Merry Belated Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!! Sorry, we have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to wish all of my blogland friends a very Merry Christmas. I finished two more yarn characters: Gingerbread Boy and Gingerbread Girl. I have had so much fun making these that I believe next year I will try some more characters. They are made the same way as the snow man with exception of the girl. I didn't make her any "feet". So, she looks more like a tassel before you add her arms. Glue the rick rack on the face first, then glue it on the wrists and then the ankles of the boy. The girl's apron is just a rectangle of fabric, gathered at the top with ribbon sew around and then tied onto the girl. If you would like more indepth instructions for the apron, just leave a convo and I will make some step by step instructions. 

Warning: this post is loaded with pictures. I promised my mom that I would take her on a tour of the house all decked out for Christmas. 

Just ignore the dog dishes. Hoosier that is in the living room but right next to the kitchen. Zoom in for a closer look at the bubble lights behind the snowman and little tree. My little sister made me the napkins that I am using not as napkins but to enhance my decorations :) Two on top of the hoosier and one on the beautiful walnut bowl my father-in-law made me.

Real tree in the living room. 

Formal living room. This is the tree that I hang all of my vintage ornaments on. This year we replaced the carpet with hardwood floors. The hardwood makes the room look much bigger!

Village with working train under the tree.

This is new this year. I added some vintage Annalee elves, hung ornaments from the overhead light fixture along with some garland on the fixture. I really don't like this light fixture but this Christmas I am loving it. The ornaments looked so cool hung from it.

Left to right: Vintage tree top angel, two Target trees, Vintage style snowmen from World Market, bowl of Candy Cane kisses, tiny tobogganing snowman (bought on clearance b/c it was missing a pompom ear muff), napkin little sis made me and scrabble tiles. 

Vintage santa mug with my Snowman kneehugger that was my grandmothers.

Back door. I always clip our cards on the back door blinds and last year I painted these clothespins (found idea on Pinterest) to use on the cards. I need to paint at least 30 more. They turned out so cute.

Top of hoosier:vintage mixer, Santa mugs and pitcher and that funny looking thing in the background is a Santa boot with Holly and a Santa painted on it. I bought the boot at an estate sale. 

Tree with rice lights, bubble lights, wooden bowl with fabric gingerbread men, Snowman that I made using a Bucilla kit.

Spool cabinet.

Tiny vintage Santas. These were my grandmother's.

I love this Snowman couple! It was a thrifty find at $6 for the pair. Hand painted on the bottom of the Snowlady "To Buck and Betty From Wilmer and Sara" (Say-rah-that is how Sara is pronounced down South. I don't know why but that just tickled me so when I turned them over and read that.  My vintage Santa book, plastic Snowman (on the left) and Santa in sleigh with vintage bottle brush tree. The lace table scarf was crocheted by my Great Grandma. She was Hungarian.

Tiny putz village. The only vintage Putz house is the house on the right. The others are ornaments that I have collected through the years from Target, etc.

Snowman collection. Many were given to me from the Sunday School preschoolers that I use to teach. 

On the fridge. Vintage tins, poinsettia garland and a sweet little vintage sleigh on the scale.

Our gingerbread house made at school. D#2 has been sneaking the treats off one by one :) Since it is on a little table in the corner, hopefully the cat can't reach it this year. 

Dining room. Nativity in far corner.

My grandmother's Gurley candles. My grandmother's music box made by my mom.

Our Resolute desk (love the movie National Treasure and the Resolute Desk in the movie). I refinished this desk that was passed down to my husband from his Mawmaw Florine. Vintage typewrite picked up for a steal at $10, it came with it's original metal table. 

My grandmother's treetop angel and kneehuggers. Looks like one kneehugger is camera shy. I did have two sitting there.

Merry Christmas, President Washington!

A few of my Byers Choice carolers singing around the piano.

Real evergreen wreath on the front door (inside). My grandmother's white reindeer.

View from front door to the back door.

My grandfather painted the winter scene. I love it!

Little landing on the stairs.

I refinished this dresser about 17 years ago. It was painted white with contact paper covering the top.

Looking downstairs. 

Vintage toys in the hall upstairs.

Little silver tree purchased from Target after Christmas last year.

Nativity. I love adding a few new pieces each year. We purchased the jewelry tent (on right) and the well (on left) and a few people and one palm.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour and sorry it is so late.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and a Happy New Year!

