Chicken Scratch

The Embroidery That Almost Wasn't

I bought the cutest little craft book a while back at Borders. It's called *Little Birds: 26 Handmade Projects to Sew, Stitch, Quilt & Love*. In the book, one of the projects is for an embroidery project called *Our Flock*. You stitch a tree limb with enough birds to represent your family. It is so cute! So I took the pattern, scanned it into Photoshop, and altered it to fit my family of 3. I then printed it out, traced the pattern onto muslin, stitched, and framed.

Well, before I show you my completed piece, I will let you know this project almost didn't get completed. I had been stitching on it little by little while waiting on Kaleigh at dance class. One afternoon I left my project at home in my craft bag by our recliner. Well, our sweet-but-sometimes-a-turd-because-she-likes-to-chew dog named Belle got into my bag and chewed up part of my embroidery. Hubby came home first and found it. He scolded Belle and laid the embroidery on the counter. When I walked in he said, *Look on the counter and get out your emotion before you kill the dog*. I tell you what... that dog is LUCKY she's so cute and sweet. She'd be to the curb by now with what all she's chewed up since we've had her. LOL

The damaged front

The damaged back

I was so upset so I just tossed it into my studio until I could fix it. I came across it last night and decided to finish it. Luckily Belle didn't chew into the embroidery area so I was able to salvage it. She did tear off part of the batting on the backside, but I cut the jagged edge off and pieced together more batting. You can't tell too bad when you look at it. Luckily, the nature of the project is handmade/shabby/primitive so it works. I then glued the embroidery onto cardboard and glued into this thrift shop frame (I have another story to share on that).

Love love LOVE this primitive frame

Look at that cool old distressing

And now the finished piece - I love it! :)

And hung on the wall
 

So the story on the frame. My mom had bought that frame at a thrift shop for her home. But I stole it from her while I was house-sitting for her and my step-dad one weekend while they were gone. I'm a horrible daughter, I know, but I ***HAD*** to have it! ;) I had just bought the *Little Birds* book and knew I wanted to make the *Our Flock* embroidery and was looking for the perfect frame. Well, I found it. LOL But I'm going to repay her with a cool thrift shop find or maybe I'll make her something. ;) She loves me and I'm lucky she understands. :)

More Fall Decor and a Couple Thrift Shop Finds

I just wanted to share some more fall decor and thrift shop finds.

Just a quick photo of the vignette I made for our entry. I have this old screen door propped up behind this table that belonged to my husband's grandmother. I usually have a red berry wreath hanging on it with a framed embroidery but for fall I hung this cute button wreath I got on clearance at Home Goods a couple years ago. The garland is metal with acorns that say BLESSINGS (I got at a flea market a few years ago). I shared the pumpkin under the glass bell jar in this post. The little frame is one I got at the same flea market a few years ago and altered (you can see a closeup here). I like to replace the photo with one to match the current season/holiday.

I bought this wooden pumpkin at Hobby Lobby last year on clearance at the end of the fall season. It was defective (they spelled friends with an E) so I got it for about $2. I decided to wrap strips of burlap around it to cover the misspellings.

Before

After

I bought this white metal planter at a local thrift shop for $1.99. I loved the chippy white paint and the black paint peeking through. I threw out the ratty flowers and replaced with these fall-colored hydrangeas I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I added in a few sprigs from a fall floral pick I got on clearance as well.

Before

After

In addition to the white metal planter, I also found this old rolling pin for $2.49. I have two already and would like to collect a few more. I added it to a vintage enamelware pot with another rolling pin I have.

We're hosting our first Thanksgiving in our home and I have a couple more projects to do for that. I'll share when I'm done. :)

Thanks for looking!

Help me pick my pies!

Alright. We're hosting our first Thanksgiving. I'm making the desserts and want to make 3 different pies: pumpkin, pecan, and apple. Do you have a tried-and-true recipe your family just loves? Feel free to share! Otherwise I have narrowed down each pie to 2 choices. The first recipe is more traditional; the second one has a little twist. So that said, which recipe should I make for each pie?

Pumpkin
Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie
Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Cream Pie

Pecan
Pioneer Woman's Pecan Pie
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Apple
Apple Pie by Grandma Ople
Pioneer Woman's Scrumptious Apple Pie

What are your votes?

Fall Wreath

So I finally got around to making a fall wreath for my front door. Only a week and half before it comes down and I put up my Christmas decor but oh well. Better late than never, right? At least it'll be ready to go next year. :) I had a hard time finding fabric for it which is what slowed me down. There just aren't that many cute orange fabrics out there. I finally found some at Hobby Lobby that worked. I was inspired by this wreath by Stacey. Hers is adorable. Mine I'm still not sure.

