Candle table centerpiece

I can hardly believe it's already December!  Where has the time gone?  I need a few more weeks in
 between Thanksgiving and Christmas in order to get everything done! 

After cleaning the pumpkins off of my kitchen table, it was very bare and that just won't do!
I saw a candle trough somewhere (pinterest? instagram? who knows) and thought that
would be perfect for our table.  

 I was going to make the wooden tray, but then I found this Live Love Bark sign at Ross.

Yeah, we don't have a dog.  So the message isn't what I was interested in.  

I flipped the sign upside down, added some felt pads to the corners and it's a perfect candle trough!

I picked up some inexpensive white candles at the dollar store.

I wrapped the candles with various silver and gold ribbons.  

The ribbon is stuck to the candles with straight pins which are disguised pretty well by the ribbon.  

I love the simplicity of this centerpiece, but it's sparkly too!

  

There's my little kitchen tree in the background with our pipe cleaner garland.  

How are you coming with Christmas projects?

Design Dazzle Christmas Wonderful

I am guest posting over at Design Dazzle today.  

Here is a sneak peak of my project

Please stop by Design Dazzle and check it out!  

photos of the week

Here's what I've been up to this week.

I got a new craft room.  I know, I know- I've redone my craft room a million times.  This time it's in an entirely different space.  It seems like we are busting at the seams in our house.  Now that my kids are getting older, they need more space.  So we turned my old office into a playroom, tv and video game room.  Of course I need an office, so I took over my hubby's home office.  He rarely used it since he travels for work. (Don't feel too sorry for him though, he still has a computer desk and  bookshelves for his books.)  It's such a fun change and a good use of space.  I'm steadily working on both rooms.  

My mom sent me this cute little owl.  It's keeping me company in my new office.  

I've been working on quite a few craft projects.  There is some holiday confusion on my craft table.  

We are filling up our November advent calender.  I also switched up our chalkboard display.

A lady in my church passed away so I made peanut butter kiss cookies to share with the family.  Oh my!  I made a few extra for my family and we all inhaled them.  

Living in the Nashville area is SO much fun!  While shopping at World Market the other day I ran into Josh Turner.  He was shopping with his family.  I really wanted to say something to him, but I know they need their privacy.  So while I was taking a photo of a possible Christmas gift, I snuck a photo of him.  The photo on the right is from wikipedia.  I had to have proof for my husband to believe I saw him.  

I updated our downstairs bathroom with a new rug.  It's from Target of course.  

That's my week in a nutshell aside from school drop offs, car pool pick ups, music, dance and  karate lessons, young women activities, grocery and Christmas shopping.  

What have you been up to this week?

linking up to:  Life Rearranged

DOTS Young Women in Excellence

One of the things that has been keeping me really busy is my calling in Young Women. 

 Last week we had our Young Women in Excellence. Our theme was DOTS- Depend on the Savior. 

You'll have to excuse the poor quality pics, I forgot my camera and used my iphone.  

Our Young Women in Excellence was held in our church's YW room.  Since our theme was so formal, we had everyone wear Sunday dress.  During the program each YW was asked to come forward as we listed her Christlike qualities.  Since the YW theme is Stand in Holy Places, as she walked down the red carpet, she talked about some of the holy places she has stood in this year.  

For refreshments we served cupcakes and chocolate dipped pretzels with YW theme colors, Oreos, white and chocolate milk.  

This table right outside the door of the YW room held the invitations.  

Our secretary did a fantastic job on the invitations.  

Sorry for the black box, I didn't want to advertise our YW names.

A few weeks ago we had an individual worth activity where we had each girl sit in front of the chalkboard.  Then the rest of the YW and leaders wrote nice things about them on the board, including Christlike qualities. We took a photo and had it framed.  At YW in Excellence we presented the photos to each of the Young Women along with a polka dotted initial of their first name to remind them to Depend On The Savior.  

Even the leaders got to have nice things written about us.  I will hold this photo very dear to my heart for a long time!! (T is not my initial, I just wanted to show that our gifts to the YW looked like) 

We also had a display of each of the YW accomplishments this year.  

wall mounted craft tool holder

In my craft room, I have LOTS of stuff to fit in a small space. This forces me to look for new ways to store my things.  I want easy access to pens, pencils, adhesives, and scissors which are some of the tools I use every day so I made this wall mounted craft tool holder.

Here are the supplies I used:

1- 1x6 scrap piece of wood

3- buckets from IKEA

3- drawer pulls

paint, sandpaper, 

screws for drawer pull and wall attachment

This is the simplest things ever.  

I painted the wood, sanded the edges a bit, gave it a coat of matte sealer, screwed on the drawer pulls, mounted the entire thing on the wall, and hung the buckets on the drawer pulls. 

The buckets hold so many supplies right at my finger tips!

It fits perfectly in my space and keeps all of my most used tools handy!!

linking up to:  the 36th Ave, Liz Marie, Craft Dictator, Craft o Maniac

Gold Leaf Art and blog hop

I can't get enough of the GOLD trend going on right now in home decorating and fashion.  It's pretty, classic and glamorous!  

I'm not sure these gold leaves are glamorous but I think they are pretty fun anyway!  Before I get to the DIY of this project, please check out some glittery gold projects from my blogging friends!

Ashley and Meegan @ Flats to Flip Flops- Gold Goodness

Emily @ Benson Street - Gold Bud Vases

Kaylynn @ Among the Youngs- Ooey Gooey Salted Caramel shortbread bars

Melissa @ Hollyhocks and Honeybees- Glittery Gold banner
Candice @ She's Crafty - Gold Leaf Art

Adrienne @ Free Time Frolics - Gold Tinted Mercury Glass

Andie @ Maybe I Will - Golden Memories Display
Rebecca @ the Crafted Sparrow- Gold Wishbone Necklace

Ok back to my project.

I started with this Goodwill frame.  I've been having some good luck with thrifting lately!!  

I took the picture apart, set the glass aside, and spray painted the frame.  

While that was drying I wrapped the artwork that was already in the frame with some newspaper looking wrapping paper.  

My kids and I collected some leaves at the park that I then sprayed gold with my fave gold spray paint (amazon link).  I had some issues with the leaves curling as they dried, so I weighted them down with some scrap wood (after letting the paint dry a bit).

Then I arranged them on the wrapped frame backing.  And secured them really high-tech like, with scotch tape.  

Then I put the piece back into the frame.  I tired to be really careful to not smush the leaves too much.  

linking up to:  Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal

Gold chalkboard and chalk art

One of my favorite things to do is to makeover something.  

That is what I did with this chalkboard!

This is what this hot little number started out looking like.  I went to Goodwill looking for a large frame about this size.  So when I saw this one, I was able to over look the warped artwork and paper mat, since I had plans to only use the frame and glass.  

I ripped off the backing, took out the art and threw it all away.  I also took the glass out and sat that aside.  

I was left with this beat up square frame.

I gave it a few light coats of gold spray paint with the Rust-oleum metallics spray paint. (amazon link)  This is by far my favorite spray paint!! It goes on so smooth and requires less coats than other spray paints I have used.  After the paint was dry I sanded the edges of the frame a little to rough up the paint finish a bit.  

I also sanded down the glass a bit, then primed it and brushed on a few coats of chalkboard paint.  Then I channeled my best Rhonna Farrer and did some chalk art.  (my best is not even close to Rhonna's worst)

This chalk art is a part of my thanksgiving/gold mantel that I will be posting about soon. 

linking up to:  Snap, Liz Marie, Craft Dictator