New Year's DIY Clock Face Plates

Do you serve a traditional New Year's dish to bring prosperity and good luck?  Here in the South, one traditional dish is black eyed peas. To make them a little more fun and appealing, I made glitzy New Year's clock face plates on which to serve them.




 Supplies used:

 Clear glass plates
Clock face graphic
Mod Podge or white glue

 Before we get started, I must give credit for the amazing clock face graphic to The Graphics Fairy.  Karen has a seemingly endless variety of graphics available free for your personal use and the one I used, along with two additional options, are found HERE.  You'll also find many shared project ideas for the free graphics she graciously provides.  Please check out her site - you will be impressed!


To create the clock face plate, I measured the diameter of the inside center of the clear plate.  These are salad plates, but dinner plates can easily be used by printing a larger clock face to fit the center area.  

This is the graphic I selected:

The Graphics Fairy


After printing the clock face on my color printer, I cut it out and applied Mod Podge to the front (clock face side) of the image.  Then, carefully placed it on the back side of the clear plate and used an old gift card to smooth out any air bubbles.  Let dry.  

The glue dries clear and only the gorgeous clock face image will be seen from the front side of the plate.  I'm loving the combination of black, cream and metallic gold tones.

Paired with gold chargers, the clock face really "pops" against the gold.  For texture ... a table centerpiece comprised of everything gold (repurposed from Christmas).  Will later add napkins, silverware and glasses to complete the tablescape.

This is a very quick project and adds a nice touch of glitz to New Year's.  The clock face images are certainly not permanent and can be removed quite easily by soaking in warm soapy water. 

For those with limited storage space, this can be a great alternative to buying occasion-specific dinnerware  - just use the same set of clear plates and change out the design with each holiday or occasion.  It really takes little time at all!

Wishing you a fun-filled and Happy New Year!!!


Many thanks to Karen at The Graphics Fairy and
Christine at Must Love Home for featuring this project!!!



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Happy Holidays!

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Christmas in Our Home - Part Two

Continuing Christmas in our home .... I'll try not to clutter the Spirit of the Holiday with too much narration.  :)










This festive Christmas countdown (above) is a free printable from Sarah at Life{Sweet}Life.  It's available in a green and/or red background.  Just frame it behind glass and use a dry erase marker to change the number of days each morning.  Click HERE to get your own free printable. 


The adorable free printable above is available from Lucy at Craftberry Bush.  I made a quick mat from striped design paper - just used scissors. Click HERE to download the free printable.  And, thanks to Lisa at Texas Decor for sharing!


Above are Christmas morning treats for the pups.  To make them, we use empty paper towel rolls, cut to small lengths.  Stuff them with pup treats (Pup-peroni work great) wrapped in white tissue paper, and wrap the stuffed rolls with brown Kraft paper.  (I wrap the brown paper around the roll twice, to avoid having to use tape.)  Twist the ends closed.  The pups go crazy ripping the paper off and pulling the tissue paper out, to reach their treats - such fun to watch them!


 Just a touch of silver and white in the guest bathroom!


Thanks for stopping by!  
Hope your holiday prep is going smoothly
and that you're taking time to enjoy!

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Christmas in Our Home .. Part One

Had so much fun decorating our home this Christmas! 

Rustic Guest Room Tree



This is a 5 foot prelit tree with red, gold and handmade wooden ornaments.

The wooden ornaments started out as paint stir sticks and each have a holiday saying or message on them.  This is a really neat idea from Janet at Today's Fabulous Finds.  Janet is so gracious and she even provides the free template download!  

My version was to paint the stir sticks a greyish green, attach the printed sayings with Mod Podge, and cover with a layer of gold glitter paint.  Janet used wire for her hangers but I improvised with jute string.  I really like the rustic look!

The tree stand is a plant container - we removed the original plastic tree stand and placed the metal tree "trunk" in the plant container, weighted and secured by bricks.  Tucked raffia in the top of the container to conceal  the bricks.


Sentimental Master Bedroom Tree


This tree is also a 5 foot prelit.  The tree "skirt" is actually a lampshade that I spray painted gold.  To set it up, I slipped the tree trunk (bottom tree section only) through the top of the lampshade, attached the tree stand, flipped it right side up and assembled the remaining tree sections.

