Patina Copper figure of UR young child clothes

Check out this pic

Christmas arrangement final adjustments

I added small white mums to my Christmas arrangement, just couldn't let it sit there without something to add to it.
see the pic's.









I added some heavy red christmas paper, around the glass vase, so the water could be added without the paper getting wet.





It seems like I love to improve on the very best ideas. I was at Vons grocery store buying some Christmas gift cards and Christmas dinner foods. I saw a lady pushing her cart filled with Flowers, white mums, green button flowers along with those fabulous Christmas green. Wow, I was like a cartoon character that was flying thru the air being summoned by the draw of Christmas wonderfulness. I had the double eyeball look of going bug-eyed running around the entire floral department looking for white mums. I even talked my head off to another customer about the importance of having fresh Christmas greens in the house. What a high I was on, this lady thought she was in the presents of a crazy person.
I advised the lady of the need to buy baby breath also. I was a loon, so I grabbed my mums and ran home.

Got New Gifts 4 U? remember to pre treatment to last

Well, ladies, did you get some new clothes?

Remember if you get dark colored jeans or soft corduroy jeans, you will need to soak them in hot salt water for a period of 10 minutes or so. This will prevent them from fading on all you good stuff when you wash them. As an added benefit, the color lasts longer that means you look better for a longer time, thus saving money.

I can hear you saying soooooooo what! I know you can redeye them next year, but what about all that bleeding of the colors on your other clothes? I wash all my good stuff in woolite and on gentle, but I sometimes have them bleed on to my white tee shirts. What a mess, it is to rewash them. I also use those toss in the washer sheets that pick up the stray color that is in the wash water, I will always have a problem with dark colors.

What about those cute silk blouses you got for Christmas, I am one big dribble, when it comes to stuff that stains it just says come to Mamma, there it is right on the front of my shirt. So I spray scotch guard on the front, by the way scotch guard works good on shoes.

So lets get going on fixing up those good gifts or if you are like me, good buys you get at this time of the year.

Home Deco items 4 U

Is your house in need of some up dating? My house is really needing a up date. ??????


I wanted you to know what items I will be covering in the next few weeks or months....Since my house needs window covering I will share my idea on Window shades with trim.

Covered waste can to match your bathroom or bedroom? What about the small powder room off the kitchen

?

Do you have small children or grandchildren, will show how to make a copper aged (the green copper aged look) of your child's coveralls with their shoes. This will preserve something of your's for a life time. I have had mine for over 12 years. Will post a pic.



I have roll-up window shades, in my TV room, and I made them out of sheer fabric. They are very raggy, becuase of the delicate fabric type. I have 2 rather large windows and a 8 panel door, I call it a garden door. So I will need about 3.5 yards of decorator fabric.

All this means Keep checking my blog for great ideas 4 UR house.


12/17/2013
Ok, I have gone to Jo Ann's to see what I could get with my 50% off coupons. I will need about 3.5 yds of decorator fabric, since I have one window 45" wide, another 24.5" wide, plus my garden door is 64" long and 24" wide. I found some wonderful sheer fabric with over stitched circle designs on it, I believe this will give this type of fabric more body. I wanted sheer fabric so the light will come thru the shade, I think in terms of a light color and light weight so the fabric will roll up very tightly.

I got matching trim (this was on the sale table at $3.00 a yd) also used a 50% coupons on pellon craft iron-on interfacing backing. I was shocked at the final total, it was $58.00.

The fabric I found was remnant fabric and the stupid stuff was rolled on the roll in several pieces. But the stuff was marked down 50% and Jo Ann's was running a 50% off the marked price, making this fabric a really good buy, well worth the extra trouble to refigure my measurements. The wonderful cutter table lady named Suzie, had to get out the calculator so we could refigure my measurements to make sure each piece would fit my windows. So always take your measurements with you, diagram your window measurement. Do what the woodworkers do is measure twice cut once. Needless to say I was a dummy without a calculator don't hesitate to ask for help with your sales person.

I had the roller shades already, but this total is in my opinion, is a bit high. I haven't lived in the real world for quite some time. I guess if I had someone do this as a decorator, it would be several times higher.
My husband still thinks bacon, should be $1.87 a package. I just laugh, and tell him he should go grocery shopping, guessing someone out there in cyber land would tell me to do my homework and I would find out doing it UR self always pays off. Guess I should check on the internet for prices of matching roller shades to go with your decor. I bet I'll be surprised at the cost.

