holiday ideas house

 {this is not my house}
remember the Bachman's Spring 2010 ideas house & Summer 2010 ideas house ?  well, this is the holiday ideas house... again Ki Nassauer is the vintage consultant.  nearly every item is for sale.  enjoy the tour !
first of all in the above photo: spools of string used for house numbers

 on the front porch: homemade Christmas trees made of birch poles, wreaths, greens, & tea strainer ornaments (!)

 in the living room: horizontal birch poles added to Christmas tree for added dimension

 floor gate turned coffee table w/mirror added

 leather belts used to bundle birch logs together

 salvaged shutter turned into window box

 books turned into Christmas trees, vintage irons as stocking holders

 in the dining room: vintage casserole holders became wall mirrors

 scarves & ribbon used as chair tiebacks w/light bulb rings added

 floor lamp cut down & used for floral centerpiece

 in the kitchen: milk strainers turned into flower holders

 ironing board closet turned into an Advent calendar w/Christmas tree ornaments

 cookie cutter light fixture

 in the bathroom: ice skates used to hold vase & greens

 the boy's bedroom has a hockey theme: hockey pucks turned into lamps, hockey sticks turned into headboard, vintage locker room baskets as organizers, hockey jerseys turned into pillows

 hockey sticks turned into a chair, packages decorated w/shoelaces, license plate letters, & rubber bands

 the girl's bedroom has an aspiring artist theme

 in the master bedroom: oil cans used to make ornament stands

 in the gift wrap & sewing room: restaurant cart becomes a worktable, ladders used for wall idea organizers, fabric balls & embroidery hoops turned into ceiling decor

 yarn spindle wreath, aprons turned into tool & supply holders, drapery rods used as wall-mounted gift wrap holders

 sewing patterns turned into valance, curtain rod made of old broom handle, colored paper clips used as ornament hooks & spools of thread used as Christmas tree ornaments

 scrabble letters used as basket labels

 bendable rulers made into stars w/stencils & paper spelling out NOEL

 drawers turned into wall shelves, game board turned into ribbon rack

 vintage shoe form turned into decor

 December wall calendar made from scrapbook papers & plexi

 in the bathroom: vintage door w/junk spelling out JOY used as a towel holder

 in the back yard: decorative metal bells hung in the apple tree

 galvanized buckets on potting shed as window planters

vintage ceiling tin letters spelling HAPPY HOLIDAYS

if you can make it to tour this house, i highly recommend it, it is so beautiful !!!

holiday ideas house is open Nov 11 - Dec 12 (closed Mondays & Thanksgiving)

GF apple pandowdy

 for Craft With You Kids Week, my 12 year old son & i baked together & since we are both gluten-free, it was GF baking... this is how we baked gluten-free apple pandowdy...
gather baking supplies: GF all-purpose flour, maple syrup, lemon juice, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, sugar, 7 apples, butter

 in small bowl, add 1 cup GF all-purpose flour

 1/4 cup sugar

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1 stick butter (=1/2 cup) cut into small pieces, mix

 1/4 cup water, mix

 in large bowl add 7 apples peeled, cored & sliced, 2 tablespoons lemon juice

 2 tablespoons GF all-purpose flour

 1 teaspoon cinnamon, toss

 transfer to saucepan, add 1/2 cup maple syrup

 medium heat for about 5 minutes

 transfer to baking dish, dot with 1 tablespoon butter

 drop dough on top of apples

 bake 35 minutes in 400 degree F oven.  YUM !

 *****

 then my son baked GF chocolate chip cookies (box mix)

*****
 btw, have you seen these new GF products?  GF Bisquick baking mix...

 & Berry Berry Kix cereal...

bird & flower rubber stamps

it's Craft With Your Kids Week & together my 12 year old son & i made these cards.  it's the Thank-You Cards & Stamp project from the Craft Hope book.  the bird & flower rubber stamps were designed by Geninne Zlatkis, be sure to check out her hand carved stamps tutorial on her sidebar.  my son carved out the rubber stamps & now they can be used over & over again...

kid's art supply storage

this week is Craft With Your Kids Week.  we are doing arts, crafts, & baking, but first of all i wanted to get all the art supplies better organized & in easy reach for my kids so that they could help themselves... you see, we used to store the art supplies on top of the fridge where i had to stand on a chair to get items down for them... well, not anymore... i painted an unused cabinet in the kitchen & now the art supplies are in easy access & close to the art table

PS kid's art caddy tutorial can be found here

coat with scarf

October's pattern for the Carefree Clothes for Girls sew-along was the coat with scarf.  i knew for sure i wanted to use mustard yellow yarn for a knitted scarf, so i went & searched through scarf patterns on ravelry & found a free knitting pattern called mustard scarf !  how perfect was that !?!  a huge vintage button (made in Holland) was added to the scarf which was made with super soft 100% organic cotton.  and for the coat i knew i wanted to repurpose a 100% wool jacket i've had for at least 10 years (it sure got a lot of use).  the blue wool jacket was wet felted (washed in hot water in the washer) which made it shrink & the fabric became thicker.  this coat ended up being quite simple to make, just 3 pieces were cut out: body & 2 raglan sleeves which were zigzag stitched on.  what a bonus that the 4 buttons & 2 pockets were already in the original jacket !