The ball ornaments are an annual tradition for hubby and I - we've ordered them each of the 20 years we've been married.  They're handmade salt glazed pottery from Eldreth Pottery and each one is dated with the year.  These beautiful ornaments are HEAVY!  Am still amazed the tree hasn't collapsed from the weight of them.



To add a little sparkle, I draped the tree with gold (spray painted, of course!) raffia.  The knotted gold raffia at the top serves as a topper.

A quick and easy way to spray paint raffia is to place a big bunch of the raffia in a cardboard box, and spray with one hand while turning the raffia with the other hand to cover all sides (wearing gloves saves your manicure).


Family Tradition Living Room Tree

 
Our living room tree is a 7 foot prelit slim style that we placed in an old galvanized tub.  We placed heavy pieces of 4"x4" boards in the bottom of the tub and then positioned the tree stand on the boards.  I tucked in burlap to conceal the tree stand and boards.  

Along with the tree's slim profile, I love that the base container takes up less space than a traditional tree skirt and I don't have to repeatedly readjust it as I would with a fabric skirt.  

The ornaments for this tree consist of a wide variety of sentimental family ornaments, many are handmade and most have been on our tree for decades.  All well worn and loved.  The topper is a multi-colored star and this year I added gold glitter sprays to the top.  This year I didn't use tree garland or ribbon - am really enjoying having the ornaments take center stage.


Family Photos and Handmade Ornaments Counter Trees



Our kitchen and dining room are divided by a counter and at each end of the counter is a 4 foot prelit tree in an urn.  These are devoted to family photos.

To frame the photos, I used dollar store metal 2" x 3" frames and spray painted them all gold (see a pattern here?!?) and hot glued gold brads to embellish.



The toppers are large gold glitter ornaments that I also found at the dollar store.  To convert the ornaments to toppers, I used a handsaw to cut off the top closed tip of each ornament, which created a hollow opening.  The hollow opening slipped easily over the top branch of the tree.



Additional ornaments on these two trees are the red and gold shiny and glitter balls, and the star shaped scented cinnamon dough ornaments.  

For the scented cinnamon ornament dough recipe, click HERE.

As a finishing touch for the cinnamon dough ornaments, I hot glued mirrored buttons to the centers for a little bling.


Clothespin Snowflake Ornaments Home Office Tree




After setting up all the other trees, I wanted hubby to also have a little Christmas cheer in his home office.  His is a 4 foot prelit tree in an urn and it is decorated with snowflakes made from wooden clothespins.  

There are many tutorials online for making them and they are quick and easy to do.  I painted them with white spray paint, added metallic gold painted washers (the kind you can buy at any home improvement store) and clear mirrored buttons to the centers.  

I didn't even attach ornament hangers to them - just tucked them in the branches of the tree.  The pop of white and shiny mirrored centers against the dark green tree is really pretty - how's that for a minimalist approach to tree decorating?  :)

Stay tuned for part two!  Have a great day and best wishes for fun and creative holiday decorating!







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Thanksgiving Tablescape

Can you believe Thanksgiving is just a little over a week away?  To jolt myself into that realization, I took some time to play with tablescape options for Thanksgiving Day.  




It's a lot of fun to mix patterns, textures and color combinations using placemats, napkins, napkin rings and dishes.  And, it's all about personal preference - there's no right or wrong way to do it (in my opinion) - just find a combination that appeals to you.



For this tablescape, I set the table with four place settings, but will add more for our Thanksgiving meal.



I started with a square woven goldtone placemat as my foundation.  They were purchased at Kohl's.  Topping the placemat was a dark Fall charger with embossed leaves, for a definite touch of Thanksgiving.  For more on these chargers, see my previous post HERE.

Next I added a white stoneware dinner plate.  This basic white dinnerware set is so versatile and has been a great buy - it can be paired with most any color combination for any occasion.  It is Red Vanilla Classic White stoneware from Overstock.  You can find it HERE.

The salad plate is from an amber stoneware set that I bought years ago.  It's our favorite everyday set.  Unfortunately, it's no longer available but a somewhat similar (in color) set is available HERE.

The dinner napkins are Mainstays Tuscany napkins and are a wonderful combination of neutral tones mixed with deeper autumn colors.  They can be found HERE.  I folded them accordion style and slipped them thru the napkin rings. The flatware is tucked into the napkins and napkin rings - simple and easy.

