My Ten Favorite Projects of 2011...

While I've been a little out of the loop the last couple of weeks (where do bloggers find the time and energy to blog over the holidays????), I did do enough blogging in 2011 to be able to pick ten of my favorite posts.

It's kind of nice to see them here all in one place.  It gives me a little sense of accomplishment.

So...without further ado...here are my faves of the past year:

BIG chalkboard and thriftstore lamp

{oooh...I almost forgot about that mercury glass vase...I'll have to get that out!}

Blue lampy loveliness

I really love the distressing on this lamp.  And the soft light it adds to our living room.  One of my all-time faves.

Blue mason jars

I see a blue theme developing here...

Mini chalkboard

Love love love this chalkboard.  And...sold it at my office craft fair in December.  But fear not!  I have another frame just like it.  Just need to paint it.  Add it to my list of things to do...

Amy's baby shower rosette cake

So much easier than I thought it would be.  If you need a cake to take to a party...this one is a hit!

Halloween mantel

I've never really been in to redecorating my mantel (or the rest of my house, for that matter) with the seasons.  But I had so much fun with Halloween decorations that I think I'm hooked!

Zip clutches

I made about 20 of these before my office craft fair.  Sold a few at the fair, and gave most of the rest away for Christmas.  Love these clutches!  So versatile...and they make a wonderful present!

Chicken wire frame

I did not sell this at the craft fair, so it's hanging in my bedroom, and I'm using it to hang jewelry.  I just love the way it looks and it's so practical.  A friend at work ordered two more as gifts!

Sheet music Christmas tree

This is such a simple craft, but I really really love it.  The glitter star really makes the tree.

Shabby dresser to fab TV console

This is my all time most favorite furniture project (and of course the one that I see every day, since it's under my TV!) and also one of my most viewed / commented on posts.

So...what were your favorite things of 2011?

thriftiness :: PB wine cooler

Welcome to Thrifty Thursday Sunday!  :)

So a couple of weeks ago we were out thrifting and I came across this wine bucket.  Cute but super tarnished.  And $7 for an old trashed wine bucket?  I don't think so.  I almost passed it by.  But then I flipped it over, saw the Pottery Barn stamp (and price tag) and ran to the cash register with it. 

After some serious elbow grease, here's what I have:

Turns out this retails for about $90 at PB.

Such a lucky find...I think it's just gorgeous!  

What thrifty wonderfulness have you found lately?

sheet music tree

I was looking for a few new and unusual Christmas decorations this year.  And since I'm on this sheet music kick, I thought I'd try making Miss Mustard Seed's sheet music Christmas tree (tute here).  I think it turned out so cute.  My son made the star, so it was a family project.

{love love love the star!}

So what have you been cooking up for Christmas?

Linking up at Meg & Mum's
...and also at the AWESOME linky parties in my right-hand sidebar.
Come join in the fun!

office craft fair...

I'm sure you've been just dying to know how our office craft fair was!  :)

We only had 6 crafters turn out, but everyones goodies looked amazing and we had a lot of fun...

{Alyssa's Peppy Pickles...too spicy for me, but people LOVE them!}

{Paula's jewelry, ruffle scarves - to die for - and tea towels}

{Shannon's tutus.  They always sell really well.  We have lots of princesses around our office!}

{Recognize her sign?}

My first landscape painting, inspired by Little Blue Boo's tute here.

 

{My second landscape painting}

So...are you all ready for Christmas?

mod podge clothespins & an "open" frame...

OK, first?  Can I just tell you how excited I am about our office craft fair tomorrow?  Partly because I'm ready and I'm psyched and I can't wait to see what everyone's got.  And partly because I'm relieved.  The date was announced SIX WEEKS AGO and I've been prepping ever since.  Tonight I moved all my goodies out of my scrap/sewing/guest room and it looks downright empty.  YAY!

So at the last minute I decided to whip up some of these scrappy mod podged clothespins...

What do you think?

I'm thinking they'll look super-cute with my "open" picture frames...sneak peek below...

What crafty deliciousness have you been cooking up lately?

I'm so flattered...

I've been featured at DIY by Design and couldn't be more flattered!  Go check out her Wednesday "Fall Into Fall" linky party....LOTS and LOTS of great ideas there!  

Thanks Judy!!!

cute pillows...

Pardon my absence.  

Between Thanksgiving and gearing up for this craft show, things have been a little hectic around here.  I'm a little nervous, though, because my friend Shannon took a bunch of my chalkboards and frames to an out-of-town craft fair this weekend, and they haven't sold well.  Oh well...if things don't sell at the fair, everyone will be getting lovely little handmade Christmas presents! 

In the meantime, I've been putting together a collection of pillows.  I'll be displaying them in a galvanized bucket a la the Pleated Poppy like this:

Here are a few that I've done so far.  

I'm thinking about maybe listing them on etsy.  What do you think?  

How was your Thanksgiving?

wreath #3...mini wreath

I can't stop.  It's a sickness.  Not like the frame thing.  Or the little table thing.  But still.

I found a booklet of sheet music from my local used bookstore {Bookman's is AWESOME y'all!}  And this music was published in 1937!  Wow!  Now, I'm always hesitant to tear apart a book, or even sheet music, but I had this image of this poor little booklet sitting alone on the shelves at Bookman's for years - all sad and lonely - and then getting thrown away because it wasn't selling.  So, really, I RESCUED this music from the dumpster.  Or that's what I'm telling myself.

I love this wreath as-is.  But I'm also thinking it needs something.  A little glitter maybe?  What do you think?

Again, this is something that I'll be selling at the office craft fair.  A portion of all sales from the fair will go to our local food bank.  The Tucson Community Food Bank is way short on food and cash donations this year and won't be able to provide holiday food boxes to families in need.  My awesome, kind and generous co-workers are also collecting food and will be doing some fundraising for the food bank over the next month.  Because that's how we roll.

What holiday cheer are you spreading these days?

dreaming of a beige christmas...

With all this book-page, sheet-music and burlap stuff that I've been crafting, the Holidays feel very beige for me this year.  My house is mostly beige too.  I'm going to have to find some creative ways to work in some pops of color here and there!

This is a project I've been wanting to try for a while now.  I was inspired by the stocking tute over at Cozy.Cottage.Cute.  Her stocking is much cuter, and her pleats much more uniform, but I think mine is cute too.  I'll be selling this one (and hopefully a couple more, if I have the time to make them) at my office's holiday craft fair on December 1st.

The thing about all of the stuff I've been making for the craft fair is this:  If It Doesn't Sell, I'll Be Happy To Keep It For Myself.  For a long time, I used to make things for craft fairs {baby stuff} that I really couldn't use myself.  But now...if it doesn't sell at the fair, I have a TON of awesome handmade Christmas gifts!  YAY!

So what awesome holiday craftiness have you been up to?

chicken wire frame...

I'm making some progress on my new collection of old frames.

This big one here...

Now looks like this...

I made my own mixture of white and black aiming for a nice, chic hue of grey...but it looks more blue than grey.  Still, very pretty.

The chicken wire was a huge pain in the patoot - partially because of the design of the back of the frame - and even though I swore I'd never make another one of these frames it turned out SO cute that I might make another one.

So whhat do you think?  Do you like the grey?  Or should I stick to white, black and Caribbean Mist?  :)

What crafty crafts have you been crafting lately?

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