I'll get a grip on this project.

Post script 1/3/2014........Ok I get the big dummy award, not only did I buy two pieces of remmant decorator fabric, I didn't measure right for the 8 panel single door window shade, I thought I would sew it into several shorter pieces with added trim. I was holding up the fabric to the window, the valance didn't go with the sheer fabric. Duh, that means more money!!!!

I found some fabric that was just right, at a new JoAnn's store, in Fontana. It is like the old fashion crochet type, sheer, remember you need to use thin fabric for this project. (the shade needs to be able to roll up and fit on the roller. I have returned my modern style fabric to the orginal JoAnn's, (this new fabric will work with my old valance.)

Please learn from my mistakes. I will measure twice and cut once. Along with keeping with the same style of valance I already have in place. will post pic's soon.

Quick Christmas necklaces or pins 4 someone special

Have come up with an idea for making cute quick necklaces or pins for someone special in UR life.

this cute Santa made a perfect gift for my BFF, she just loves Santa's. This cute Santa I got from Jo Ann's a few weeks ago, was a Christmas ornaments, just hanging on the hook. I simply put another longer ribbon on it. I signed the back with "Merry Christmas 2013". Another thought is to cut the ribbon and cemented a pin back (a flat sided pin) to the back side. VIOLÁ...this looks so good. Check what you can find at the usually craft stores.

Hav e fun

Christmas arrangements pictures are here

Just in case you didn't notice, I have finished my fabulous Christmas arrangement. It is sitting in my foyer, and looks really good.

Check out my blog directly before this one. It was easy and I got a lot of free branches from Home Depot, especially since their tree's were flying out the door. There was 2 guys sawing the ends off of the trees. One of the wonderful persons reached right into the bucket and gave me the entire bunch. I have tried getting these free branches in past years and never had this much good lucky in getting any green tree parts. So I would say you should check for freebie only when the trees are being sold, flying out the door so to speak.

The above picture is the stack of greens I got from Home Depot. Thank you helpful Home depot person. You are simply perfect in making my project a success.

Christmas pine arrangement gathering items Got pic's Check it out

I was at my local Vons buying a Starbucks coffee and started towards the floral department. I talked with Angelina the department to ask her about buying some green filler, also known as pine tree branches. Angelina was truly an Angel and suggested that she had some wonderful silver tip branches. I have brought 4 branches plus a $3.99 selection of odds and ends of Christmas green items.

Hence you could ask your local grocery store floral department, about what they could do for you. There is so much out there for you to choose from, garlands/wreaths, so for it.


I went to the Home Depot for a poinsettia plant to show you how good it would like in the tall vase. I went by the Christmas tree section, and the Christmas trees where flying out the door. The bin with the cut branches was full. The wonderful tree cutter man asked if he could help me. I asked for some of the branches in the bin. Wow. I got a big bundle. See my pic's. Anyway, back to the poinsettia and the tall vase,I brought in November (remember I spray painted the inside of it to water proof it, and it stinks). The smell has gone away, and I put it in the garage, and cleared out my fall bushes, I threw it in the vase and wow, see my pictures. A good idea for next fall.

I was at Walmart, I spied a small basket arrangement, it was very small, it was priced at $10.99. Besides it being small it appeared to be out of water. My experience is once something is out of water, even for a day, it's life cycle has been cut down, your enjoyment time can is on a short timetable. We need to watch out for these types of situations. If you buy a pre-made arrangement give it a long look, then ask when the next shipment will be in.




Ok, start with your vase or container and cut pieces of the floral foam, pack them tight into the vase. You will need to put water in the vase till it is right up to the top of the foam. Per the instruction on the foam package you need to soak the foam over night to get all the benefits of the wet foam. We want the Christmas greens to stay hydrated during the net fe weeks. I like to keep this arrangement going till the first of January.


Ok, ready to go with the stuff?



See the vase and the green wet foam, it is perfect to stick all the green filler, be sure to cut the branches to size, meaning don't make them to tall as to make the vase tip over or over tower the idea of the arrangement.

