Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas dear friends

Paper Christmas Tree

Today I am joining in  The Nester's Christmas Craft Party and continuing with  my no cost decorating theme.  Today's project is a paper Christmas tree. It's not really no cost, but only three dollars. I don't know about you but I get excited by the challenge of making something for little or no money.

Lately I've been inspired by some of the things I've seen on Pinterest that are made with pages of old books.  The first project I did was this wreath.  Once I figured out how to make the cones a uniform size, the rest was easy.  I'm not going to show you how to make it since because there are plenty of instructions online already.

In keeping with the theme of no cost decorating, the  letters for JOY are cut from a cardboard box and the O is an extra plate.  I have LOTS of extra plates!

 The wreath was fun and easy to make so I decided to try and make a paper Christmas tree.  Supplies needed:  tape , 5 or 6 poster boards ( not sure if that's the right name, it's what you use to make  posters), a glue gun and a couple of books.  Try to find  books that are the same size and the paper is similar in thickness and color.

First step was to  tape some poster board paper together into a cone shape.  Then tear the cover and spine off the books and tear the pages out.  Roll each page into a cone shape and glue the end so it won't unroll.

 Then begin to glue the paper cones around the shape doing one row at a time.

 Here is the finished paper Christmas tree.  It is about 4 feet tall.  I am very happy with how it turned out!  I wonder if anyone else has a tree like mine?

No where to put it?  First I tried it  on the left side of the couch, but the whole wall looked  lopsided.  I think that's because I  still need to put something to fill up the wall space beside the wreath. Actually I'm not happy with how that wall looks at all, but for now that's the way it is.

 So  I moved it to the other side and I think it looks better there, at least for now.

Here is a view of it through the mirror on the opposite wall.   You can see the mantle with the fabric scrap wreath I posted about a few days ago.

The nice thing about my Christmas crafts is that they aren't very "Christmasy" so I can leave them up after Christmas if I want to.

There are lots of bloggers joining The Nester's party so make sure you check it out  and happy crafting!

See you next time,

Rhondi xo

No Cost Decorating

No cost decorating.  At this time of year when  there are so many things to spend money on, the prospect of doing some decorating without spending any money is very appealing to me!  What do you have in your home that you could use to decorate with for the holiday?   I think you can take pretty much anything and tie a bow around it or hang it on a tree:  spoons, jewelry, little toys,stuffed animals.   When our kids were little we made yards and yards of popcorn strings and  paper chains.  There are lots of possibilities to decorate without spending money.

I love china, especially blue and white. When I see a plate for $1 at a yard sale or a vase for just a couple of dollars I feel the need to bring it home with me.   Needless to say I have too much blue and white china!

So I "shopped the house".  That's the easiest way do no cost decorating and I found some things to tie on the tree: a small cup

                                                                                            a little teapot

                                                           a cow creamer a friend brought back from France

                                                                          some miniature Dutch shoes

                                        a Delft shoe my Dad brought back from Holland many years ago

                                                                   a napkin ring ( I've got lots of those)

 Usually this  little tree goes in the sunroom but since I did the twig tree there I decided to put it in a corner of the dining room instead.  The plates on the wall sparked the idea to use some of the china to decorate the tree.

 Other years I have trimmed a little tree on the kitchen island,but this year  I used some larger pieces too, since the tree was larger.  I ran into one  little problem a I began to tie the china onto the branches: my little tree began to  lean forward.  So I took some strong wire, tied it around the trunk and nailed it into the chair rail so it would not come crashing over one night when we weren't home.

Placing  it on the wicker tea trolley made it a good height.  And there you have it a beautiful tree without spending any money.  No cost decorating, my favorite way to decorate.

Do you have any no cost decorating ideas you'd like to share with us?
PS The walls are not this bright yellow.  The ar much plower than this!
Rhondi xo

DIY Fabric Wreath 2

Yesterday I told you to come back and see where I put my fabric scrap wreath.  I wandered around the house for awhile looking for a place to hang it and this is what I finally came up with.  I took the mirror off the wall in the dining room and just leaned it up against the wall over the mantle  in our TV room.  I hung it a bit off center. It 's  kind of hard to take a photo of a mirror without  getting yourself in the picture!

            I also borrowed some blue and white china from the dining room and added my BELIEVE sign.

                        A group of thrift shop candlesticks and two little Christmas trees and it's  done.

                                        I tied a few fabric scraps on the trees which I think looks nice.

                       Now all we need is a crackling fire as we sit back and enjoy a hot cup of tea and chat.

