Merry Christmas-Apartment Dining Reveal

Merry Christmas!

I'm back to share with you my Christmas post.

Remember how I told you we severely downsized to an apartment? 

Well I've been unpacking and trying to find all my things that are packed up in boxes. 

I finally found my fabric that I bought a couple of years ago to re do my chairs!

So I set out to recover my chairs and paint my table in one weekend. 

Pretty agressive of me don't you think?

Well what I failed to remember not to forget was the 

location of our STAPLE GUN.

Facebook to the rescue. My daughter's MIL had an electric one I borrowed. Made things a lot easier to staple. 

Now, re-covering chairs may seem like a simple task and well it is-until you actually start to do it. 

There are millions of staples to remove. 

First I took them off and used that fabric as templates for my new fabric. My mom helped me cut.

Then I had to figure out how to staple it on so the staples wouldn't show on the chairs. Some of those pieces were extra hard. I mean, the backs of the chairs are solid and a real challenge to staple through. But I did it! Here in pictures is the story:

                      Cushions removed

                   I had to fold over and staple so the other staples wouldn't show. This is covered up by the wood back on the chair.

                         Stapling the corners-fold and pull taut.

         Tool I used to remove the staples. You can get it at Home Depot or Joann.

                          One down.....

I also painted my black table white in one evening. I painted it with Fusion brand Mineral Paint in Casement.

After I let it dry over night, I applied two coats of water based poly letting them dry for about 6 hours in between.

And here's the result.

And after all that 

I was finally ready to decorate our humble abode for Christmas Eve dinner:

The glittered trees were made by me by simply cutting out shapes with my Cricut Explore and hot gluing it to a cone shape made out of poster board. 

The table runner is some black bulletin board paper I had. I simply wrote on it with my metallic marker.

I am yet to finish decorating on top of that shelf that we hung over the table. I'll post on that later. 

But in the meantime, we had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my little family. 

And I love that my little family could enjoy a pretty space to eat. 

xoxo 

Patty

Decorating a Small Apartment for Christmas

We are STILL unpacking!

I had to take a break from all that and look for my Christmas decorations as I wanted to put up our tree on Thanksgiving Day. 

Thank goodness last year I had the forethought of selling my ginormous, 12 foot, fat tree and replacing it with a skinny one. 

It's 12 feet as well but my hubby told me not to put the bottom portion on so the star would be able to fit at the top. The tree is about 8 or 9 feet now. 

It's perfect!

I love that I kept my ornaments from the fat tree but I cannot find my red ribbon. I made do with a roll of red burlap I had stashed away (funny what you find when you're looking for SOMETHING else)

I went ahead and just cinched it here and there to make it a little easier to wrap around the tree. 

Then, since we don't have a fireplace in this apartment (sad face) I got a shelf from Ikea to put up in our entry way. 

I have a little cabinet there that I decided to decorate around.

The shelf was only $14.99 and is one of those "floating" ones. 

I simply added my Merry Christmas sign I made a couple of years ago and some of my Christmas decor. The stockings are burlap lined with fabric that my mom made. On the floor next to it is a vintage suitcase with more greenery, lights and my huge candle sticks with my santa. 

What do you think?

I think this can work in the dining area as well. 

I am working on painting our dining table and decorating our eating nook for Christmas Eve dinner. 

I will share that with you soon. 

xoxo
Patty

Downsizing: Organizing a Small Living Space

It has been a whirlwind of a fall season for us!

We moved from a 3,000 sq ft house to a 1,023 sq ft apartment.

 

 

 

 

 

Talk about shrinking our living space. 

I tell you it took two months just to pack up all our stuff and take it to storage. 

At the end, right before our move out, I just gave stuff away, threw some away and sold some things away.

 

All this experience has taught me is how we don't need so much stuff. 

 

I mean, my gosh, I looked through our things and I was constantly saying "Why do I still have this?"

"Why did I buy this?"

"We don't even use this!"

 

See where I'm going?

 

We ultimately would like to move to a small, one story home, because let's face it, we're getting old. 

I didn't like going up and down the stairs, not to mention all the upkeep of a house that size. 

 

We had some wonderful times and I enjoyed my crafting room/class room and the huge dining and living areas for entertaining. 

 

But sometimes, you just have to ask, is this really necessary? I mean do we really need this?

And, no we won't be joining the Tiny House bandwagon. I'm not that crazy brave.

 

So I've decided to share the tips and tricks I'll be undertaking, discovering, borrowing, etc with you all and see if it helps you too. 

 

In the meantime, I'm on the mend from a kidney infection, what feels like several hundred kidney stones, passing all at once and planning our first Thanksgiving meal in this smaller space. 

 

I hope you come along for the ride :)

 

 

 xoxo 

Patty

 

 

Fall Decor-Pumpkin Decorations

Hello friends!

Happy Labor Day to all.

It's another balmy 100 degrees here in the Dallas area. LOL

sure doesn't feel like fall to me but one can hope. 

I recently had a dear client request I make some cute pumpkin decor for her and I thought I'd share with you.

These half pumpkins can be found at any crafts store. 

