the fireplace.   It did not take very long, I spent  most of the time waiting for stain and paint to dry in the cold wet air. 

 

The supply list is not long nor expensive, this is a good project for scrap wood if you have any.  I did not have any long enough for this project so I had to buy wood for this project and I already have a plan for the left over pieces.  

SUPPLIES I USED

4 – 2×4x8

1 – 2×6x8

1 – 2×12x8

screws

wood filler, stain,  paint and sandpaper

wrapping paper (you could use 1/2 of bead board, brick board, plywood, etc)

For specific instructions see Ana's instructions.  I followed her plan expect for not arching the 2x12, which I did not have time to do because it started raining while cutting wood. Also, to save money instead of using wood as the background, I used wrapping paper.  Next year I will probably add plywood painted black but for this year already owned wrapping paper worked great!  Here is the process in photos

 

 

Cut Wood ready to be assembled                          Letting my 7 year old distress the mantle

 

 

This is what happens when you don’t watch your 7 year old distressing the wood.   I will remember this fondly I am sure , so I used this piece of wood.  I can honestly say it is distressed!

Stained mantle piece with Minwax English Chestnut. 

 

  Painted the fireplace Gloss red by Rustoluem. Love this paint, goes on in one coat on bare wood!

Added wrapping paper to the back.  I  wanted to use plywood painted black but the piece I had was just a bit too small and I did not want to buy more so this is the solution I came up with. 

Next I added a few candle lights, the kind like you use in a window.  Then I added a nutcracker fire screen my MIL made us several years ago. 

Added Christmas stockings, a few decorations and completed one faux fireplace. 

I have linked up with these great blogs, check them out.

Noel Wall Art PB Inspired

 

 

Noel Wall Art -  $8.00

 

 

I saw this lovely metal wall art from  PB and it was beautiful, large, and it was $149.  As much as I liked it I was not willing to pay that much for it. 

 

Then I saw an inspired version at Frugal Flourish.  I headed straight to Hobby Lobby to buy the wood letters to make  my own.  The wood letters are about 12” tall and cost $1.99 each. 

  This was so easy to make.  I took the four letters and I sprayed painted them using Rust-oleum Hammered black paint.  I liked the hammered look, it gives the chipboard letters an old metal sign look.  After the paint dried I used a heavy duty stapler with 3/8” staples to attach the letters. 

 

I plan on using it on top of an faux mantle I am working on for our Christmas stockings.  I should have that posted this weekend.  I just couldn’t wait to show you.  The final size on this one is 17” by 19”.  If you wanted a smaller size Hobby Lobby had several choices in sizes and fonts. 

 

I linked up with these great blogs.

Jingle Bell Ornament Wreath

 

I have had this evergreen wreath for a few years and it was time for an upgrade.  Some of the flowers had come off and bow was looking sad.  So I ripped off all the decorations and started a new wreath.

I had a box full of the shatterproof ornaments we had used on our Christmas tree when my son was little.  I have all blown glass ornaments I normally decorate my tree with and using them when he was little was not an option.   

I had seen the beautiful all ornament wreaths and wanted to make one.  Since I already owned the evergreen wreath I wondered if I could make it work.   I took the wreath and flatten out the branches and took the largest ornaments I had and glued them to the wreath.  This was my base to build from. 

 

I then started gluing the ornaments to the wreath.   It took a lot of ornaments and hot glue.  I used over 60 ornaments and 4 large sticks of glue.  

I added mini ornaments and jingle bells to the wreath to fill in empty spots.  I love the jingle bells, the wreath is on my front door and it jingles every time we open the door.  This is a easy wreath to make, there is no right or wrong way to go.  It does take lots of ornaments but it is a great way to use your old and unused ornaments. 

I linked up with these great blog hops, check them out.

Coffee Filter Tree

  I am sure you have seen the coffee filter wreaths and tree before.  I just love how easy and inexpensive they are to make.  What a big statement for little cost.  Wouldn’t this be beautiful for wedding or bridal shower.  I am already thinking to tinting the edges in a pastel shade for Easter.  

All you need to make a tree or wreath is a wreath (straw or styrofoam) or a styrofoam cone.  I used an 18” cone for the one I made.  I am thinking of getting two other sizes and making a 3 set.  Coffee filters and hot glue are the  only other supplies you need.  I used 200 filters for the tree. 


It was easy to do, I folded the filter in half then in half again.  I started on the bottom of the cone and worked my way up.  Once you get the bottom layer on it goes pretty quickly.  Every so often I would lightly  smush the layers down a bit to make sure I was putting them tight enough to have a real fluffy tree.   When you are about half way done you are going to think there is no way this is going to look like a tree.  Here is a picture of what mine looked half done.  (you can see in the photo, I sat in front of the tv for this project, it took about an hour)  Once you are done it will need a little trimming to clean up the tree shape. 










I have linked up to these great hops.