Button Christmas Wreath Ornament

Button Christmas Wreath Ornament

Christmas is not far away folks! Have you got your Christmas shopping done yet? How’s your Christmas decorating going?

This year I plan on making gifts however I haven't even made a thing yet. In my defence I do know what everyone is getting, so that is a start AND they are all relatively easy and affordable to make. Now that's a bonus on the hip pocket lol.

My Christmas tree has been up for about a week now but it’s still looking a little bare during the day. At night, the lights seem to fill in the spaces but I’m aiming to have a tree FULL of cream, gold and my recent colour addition, brown, over the course of a couple of years.

This is pretty much what last years tree looked like.


So much room for more decorations don’t you agree?

Here is the first ornament for this year which was inspired by Crafty Chix and was repinned onto Christmas: Trimming the Tree.


I used the cardboard from a cereal box for the base so both sides needed to be painted white to prevent the print and boring gray from show through, and guess what, I only had enough spray paint to make 4. That’s one of the problems when you use an almost half empty can of spray paint I guess.

I don’t know why but I like to have 12 of each ornament on my tree, so another 8 to go when I get some more paint.


Thanks for stopping by.

Jenni

Knit one… Drop one… Ooops

Most Sundays I head to the local markets to help Mum with her jewellery booth. Here in Australia we are in the middle of Winter and although it’s not as cold in the CQ area of Queensland (that’s my opinion anyway) it does get a bit nippley. Well last Sunday was no exception with most people rugged up in multiple jumpers and jackets, beanies and scarves and complaining how cold it is. It had also been raining that weekend as well. I must of been one of the crazy ones wearing just jeans and a flannelette shirt.

Anyways I’ve never been a fan of following fashions as I’m more of a fashion dont-sta than a fashion-ista, but I found myself checking out the knitted scarves that many of the ladies were wearing and thought ‘why not’?

Remembering that I had bought 4 balls of wool from the markets just because I liked the colours, I headed off to Spotlight on my way to picking the Codeman up from work, and bought myself a pair of size 8 knitting needles.

I wanted one that was very long and maybe have fringing on the ends like this one

source

and it had to have a soft, loose knit similar to this

source

After spending about a hour looking a YouTube vids on how to ‘cast on’ and ‘knit’, I proceeded to make my first scarf.

The first attempt was too wide and I somehow kept adding extra loops… ooops, so I started over.

Second attempt is being modelled on this display mannequin that I got from the resale area of the dump. I only used the knit stitch which is called a Garter stitch….. I think.




Because I wanted it to be long, I had to forgo the fringing but I still love it!!!
I remember trying to knit when I was a lot younger but for some reason never actually finished it, so I am very proud of this scarf. And what about those colours???? It’s actually got more green in it which isn’t showing in the pics with purple and black.
Hmmm now what can I make next??? Maybe some cushion covers so I can learn how to do the Perl  or cable stitch perhaps?
Maybe even something like this.

source

Oh and I bought something else in addition to the knitting needles but that is for a future post. I’ll give you a hint. It has something to do with the Kitchen Hutch.

Thanks for stopping by

Jenni

Today I am linking up to the following fabulous parties:

Funky Junk Interiors' SNS 141

Cherished Handmade Treasures: Creative Corner Hop #18

Natasha In OZ

Garden Orbs

Christmas is over for another year. The Christmas tree and decorations are packed away until next time. Now what do you do with light sets where only half the strand works or you plan to upgrade to brand new lights? Do you throw them in the bin or do you try to reuse them?

I have found that to have a well lit Christmas tree I need to buy more sets and I’m hoping that the stores will be bringing back last years lights as they were almost perfect. What I loved about them is you can connect the strands together. Less transformer packs and less power plugs = Awesome. The only draw back to them is they have clear cords. Oh well you can’t win them all.

So where is this random ramblings leading I hear you ask?

Take a squiz at this.


It was time to retire my old LED sets from Christmas duty and give them a new year round job and when I first found this idea here, I just had to make my own.

The light shades were found for about $3 each at Saint Vinnie's and at the resale area of the local dump. The one on the left is glass and the other one is acrylic. They are a dime a dozen at any goodwill store. I am on the look out for another glass one because let’s face it, they just look better and have a good weight about them.


All that you need to do is stuff the lights into the shades and hey presto, high end looking glowing garden orbs on a beer budget. Can’t get even better than that and it only takes a couple of minutes to do.

Here are are few more pics for you to enjoy.




 Hmmm now I just need to get some greenery happening which is going to be a challenge. Not a green thumb in sight.

Till next time and stay safe,

Jenni (aks Smokeygem)

Dining Room Makeover Part 1

Ever had one of those days where everything seems to be going wrong and you need to do a little bit of shopping therapy? Yeah me too; however, my idea of shopping therapy is not clothing, make up or a new hairdo... no sir, it's Bunnings Hardware. So a few weeks ago, I had a shocker of a day at Uni where I was struggling BIG TIME with Algebra. It's not like I chose to do Algebra, but it's was one of the maths modules for the STEPS program and I was just getting frustrated that it wasn't sinking in.

I've been wanting to give my dining room a fresh look but needed a sander for the first project. Oh the choices. Do I get an orbital sander, a random ordital sander or a belt sander? A little research was needed and finally I decided on this little beauty.

Ok so it's not the best brand but it does the job :-) When I get a bit more financial I will probably upgrade and give this to Cody if he wants it.

First kid off the block is this guy. Don't you just love the varnish knotty pine? Nah me neither.

and what about the chipped leg? I actually like this oddly enough.

Here it is again, now in its painted glory. First time I've attempted glazing though and finding glaze where I live is near impossible so I made my own using an acrylic paint conditioner called 'Floetrol' and black acrylic artists paint.

Not sure if I like the black but will live with it for a while to see if it grows on me.

and here it is with one of my future redo's. I've posted about these chairs here; however I'm tired of the crackle finish plus they just don't suit the new look I'm going for.



and one final look...

Before

After

I am linking up to:




Till next time
Jenni

My Introduction to Painting Furniture

I bought 6 of these kitchen chairs back in 1999 for $20 each at a little second hand store at Bargara near Bundaberg QLD, and although they had a beautiful shape about them, the upholstery was so 1970’s. Ghastly brown and orange textured fabric that looked like, well, look at the before pic and I think you know what it looked like.

When I painted them, the crackle finish was so the in thing at the time. My first attempt, although I thought looked good, was quickly changed when my mum said it looked like “rotting timber”. OH NO!!!! It had to go, so when I found the gorgeous blue fabric I knew that it had to be blue and white.

Due to my lack of painting knowledge at the time, I used artists’ tube paint, and boy did I spend a fortune. I guess that’s why I took so long to paint them.

Lesson learned: Use house paint. It reacts the same way to crackle medium and is a lot cheaper. I’ve heard that a type of glue “Elmer’s Glue” works just as well as crackle medium so I’ll have to experiment one day with other brands

BEFORE

AFTER