Crazy about Cranberries!

One thing that my mom decorated with every year was cranberries.

She usually placed them in a glass container with a white candle in the middle.  It was always stunning.

You know how I love me some RED!

So I wanted to come up with some ideas to decorate with cranberries this year too. 

I searched the BHG website and found some inspirational photos I wanted to share with you.

Isn’t this a  beautiful tablescape?

I love the way they layered some greenery underneath the cranberries.  Gorgeous!

Here’s a beautiful idea for a napkin ring.  Some green ribbon, holly leaves, pine cones, and cranberries…beautiful!  Ladies, we could sooooo do this one!

Cranberries look beautiful in silver dishes.  I like the rose below, but I think I would have put a touch of white in the middle instead.

See how the touches of red from the cranberries look amazing with the silver?  LOOK CLOSELY…those are cranberries in the bases of the layered cake stands.  That’s an idea I want to steal!

Have you ever strung cranberries on a string?  I haven’t, but I’ve always wanted to.  If you have tried it, let me know how it turned out.  Any advice would be appreciated.  :)

And stringing cranberries from a chandelier is always charming.

Okay, I love these!  They gave directions at BHG.com, but I think they just pinned the cranberries onto a foam ball.   How cool is that?

 

Here’s another idea you could make with a foam ball. 

 

Another lovely….

 

And who wouldn’t want to see this when visiting someone’s home?

You could fill the glass jars with real snow if you are lucky enough to have some of the good stuff.  But if not, you could fill it with the fake stuff and get the same effect.

Purely magical!

Well, that’s it.  Now run off the the grocery store and buy you some cranberries.  If you have any more brilliant ideas for cranberries, please share!

Have a blessed day!

My Burlap Beauty

(I posted this as a guest blogger over at Shanty 2 Chic a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to share it with you again in case you missed it!)

Check this out!

I got this chair at Goodwill for $6.50. I know “she” looks a little rough, but all she needed was a second chance.

So here’s what I did:
First of all, I decided to paint the chair black. I used Valspar spray paint in satin from Lowe's.
Then I used a fine grit sandpaper to sand down the edges a bit.
As you can tell by the picture below, I left the chair in my garage too long without supervision.
One of my boys thought it would be fun to tear the material off the chair, thus the result…

Oh my, she’s looking really bad now!
But I didn’t let that stop me. I still had my vision…
She just needed a little more cushion, so I used my staple gun to apply some extra batting to the seat and back of the chair.

Now she was ready to cover with my material.
Of course, I chose burlap. My current obsession!
I started with the seat, using my staple gun to secure the burlap.

I cut the fabric around the arms of the chair, folded it under, and then stapled it down. (This part was not easy, and it did not turn out perfectly, but it still looks good to me!)

When I saw the extra burlap hanging below the staples, it looked like a cute little ruffled skirt. That’s when I decided that I wanted to add a skirt to the chair. (The above pictures were taken at night in my garage, so the burlap looks darker.)
Next, I covered the back of the chair using the same process as I did on the seat.

Then I stapled and trimmed the burlap on the back of the chair.

Next, I stapled on a piece of burlap to cover the back of the chair.

Now for the skirt…
I placed the cording in the middle of the burlap, folded the material over, and sewed it up using my zipper foot. Then I trimmed the excess material.

Notice I didn’t even use pins when I sewed. I’m dangerous like that!

I made a long piece of burlap that measured 5 inches wide and sewed a small hem. Then I pinned some ruffles in the material. I didn’t even measure them the same length apart. I just eyeballed it. That’s how I roll.

I attached the cording to the skirt, and sewed them together.

I made some double cording and hot glued it over the staples on the back. I got that idea from an upholstery book. (I will be explaining how to make the double cording in a future post on my blog.)

Then I attached the skirt with my staple gun.

I bought this chair for $6.50.
I bought about 4 yards of burlap from Hobby Lobby when it was on sale for $1.99 a yard. That’s $8.00, and I have some left over.
I already had the black spray paint, cording, and staples. So this whole transformation cost me about $15.00!
I’m loving that!
Every lady needs some cute accessories, so I made her a little pillow.
This picture was taken in our master bedroom, but I made the chair to go in our guest house.

Here it is in our guest house…

Well, there you have it!

My sad-looking seat is now a Burlap Beauty!

I am linking this post to…

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch,

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts, and

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land.

Have a blessed day!

Christmas Carnival begins at Midnight!

Just wanted to let you know about the Christmas Carnival that begins at midnight tonight!

It's 24 hours of giveaways hosted by Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage.

She is featuring a different seller each hour. And each seller will have a great giveaway!

I can't wait!!! I will definitely be entering the giveaways!

Two items from my Etsy shop will be featured tomorrow morning. And I am giving away one of my

Gingerbread Family Ornaments.

These are my best sellers at all of my craft shows!

My gingerbread family ornaments can me made as big or small as you need them to fit the size of your family just perfectly. The girl gingerbread ornaments have red polka-a-dotted bows on top of their heads. The boy gingerbread ornaments have green polka-a-dotted bow ties on. I can write each family member's name on each gingerbread boy or girl.

These make great gifts for grandparents too!!

