Artful Thursday: Pretty Little Vase, A Tutorial

Here we go again, Artful Thursday. My how that day comes quickly. I'm happy to say I actually got something done today. Yay for me! I'm especially pleased because I used some supplies I'd been hanging on to for quite awhile. So here goes...



I started with this pretty little yellow vase that has an antique Victorian design. (This is a newer item that I got not too long ago from Michael's) What I pulled from my stash is the following:

• vintage seam binding


• a hair comb I made about 5 yrs ago, I disassembled for the crystals and fresh water pearls
• a jar of vintage buttons (1 of many)


• German glass glitter


• vintage kite string


• vintage foliage leaves

Getting started:

1. I covered the foliage with glass glitter. I did this using a paintbrush, I brushed the leaves with glue then sprinkled with the glass glitter



2. I disassembled the hair comb, setting aside a few pieces of crystal leaves and fresh water pearl stamens on gold beading wire.
   
   
   
   
3. I then wrapped the leaves, pearls and crystals around the neck of the vase using glue dots to adhere them in place.
   
   
   
4. Pressing my seam binding first, I tied 2 pieces around the vase, making a bow. I often get lazy and don't press my seam binding, regretting it later when the creases fuss up my bows So I'm pretty happy I took the extra step this time.





5. I threaded a vintage rhinestone button with vintage kite string.


6. I placed a glue dot on the back of the button.


7. I tied the string around the vase, adhereing the button to the bow


8. And finally, once all this was done I fussed with it all a bit to get everything in place and trimmed the seam binding to the length I wanted it.
   

There you are, a pretty little vase to dress up a corner in your home or a sweet gift for a friend. You can find this one in my etsy shop.

Enjoying Holiday Crafts and Fun

The boys are off from school for winter break a total of 2 weeks. During this time thus far since there is 1 more week to go, we've had fun with crafts, baking and holiday decorating. Just lots of simple activities to entertain the boys while keeping my sanity.


The boys had fun making glittery pine cones. This was extremely easy, pine cones, glue, glitter and brushes and your set. So easy, yet entertaining for the boys. Best of all, we get to enjoy the beauty of the end product throughout the holiday season as I have them displayed in a pedestal bowl. Our dear neighbors came over for this activity which added that much more fun.



There was also coloring and construction paper fun that resulted in some great snowman art. Also displayed in our home. The boys just beam with pride when we display their handiwork.


Aidan also made a reindeer hat out of construction paper that we ended up displaying in the tree.


We baked cookies for Santa and the neighbors. Yummy oatmeal cookies with holiday M&Ms.


The boys helped place mommy's vintage baubles in a glass cylinder for display (OK this made me very nervous but we got through it. Next time will use baubles I'm not so attached to.)


We made a swag for the front door. We used the bottom branches that were removed from our Christmas tree for this project. This was more of a mom made it while boys observed..but it still was entertaining for them.


We also made a ritual out of putting the holiday cards we received in the card holder. The kids loved this and the challenge of getting them all to stay on the holder.


We also had a nightly ritual of opening up a treasure in an advent calendar and enjoying the sweet chocolate treat together. Yeah I know this was a special treat, nightly chocolate, thankfully it was just a small piece.


And finally, Christmas eve we put together a gingerbread house with help from Uncle Jess and cousin Zach.

Skeletons, Tombstones, Jack-O-Lanterns, Oh My

Decorating for holidays is so much fun and a great activity you can do with your kids. Aidan and I have been doing a little decorating for Halloween. I let him pick out a new Halloween decoration, it's a little tradition we started a couple of years ago. This year he picked out this great string of lights for his room. They look like dancing skeletons. They're actually really fun and not scary at all despite what Miles might tell you. Miles is a little scared of them, although both Mommy and Daddy have explained to him they're "friendly skeletons".



And what would Halloween be without tombstones? We have a small tombstone in our planter on our porch.


Oh and of course the pumpkins which will soon be jack-o-lanterns. I just love the colors of Fall including the bright orange of pumpkins, they're so festive.


We also have the boys treat buckets, plastic jack-o-lanterns stacked on top of each other in the kitchen sitting under "La Calavera Catrina" a perfect addition to our Halloween decor. Actually though, "La Calavera Catrina" is a well known Mexican image that hangs in our kitchen year round.

We have lots more Halloween decor dispersed through the house, these were just a few I decided to share.

A little Mexican art history side note as summarized from wikipedia: "In 1913 Jose Guadalupe Posada first created "La Calavera Catrina" as a zinc etching to portray the image of the rich and fashionable in death. He wanted to depict that the rich fashionistas were just as susceptible to death as anyone else, despite their pretext to self importance."
Politically it's a great statement. It's also important to us to have some of our heritage in our home....but that's another blog entry in itself ;)

Hope you're all having just as much fun getting ready for Halloween!

Entertainment or Bedding

Finally bought the boys bedding for their new beds. I bought down-alternative duvets during Macy's memorial day sale (score!) but had been unable to decide on the rest. I settled on chocolate brown duvet covers with this fun letter and number sheeting. This morning I washed it all and made their beds. The boys were pretty excited about it and the sheeting has initiated a series of alphabet singing and counting. Hmmm... not sure if this is going to be a problem. We'll soon find out.