Taking A Little Break...

I'm heading to the coast/La Push/Forks with my hubby for a much needed getaway.

♥~Happy New Year Friends, May the Lord bless you all~♥

See you soon....

Ha Ha!

JUST MESSING WITH YOU GUYS~♥

Brighten a Dull Winter's Day...

A couple of years ago at Thanksgiving my brother Ron gave my mom and I each a paperwhite kit. 

Mom and I enjoyed watching them grow and bloom in the dead of winter.

This year I  picked up a few paperwhite bulbs at Home Depot. 

Instead of putting them in a vase, I created a centerpiece that is me made over
 (and probably you too!)

Here's how I made it:

Remember the grapevine pumpkins I got at Target in the dollar bin?

I posted about them here.

After Thanksgiving I was getting ready to store them and it hit me (like a ton of bricks) that they could probably be turned into a nest!

I took a pair of old craft scissors and started cutting away. 

I pulled the grapevine away from the metal frame inside and formed the grapevine into a nest.

So if you didn't happen to pick up one of these pumpkins at Target that's okay-Just look around for something that "could" work.

A round basket with moss or raffia around it would be just as cute.

It only takes a little extra imagination~ Once you start thinking "nest" you'd might be surprised at the things around you that would work!

I recycled a gallon milk jug by cutting it to fit inside my nest-I put moss around it to help hide it.

Then I added pebbles, they are perfect for growing the paperwhites.

At this point you want to arrange your paperwhite (Narcissus) bulbs.

 

The pointed base taper candle holders go inbetween the bulbs so the pebbles hold them-You can get these at any craft stores, alot of times they are in the wedding section. Battery operated taper candles are the safer route to go and what I recommend. They also come with their own base. I love these, you can purchase them at Kmart/Sears.

Moss is great for covering everything up... I painted the edges of these little pine cones white, it helped them stand out better from the brown nest-Then I added a bird that I had lying around my craft room.

A few berries around the nest makes it festive. 

Here's another view...

Without the candles on a window sill.

This would make a great gift or you could make one to brighten your dull winter's day. I have thoroughly enjoyed mine AND they grow fast once you add water. 

BTW: If you are planting in pebbles or marbles, add enough water to come within 3/4" of the top of the pebbles. This will keep the base of the bulb moist, but will not soak the bulb and avoids rot.
 NEVER leave candles unattended! Leaving the candles out would be best if giving this as a gift.

Drum Roll Please....

(Our Grandbaby Noelle Grace)

The Winner of The Farm Chicks Christmas book AND the Starbucks/Target gift card is.....

LUCY~From BLACK CAT RANCH!

Congratulations Lucy!~Contact me with your information and I will send it all right off to you!

Thanks to all who entered...There will be more giveaways in the New Year!

Book and Doily Bird Ornament~

I want to first say thank you to Robin for
having me at her blog today! It is such an honor to be here!

{My sister and I share a blog called Beautiful Nest, where we show whatever we happen
to be up to at the moment! For me, this is often featuring the home
improvement projects that my husband and I do on our fixer-upper, as
well as posts on crafts and decorating!}

I have been noticing all of the
gorgeous and creative book wreaths in Blogland for some time now, and
thought it would be fun to somehow incorporate that idea into an ornament.

I also love paper birds and so
decided to make a paper bird, but add a twist to this idea by using
the pages of a book for the
body of the bird.

This Book and Doily Bird
Ornament is an inexpensive and fun
way to add a simple yet festive touch to your Christmas tree. And it is
not at all difficult to make, either!

What you'll need:

Bird and wing templates (see below)

Card stock, solid colored

Decorative card stock

A book {Dollar stores often sell
paperbacks that are just perfect for this}

Miniature doilies

Buttons and decorative jewels

Felt

Twine

Glue gun, glue
sticks

School glue stick, such as Elmer's

{Along with these, you will also
need fabric and paper scissors as well as a hole punch.}

Begin by printing out the bird and wing
patterns. They are not pictured to scale here, but if you save them to a
file and then print, they will
print to the correct size. (The birds are about five inches wide.) You
can trace these onto cardboard or card stock~ these will be your templates.

Trace the bird template onto card
stock, and then do the same thing onto your book pages. I had to glue
two pages together to make it big enough for the bird, and most book
pages will probably be this way.

Glue the book page cut out onto the
card stock one.

If you used a hole punch for the
twine, make sure to do this part before going any further. It will be
too difficult to do it later.

(You can find these miniature doilies at JoAnn
Fabrics, for 99 cents a piece.)

To give the doily
"wing" extra firmness, I used stitch witchery. If you haven't used this
before, don't worry! It is easy-peasy!

Cut a piece of stitch witchery
about half the size of your doily, making sure when you fold it, the
stitch witchery doesn't extend past the edges of the doily.

Now cover your folded doily with a
damp cloth and place hot iron onto it, holding it there for 10 seconds.
(Although I did notice cream doilies were a bit thicker than the white
ones, and they needed about 15 seconds to fuse.)

Using a glue gun, dot the folded doily with glue
and press onto the bird. You can glue the wing on however it looks best!
See how the wing covers the hole punch, so no one will know it's there?

