Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

I thought in celebration of the New Year I would change up my Christmas mantel a little to make it more of a New Year's mantel.



All I did was to add a few clock images that I found on the Internet. I did add "Happy New Year" to some of them.

I took down the Merry Christmas from the book page wreath & added this Happy New Year clock face. I was going to take down the bells, then it dawned on me. "Ring in the New Year" and how can you ring in the new year without bells?



I just found a blooper on the clock face on the left. It doesn't have the 12 at the top. It's made to look likes it is 12:00, but it's not.




I hope that each of you has a safe and Happy New Year. I'm on my way out to dinner with the hubs and to catch a movie.




P.S. I've had a few people ask where I got my clock images. I got most of them from Creating Myself blog, you can find the link here. One image I found at Cant Stop Making Things blog, you can find the link here.

You can find many clock images on Google images. I searched for clock face, clock faces and clocks.

I added the Happy New Year text to my clock faces in Picasa and Picnik. I then used distress ink to grunge them up some to make them look old.

Hope that helps.



Linking to:

A Tablescape for the New Year

2010 is finally coming to an end. I personally will be happy to see it gone. Not that anything terribly bad happened this past year. But nothing really good happened either. It's just been a bummer of a year.

So here's to a better 2011. May it be happier than 2010.

I never did get any Christmas tablescapes done this year. So I decided that I needed to get in a better mood for 2011. So why not set my table in anticipation of the new year.

But you know me, I tend to procrastinate. A lot!!! So I put this tablescape together at the last minute this morning before leaving for work.

This tablescape could work for Christmas as well. But since there are no real "Christmassy" themed items, it works for Christmas, New Years or Winter.

So knowing me, it will probably be left like this for the balance of winter.

For the tablecloth I used a lace curtain panel that I picked up at the thrift store. Why is it that I can't find my real tablecloths when I need them. I need to better organize my stuff.

The plates came from Marshall's last year or the year before. I have never used them in a tablescape until now. At least I don't think I have used them. The flatware is Oneida. The pattern is Michelangelo. This is my everyday flatware. The napkins were a thrift store find.

I love the pattern on the edge of these plates. I have these plates in blue as well. I don't think I've ever used the blue ones in a tablescape either. I've gotten lazy this past year with doing tablescapes.

The crystal goblets are thrift store finds as well. I picked them up one at a time. I now have four. Enough for my family.

The centerpiece consists of 3 Mercury Glass candle holder/vases I picked up at Tai Pan Trading on Black Friday. They actually came with a wire around the top & a wire handle. But I took the wire off as I liked this look better. Plus now they look like some I found in the Ballard catalog for Christmas that cost way too much. And of course I can't find them on their website anymore to show you how they look identical or how much the Ballard ones really cost. You will just have to take my word for it.

Mine from Tai Pan Trading were I think $5.00 for the smaller ones and $7.00 for the larger one. The ones from Ballard were like 10 times more.

The silver Christmas trees came from either the Dollar Tree or the 99 cent Only store.

This table is really big enough to set for six. But since there are only four in my family still at home, that is all I set for. Plus I only have service for four with the dishes.





The two snowflake votive holders came from Michael's this year. They would be easy enough to make. But why make, when you can buy, and buy cheaply.

The little silver mercury glass votive holders came from Target last year. But they did have them again this year. They were like 99 cents each. Cheap!



I just love mercury glass. Even if it is not the real thing.

I love this sparkly winter garland. I got it on clearance a few years back. Don't remember where.

And there you have my wintry New Years table.

What are your plans to ring in the new year?

Hubby & I usually go to the movies and then watch the ball drop on TV. That is probably what we will do again this year. On Saturday I'll probably take down my Christmas tree and decor. But then, I might just lounge around all day and do nothing. I can always take down my Christmas decor another day. (Said like a true procrastinator).

Happy New Year to you!!!



Linking to:

Top Projects 2010

It's that time of year where we look back over what we have done this past year. Today I am sharing my favorite projects for 2010.

We will start with my letter art. This has been one of my most favorite projects over the past few years.

My newest letter sign was actually a Christmas present for my sister in law. It's a 2 fer. I made 2 sets of letters to make 2 different signs in one frame. All my SIL has to do is open up the frame & flip over the inset.

One side says "LOVE"



This side will work for Valentine's Day. Or she can use it all year round. Cause all you need is Love.

The other side says "Noel".

I take all the photos used in my letter art signs. Most of the items are found around my house.

Another sign I haven't shared before is the one I made for my cousin's wedding back in October.

Their last name is Bunker. They said it was one of their most favorite gifts they received.