Holly

Yarn Snowman

It's no secret that I love ornaments! Vintage, handmade, or store bought, it doesn't matter. Do you have a special ornament that brings back childhood memories? As soon as you see it, it transports you back to when you were 9 years old? I am very lucky to have a few of my maternal Grandmother's (MaMa) ornaments that she used for years on her tree. One of my favorite ornament or rather ornaments are of Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause made out of yarn. Do you remember these?

My version is a snowman.

Below are the vintage yarn ornaments. Brown with age (hard to tell in this photo), moth eaten faces, missing parts, but I love them anyway!!

I am not sure who made them, I must ask my mom. They bring back the sweetest memories of her house: Christmas baking, laughter, cousins playing, parade on tv, practicing for our Nativity production, wondering if it would snow, would Santa come?, fire crackling, chestnuts from my grandfather's tree, roasting hotdogs over open fire, tractor rides into the woods and my grandmother's famous fruitcake!

Supplies to make your own Yarn Snowman:

yarn

black wool felt

red wool felt

pink wool felt

green & red wool felt

1/4" wide red ribbon

small black beads-5

black embroidery floss

Scraps of cardboard: cut one 14"x6" and one 5"x3"

photo1

Wrap yarn 30 times around largest cardboard. Carefully slip off.

photo2

Lay the yarn on the table and tie a 6" piece of yarn around the middle. This will be at the top of the head.

photo3

Fold the yarn in half with the piece of yarn you just tied at the top. Now go down about 11/2" down tie a 6" piece of yarn for the neck. Then tie another piece of yarn for the waist about 1 1/2" down from the neck. 

photo4

To make the arms, wrap the yarn around the 5"x3" cardboard 30 times. Carefully remove and tie a piece of yarn at both ends-see photo.

Make a hole with your finger all the way through the abdomen and insert arms. It is not necessary to glue or sew the arms to the body.

photo4

Now you can cut the loops on the hands and feet. Trim them as you would a pom pom. 

For the face:

Cut the face out of white felt. Glue cheeks and nose on. Stitch eyes on and then embroider mouth and eyebrows.

photo5

Make the hat the same way as Abe Lincoln's hat. Glue ribbon around hat body and then glue holly leaves and berries on. Tie a 8" piece of white or black embroidery floss onto the yarn (this yarn is the piece that you tied in the middle in photo2) for a hanger. I then threaded a needle with this floss and went through the bottom of the hat, not the middle of the hat but off to the side) and then back out of the side of the hat. I know this sounds confusing, but the photo5 explains it better. I did it this way because I like Frosty's hat a little off center. If you like you could always go straight through the middle of his hat.

My vintage yarn Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause. Wouldn't these look so cute tied onto gifts instead of bows? I also plan on make the Clauses this year too and if I get to them I will post a picture.

Now this is just plain cotton pickin' fun!

Elfie up to his old tricks. He is using a candy cane and yarn to zip line across the dining room. D#2 left the yarn and candy cane out for him to use the night before. At night we can hear the soft pitter patter of his tiny feet running across the carpet. Our Bethlehem village in the background. Every year hubby and I on our anniversary (which is today! 22 years!!) go to the Peppermint Forest (local store, you can google it: Peppermint Forest, NC) and pick out pieces to add to the village. We went this morning after a nice breakfast at Panera Bread with D#2, Son and his girlfriend (D#1 had a final today and couldn't make it). It's also a tradition to buy a Holiday Loaf from Panera. At Peppermint Forest we selected a few nice pieces to add and had such a great time. The picture above was taken before the new pieces were added. 

Display tray of vintage cuteness. Idea taken from Gooseberry Patch Christmas book. 

Santa Tater

D#2 had to decorate a potato for Thanksgiving Market (school function). Our job was to create a potato character that doesn't look like a potato but, we couldn't carve it or poke holes in it. D#2 wanted to make hers into a Santa. She glued everything and I cut it out. She handstitched the hat and back of the Santa suit. She loved the sewing part the best, her words. We also came up with a song in the tune of Santa Baby:

Santa Tater, just slip a

plate of fries under

the tree, oh please.

Santa tater, a bottle

of ketchup for me,

red not green.

D#2 had a hard time believing they use to make green and purple ketchup years ago :)

Have a wonderful day and weekend,

Holly