You can have grandma and grandpa on each end with all the grandchildren in the middle!

Please be sure to stop by the Christmas Carnival and check out all the wonderful products.

If you don't win my giveaway, you can stop by my Etsy shop and order some ornaments in time for Christmas. I am offering all of my followers a 15% discount on my gingerbread ornaments. Just enter the code "BMH4" in the "message to seller" at checkout. The discount will be refunded via Paypal after payment is received.

You can visit my Etsy shop by clicking HERE, or by clicking my Etsy button in my sidebar.

Have a blessed weekend!

Wednesdays with Wanda

Of all of my “Wednesdays with Wanda” posts, I can bet that this one would have been Mom’s favorite so far. 

Because it’s about my 10 year old son, Jonathan.

(She would much rather talk about her grandchildren than herself!)

Jonathan held a tender spot in my mom’s heart.

He was my first child, her 4th grandchild. 

Jonathan was born with a hearing loss.  He has only 50% of his hearing in both of his ears, and has worn hearing aids since he was 3 years old.

She helped my husband and I purchase his first set of hearing aids.  (They are pretty pricey and not covered by insurance.)

Mom paid for Jonathan to go to weekly speech lessons for a year when he was 4 years old.

Throughout his 10 years of life, she was constantly assisting us in caring for Jonathan and his sweet ears.

Mom wanted Jonathan to get a new pair of hearing aids this year.  The ones he has now are several years old, and there are newer models out there that are of better quality.  And if there was something better out there for Jonathan, then Mom wanted it!

This past summer, Mom was saving money to get Jonathan some new hearing aids.  She had almost half of the money saved when we found out she had cancer.  It broke her heart that she had to stop working.  Not because she had cancer, but because she knew she wouldn’t be able to buy Jonathan his hearing aids.

Mom knew she would need that money for medical bills.

Though I knew she was upset about this, I knew that Mom had given Jonathan something more priceless than hearing aids.  She gave him her amazing love, her words of encouragement, her faith in Christ, and a wealth of precious memories!

When Mom was sick, she didn’t talk much about dying.  But one thing she did say was that she wanted Jonathan to sing “Amazing Grace” at her funeral. 

He had sang it as his school talent show five months earlier.  Mom was there to see him sing it.  She was so proud.  I have often thought that as we sat there and listened to him sing, we would have never dreamed that in a few short months, he would be singing it again at her funeral.

(Here are my boys the day of Mom’s funeral.  Jonathan is my oldest.)

Jonathan sang at mom’s funeral.  He sang with all his heart.  I KNOW that Mom heard his sweet voice all the way to the heaven.

Of course I didn’t video tape him singing at the funeral, but a few weeks later, he sang it again at our church.

I video taped it and wanted to share it with all of you.  (Its a little shaky at the beginning because the usher got in my way.)  :)

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
------Chris Tomlin
Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind, but now I see
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
Chorus:
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
Chorus(x2)
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mine
You are forever mine

 

Mom’s chains are gone, and she has been set free!  Thank you, Lord, for the gift of heaven.

I praise God for giving my son the gift of singing.  It’s hard to believe that when he was born, I was afraid he wouldn’t even be able to talk!  I pray that he will always use his voice for God’s glory.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

More Inspiration

Check this out….

After seeing my post on how to make some (look-a-like) Pottery Barn collector’s shelves, Stephanie at Frugal Home Ideas made some for her son’s room.

If you missed my post about how to make these, click HERE.   Here is an example of the shelf I made for my son’s room.

She made some for her son’s room, with her own little twist, and gave a great tutorial on her blog.  Her little guy’s bedroom is adorable, and she does everything very frugally.  Look how cute this is…

 

I loved looking through her blog at all her great ideas.  She shows how she made those cute black shelves in the nursery, how to make a roman shade, and many more great tutorials.  You can check them out HERE.

Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing your shelves with me.  I think they turned out fabulous!

Blessings,

Birthday Blessing

I just had to share with you my Birthday Blessing.

A couple of weeks ago, I celebrated my first birthday without Mom. It was definitely one of the hardest days since she passed away.

I knew that I would not be receiving a “birthday phone call” from her, or any special little gifts like she would always get me.

It was tough.

However, I had won a giveaway the previous week at Melissa’s Heart and Home. It was a FABULOUS giveaway!!!!

And ironically, the huge package of goodies arrived at my doorstep on…

MY BIRTHDAY! What a blessing!

To receive such a wonderful gift, when I was missing one from my mom.

I had to smile as I opened it. It was almost as if Mom had sent it herself. Now I know that wasn’t really the case, but I do think God can bless our lives in unexpected ways sometimes. It definitely touched my hurting heart!

Melissa had everything wrapped so beautifully with little curled ribbons on everything…

It was quite a loot! Look at this…

A table runner, fall cheese spreaders, a book on chocolate desserts, 3 fall dish towels, truffles, a candle, a rooster plate and cup, a vinyl “welcome” door sign, and a decorative acorn that didn’t make it in the picture somehow.

I had fun decorating my “new” kitchen with all of my goodies.

Thank you Melissa, for such a wonderful giveaway!

And thank you Lord, for my unexpected birthday blessing.