 The woodtone napkin rings with embossed autumn leaves coordinate nicely with the chargers and are available HERE.

Last but not least in the place setting, the beverage and wine glasses are near and dear to me.  They are Mikasa Park Lane and now discontinued.  


Now for the center of the table ...



The centerpiece is comprised (of course!) of items on hand.  Starting at the very bottom, the base is a round rattan placemat with delicate scalloped edges.  Am loving the rustic touch!  Found them at Pier 1 a few years ago.  They are great to use throughout the home.

On top of the rattan placemat is a gold framed round mirror repurposed as a tabletop tray. Bought the mirror from Target, but am not finding it online.  Most mirrors can be used as trays - just be sure to add felt to the underside to protect your tabletop.  


You may recall the natural leaf cone tree from my post HERE.  It has surprisingly maintained its rusty brown leaf tones, which is perfect for Fall and Thanksgiving!  The large leaf tree was placed on a pedestal and is surrounded by a smaller leaf tree and a monogram candle made by printing the monogram on tissue paper and decoupaging to a white pillar candle.  You can find my tutorial on the tissue paper/decoupaging process HERE.

Also tucked into the vignette is a cute little faux burlap earthtone pumpkin found at Dollar Tree.  Amazing texture and detail for an item that costs only $1!

For additional texture, around the mirror base I added assorted earthtone potpourri consisting of natural elements - miniature pinecones, leaves and seed pods.


The faux gold leaves scattered around the vignette were actually vibrant reddish orange when I bought them at Dollar Tree.  To tone them down a bit and add some bling, I spray painted them with gold paint.  The gold is a much better suited color in this tablescape and works well with the goldtone square placemats.



A package of Fall table scatter in shades of gold, orange and brown, was placed around the perimeter of the mirror tray.  Very inexpensive and adds a fun touch!

Realistically, just before we sit down for our meal, we remove the centerpiece.  This one will be easy to move to make room for tasty goodies!
Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!  Thanks a bunch for joining me on this tour of our dining room tablescape!  



 

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Scented Cinnamon Ornaments

It's really not your imagination - this is another post relating to cinnamon ornaments!  The good news is that this one has awesome results!




If you missed my last two attempts at making cinnamon ornaments, you can read all about it HERE.  (As an update to my previous post, after wiping the cinnamon salt dough ornaments with a damp sponge, in hopes of eliminating the chalky appearance, they did dry a tiny bit darker, but still not to my liking.)

So I changed gears and turned to a cinnamon applesauce recipe that I tweaked a bit.

 Scented Cinnamon Ornament Dough

 1 cup applesauce
1-1/4 cup ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
Plastic drinking straw

Preheat oven to 200 degrees (Fahrenheit).  

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients ... except the straw!  :)

I used my stand mixer with a paddle attachment, but it's not necessary - you can mix easily by hand in a bowl with a large spoon.


 The dough should form easily into a ball when rolled in your hands and if you find its a bit too dry or too sticky, incrementally add a little more applesauce (if too dry) or cinnamon (if too sticky).

Sprinkle your counter or work surface lightly with cinnamon and roll the dough out to 1/4".  If you don't have a rolling pin, a large glass jar works well in a pinch.


Now for the fun part - select your cookie cutter shape and press into the dough. 






Remove carefully from the work surface - a metal spatula sprinkled with cinnamon helps for lifting the dough easily from your work surface. 

Place ornaments one inch apart on parchment lined or oil sprayed cookie sheets.

With the straw, poke a hole into each ornament.

Bake for 1-1/2 hours, turning halfway through baking process.  Your entire home will smell so wonderful!



These turned out exactly as I had hoped - dark brown and gingerbread-like in appearance.  The cinnamon salt dough that I had previously made resulted in much lighter colored ornaments.





 To decorate, I added a few round dots at each corner of the star with white acrylic paint and an artist's brush, and tied a red/white grosgrain ribbon for hanging.




 I'm so glad that I didn't give up on finding a dough recipe that worked well for me.  If you try either of the versions - salt dough or applesauce dough - please let me know.  Would love to hear how you like them!



Wishing you a creative day!


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