2011 November

Dual Purpose Holiday Decor – A Guest Post from Final Clothes-Out

Today I have a special guest for you! Paige from Final Clothes-Out is visiting and she’s here to help us re-purpose ordinary items into festive holiday decor! Hooray for reusing!

Nice to virtually meet you! I’m Paige from Final Clothes-Out, a blog focused on saving money while still finding (or making!) everything you need. A big thanks to Brittany for inviting me to post here today!

My husband and I live in a tiny little condo–two people and a business in 840 square feet–which means we don’t have a ton of space for seasonal decorations. I use small-ish everyday items a lot when I pretty up the house for Christmas, and I’m here with a few ideas to help you do the same.

Putting red and green items together brings out an understated holiday vibe, even if they’re just a teacup and a sugar bowl:

Or a stack of books in my office:

Another easy idea is to put Christmas-y things into functional items. This iron stand usually holds my longer necklaces, but right now it’s cradling some extra ornaments:

And this is part of my mixing bowl set, but I think it looks pretty darn cute filled with pine cones on the end table:

I do sprinkle in a few “real” decorations every year. My new babies for 2011 are some miniature picture frames (from the dollar section at Michael’s, if you’re interested) filled with reversible Christmas images. I put them together with stickers and leftover scrapbook paper:

Once the holidays are over, I can use the frames with different art for little pops of year-round color.

Are you a fan of re-working everyday stuff this time of year? Maybe you’re a fellow small house dweller with decorating tips of your own? Anybody else score those picture frames from Michael’s? (Love them.)

Thanks Paige! If you have a chance, go check out Final Clothes-Out where you can learn all kinds of frugal tips:

Like turning this Dynasty-esque dress into a cute summery wrap dress (without a sewing machine!)

Or this DIY Kindle Sleeve.

Do you want to be a guest on Pretty Handy Girl? Visit this page to learn about submitting a guest post idea.

See y’all back here real soon!

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Filed Under: decor, Guests, Holiday decorating, Home Decor

Sewing Snowflake Box Bottom Gift Pouches

28 Nov posted by Brittany Bailey

Gift pouches are super easy to make. You can use fabric, cloth napkins, or even a pair of pajama pants or boxers* (see bottom of this post)!

I made pouches using fabric that I stenciled with Martha Stewart stencils and the roller top paint roller. As promised, here is how to sew a box bottom gift pouch:

Materials:

Fabric
Thread
Scissors
Safety pin
Ribbon or cord
Pins
Sewing Machine
Iron (and ironing board)
Ruler

1. Start by cutting fabric into two 8″ x 12″ rectangles.

2. Pin right sides together and stitch along one length of the fabric (12″ side). Then press the seam open.

3. Fold over the top edge of the fabric 1/4″ then again about 1/2″. Press the folds with an iron. This will be the sleeve for the drawstring.

4. Fold in the sides about 1/4″ over. The fold should extend from the drawstring sleeve to about 3″ down the side to finish off the raw edge of the fabric.

5. Stitch this fold at the very top ( inside the drawstring sleeve) to hold it in place.

6. Sew the bottom folded edge of the drawstring sleeve. Stitch as close to the edge as possible.

Your pouch should look like this:

7. Fold the fabric in half lengthwise (right sides together). Start your stitches just below the drawstring sleeve. Sew along the open side of the pouch and across the bottom.

Your pouch should look like this:

8. Grab the center of both sides of the pouch and pull them away from each other. The seams should be in the middle now and the base of the pouch makes a triangle.

9. Pin about 2 inches up from the point of the triangle.

Repeat on the opposite side. (The further up you pin the bigger the box at the bottom of your bag will be.)

10. Stitch along the width of the pouch where you pinned.

Repeat for the opposite side.

11. Turn the pouch right sides out.

12. Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to feed through the pouch top and to tie a bow. Attach a safety pin to the end of the ribbon and feed the safety pin through the sleeve at the top of the pouch. When the safety pin exits the other side, pull the ribbon until the ends are even. Remove the safety pin and snip the ends of the ribbon if needed.

That’s it! Now you know how to make a super easy box bottom gift pouch!

Put your gift inside and tie the ribbon. You now have instant gift wrap and a pouch that the receiver will love to keep!

*If you find a cute pair of boxers or pajama pants at Goodwill, buy them! You can use them to make gift pouches as well. After washing the pants (of course), cut the two legs apart by cutting up the front and back center seam.