There are lots of  parties happening in blogland this week. I'm  joining in a Christmas Wreath party at On Sutton Place and a Christmas mantle party at The Lettered Cottage and a Christmas vignette party at Southern Hospitality. Visit them for  more  inspiring ideas for Christmas decorating.

I am working on another  no cost DIY project which is fun so come back and see me again soon.
Rhondi xo

Fabric Scrap Wreath 1

Do you get lost on Pinterest?  There are so many beautiful and creative things to look at aren't there? I am fascinated by all the different kinds of wreaths there are and thought it would be fun to make  a wreath from fabric scraps.  I am a quilter so I have lots of fabric scraps.

A few years ago I bought some men's shirts at Goodwill to make a quilt.  The fabric in men's dress shirts is very good quality and soft.  Anyway, I decided  to make a great quilt I found in a Kaffe Fasset book  using the shirts I bought.  The quilt was half finished when I abandoned that project ( do you ever do that?) because I thought it would be perfect  to cover a thrift shop bench instead.  There was lots left over so I sewed some of  it into patchwork and covered 2 dining room chairs.

When I made this wreath I used more of the leftover scraps.  All I had to buy was a $3 wire wreath from Michael's.  It was very easy, just  cut up strips of fabric and tie it on the wreath frame.  It took  AWHILE  to tie all the strips!   My husband likes to watch football or NASCAR on Sunday afternoons.  Not being a football or race fan I am usually doing something else in another part of the house, but today instead I worked on my little project in the TV room while he watched the games so we spent the whole afternoon together ( sort of).

I'm not going to show you how I made this wreath because there are already so many  tutorials on the internet. Besides I forgot to take any pictures of the process along the way!

Now that I've finished it I can't decide where to put it.   Comeback tomorrow and hopefully I'll have found a place.
Rhondi xo

DIY Sweater Pillow

This is a  repost of a project I did recently: how to make a DIY sweater pillow from a sweater I found at a thrift shop.  But before I begin let me explain. I have been  so indecisive the last few months and have announced that I've started a new blog and then I've changed my mind (twice!) And some of you have been kind enough to follow me

At last I have come to the conclusion to keep my old blog name  Rose Colored Glasses and just transfer it over to Wordpress.  So here I am. In the move some of you may have lost track of me, but I hope that by now you have found me again and I promise not to move anymore :)

Please sit down and have a cup of tea with me and I'll show you what I did.  The inspiration came from a knitted pillow with a cable design on the front, that I saw in the Pottery Barn catalogue. It looked like it could have been a sweater, which gave me an idea. So I went to my favorite GW (Goodwill Store) to look for a sweater and found this blue one with a cable design on the front.

 It looked about the right size to cover a 14″ pillow form. First I washed it. Then I turned it inside out and used my sewing machine to sew a straight line from armpit to armpit.

 Next I cut off the excess and turned it right side out again. Then I put the pillow form inside. At one end was the seam I’d just sewn and at the open end was the ribbing which was at the bottom of the sweater.

I folded the ribbing over to the back and pinned it. This photo shows the back of the pillow. The cable design was only on the front.

 The next thing I did was unravel some of the wool from the parts of the sweater that I’d cut off and I used it as thread to sew where I just pinned. It’s best to use a needle with a big eye, so you can thread the thick wool through it.

                                                                  The finished seam looks like this.

                                           And here is the finished pillow on our couch in the TV room.

 My recycled sweater cost $3.79. That was the total cost because I already had an old pillow form which I recycled. A very stylish pillow in the color of my choice for a very low cost!

So how much do you think the Pottery Barn pillow was? It was $49.50 in a choice of only 3 colors and you have to provide your own pillow form!

My pillow turned out so well I just had to make another one. This time I went shopping at Salvation Army.

As luck would have it I found another one that is a perfect color.

                                     Here they are on the couch. Looks warm and inviting doesn’t it?

Cashmere would be so soft.  A  men’s sweater size could make a nice big one.  I can picture a whole bunch of multicolored sweaters or all white ones covering a couch.

Do you think you could make one?  Send me a picture if you make one and I’ll post it.

** Since I first wrote this post I have been looking for more sweaters.  They are harder to find than I thought.  I haven't found another suitable one yet!!

Glad you stopped by today!

Rhondi xo

Twig Tree For Christmas

Like most of you I have been decorating our house for Christmas.  Many of my decorations are red but in my sunroom red is just too bright.  So I made a twig tree for Christmas in here.  Our home backs onto a woods which makes it very  easy for me to get some branches and put them in a vase.  If you already know me it's no surprise that I just happened to have a blue and white vase!

These crocheted snowflakes that a student gave me years ago make such a nice contrast against the dark brown branches.