Ok you have entire top surface covered, now you can add all those cute items from Von's and the $3.99 bunch of green. Remember to cut to size.


You can add the fun stuff, all those Christmas 90% items you have brought up. I like to add some holly and the red berries to the mix. I took some pict of a long stem of holly that I could add to cover the vase & it's green foam.



thinking of adding gift wrap to cover the vase and put a flat bow on the side of the whole thing. I have put it in my foyer, away from the heater vent, it is sitting on the tile flooring. Will post a pic tomorrow.

I brought a small bottle of Christmas tree saver when I was asking the Home Depot guy for Christmas branch(the stuff that you add the the bottle of the tree to make it last longer) I put it in a spray bottle, mixed as the directions say, to spray on the arrangement. Don't know if the works any better than just making sure there is water in the vase, but it makes me feel better.

....

Making Christmas bows for your gift bags?

Here are the instructions for making a bow (for Christmas and any other occasion).

gather up these items so you can start out right away:

1. 28 gauge wire, the one you brought from Home Depot or Jo Ann's

2. wired ribbon purchased from Costco

Ok ready to make some bows, they are so easy, you'll be making lots of them.

Cut a good length of wire, about a foot long. Now take your ribbon and stretch out the ribbon about 12 inches.
(This is what I call a flat bow, so it will not be a full bow).

Wrap the ribbon back and forth for 3 loops. Find the center of the 12 inches and wrap the wire very tight around the ribbon.



Check out the picture of the start of this bow.

Now you will make a small center loop by wrapping the ribbon around the center wire. see next pic.

You can now cut the ribbon leaving a small tail on the ribbon. You can now twist the ribbon to shape the bow, it is up to you if you want to scrunch up the ribbon. Try it see what you like. Please keep in mind you will want to cut this ribbon at an angle, so it looks like a store bought bow.

I have taken a picture of the bow attached to a gift bag, plus I added one of my curly ribbon to a gift bag, to give you another idea of ribbons for your gift bags. (remember if you put a jaw hair clip on a gift bag, you should add a small hang tag to say this is an extra gift for their hair.)

Christmas Curly Ribbons for gifts or Hair

Don't forget about those curly ribbons, they look great on gift bags, then some lucky girl will be wearing them in their hair for Christmas or Happy New Years.

Check out my pic of me on my profile! Don't just think of them for Christmas, a plain red or maybe a white one, will look great on your gift bag. Then that someone special will be able to wear her jaw clip all year long.

Just in case you didn't know I have given the recipe to making curly ribbons, in an earlier post. Check out my picture right next to this post? I have a picture of Christmas ribbons in my hair. They make excellent gifts or ribbon on a gift bag ( but make sure they know it is a hair clip so put a hang tag on the clip, stating check me out!!) Here are some pic's of the blog.

Bows are not hard to make, Do you want to make one?

I have been checking for Christmas tree foliage, just came back from Home Depot. I thought I had brought some branches from their lot. But after checking, the only items they have in the cut bin, that are for free. This could do as filler, but it is not very good for making your arrangement thick and full (I am saying if you are doing this 4 ur self that would be ok).

Do you want to learn my bow making tricks. Will get out my camera and take step by step pic and post them for you tomorrow. Remember, Costco ribbon sells out real quick at this time of the year.

Please go to my other post for complete instructions, entitled Christmas bows. see these pic's

BFF vases are a good idea for Christmas Secret Pals

Do you have a secret Santa gift to give this year?


Well, go 4 it, remember the one with the best gift wins!!!


What about a Christmas arrangement (a small one of course) that way it doesn't require dusting or anything, it just goes into the trash or they could save all the good stuff for next years fun. What do you think?

Christmas Wreath is hung

here is my new Christmas Wreath, hung on my door with a new red bow.


I also have a pic of the tin bucket or vase as you can see it is white inside with that nasty stuff. Does it need a small santa?

Christmas floral Arrangement R U ready?

I got my wet floral foam, and found another larger vase to use as a sample for you to see what ideas's you can use in UR home. Jo Ann's is having a black Friday coupon sale on any regular priced item 4 50% off. I had 3 coupons so I got 3 items. I got a tin vase about 2 feet tall, just right to fit in my front entrance of course by the front door.