My wreath

I used two different fabrics and two different colors of burlap to make my fabric flowers.

I added in some fall picks from the floral department at Hobby Lobby.
 

I bought this trim at Hobby Lobby but it was plain so I hand-stitched a border along both sides.

Thanks for looking! Now to get started on my Christmas wreath. ;)

Stocking Holders

Jumping to Christmas just for a bit...

I was asked to guest teach one of the projects for the *12 Days of Christmas* class at Scrapfreak. I came up with an idea of making your own stocking holders. I have some snowmen stocking holders for our mantle that I've had 5+ years now and I'm getting tired of them. So I started brainstorming ideas for new ones that I could make.

Birdhouse Stocking Holder

The first one I created was from a wooden birdhouse. You can buy these at most craft stores for a dollar or two. I first removed the little peg on the front (tapped gently on it with a hammer and it popped right off). I painted and decorated mine with trims and papers. Then I added a small drawer pull where the peg was. This serves as the hanger for my stocking. Fill the birdhouse with pennies or small rocks so that it is heavy and won't fall off your mantle when your stocking is hung.

Here's the birdhouse before.

And after I broke the peg off.

And here it is altered.

Christmas Present Stocking Holder

I bought a 4.25" square box at Michaels in the gift wrap section. I wrapped it with kraft paper and punched a hole in the lower center on the front of it. Using my Crop-a-dile, I punched a hole in some ribbon (cute snowflake twill ribbon from Michaels) and inserted a small drawer pull into the ribbon and then into the box. I tied the ribbon around the box. (As I type this I realize I forgot that I wanted to make a gift tag to tie onto the box just like a real present.) Again fill your box with pennies, rocks, etc. to weigh it down so it doesn't fall off your mantle.

Here it is again but this time with my imaginary gift tag I'm going to go back and add.

Altered Frame Stocking Holder

This one is my favorite. My original idea was to alter a square wooden frame that you can get at Michaels for $1.

My only problem was figuring out how to anchor it so it would sit on the mantle and hold your stocking. I brainstormed and brainstormed and couldn't quite figure it out. Then I was walking through Walmart and saw these plain stocking holders. I guess they're meant to be used alone if you want the minimal look but I knew they'd be perfect with a cute altered frame sitting on top. They come 2 to a pack for $6. I think they even had a couple different finishes maybe?

So I brought them home, altered my frame, and glued on top.

We have 5 stockings (the 3 of us and 2 dogs) and it just so happens our last name is 5 letters long so I will be spelling our last name with ours inside the opening of the frames. You could do the same or maybe just a monogram letter for that person. Maybe spell a Christmas word like JOY, LOVE, PEACE, etc. Or you could put in photos or a handmade embellie. There are lots of possibilities!

Here's a closeup of my embellishments. I made this layered flower using these instructions. Next, I took two pieces of greenery and rolled them in glue and Diamond Dust for a snowy look. Then, I stuck in two pins and some berries. The papers on the frame are pages from an old hymnal. I tore pieces and Mod Podge-d down for a collage look.

So there you have it. Three ideas for stocking holders you can personalize for your home instead of the same ol' boring ones in the stores. I hope you'll come join us in the class making these or any other of the fun projects. You can see the rest of them here.

 

I persevered.

This post may be silly to some. It may not be that big an accomplishment to you. But it's a *yay me!* for me. :) So much that on this busy day I'm taking a quick second to blog.

Today is a busy day. I have some errands to run, gifts to buy, shopping for jeans, and cards to make. Tonight is my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's birthday party, and I have much to do before this evening. So this morning I get up and think I don't have the time to do my 2 miles at the track. No big deal, I'll do it this weekend. After getting Kaleigh ready for school I talk myself into it. Get your fat ass to the track. Okay, I can squeeze in 1 mile. So I quickly get dressed, take her to school, and stop at the track. I start my routine. And before I know it I'm done with my 1 mile. Okay, quit with the excuses. Don't be weak and lazy. I'm going to do my full 2 miles. Done.

Big deal, right?

To me, it is. This is only my first week to start back exercising. I'm doing two miles each morning (walk the first lap to warm up, 6 laps of running the straights and walking the curves, and 1 mile of walking to cool down). But I'm bad awful notorious about starting a week or two and then the excuses start creeping in. Oh, I don't feel good today. The weather isn't good. I'm too busy today to fit it in. I can do it tomorrow. blahblahblahblahblah And then tomorrow turns into two days and then three and then it's a week. And then a week goes by and turns into another and then into a month. And then where am I at? Still unhealthy and unhappy and disappointed in myself.

No more.

Today I persevered.