They are ready to hang and so cute and realistic looking. 

You will need one or more pumpkin halves

floral wire

wire cutters

ribbon

scissors

vinyl decals or stickers

Cricut Explore die cutting machine

hot glue

assorted fall foliage

clear satin or matte sealer (Krylon)

First I either cut the vinyl on my machine or bought the stickers from the craft store. 

You can find them in the scrapbooking section with all the other stickers. 

I picked some pretty flourishes for this one. 

Pick out a fall foliage bunch that you like along with some coordinating ribbon. 

Place the stickers here and there on your pumpkin half.

Once in place take the Krylon Matte sealer and spray it lightly. Wait about 20 minutes for it to dry and press down on stickers if you need to. Spray again. 

Choose the flowers that you like. 

Cut the ribbon you like and make a bow. Make a slightly larger bow to put behind that one. I chose two constrasting ribbons for this pumpkin.

Use the wire to tie them together securely. Take a piece of ribbon and blue it to the front so the wire doesn't show. 

Hot glue the bows to the pumpkin.

Next, take your foliage bush and clip flowers and leaves as desired. Hot glue around the sides and in the middle of the bows to make a pleasing arrangement. 

You're done!

 These are so easy and fun to make. Great as gifts for teachers too!

 (Please excuse the bubbles in the M. I wasn't done yet )

(what the back looks like)

See how cute the turn out! You can even buy the bigger 16 inch ones and decorate. A fun alternative to a door wreath. 

Until next time 

xoxo

Patty

linking up to:
www.thesitsgirls.com

DIY Photo Christmas Ornaments with Epson LabelWorks Printer

I am super excited to be sharing a fun Christmas ornament craft with you today. 

I will be making a photo ornament that is easy to do and would make great gifts for the grand parents :)

You will need:

Assorted colors of cardstock

Printer

Glue stick or glue dots

ribbon of your choice for bow

Epson LabelWorks Printer

Die Cutting machine or scallop punches in various sizes

Please note that you don't have to make them scalloped. If you have circle or oval punches please use them.

The good folks over at Epson provided me with this neat printer to print on the ribbon. 

I love that you can make so many things with this including:

baby shower tags and ribbons

wedding shower favors

Halloween bag ties

Christmas crafting

scrapbooking 

and so much more!

The Epson LabelWorks Printer

is so easy to use. Enhance your ribbons with frames, font changes, repetition symbols, create vertical text and so much more!

Here is just one way to use this awesome little printer.

Use your die cutting machine or pre cut scalloped punches in the following sizes:

3 inch for the base 

3.5 inches for the glitter frame (x2)

photo 2 inches or so to fit into the base

Once you have cut your shapes 

type in your sentiment into the Epson LabelWorks Printer

In this example I chose "vertical" and "repeat 5 times" this way it would make a longer ribbon with the sentiment repeated 5 times. 

Now I cut it and assemble my ornament. 

I took the two glittered pieces and glued the ribbon to one of them then glued them together so as to "sandwich" the ribbon between them. 

Then I took some glue dots and put them on the back of the black shape and adhered to the glittered shape.

Next, I took my photo shape and did the same. 

I hot glued the ends at the top of the ribbon to allow for hanging.

I then made a cute little silver bow and hot glued to the front of the ornament. 

Easy peasy!

 See the ribbon printed with Christmas 2015? I even added a snowflake that is included in the machine. 

Just a simple craft to get you started :)

I'll be using this cute little printer for some more holiday 

crafting so make sure to come back to learn more about it. 

until next time

xoxo

Patty

**I was not compensated by the Epson company however, I was provided with free product to write a review. All opinions are my own. **

Painting Furniture and the French Cottage Look-McKinney Furniture Painting Class

I have been so busy with life and all that comes with it that I've neglected my blog.

And since tonight seems to be another night of insomnia I thought I'd come and visit with you.

I was painting just about an hour ago. A dresser and a roll top desk. I really have come to enjoy

painting furniture, fabric, walls - really anything but especially furniture.

I also love to share my enthusiasm for this Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, that I started 

teaching a furniture painting class. Now I'm not a stockist-so I teach my students about

different ways to paint but then I let them try their hand at it using my own personal stash of paint, wax, everything!

We have such a blast! August 22nd was my last class since the beginning of the busy photography season for me is about to begin. 

I've come to love each and every furniture piece that I paint. It gives me great pleasure to know

that someone is enjoying that dresser or desk in their own home-making it a little brighter. 

I hand paint each and every piece. Every nook and cranny. Then I hand wax it then hand buff it. 

I hand sand the edges just enough so it looks like it's been worn thru time. 

Here are a few photos of my painting class in McKinney, Texas and the projects the students worked on. I think they did a great job!

Here are a few projects that I finished and have sold!

                         (ASCP in Old White with clear wax)

(ASCP in Coco with a lime wax on the front frame)

I hope to share my enthusiasm for painting furniture as the new year rolls around and teach another class.

My classes are taught in McKinney, Texas at the MPAC. 

Do stop in if you are in town. 

xoxo

Patty