January Nesting

January is such a bare month at the Swamp. I put off packing up Christmas as long as I could....

Last year I pulled out some snowmen and started a January box. So now I have something ready to pull out. I added some crystal and silver to my stash and spent the day playing with the new look. Mom brought this cute little shelf down at Christmas along with many of these salt dishes. Mom's sister passed away last year and she sent me most of these little salt dishes.
And over on this side a ring of skeleton keys , some royal coronation cups, and an ultrasound picture of our princess!

The parlor minus the trees. New little chair over by the fireplace will move to the dining room....someday. For right now it has a cat blanket covering the needlepoint because a certain Evil one has made it her new perch.

The coffee table got some Hobby Lobby love- new silver floral picks- 80% off. And some Kohl's love-glass snowflakes- 75% off.

It is hard to take pictures of the silvery/glittery stuff- it looks gray!

I'm off to surf the blogworld...looking for inspiration....a New Year's craft perhaps???????????????

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! And War Eagle!

The camera battery was dead Christmas morning- but, I have no excuses for not taking pictures the rest of the time. I just never put the battery back in the camera after recharging...never even thought about it.... This was my big surprise from Santa- a trunk wrapped up like a pirate chest! The trunk (future home of lots of fabric) was full of surprises including my smocking pleater and a Bissel Pet Spotbot (oh! how I love it!)

Youngest Boy in his new hat and sweatshirt showing Lulu some love.....

Lulu not sharing the love:)

My Mom with 3 0f 5 Grandkids and me...............still can't believe those tall ones in the back are my babies! Happy 2011!

Wordless Wednesday

Thrifty Thursday

Today I am sharing my cute and thrifty Christmas tags! Once you gather the materials and set up an assembly line they are pretty quick to put together.

The only thing I purchased to make these was an old hymnal for $.50. The other supplies I had on hand: cereal boxes, glue, ribbon scraps and grunge paint. Here is my assembly line set up on the kitchen counter(not much cooking going on here this week!) - my sewing room is a mess and this way I can make a few when I have a spare minute.

First cut out circles from the cereal boxes. Cut circles from the hymnal. Glue together and punch a hole. Thread ribbon through the hole (which I forgot to do!)

Cut 2 inch strips of hymnal and scallop one edge. Fold in pleats, Use to strips to glue around the front of the circle. Adjust pleats as you go. Do not expect perfection!

Glue clip art in the center.

Paint Grunge paint *(recipe follows) around small sections. Before it dries wipe it off with a damp paper towel.

Smudges are OK! I also wiped some on the back....

Sit around to dry.

Tie on bags or gift boxes. We wrote the To/From info on the back in Sharpie.

We shredded some hymns in a paper shredder for the inside of the bag!

*Grunge Paint: Mix small amounts of instant coffee, vanilla, cinnamon and water. I used about a tablespoon of each. It should be thick. Test it on a scrap. To lighten add more water-to darken more instant coffee.

I'll be linking up to Thrifty Thursday at Leigh's place- Bloggeritaville!

In the Christmas Kitchen

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.....

Let's get a closer look! Garland made of Bingo cards, thrift store Santa mugs, collected elves and thrift store metal plates....

And even closer....

Flat Eli- wearing the bandanna the Fat Eli turned down....

The pugs were all nestled snug in their bed....

While visions of bones danced in their heads....

Dressed in holiday Tshirts...

Eli comes out of the pile to show off his new shirt....

Can you guess why Daddy picked this shirt out?

Victorian Porch Tour 2010

Something old.....

Something new!!!!!! This year we spent much time on this new display! This neighbor has long wanted some Wise Men. We felt like it would be a really big job so we have waited until we felt like we could get it done in one year. Their costumes came together with trial and error- a tablecloth here, some ribbon there, an old velvet skirt I outgrew, a trip to Eclectic, AL to a fabric store/warehouse. The hats came from an antique store. Our resident sculptor made the faces and did the hairstyles. The bodies are pieces of mannequins from thrift stores.

They got rave reviews from the crowds!

They are both mine!

Christmas Crafts

All my craftiness this year is gathered on the table just inside the front door! I really have not had the time to try out the ideas I saw in Atlanta at the Country Living Fair. These were all simple and quick...

I made the moss initial, the grungy candy canes and the primitive melting snowman.

The grungy candy canes are cut of striped fabric, stuffed and painted with a mixture of stuff to stain them. Then I baked them in the oven at 200 degrees until they were dry. I did not have a recipe for the grunge paint- just mixed some hot water, instant coffee, cinnamon and vanilla. I painted the canes with water first then painted on the grunge until they were dark enough for me. They smell good!

The snowmen are made grungy the same way. The nose is a twig-stitched on roughly with embroidery floss. I made the hat out of felt and the scarf is a wool scrap. The eyes are snaps and the mouth is a safety pin- I wish it was rusty. Maybe I will put some outside to rust and replace it.

I saw the moss initial at a cute little store downtown- I didn't even ask the price because I knew I was too cheap to pay for it! I have invested about $4 and all of the skin on my fingers in it! Had Hubby cut a C out of thin wood. Used 2 bags of reindeer moss from Dollar Tree. The rusty bells are also from DT. I used red seam binding to hang it and one of my grungy candy canes in a large size. The loss of finger skin comes from using a hot glue gun to attach the moss. It was not in small clumps (like more expensive moss is) so I used a fair amount of bad language during the construction. I have the stuff to make another one but, I don't see that happening anytime soon!!


I know it is Thursday night and I'm late to the party...I'm still going to link up to Leigh's Thrifty Thursday- here!