*Thankful* Framed Embroidery

I stitched this framed embroidery for my fall/Thanksgiving decor. I found a pumpkin image online that I modified a tad and, using Photoshop, combined it with the *Thankful* word (using the font 2peas Handwritten). I printed it out and traced on muslin fabric with a washable pen. After I stitched, I rinsed out the washable pen and ironed. I don't know how/why but the iron left these (burn???) marks on the fabric. I love how it turned out though because it gives it an aged/stained look. I added the three buttons and matted on a piece of cardboard that I hot-glued into a thrift shop frame (which I painted black and distressed). I love how it turned out. :)

And here is our buffet vignette where I displayed my embroidery along with other fall decor. I do want to swap out the flower art on the wall and the framed button heart on the easel with more fall-ish decor. But this works for now.

I took the three wooden pumpkins from the center of my mantle (which I like my mantel so much more without them - it was looking a tad cluttered) and put them on each end of the shelf. The charger I bought today at Walmart on clearance for $2. I also bought 12 others to use for my tablescape on Thanksgiving. They are so pretty! I'm going to spray them with a matte clear coat to protect them as the paint chipped off the edges of the ones I bought a few years ago for Christmas. :( I layered a tin star in front of the charger and my framed embroidery next to it.

My fall-themed Scentsy warmer and a mini pumpkin under a glass bell jar.

Here's the candle I shared the other day and some floral picks in front of my framed button heart (I have a fall-themed project in mind to replace this with).

So there's some more of my fall/Thanksgiving decor. Thanks for looking!

Fall Decor

Since I didn't blog much in October I didn't get to share any Halloween projects and decorating that I did. :( So I'm going to try and share some of my fall decor.

For Halloween I bought some mini orange pumpkins to decorate with. They were great with their bright orange color for Halloween but for fall they're a bit much. So I toned them down with a faux glaze of watered-down brown acrylic paint. It's really a simple project but for those who are visual and like pics, I made a mini tutorial for you. :)

Supplies:
brown acrylic paint
water
foam paint brush
paper towel

1. Add water to brown acrylic paint in a small dish. I honestly never know the ratio. I just eyeball it, but it's roughly 1:1. Just enough to thin out the paint so it's runny and not thick.

2. Using the foam paint brush, brush on the watery paint on the pumpkin.

3. Take the paper towel and wipe off the paint. I like to leave more paint in the cracks for added dimension. I found I liked the paper towel better when it's more saturated after a few rounds of wiping. When it's dry in the beginning it tends to wipe off too much. And the beauty of this project is if you don't like how the paint turned out, take a tooth brush and scrub the paint off under running water and go again!

All my pumpkins

And to show you the contrast of the faux glazed pumpkin vs. the regular one

I put one of the pumpkins on a plate with moss under a glass bell jar.

I put three more on my mantle with other fall decor. I should've taken a photo of the pumpkins on the mantle before I faux glazed them to show you how bright they looked with everything else. The glaze tones them down just enough.
  

I made the vase two years ago and went out this year and got new tree limbs for it. You can see more pics of it here. I loved the original limbs I had with acorns attached!

This is the garland I made last month. In case you missed it, here's the blog post with more photos and the link I used to make it.

I saw this idea earlier this week that I want to do for the center of my mantle instead of the 3 wooden pumpkins. I need to find some more flower frogs first and then get some cute fall-colored scrapbook papers and alphas. I want to spell *Thankful*. 

A quick fall project. I took a mason-type jar and put moss in the bottom. I put a glass votive candle on top of that and surrounded it with mini pine cones I bought at Hobby Lobby. I tied with this yummy ribbon I bought at Jo-Ann's. I absolutely love this ribbon. It screams fall. :)

I'm currently working on a fall wreath for our front door, a fall framed embroidery, and doing a simple altering of a defective wooden pumpkin I bought at Hobby Lobby. I'll share as soon as I'm done!

{♥}

I took this photo of our dog, Belle, yesterday. I looked out our patio door and she was just sitting out in the middle of the yard in the sunshine. It just made me smile. :)

My Christmas Planner

Today's project for Scrapfreak's November class, 12 Days of Christmas, is a Christmas planner. Basically you take a plain notebook, decorate it for Christmas, and then create dividers/tabs for it for the different projects/plans you have for Christmas. I actually created mine last year mid-holiday season so I never used it. Now it's all ready to go for this year, and I actually started writing things down in it earlier this week. My tabs are: Decor and Projects (stuff I want to do around the house), Gifts and Wish Lists (for holiday shopping), BYoB Party (things to do/buy for our annual Christmas party hubby and I host); and Misc. (for anything else holiday-related).

To create my tabs, I printed out my text on cardstock and used my circle punch to punch out the shapes. Then I matted on black cardstock that I cut from my scallop circle punch. I adhered the circles directly to the pages.

You can see today's class and sample and play along with us here!