What Ever Happened to that Ballard Inspired Tree?

A while back, I participated in The CSI Project’s Ballard Inspired project.  I actually made the top 10, which I will admit was fun.  I think my husband and sister were the most relieved since I was such a crazy person trying to get it done on time! 

Anyway, I tried several different options to use it.  First, I painted it black and used it for my kitchen ornament tree.

I actually like this more than I remember.  But I decided it was too dark and I painted it white.  It did take up a lot of room and was difficult to move.  Also, I have found another way to use those ornaments (stay tuned!), so this did not make the cut.

Then I tried it with vintage ornaments in the living room.  Since I did a different type of tree for the vintage ornaments (again, stay tuned!), this didn’t make the cut either.

I was beginning to think that I wasn’t going to use it this year. And then, I thought of this…

I felt like the more modern ornaments fit the somewhat contemporary lines of the tree.  You can find all of the information about how I made this here.

This is in our basement family room where there is a whole different color scheme and style and I felt like it really fit it in.  In the next few days, I will be doing a posting about the whole basement and our white and colorful tree down here!

Have a great day!

Linking up at Centsational Girl's Holiday Craft Party, come on by!

“This Little Light of Mine”

A simple project but one that I love.  My daughters and I often sing, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…”.  You know the rest.  Their voices are sweet, mine, not so much.  But it doesn’t matter.  I always tell them, let your light shine.

It is simply a maple syrup bucket that we had and some scrapbooking letters attached with glue dots. Then I just glued a little blue bird ornament from the dollar store.

Here is the shelf in the basement family room where it is displayed.  A little sneak peek of our white tree!

I am sharing this over at Centsational Girl's Holiday Craft Party, stop on by!

Have a great day!

I am also sharing at

Button Tree Tutorial

When I started this project, I had all the supplies in place and a plan to make this…

This is the Mariana tree from Ballard Designs. 

it is covered in Mother of Pearl buttons which are very expensive.  So, started looking for an alternative and this is what I came up with.

A bunch of colorful buttons from Michaels, heirloom white spray paint from Rust-Oleum, Styrofoam cones, Valspar’s pearl spray paint, work gloves and Styrofoam adhesive spray.  I am sure the adhesive spray is good for some applications, but this was not one of them.  I quickly abandoned that and got out my glue gun.  I then told my husband I wanted a new glue gun for Christmas.  I am not sure if it is a blister or a bruise, but my “trigger” finger is killing me!

The first step was to put glue on the cone and place the buttons on it.  I went through section by section for the first layer.  Then I went back and put the glue on the button and filled in where there was space or a messy spot that needed to covered.  I found turning it upside down for the first part was the easiest way to hold it.

Somewhere along the way, someone told me a trick about getting rid of those annoying glue gun strings.  Simply run a hair dryer over the spots and most of them will melt away.  Some need a little pulling and scraping.  I am very luck because my 8 year old daughter finds those really annoying and pulls them off for me with amazing patience.

Here it is covered in buttons.  The plan was to spray paint it with the Heirloom white and then lightly coat it with the pearl paint to give the look of mother of pearl buttons. 

Some day I will actually try that. But, for this project the buttons were so colorful and fun I could not bring myself to paint it!

Our basement family room is decorated in purple, orange, pink, green and brown.  I know, sounds completely crazy.  This room is a completely different side of my decorating personality. But I decided this would work perfectly in that room.

The crazy branch thing behind it I found at an estate sale a while back (the same one where I found all the sheet music I still have done nothing with.). I thought it work well in this room and for Christmas I have just hung some of my vintage ornaments all in bright pink.

The little “people” are ornaments my husband brought back from Russia a few years ago.  I thought they were too unique to get lost in the tree, so I put them here where they could really be seen.

I couldn’t stop myself from gluing buttons, so I went ahead and put some on a clear glass ornament I picked up at Michael’s and hung it from an old milk bottle.

In the next day or so I will be doing a post on my whole basement.  You will be able to learn about how I cured my Multiple Decorating Personality Disorder! 

Linking up at Centsational Girl Holiday Party

I am also sharing at

Ornament Wreath

There is a little bit of snow falling this morning.  This has changed the light such that I could finally take some decent pictures of my ornament wreath.

As I mentioned the other day, this wreath took my almost five years to make.

It all started back a while ago when my dear friend Kathy asked me to start looking for vintage ornaments for wreaths she made with her sister.  After passing on several boxes to her, I saw one of her wreaths for the first time.  Five years ago, or so, I began collecting ornaments for myself.  Finally, in August of 2009, I visited her with ornaments in hand and she taught me how to make it.  We spent all day working on it.

Then, we got up in the morning and headed to our dear friend Julie’s house.  She had just moved back from Hawaii (woo hoo!) to Massachusetts and was in her home just a day or two.  We arrived and the moving men were there.  We parked the cars and went to work.  We worked all day and well into the night.  A very HOT day and a very HOT night.  With my poor little wreath sitting in a VERY HOT car. 

As you can imagine, this wreath is put together with hot glue.  The entire thing came apart.  Sniff, sniff, AGGGHHHH!

Last year, we were confined to our basement for Christmas due to renovations, so the wreath did not make it out.

Finally, Friday night I paid my beautiful wreath all the love and respect it deserves.  It is now happily hanging in my dining room.

I also hung some favorites from the chandelier.

I do not have pictures to show you how to make this wreath.  However, I am sure you have seen these before and it follows the basic techniques of wreath making.  The specific details are:

• We used a grapevine wreath form


• You need a LOT of ornaments to complete a wreath of this size.


• When you start, build a foundation of ornaments around the center and outside perimeters.


• Everything is hot glued at each “touch point” to another ornament or the wreath form itself.


• You need a LOT of glue sticks. I used hot glue for the whole project.


• About 95% of my ornaments are vintage.  However, if you do not have that many, or any at all for that matter, check out my tutorial for making new ornaments look vintage.

If you choose to undertake a project  like this, or a similar one, please remember these important details:

• These wreaths can not be hung by a fireplace or heating vent/source.  Heat puts it at risk to loosen your glue and cause damage to already fragile ornaments


• Do not store these wreaths in an attic or place that the temperatures get very high at any point of the year.


• Although the individual ornaments are light, when it is all together, this is pretty heavy.  I have heavy wire behind the ribbon that is attached to the wreath and a nail on top of the hutch.  If this wreath falls, it is pretty much done.


• Last but not least, do not leave them in a hot car while you help your friend move!

I did loose a couple of ornaments in the process of putting this together because they are so fragile.  If you have an ornament that is very special to you, I would suggest displaying it in another way and not run the risk of damage by using it in the wreath.

Have a great day!



Linking up at Centsational Girl Holiday Party

I am also sharing this project at