Rosettes for Christmas

I'm still working on my Christmas decor, but I already know I'm making more rosette projects this year!

Here are two of the balls I've already made and I love their texture and color. They add so much interest to my decorating, I want to make more!

I punched out 1" circles for the backing, then tore crepe paper streamers into 6"-8" pieces. I stretched them slightly then rolled and scrunched each one into a rope shape.

Curl one end into a tight spiral then hot glue to the paper disc. (Please ignore the silver paint on my thumbnail!) Twist and glue the rest of the paper down until you have a nice round rosette about 1" across. Make more than you think you will need, a Christmas ball takes lots of rosettes.

This Christmas ball is 4" across and it was on clearance at the Dollar Store for fifty cents. Score! It took one entire roll of crepe paper streamer to make enough rosettes to cover it completely. I added fake gems from my stash to give it a bit of bling. I like it alot!

Also in my stash I had this old foil twist that was SOOOO popular about 15 years ago. I used bunches of it back then and this is what I had left. I cut it into 8" lengths, unraveled it flat and cut each piece in half longways so each 8" piece gave me two rosettes. I love it on this ball, it is so bright and shiny and has great texture. Great bang for the buck!

And here's my lucky find of teal foil twist that was PERFECT for my wreath recycle project. I made more rosettes from this pretty foil and glued them to another ball.

It is gorgeous and sits front and center on my door wreath.

I've got the rosette decorating bug, people! I have another 4" ball that I'm covered with silver fabric rosettes, and then maybe another cone Christmas tree, and maybe some smaller balls with muslin rosettes...if and when I get them finished, I'll blog about them here, don't you worry!

What about you? What has grabbed your creative attention this year? New color combinations? A retro Christmas foil tree? Totally natural with pine cones and twig stars?
Please share!

FUN Halloween decorating

I had so much fun putting this display together, I just had to share it with you all. All of my kids and grandkids will be here this weekend, so this is ready for the gathering. It is the Halloween display at the end counter in my kitchen. It is also known as "pile it up central" most days of the week. Do you have such a place in your house? I see this counter every time I come in from the deck and I wanted something there that would make me smile.

So I used a bit of black velvet as a drape over a short shelf and started shopping the house. Here's the ingredient list....


My silver, blingy, button decor ball, my Halloween decor orbs, a Halloween tree of painted branches in a Dollar Store planter, mini pumpkins, one of my fat fabric pumpkins in a milk glass compote, a crepe paper rosette wreath, a Dollar store gargoyle and more....

Halloween tissue paper decoupaged over Christmas balls, black painted foliage in a milk glass vase, Dollar store vine balls, another fat fabric pumpkin, and.....

a galvanized tin lantern set inside a twig wreath, with black painted ivy and more of my Halloween decor balls. Peeking out back is an embellished tequila bottle full of bright red orange glass and trimmed with a black tassel. As for those decor orbs.... just take Mod Podge and colorful Halloween tissue and Dollar Store foam balls and voila! Cheerful Halloween decor on the CHEAP! But there's more....

Quivery spooky bats of crepe paper and the tiniest jewelry wire I had in my stash. Curl the wire up, hot glue the paper bats to the tips and watch them shake and "fly" with every passing breeze. PLUS, my crackle painted Halloween decor balls, gorgeous orange crackle over silvery balls. Love the look!



Here's a shot of two of my Dollar Store gargoyles and an apothecary jar made from a glass candlestick and a lidded jar, stuffed with more of my Halloween decor balls and vine orbs. In the back there's a peek at my black and white damask decoupaged box, I love the way it came out. The black foliage in a tall white vase is so striking that I'll be painting more fake greenery black, that's for sure.

I added my little witch from my Etsy shoppe and then piled a string of my Halloween garlands in a cut glass display stand made from a thrift store candle stick and bowl. You know, I could go on and on....this counter is over four foot long and three foot wide. But I'm going to stop right there.....and if something sells from my Etsy shop I can replace it. Besides, I've got other places I want to have some fun with....like the top of the TV cabinet....the bookshelf by the hearth....the shelves by the corner windows.

And if, by some slim chance I run out of stuff, I can always make/find/shop for more. That's the plan and I'm sticking to it!



What fun have you had with your Halloween house? I'll be sharing mine at the parties in my sidebar, come join the fun!

Silver Button Blingy Decor Ball

I posted this several months ago when I was a blog newby, so I'm posting it again for my new friends. This is the little display/vignette at the end of the counter when you come into the house from our deck. This is our buffet counter when the fam is here and the rest of time it is Stacking Central cuz it's so convenient. A red glass vase with twisty twigs, berries, flowers and dried eucalyptus, two milk glass pieces and yes, that's a chunky tequila bottle that I've embellished and filled with glass marbles.

So I've been trying to keep this counter cleaned off except for this little bit of decor and it's okay and pretty, but.......the silver ball in the milk glass urn just needed a little something, you know? It looked too much like an oversize plastic Christmas ball, which is exactly what it is. I decided to just do something fun and a little over the top. You know when you go to someone's house and you see a decor item that just draws you and you want to pick it up and handle it and you say, "What is it? This is so cool!" That's what I was shooting for.


I hied me away to my craft room and my store of silverish buttons. I opted for silver to match the ball and glued my first button on. Then it occurred to me that the ball was very slick and so were the buttons, so I roughed up the ball with some sandpaper to give the surface some tooth for the hot glue to grip.


I also pulled out some glass half marbles and some scrapbook gems to fill in any gaps.
















And I snipped the hasp thingies off the back of the buttons with my wire cutters. I don't have to show you how to do that, do I? Good.






So then it was me and the buttons and the ball and my glue gun. Put on a little smooth jazz on the CD player, some diet pop close at hand and I went to town. I threw in a few silvery stars and snowflakes and some beads......

Oooh, I like it. I like it alot! I used the little gems to fill in the spaces and some bottle caps for a bit of rustic charm and I had a good time! Ignore the hot glue strings, I dealt with them later. The hubs poked his head in and said it looked steampunky. Is that a word? I agree. It does look kind of steampunkerish.


And a couple hours later and a bit of scrubbing with a stiff toothbrush to take off the glue webs and I have this.....


So now comes the fun part, trying it out in different places in the house and seeing how it looks.



In the living room on the shelf right by my reading chair?



On the shelf in the hall bathroom, right below the mirror?



Or right there where it started, at the end of the counter when you come in the door? Yeah. That's the place. I love the way this came out! Don't you want to pick it up and turn it over and check it out? So do I! ; 0 )

Posting this over at the Fine Craft Guild linky party. She asked for a post with lots of good directions and this definitely qualifies!!