Such Pretty Things

Paper Chains All Grown Up

When I was a little girl, my sister and I loved to make paper chains.  You surely know the ones I'm talking about - they were made out of strips of colorful construction paper that you would loop through each other, over and over, until you had a really long chain.  Well, this is my grown-up version of those paper chains. 

These are made out of ribbon instead of paper, but they are every bit as easy to make.  All you need is a bunch of ribbons in a variety of different colors and patterns.  I chose to use some vintage ribbons in addition to some newer ones that I bought at the craft store.  This is a perfect project for using up all your scraps of ribbon.  Just make sure to use ribbon that is fairly wide - at least half an inch, so that your garland will have some shape to it.  

I cut my ribbon into five inch pieces and then I just started making my loops.  I used my glue gun with a fabric glue stick and it went really quickly.  Plus, because I used the glue gun, the glue dried very fast and my chain was ready to use immediately.  Instant gratification!

See how pretty these look as garlands on a tree!  And, unlike paper, these won't rip - so you can store them away and use them again next year!

Real Eye Candy

Here's another great holiday project to do with (or without) the kids: Embellished Candy Canes!  These make wonderful gifts - especially when packaged up all pretty!

Supply List:

* Assortment of candy canes in pretty colors (Hammond's Candies 

make beautiful ones)

* Royal Icing  (make your own or use a prepared icing)

* Icing bag fitted with small round tip (#7 or #8 works well)

* Variety of small candies, sprinkles, or dragees

Begin by filling your icing bag with royal icing.  It should have a rather thick consistency, as we are using it as our glue.  If you are using the Wilton prepared icing, you are good to go.  Take your first candy cane and make dots of icing where you wish to adhere your decorations. Then, quickly press you dragees into the icing.   I did these in a spiral pattern, following the natural twists and turns of the cane, but you can make any pattern that you want. 

These need to dry completely before you can package them, so hook them over the edge of a tall drinking glass and allow to dry.  Once your candy canes have dried, you can start to package them up.  I like to place a bunch of them in glass canning jars and tie on a pretty bow and gift tag.  You can also individually wrap them in cello bags and tie with a ribbon or string. 

A very easy, fun, and pretty project!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

I just want to wish all of my new blog friends a very happy Thanksgiving.  Thank you so much for finding me and for all your sweet comments and emails.  I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am for all of you!

 

I will leave you with some photos of my table decor from last Thanksgiving.  I am usually in charge of Thanksgiving dinner, but this year I am (happily) letting my parents do the hosting and most of the cooking.  I won't miss all the slaving over a hot stove, but I will definitely miss the opportunity to decorate!

This was my place-setting.  I always break out my transferware dishes for Thanksgiving.  I have them in several color ways - chocolate brown, danish blue, pinkish-red, and even a pretty lavender.  Some of my china is antique and some is reproduction, but I love to mix and match them.  I try a different color scheme each year.  Last year I chose chocolate brown, pale aqua, and cream with touches of silver.  I was very happy with the way it turned out.

My wonderful double-ruffle tablecloth and napkins came from one of my very favorite stores, Anthropologie.  I had seen the tablecloth while shopping one day and wanted it DESPERATELY. Unfortunately, it was a bit pricey - even for a double ruffle.  :-)  So, I "visited" it weekly until it went on sale and then I gleefully snatched it up!  As for all the little details, I tied brown velvet ribbon bows around the napkins, added a simple white stoneware vase filled white roses, and placed silver mercury glass votives and candlesticks around the table.  

Oh, and I recently found this wildly colored toile tablecloth on sale at Williams-Sonoma...

...so I'm already planning - bubble gum pink and cobalt blue for next year's table!  And don't worry, Mom, I'll resume my cooking responsibilities as well.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Jessica

Target Tuesday: Itty Bitty Glittery Birdies

I was in Target this past weekend (along with what seemed to be everyone else in the entire universe!) looking for the subject of this week's Target Tuesday when I spotted these sweet little glittery birdies.

