Burlap Christmas Trees

This is a repost from 2012. I thought it was good enough to share once more. 

A few years ago I made several things out of burlap. My favorite of all of those projects was these little fabric trees. This idea was one that I came up with on my own and it is one of my craft projects that I am the most proud of. I still receive compliments from friends about these trees when they are taken out of storage and put on display for the season.

The trees are fairly easy to make. I am not an excellent seamstress to say the least, so if I say that these are easy then you can trust me. To make them I used tan & red burlap and decorated them with various vintage buttons and laces. That is the funnest part - choosing how the tree will be embellished! The trunk of each tree is a wooden thread spool.

Burlap isn't the only fabric that you can use. I also made trees out of some old bedspreads I had on hand. (shown below). The white tree is made of chenille.

I'm sharing how I made these in case you are interested in trying one yourself. Although it is much easier to buy someone a gift - I believe that making something with your own hands as a gift for someone else is such a sweet expression of love and kindness. With time at a premium, spending time to make something shows the recipient that you care enough about them to give of your time and talents. Trust me when I say that a handmade gift will be cherished for years to come much more so that something bought at a store.

Chenille & green tapestry fabric - both found at a yard sale.

I didn't take any pictures showing these being made but I can give you some simple directions if you want to try making these on your own.

You will need:
Fabric of choice
12" piece of 20 gauge wire
1 wooden thread spool
small piece of felt
Hot Glue
Laces, buttons & trims for decorating

To begin I drew a triange/tree shape - on a piece of paper and used that as my pattern. Make it as small/large as you like. I traced the pattern onto the material. Cut two pieces of material for each tree. Sew the two pieces together - leaving an opening for stuffing the tree later. For the burlap I sewed the pieces together WRONG sides together and just trimmed the material close to the seem when finished - leaving a raw edge. For the other materials I sewed the trees RIGHT sides together and then turned them right side out when sewn. Stuff the trees with fiber fill. I then inserted a wire into the center of each tree - sort of like a trunk. The wire should stick out about an inch from the bottom of the tree. Sew material closed - keep the wire sticking out.

Now, take your wooden spool and cut a piece of felt to cover the bottom of the spool. Attach with glue. Now fill the hole in the spool with hot glue. Insert the wire from the tree into the hot glue - this keeps the tree stable enough to stand on it's own. Let dry. You can now decorate the tree with trims, ribbons & buttons as you wish. I also decorated my wooden spools with paper, twine & ribbons.

If you check my post Christmas 2014 you will spy my trees on display. They come out each year and I love them just as much today as I did when I made them.

Merry Christmas!
KayteeJane

Christmas Decorations 2014

Hi Friends!
It's been quite a while since I posted. Let me begin by saying thank you for stopping by after all of this time. I am still alive and still loving the hunt for vintage treasures.

Here are some of the Christmas decorations that are on display around the house this year. Over the past few years I have been slowly weeding through my decorations and keeping only those things that I love. I don't know about you, but do your taste's change like mine do? I have gone mostly all vintage in my decorations, parting with the rest. Although I love a lot of what I see at Target, I still prefer the old to the new. My year round collections have been put away to make room for the holiday decor. Although I still do not have my tree decorated - it is sitting in the stand waiting for some attention, here is a peek at some of the rest. 

May your Christmas be filled with Joy this year.

If you want to see a lovely Flocked Tree decorated in pastel sweets - stop over to my blog friend Heather's blog by clicking HERE.

KayteeJane

Pyrex Christmas Bowl

Christmas came again for me this past weekend when to my surprise and delight I found the Pyrex Christmas Bowl at an antique store in West Virginia. I have coveted this bowl for months/years now ever since seeing pictures of it on some of my favorite collecting/vintage blogs and on Instagram. I have seen it for sale on eBay too but usually it is in the weeks prior to Christmas and I am always so broke at that time and saving to buy Christmas presents that I can't justify buying myself anything let along a collectible bowl.