I also saw some lights to put in the arrangement, but I think I am going way out there, in the making it look special.

Since this tin vase may leak, I had in the past brought a plastic insert but at times, this still leaked water. The wet foam is the type that holds the water and you can also stick items into the foam to make it stand alone. I also have tried using a tall kitchen plastic bag inside the tin, however, this doesn't work very well. When you stick in your branches of pine, you can poke a hole in the plastic, which would make it a leaker, as my daughter calls them. She works in a food processing plant and that is what they call when the small plastic sauce (you know the hot sauce from taco bell or Del taco) leak on the loading deck or inside the store. What a mess!!!! So let's not a big have mess.

So I got the bright idea of using spray leak guard, like the stuff they advertise to seal a screen door, well if it will work on a screen door it should work on a tin container. I have gotten leak guard from Home Depot,as well as, Walmart. They have a "seen on TV" stuff in the front of the store or somewhere around the check out counter. Will advise after I test it out by putting water in the darn thing. It is better to test your vase out first then having water on your tile, wood floors or carpet.

Will post pic's later today, after the test.

ATTENTION Ladies, this spray leak stuff, stinks, I mean it literally smells. I don't think you or I could get that smell out until next June. So don't use this stuff. The top thought of using real pine branches is so you have the thought of Christmas plus the smell of it. Since I have already used this stuff, I am thinking I can use my heat gun, to dry out the chemicals in the bottom of bucket. The best thing is to go to your local florist or the grocery store that sells flowers, and ask for a yard or so of the clear wrap; they wrap those cute flowers or baby breath in. Come to think of it, buy a few sprigs of baby breath and ask for extra clear wrap.


Now you can find the center of the clear wrap and push the center in the middle of the metal vase. ViolÂ, it is water sealed. You can use the baby breath in the arrangement. (I like to add the baby's breath in a vase and sit it around)

Start with the wet foam (it cuts real easy but don't do it in the living room; go out to the porch or garage to cut (you can use a plastic knife, it is easy cutting stuff) and push the foam into the vase. Add some water to make sure it is not going to leak. That is why you do it away from your beautiful flooring and the foam is powdery and it flies just like jello the color is everywhere. It is safer to be outside of our beautiful Christmas room.

Ok, we are ready to go to the tree lot!!!! But since you don't want to have a dry'd up mess on Christmas day, maybe we should wait another weekend to get our tree cuttings. I talked to my Von's florist and she said her Christmas greens would be in about the 10th of the month. Ask, that would be a good judge when to go to the tree lot.

Post script.....12/07...
I have seen some green floral filler in Von, but it is $3.99 a bunch, I think this is a bit on the high side, so I will be checking with a florist I have gone to in previous years. I have gotton a large bunch of greens and some flowers like mums. Will get back to you.

Christmas is almost here, the tree's are on the lot? Wreath ready

Hey, Look at this it is almost Christmas!!!!

Do you have your wet foam for your Christmas foliage, decoration? This is the green stuff that goes inside of the arrangement, to keep the Christmas tree cutting alive. So you can keep water in the vase and use the foam as a stand or form for the tree cuttings. That way you can do a snappy looking arrangement without much work. It is like holding everything together the way you want it to look like. So you can add all those cute items you have or are going to put into this arrangement. I saw that Jo Ann's is having all those cuties on sale for 70% in the week of black Friday thru December 6th. So use UR coupons for the foam, and grab up those add ins to this arrangements.

Lets go get all those items so we can do up Christmas real gooooood!


Look at these pic's of my poor Christmas wreath! Wow, I didn't realize what a mess it was, I am just like my friend Toni, I would get it out of the garage rafters and hang it. I would then fluff it and spray it with gold glitter.

You can't see the ribbon but it is plastic and the ribbon is pretty sad. Have I told you about the gold glitter on my front door? Since I sprayed it with the wreath on the door, it glitters very well when the sun hits. Here are some pic of the new and improved wreath. I put much to many red Christmas bulbs on the darn thing but I always say you can't over do christmas.

Not sure where to put a flat bow ...I am thinking about putting it on the top of the wreath. I have a speakeasy, front door so I can't cover up the center of the wreath. If I do I can't see who is at my front door, if I open my speakeasy part of the door. What a great bit of thought has to go into this wreath ..business.