Some small glass ornament from my collection add a sparkle of silver blue and aqua.

My twig tree  is the perfect tree for the sunroom: light airy and whimsical and it doesn't take up too much room.

Here is a view from the other direction.  This room is also my office so I get to look at my twig tree  and it doesn't block my view out the window as I work.

Maybe I have inspired you to find some branches and make a tree like this.  It is so easy and you could hang anything on it: cookie cutters, pinecones,  paper snowflakes, bows, spray it white, glue sparkles on it.  There are endless possibilities.

I like my twig tree so much it may stay up after Christmas and it can be a winter twig tree!

I'd love to see what you've done to decorate in your home.

Thanks for stopping by.
Rhondi xo

I've Moved

Dear friends

I have moved from Blogger to Wordpress.  
My new address is http://www.rhondisrosecoloredglasses.com

Just click on Rose Colored Glasses and it will take you there.

** If I commented on your blog and it brought you here that's because your comment section wouldn't allow me to comment with my Wordpress URL**

I am taking my tea set with me.

I've enjoyed all our lovely visits here and will always remember the good times, especially the summer porch party. Hope you'll come and visit me at my new home soon. Oh and if you see any of my other friends please tell them I've moved

Rhondi
xo

Porch Party in October??

Dear Friends
If you are on my subscription list you may have received an email today which looked like I had published a new post.  I apologize for that.  I didn't post it and I don't know how that happened.

But now that you are here why don't you stay for tea?  It's a little chilly here right now and a hot cup of tea would hit the spot.

I have been working at setting up a new blog in Word Press and can't use Rose Colored Glasses because someone has that domain name already.  I have a couple of ideas for new names, but haven't decided for sure what it's going to be.  When I write my first post, I'll let you know and I hope you'll come and visit me at my new home.
Now I'll just go and put the kettle on.
Rhondi
xo

Repurposing, Sewing and Fluffing

Hello dear friends,

I haven't posted in a long time, but I did a little project on Saturday which I'd like to share with you.These pillows used to be a tablecloth.  It had a few small holes in it and was no longer useful as a tablecloth and it was too pretty just to leave in a drawer somewhere.  I figured there had to be some use for it. I like the fun and challenge of  repurposing things so I used it to make covers for 2 huge down-filled cushions I bought at a yard sale awhile ago.  They are 24" x24".  I like the handmade look of the embroidery on them.

They look good tucked behind these smaller cushions I sewed last year.

When I see cushions in magazines, they are always pushed down in the middle like this.   I'm not sure which way I like them better.  What do you think?

Making these pillow covers is so easy, no zipper or anything.  If you'd like to know how just let me know.

It was so nice chatting with you today.  Hope you have a great day!
Rhondi
xo

Time For A Change

I haven't posted in such a long time, so as I write this I wonder if anyone will even read it.

For awhile now I've been wanting to have our home less cluttered and with some softer colors.  I had been hearing about this Annie Sloan chalk paint and so decided to give it a go.  In case you don't know about Annie Sloan paint, one of the best things about it is you don't need to prime or sand.  Some of you will recognize this hutch which used to be red.  If you've ever painted over red you know how hard it is to cover. I used 2 coats and it covered very well.   

This is the hutch when it was red.  I loved the red but doesn't the china look so much better against the white?  And I was able to add in some of my cobalt blue glass.  Sorry for the awful photo, guess it was from my old camera!

Here is the hutch in its original wood.  I have things on top of it in both these older pictures, but in my attempt to simplify I am going to leave the top empty for now.  Maybe put one plant or one big bowl on top.

I found 2 of these nice tables at the Salvation Army for $20 each and used Annie Sloan  Greek Blue on them.  Only needed one coat of paint and then you wax the surface which makes a nice durable finish.

I found 2 ugly brown wood lamps for $5 each at Salvation Army a couple of weeks ago.  A couple of coats of gloss white spray paint  and new shades from Target and they look very modern.

So I threw an old white bedspread over the couch and pinned some blue fabric I had on the cushions.  My plan is to make white slipcovers, but until I get around to it this will do.  Not sure what to put on the wall.  Maybe some plates or a grouping of things. That one plate looks pretty silly doesn't it?

 This is what that wall looked like before.  I found a leather chair and ottoman on Craig's list which I'm going to check out to replace the chair and footstool in the picture.  My husband sits in that chair all the time and it is so worn out.  We've had that couch a long time, more than 30 years and it has stood up quite well.This will be only the 3rd time I've recovered it.

Now I must tell you that I often get ideas like this and start them and then it takes me months to finish it but maybe showing it to you will be some incentive to finish it soon. I'll show you when it's all done.

Rhondi