Window Wreaths - Revisited

Time to revisit a post from last year for those of you who are new to the blog.

If you want a wreath at every window - and are looking for a way to do it inexpensively - maybe this can help.

Click on the following link if you would like to see last year's full post:

Window Wreaths

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Copper Ornaments from?

Since I'm crazy about copper and we live in Michigan's Copper Country, I wanted some copper ornaments for our Christmas tree in the great room. I've looked in our local stores and checked on the Internet for something acceptable to purchase without offending my frugal nature. No luck. I was in a store recently when I had one of those slap-your-forehead moments. 

I already had some of these clear ornaments from Dollar Tree. . .

and I paid a buck for this pack of kitchen scourers/scrubbers. Now, let's see if this will work.

I began to unroll one of the scrubbers. It was partially separated near the center, so I used my scissors to snip it the rest of the way. 

I then rolled that piece back into a tube - giving me 2 circular tubes.

Next, I cut each circle - giving me 2 long pieces - and stuffed them into an ornament. Hmm. Didn't really care for the effect, as it left too many large gaps along the inside of the ornament. I used a tweezers to pull the copper mesh back out of the ornament.

Using my trusty scissors, I cut the 2 tubes into smaller pieces - each about 3/4" long. (Yeah, it left tiny copper pieces and copper dust on my work surface, but I vacuumed it up when I was finished.)

Time to start stuffing again. 

Got some great texture going on here. That's what I'm talking about! 

I used one scrubber for each ornament. If I had some shiny copper spray paint on hand, I would have painted the ornament tops. I may do that next year. (Update: After putting them on the tree, I liked the silver tops, so I won't paint them. Also, after making these, I bought some clear ornaments at Walmart - a tub of 6 for $3.97. They're a bit larger than the ones from Dollar Tree, so you'll need 1-1/2 scrubbers per ornament. They're also glass, so they look a little nicer.)

I do have some shiny copper cord, so I'll use that when I hang them on the tree next week.

This project was very fast - very simple - and very inexpensive. Love those words!

11/28/16
Update:  I put one on the tree tonight to check it out with the lights. Yes, it surely sparkles! Working on our tree and some other Christmas projects this week.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him, and bless His name."   Psalm 100:4

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Quick Bowl & Vase Fillers

Had some leftover yarn.

Had an empty bowl.

Filled it up FAST & FREE. (Same way I made my SNOWBALLS. You can see them HERE.)

You won't need as much yarn if you start with a ball formed from a plastic grocery bag. We all have lots of those, right?

Just start wrapping. . .

and continue wrapping. . .

until the grocery bag is covered. Cut your yarn and tuck the loose end under some of the wrapped yarn.

I started with a grocery bag wadded into a smaller ball for the second one to vary the size a bit. I also untwisted the yarn slightly on the second ball to give it a different look.

The variegated yarn was used on 4 other bag balls of various sizes - giving each a unique look. 

The 7th ball was created with the last bits of both skeins twisted together. That's the one on top.

Bowl filled. Mission accomplished.

I'm off to bake a triple batch of buttermilk rolls now - some for Thanksgiving - some for the freezer!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

And it begins...

After an unusually long-lasting autumn. . .

the snow has finally started falling up here in the middle of nowhere. 

We're looking forward to another winter in the woods. Glad we got all the windows washed 2 weeks ago!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Barn Wood & Faucets

Just a quick post today to share the latest addition to the laundry room.

Our garage entrance opens into our laundry room, and that's the way we usually enter our home. We rarely use our front door. Our original plans were to build a coat closet and a pantry into the laundry room. They were going to be roughly the same size - one on each side of the window. The closet made the list of things to do before we moved in, but the pantry did not. After living here for a year, we realized that we didn't really need that closet for coats, as we had other closets we were using for those. That led us to the decision to add some temporary shelves to the closet and see how it functioned as a pantry/broom closet. Much better. 

But. . .

that left us with no nearby spot to hang jackets worn by our guests. 

And. . .

I had another problem. I'm NOT a "throw the clothes into a laundry basket hot out of the dryer and let them cool and get wrinkled" kind of girl. Nope. Not me. I'm definitely a "hang them up before they get wrinkled" and a "fold them as you take them out of the dryer" girl. Thus, it's normal for me to put clothes on hangers as I take them out of the dryer, but I had no place in the laundry room to temporarily hang those hangers. Needless to say, I was making a lot of extra trips back and forth to the master closet. The exercise was fine, but I was wearing out my slippers! I needed hooks.

When I spotted some hooks I liked on Bits of Vintage, I knew I had my solution for both problems. 

Don't you think faucet hooks are sort of appropriate for a laundry room?

Per my request, my precious hubby mounted them on a piece of barn wood for me.

No, that silver tote bag isn't normally hanging there - just put it there for demonstration purposes. Trust me. The hooks do work for their intended purpose of coats and hangers!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Yummy Yarn Christmas Trees

It's the mystery project! Since Christmas is just 38 days away, it's time to begin sharing some of my Christmas projects. 

I'll start by admitting that I have a bit of a yarn obsession - or is it an addiction? When I spotted some yarn I loved at Michael's back in September, I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it.

For this project, I used foam cones in 3 different sizes and this wonderfully thick Bernat Blanket BIG yarn. (NOT Bernat Blanket yarn - but Bernat Blanket BIG yarn!)

Here's how the size compares to a Sharpie marker.

The color name is Vintage - a creamy white. (It's about $10/skein.)

I used my hot glue gun on the low setting to attach the yarn to the cone - starting at the bottom.

I glued and wound it tightly around the cone - making sure the foam didn't show through the rows.

I wound the yarn all the way to the top - gluing as I went - and completely covered the top tip of the cone. Now for an ornament to top it off. I found these at Walmart.

They came with little gold threads through the loops for hanging. I clipped off the thread and attached the snowflake ornament to the top of my tree with a dab of hot glue - loop side down - pushing the loop of the ornament down into the yarn.

One tree down - two to go.

Three easy trees - each with an ornament in a different color. 

I could have used some metallic thread, sequins or thin ribbon for more embellishment, but I wanted this delicious yarn to be the star of the show. Sort of looks like frosting, doesn't it?

I'm crazy about the texture. 

I won't do my Christmas decorating until after Thanksgiving, so I'll show you where I'll use them in December. I have plans for the remaining yarn. 
(Update: You can see what I did with the rest of the skein by clicking here.)

Just my kind of project:

Update:  I've heard that it's not always easy to find the Bernat Blanket BIG yarn at Michael's. As an alternative, I would suggest getting the Bernat Blanket yarn instead. It's not as chunky, but it's still a chenille yarn, so the look would be similar.

All is well in the Keweenaw.