Now if you want layered wings for extra
texture, trace the wing templates you like, and cut them out. You can
use book pages or felt for the extra wings...or anything you want! :)
Glue these onto the doily wing, and add your other embellishments~
buttons, sparkly gems, sequins...you name it!

I also thought it would be fun to make birds out
of decorative card stock as well, with book page on the back of the
bird, and combine this with book page wings...Once you get going, the
possibilities are endless! You can mix it up however you like!

Then the best part of all~ decorating your tree!

{Here is my little "kitchen tree"
with the birds!}

And that is all you need to know to make these bird ornaments! It has
been so fun to be here, and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! :)

Blessings,

Jenni

Note From Robin:  Thank you so much for guest blogging Jenni. The bird ornaments are adorable!

To visit Beautiful Nest click HERE. (So worth the click!)

♪♫The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer...

...is singing loud for all to hear!♫♪

But being I can't carry a tune in a bucket, I think I'll just have a little...

 CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!

Christmas always makes me think of my childhood~

Even though I was born in Southern California, I was raised most my life in Spokane and Cheney Washington...

Being The Farm Chicks hail from the Spokane area, I thought this book would be the perfect gift for my giveaway.

So included in the giveaway is...

~The Farm Chicks Christmas Book~

It's full of wonderful crafts, decorating ideas and recipes as shown in the pictures below. 

And here's a special little treat.  Each book has lots of extras bound in!  Like 8 perforated double-sided note cards/recipe cards and 21 stickers!

BUT you can't really enjoy a book without something hot to drink to go along with it now can you? SO... I'm also giving away this...

$25 STARBUCKS GIFT CARD!!!

(I know it's exciting but stop screaming Jenny-I can hear you from here!)

If you don't drink Starbucks you can request a Target gift card instead~

 (I'm easy that way.)

There are up to 4 ways/chances to enter:

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!!!!

Thanks to all that entered!

Merry Christmas Friends-♥

Netting For Garland, Wreaths and Angels...

I bought this netting at Ben Franklin~

 It's called Geo Mesh Poly Ribbon.

I decided to use it as garland on my tree...

I did alot of twisting and scrunching.

Snowmen ornaments can be purchased at Target.

Here's what it looks like on my tree.
I haven't finished decorating the tree but wanted you to see how the mesh looks.

I  should have it all done by the 24th! :)

The video below demonstrates how to make angels out of Geo Mesh~
You can make wreaths with it too.
By the way: That's not me in the video-JUST in case you are wondering.

You could probably use tulle (fabric for making tutu's)

 to get the same results at a better price.

Christmas Revisited @ The Nest...

Today I decided to revisit some fun Christmas ideas that I have shown in the past for those that are new to my blog.
I'd also like to give a warm welcome to all the visitors stopping by from Gooseberry Patch! Grab something hot to drink and stay for awhile~

I'm so pleased that my blog is featured at Gooseberry Patch today~
Thanks so much ladies!
To see today's Featured Friday post click HERE
***
First Off:  

  Changing grocery store flowers...

From This...

To This!

Click HERE to learn how to arrange this.

Click HERE to see how to make the bow.

Got Snow?

It's alot of fun...

To make this winter wonderland~
Click HERE to see how easy it is!

Even the wildlife enjoy a Christmas treat...

Learn how to put together this Outdoor Christmas Creation by clicking HERE.

Next week we will be finishing up with our guest Christmas bloggers~ I also have a new craft using a birds nest to share with you.
Have a wonderful weekend!
To join The Robin's Nest Facebook Fan page go HERE

Owl Ornaments~

These cute owl ornaments are fun and easy-Even the kids can get involved in making them!

 Our next guest blogger in the nest is:
 Amy from Life in Pink Hi-tops.
A little about Amy:

I'm a mom of 4 who has decided that being sane is highly overrated!! I love making all kinds of things. You never know what I may be up to. But it's probably not going to be folding the laundry!

********************

OWL TUTORIAL

Supplies you will need:
Paint
Felt
 Heavy thread for a hanger
 Split wood egg

The small owl uses the Split Robin Egg and the large owl uses the Split Pullet Egg. These can be found in the unfinished wood section in your craft store. 
I got my split eggs at Michael's.

Let's Begin...

First off, paint the egg. Don't forget the eyes! I painted mine on.

You want the narrow end as the bottom.

You could use googly eyes~ That would be so cute.
I decided to do a little extra on the pink one. I used a stamp to add a little extra detail.

Cut out the felt.
 You can download the templates for the felt backs HERE.

For the beak I cut a tiny corner off a piece of white felt.

Don't glue it on yet, we will do that later.

 After the paint is dry, glue the egg piece to the felt.
You will be folding the beak over the top (wider end) of the egg.

Before you glue the beak down, add a thread hanger through the back of the top.
I used a needle and crochet cotton.
Once you have the hanger on glue the beak to the front.

Now you have a darling little owl to hang on your Christmas tree!
 I live in Pink Hi-Tops, so of course I had to have a pink one for my tree!

Thanks for sharing Amy, they are adorable!

*********
More guest bloggers to come~
If you would like to join in E-mail me!