Separate the pants into two pieces. If your pants have a drawstring, you can use it for your gift pouch string (but you may have to cut the stitching around the tag if it has been sewn in.)

Square off the bottom of the legs by cutting across at a 90 degree angle. Follow the directions above to make two more box bottom gift pouches!What do you think? Easy right?! Would you know that those were pajama shorts in a past life? Don’t lie, you only know because I showed you .

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Filed Under: Crafts, gifts, Holiday decorating, Sewing

Mom, can I have some more creative juice please?

27 Nov posted by Brittany Bailey

It’s true, I was out of juice, steam, whatever you want to call it. I took a break, and yet, it seemed like it was going to be harder than ever to start back up and write a post. But, then the best thing that could have happened, happened! Miss Mustard Seed came to town and a bunch of other creative people (some bloggers, some not) met up at the Flea Market for some good ole thrifting and antiquing! I begged my friend Holly from Storywood Designs to join us and so we set out early (well early for the weekend) to the Raleigh Flea Market. I forgot how much fun and how many cool objects there are at the Flea market! I also forgot (or never noticed) scores of men (older than 40) carrying around their small dogs with them. Yes, I said carrying! Cradled in their arms as they looked over tables laden with everything from antique silver platters to dodo birds!

I’m not sure where these guys are normally, but Saturday morning at the Flea Market seems to be a congregating place. (I wish I had snapped a picture of them.)

But enough about men and their dogs — what I really enjoyed was getting to know some of these creative gals:

From left to right: Carol aka Tracy’s Mom, Rie from Home and Harmony, Marian aka Miss Mustard Seed, Tracy from Tattered & Timeless, Fiquet from Farm House to Home, Kristen from Sophia’s Decor and moi.

Sadly, Holly, Kim, Esther and Mekala ran off before I got a picture of them. Next time (shaking my fist), just you wait, I’ll get you my pretties!

Letting some of their creativity rub off on me was very therapeutic. I didn’t take a lot of photos at the Flea Market, but SuzAnna’s was full of great eye candy.

Here are just a few of the sights I saw (SuzAnna’s, Two Old Birds, Vintage Carolee and more!):

I adore all the Santa inspired gifts at SuZanna’s .

My two favorite signs:

Afterwards we hopped over to Café Capistrano for some yummy Mexican food. Sitting down to eat with these new friends was like getting together with old girlfriends. We chatted and shared our likes, taste in decor (which was fairly similar) and just talked.

Hopefully we’ll get to see each other again sooner rather than later.

Oh and if you are wondering what I bought. Not a lot, just some old rusty bed springs, a small doorway rug (I’m hoping to paint), and these gorgeous spoon carved organ panels. Truly beautiful. I can’t wait to sand them and see what lies beneath the dirt. Then I will decide whether to paint them, stain them or just leave them in their gorgeous nakedness!

12 Comments
Filed Under: About Me, antiques, bloggers, Destinations, thrifting

Handmade Holiday Decor eBook

25 Nov posted by Brittany Bailey

Happy Day After Thanksgiving! I don’t know about you, but despite the week I had last week, I am very grateful and thankful for modern medicine and trained surgeons who can take all the broken pieces and put them back together again. Humpty Dumpty never had it so good!

My seven year old is thankful for something completely different. When asked yesterday morning what he was thankful for he said (very seriously), “My bottom.” I tried so hard not to laugh, and was able to utter a quick “Why?”. He replied, “So we won’t explode!” Oh the thoughts of a seven year old boy. ;-D

I hope everyone got their fill of food and family time! And most of all I hope you got a little R&R. You may be looking around wondering where Tool Tutorial Friday is. Well, I’m sorry to tell you that it is on break (no pun intended.) After all the stress from my son’s broken his arm last week, I decided to give myself a much needed reprieve from blogging. No worries though, Tool Tutorial Friday will be back next week as previously scheduled.

I hope you won’t be too mad and disappointed with me. But, seriously, you don’t want to sit here and learn how to use another power tool today! You want to take some time to unwind and enjoy your family, right?!

In the meantime, I do have the Tomboy Tools magnetic hammer winner: Roxanne Lucchesi!
She says, “I have been wanting to tell you how much I love your blog. And now I REALLY love it. It is so great that you are taking the time to post these tutorials. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them. I recently added a table saw to my collection of tools. Mind you, I have never used a table saw, but have always wanted one. Now you have empowered me to actually get out there and use it. Thank you!”