The first letter sign I made in 2010 was this Winter one.

2010 was the first year I decorated just for Winter.

This summer I made this sign for my niece that was getting married.


Being Mormon we believe that marriage is Eternal. Not just "until death do we part".


Another fun and easy project was to dress up my candles.


For Thanksgiving/Fall I printed out some music from The Graphics Fairy website, wrapped it around the candle (taped it on the back) and wrapped around some twine.

For my the candles on my Christmas mantel I wrapped around some burlap strips and added the crystal snowflake pins.



I wrapped these Christmas candles in some glittery ribbon I picked up from the thrift store.


I added some iron on spider trim around my Halloween candles. And no, I did not iron it on. I just taped it on.

Next I will share my favorite furniture projects.


This is the before photo of my china hutch. I found it at an antique store about 15 years ago for around $100.00. I've wanted to paint it since I first purchased it, but I couldn't decide between white or black. I am so indecisive. Plus I am a procrastinator.

2010 was the year that a decision was finally made.



And black it is. Now I need to decide if I should distress or not. Hopefully it won't take me another 15 years to decide. I love it painted black. What took me so long to paint it?

Another furniture project that took me 15 years to complete is this trunk that I use as a coffee table in my family room.


Here is the before. And yes, it has sat in this nekkid state for 15 years, in my house. Not sitting out in the garage.

And here is the after. Isn't she purdy? This one I did distress and I love it.

Next are a couple of wreaths that I made this year.

The first is my version of the book page wreath. I punched out a bazillion scalloped circles. I used distress ink on the edges.

I love how my wreath turned out. Pretty easy.


This wreath was made by gluing split peas to a dollar store Styrofoam wreath. I love how this turned out. Except for the fact that the peas faded pretty fast.

Since 2010 is the year of being "green", I decided to recycle the split pea wreath at Halloween.


Since the green had faded, I just spray painted the wreath black & added a Halloween medallion that I made.

The following project was a result of visiting Tai Pan Trading store in the spring. They had these flower balls that I obsessed over. But I wasn't about to pay the price they wanted. So what is a cheap girl to do? Why make my own.

I found the Styrofoam balls at the thrift store. But you can find them at Dollar Tree as well. My flowers came from Dollar Tree. I pulled off the flowers from the stems & glued them to the balls. Easy peasy.

Looks fabulous sitting on this candle holder.


And sitting in this cloche.

My next project was done at the beginning of summer. It was the beginning of my aqua stage.


I purchased some clear glass vases at the thrift store and squirted some paint inside. Twirled the paint around the inside of the vase. Let them dry and I got this:


Gorgeous aqua blue vases. The perfect accessory to my summer mantel.

The next projects were all done by using my computer, a printer & paper.

I found this photo display at the thrift store. I printed out some letters to spell "Winter" and added some winter like birdy prints. Cheap and easy.


This was my favorite cloche I did this year. It was from January. I added some sticks to some vintage bottles, added a winter birdy print on a bed of Epsom salt snow. I then wrote Brrr on some rocks from my backyard.


For Valentine's Day I printed out some vintage Valentines in Sepia tone as well as some Love quotes.


Another cheap, fast and easy project. I printed out vintage letters that spelled "Love" and put each letter in a separate frame that came from Dollar Tree.


I printed out more vintage valentine's printed in sepia tone and taped them to my white plates for my Valentine china hutch.

Another easy project was making this hat for my statue. Do you remember making these hats out of newspaper when you were a kid?




I also made a bunch of patriotic fans and taped them to my plates for the 4th of July.

I think my favorite crafty projects and decor was at Halloween.


I made these gauze mummy candle holders. Pottery Barn knock off chalkboard rocks. Spooky labels I found on the Internet were printed out & taped to some vintage bottles. I spray painted & glittered a Dollar Tree bird and made over some Dollar Tree pumpkins. And then I made this Happy Halloween sign.

I covered a Dollar Store pumpkin that I spray painted white with some spider web lace. More spooky labels on bottles.

I made over most of my family room wall with paper. Lot of bang for little to no bucks.

And finally I used a dry erase pen to draw spider webs on glass candle holders. I also added glitter spider webs to the votive candle holders and glitterifed some spider rings to add some pizazz to the goblets. Made for a fabulous tablescape.

Wow! For being a lazy procrastinator I guess I got quite a lot done this past year. Well I hope you have enjoyed looking back over my favorite projects for the past year. I hope you can see that it doesn't take a lot of money to change up your home for the seasons.

Tomorrow I will recap all the tablescapes I've done this past year. Which really wasn't many (compared to years past).



Linking to:

BTB Party @ Savvy Southern Style