Anyway...after months of searching at local antique stores and even thrift shops I had resigned myself to the fact that it was doubtful I would ever see one in my lifetime. I further confirmed that idea in my mind when I learned that this bowl was actually a Christmas present that was given to employees who worked at the Pyrex plant in Charleroi, Pennsylvania and not ever offered for sale to the public.

So you can image my surprise when I did actually see this bowl at an antique store. Here is how it went down in case you are interested in living vicariously through me...

This past Saturday my husband and I happened to be in West Virginia and we decided to stop at a lovely antique store called Sweet Memories. I am strolling through the store leisurely - looking at all of the lovely items. There happened to be some other pieces of Pyrex for sale so I was looking things over deciding if I wanted to buy anything. Well my husband is way ahead of me through the store. Suddenly I hear "KATE - GET OVER HERE!" When I meet up with him he has found the bowl. My mouth drops open in surprise. The bowl is inside a locked glass case on display like the Crown Jewels.

Here it is at the store. You can see me in the reflection using my phone to snap a picture.

After getting the sales clerk to come over and unlock the case ~ and looking the bowl over ~ I decide to go ahead and splurge on it. It is a bit spendy for my very thrifty self, but husband encourages me to get it because I have wanted one for so long {and may never see one in person again}. I buy it and then do the happy dance in the car on the way home!

It isn't until I get home that I consciously notice that the holly leaves on this bowl are orange instead of white. Not exactly very "Christmasy". The colors never even registered in my brain while at the store. I think I was just in buying mode - not thinking mode. Oh well ~ I still love it. I'm just bummed I have to put it away with my Christmas decorations until next year. Want to hear another interesting tidbit? The seller happens to have another one of these bowls in her collection. Not sure where she got 2 ~ but now she is down to 1 thanks to me!

This is why I love collecting! It is the unexpected finds that make it so fun. Finding "the one" you have been searching for when you least expect to ~Allowing your husband to spoil you with Pyrex! Treating yourself to something that you don't really need but will totally enjoy ~ Reliving the memory of our trip to WV and finding this bowl every time I pull it out of storage. It is all pure fun.

KayteeJane

Another Christmas here and gone

Another Christmas here and gone. As I sit here looking at all of my decorations I wish I could just snap my fingers and it would all be put away. Oh how I dread packing it all up! I'm ready to move on to January!

My gift from my husband this year was pens (it is what I asked for). I can't wait to get started journaling, crafting and doodling with them.

I bought some blank journals and pretty pencils & pens for myself at Target in the dollar section.

I also received these wonderful vintage advertisements from Lee & Frannie. I plan to hang them up in my kitchen.

 (Use Crisco - It's Digestible!)

and the Pioneer Woman's latest cookbook.

My 3rd Grader made me some wonderful gifts this year. This was a favorite. A book she wrote called "Super Parents - A Story About My Awesome Mom and Dad".

I am always drawn with an Afro when my girls draw pictures of me. :)

I am the "chicken nugget queen".

The day after Christmas I found myself shopping at the thrift store again. I was happy to find 3 Pyrex fridgies with their lids on the shelf. Yeah me! The patterns weren't anything that I collect but I bought them just to have the lids.  I needed 3 in this size for bottoms that I already own. I'm thinking I will just re-donate the dishes. I know all of the Pyrex collectors out there would probably cringe at hearing me say that I am going to re-donate Pyrex, but I don't have the space to keep pieces that I don't really like.

I also did some after-Christmas decorations sale shopping. I wasn't planning to, but seeing other people's blogs definitely influences me. First I saw a red tinsel feather tree on Heather's blog decorated for Christmas. That got me thinking that I needed to have one of those for next year. A few days later I saw on Sarah's blog a red tinsel tree that she purchased at Target the day after Christmas for 50% off. Not a feather tree, but Sarah mentioned "trimming" the branches to make it look less full. I had never even thought of doing that. The next morning I was off to Target. I was lucky enough to find one left on the shelf. It was 50% off - so I paid $4. I asked my husband to help me trim it. We cut off a few branches from each level with wire cutters. I like how it looks  - less full and bushy. (picture below isn't great but you get the idea). I've decided that I'm going to decorate it with hearts for Valentines Day.