Thanks so much Roxanne, comments like yours are what make all the efforts I put into my blog worth it!

And a big thank you to my sponsor:

Laura from Tomboy Tools, who graciously offers a hammer a week for the Tool Tutorial Friday series. Laura is a super sweet mompreneur who also wants to empower women to take on their own DIY project. If you get a chance, check out the other tools she sells!

And, for you reading pleasure and gift inspirations I leave you with the Handmade Holiday Decor eBook! This is a fabulous ebook put together by the even more fabulous Myra from My Blessed Life and Mandi from Life Your Way. Just think about it! One ebook with all your favorite bloggers and holiday decor tutorials in one spot! There are a few of my tutorials (pages 12 & 24) inside along with some other fabulous bloggers: Pink and Polka Dot, Creative Kristi, SAS Interiors, The Country Chic Cottage, Ten June, The House of Smiths, The Inspired Room, The Idea Room, Serenity Now, Infarrantly Creative, Mod Podge Rocks and MANY more!

If the preview above is not working for you, click here if you wish to download your own PDF version of the Handmade Holiday Decor eBook.

Happy Holidays, y’all! See you next week!

7 Comments
Filed Under: About Me, arts and craft, decor, DIY, Holiday decorating, Home Decor

Coffee Lover’s Snowflake Gift Set using Martha Stewart Craft Stencils and Paints

23 Nov posted by Brittany Bailey

Looking for a gift for those hard to buy people on your list? Or simply an inexpensive gift for your child’s teachers? I found the perfect gift while grocery shopping. Our local Kroger had Illy ground coffee and tumbler sets on clearance. Naturally I shoved everyone aside and grabbed as many as I could (not really, but I would have!) For under $8 each, it was a real sweet deal.

I thought the gift sets needed a little somethin’ special to give them holiday flair (or maybe I was feeling guilty that the gifts were just too easy and inexpensive.) With a little Martha Stewart multi-surface craft paint and Martha Stewart decorative snowflake stencils, I turned them into extra special holiday gifts.

Materials:

Tumbler and ground coffee
Martha Stewart craft supplies:
- Multi-Surface Craft Paints:
  - Mother of Pearl
  - Wedding Cake
  - Summer Haze
  - Metallic Sterling
- Holiday stencils
- Holiday adhesive stencils
- Roller tops
- Specialty sponges
3M ScotchBlue painter’s tape
Paint brush
Fabric
Baby wipes or wet rag

Decorating the Tumbler:

Clean the tumblers with soap and water. Let them dry.

Tape off the areas of the stencil that you aren’t using. Add more tape to the outside edge of the stencil to hold it in place on the tumbler.

Wrap the stencil around the tumbler.

Dip a specialty sponge into the Martha Stewart multi-surface craft paint. Dab off any excess paint.

Pounce lightly and straight onto the stencil. (If you come at it from an angle some of the paint may seep under the stencil or move the stencil.)

Gently remove the stencil and reposition it in another location on the tumbler. (Be careful not to overlap the first snowflake.)

Fill in areas between the larger snowflakes with small self-adhesive stencils.

The specialty sponge is too big for these smaller stencils, but you can use a paint brush to paint inside the stencil.

Repeat until you are happy with your decorated tumbler.

Snowflake Gift Bags:

Squeeze some craft paint into a Martha Stewart roller top (best invention EVER!)

Tape the stencil onto your fabric.

Gently roll the roller top back and forth over the stencil until the desired amount of paint comes out.

Remove the stencil and let the paint dry.

Repeat the snowflake design randomly throughout the fabric.

Sew a little box bottom drawstring gift bag, using the snowflake fabric. I think the snowflake themed coffee gift set will be a big hit! (Holiday decoration, thrifty, re-useable, and come on…who doesn’t LOVE coffee?!)

This was a very easy craft to create. You could decorate with any stencils you like. Think how cute a stenciled monogram would look on the tumbler.

I will probably include a note mentioning that the tumbler design will last longer if washed on the top rack of the dishwasher.

Disclosure: I was provided the craft materials and a small payment in exchange for writing this tutorial. The ideas, tutorials, and opinions are my own.

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