KayteeJane

Merry Christmas to you

I haven't posted much this December. Just too busy. This season flew by. I didn't have much Christmas spirit this year either. I'm hoping it kicks in tonight when I'm at church and carries through to tomorrow morning when my kids are opening their presents. Since my blog has been around now for 2 Christmases I'm only going to show some of the new things I've added to my decorations. I am using most of the same decorations this year that I have used in the past several years. If you want to see click on the label to the right that says Christmas to see any past posts.

These are my new to my collection. The Jingle Bell bowl was found at an antique store. My husband bought the Egg Nog bowl and cups for me for my birthday from eBay. I am hoping to actually use these for egg nog tonight.

These paper bells were found at a yard sale this summer. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I decided to just hang them up and use them. (glitter letters from Target/Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic)

These trees aren't new but how I am displaying them is. I like how they look inside the vintage containers. I was actually thinking of getting rid of them but they have new life now.

Thank you for stopping by to visit. I do appreciate all of my visitors - both new ones and familiar ones. I know I will never know all of you personally, but it means a lot when I read comments from people that I've never met before that appreciate the pictures and also share a love for vintage things. From my home to yours - Merry, merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God Bless You!

KayteeJane

Thrift Store Finds - December

I have been doing some SERIOUS thrift store shopping over the last few weeks - and I've scored some amazing things! After months of finding nothing special, my luck has changed and I've been finding some good stuff. I've always thought that December is a great month for thrift store shopping. My theory is that while most people are out shopping at the box stores buying Christmas gifts, the thrift stores aren't as busy and the good stuff is ripe for picking. Just a theory - but I'm about to prove it right.

First let me begin with these. This has to be the BEST find yet from a thrift store in my shopping experience. Not vintage - but awesome still. The only thing to top these would be the Pyrex Christmas bowl (which I'm still waiting to find).

The back story on these is that my oldest daughter has been wanting a pair of UGGs for while and asked for a pair for Christmas. Now if you are familiar with UGGs you know how expensive they are. That is why I've not bought her a pair before - too pricey. The boots at the thrift store just happened to be in her size! And - here is the amazing part - I only paid $1.49 for them!!! I am not kidding. I decided to give them to her the night that I bought them - instead of for Christmas. I cleaned them up a bit and she has been wearing them every day since.

I also found this set of Hazel Atlas Crinoline dishes in pink this past weekend at a Goodwill store. Happy Christmas to Katie!! I am tickled with them. There are 12 dishes, 8 cups & 11 saucers. Plus a sugar and creamer that matches. (not crinoline pattern but also Hazel Atlas). I can't wait to use these on Easter. They are so sweet. Baby Shower anyone??

I decided to buy these Mary planters from the thrift store this weekend also. I've never collected Mary, but being that it's Christmas I thought they would be pretty on display. They are vintage Haeger pottery.

And these came home with me too. I have a weakness for hand crafted things at the thrift store. I envision some sweet grandmother making these - only to have her family donate them to the thrift store years later - oh how mean!!! OK I know I am insane, but I can't help but feel for these sweet granny-square stockings. They are hanging in my dining room as I type this. A new home - a new life!! ha ha

I enjoy thrift store shopping more than any other kind of shopping around. I love the hunt, the thrill of finding something vintage or getting an amazing deal. When I'm Christmas shopping at the mall or box store I don't enjoy it at all. It zaps all of my Christmas spirit (and my money). I'm telling you - you can find some awesome things at the thrift stores if you take the time to visit often. I believe that you could probably buy several items on your Christmas gift list from the thrift stores - and your recipients wouldn't be the wiser.
I did just that when I bought both my daughters a pair of Christmas jammies at the thrift. I actually hunted for PJs at Target and Kmart a few weeks earlier but couldn't find anything in their size. I was lucky enough to find some at the thrift store. I didn't have to spend a lot of money on them - which in the long run is great because I doubt they will wear them more than a few times anyway. I also found some great vintage items for a few people on my list who appreciate old things. I (can't show pictures because the people I bought them for do read my blog.) Anyway, you get the point. Happy thrifting!

KayteeJane