Aren't they darling?  Just look at their little faces!  I guess I just have a thing for birds, but these are really cute.  They are only about two inches long and they come in a box of 18 for $12.99. They are covered with a silvery-gold glitter and have pretty sequined tail feathers.  

I think they are truly lovely all on their own, but I thought a little bit of a make-over couldn't hurt either. 

I decided to inject some color by adding some additional "feathers" to their little tails.  These were made from my collection of vintage velvet leaves .  I liked how the scalloped edge of the leaves resembled the shape of a feather.  I just cut out several feather shapes from the different velvet leaves and glued them on the existing sequined tails in an overlapping design.  

I also chose to add some tiny vintage velvet forget-me-nots as a finishing touch. 

These are so adorable as mini-ornaments.  They come with a clear filament wire already attached for hanging.  You could replace the filament with narrow silk ribbon if you wanted.  I thought these birdies looked so nice decorating my bottle brush trees - all snuggled up in the branches.  

So, if you want a tiny flock of your own, hurry up and get 'em before they "fly" off the shelves.  :-)

Pretty Paper Garlands

This is a wonderful project to do with your kids.  It's easy and fun and you probably already have most of the supplies laying around your house.

To make this pretty paper garland you will need the following:

*Pretty Paper Card Stock (can also use construction paper)

*Paper Punches (in any shape you want)

*Narrow Ribbon (4 to 5 yards)

*Craft Glue

*Glitter

I choose to use double-sided paper card stock that resembled vintage wallpapers, but you can choose anything you like.  The double-sided paper works well because it looks pretty from both sides of your garland.  I decided to alternate flower and star shapes, but again, anything goes.  You first need to make a big pile of your punched-out shapes.

Next, you will need to lay out your ribbon and begin gluing your shapes to the ribbon.  To glue them, simply  place one shape beneath the ribbon, dot both the ribbon and the paper with some craft glue, and then place a second (identical) shape on top of that.  You are basically sandwiching the ribbon between the two paper shapes.  Continue on this way, alternating and repeating your shapes until you have the length you want.  Let the garland dry completely. When your garland is dry, you can embellish it with glitter.  I just placed a dot of glue in the center of my flower shape, shook on some silver glitter, tapped off the excess, and then let it dry.

When you are finished, you will have a pretty, hand-made paper garland!

 

You can hang this on your tree or mantel, but it would also look great as a party decoration or as an extra special ribbon on your holiday packages!

Hostess Soap How-to

With the holidays fast approaching, I find myself once again thinking about all the teacher and hostess gifts that I will need to come up with.  I usually like to try to make something if I have the time - it's more personal and it can be a lot of fun to try to come up with something creative. 

This year I am making pretty little guest soaps wrapped in vintage wallpaper.

To begin, you need the actual bars of soap. I bought these pretty French soaps at a local shop because they came packed in economical boxes of 12, but you can find good quality soaps at almost any discount store. I find that square or rectangular bars work best, as they are easier to wrap, but round ones can work as well.  It's fun to choose soaps with pretty fragrances.  These are "Sugar plum" and "Cranberry".

I first unwrapped the soaps from their original packaging and then re-wrapped them neatly in waxed paper.  You can also use parchment paper (which can be found at any supermarket or kitchen supply store) or tissue paper. 

Now comes the fun part - wrapping and embellishing.  I used vintage wallpaper because I am CRAZY for vintage wallpaper, but you could use scrapbook paper, wrapping paper…even newspaper!  Using a straightedge, I measured out a rectangular strip of vintage wallpaper that was slightly longer than the width of the soap bar.  I then wrapped this around the bar and secured it on the bottom with some double-sided tape.

 

Now you are ready to embellish!  Again, I chose vintage millinery flowers and seam binding because I love them, but you could really use anything (tiny trinkets, glitter, Christmas baubles, velvet leaves, etc…).  I just tied on my bows and secured the flowers with a bit of hot glue.

Once you have a bunch of soaps made, you can start to package them up.  I'll be placing mine on some small vintage floral plates, which I will then wrap in clear cellophane, but you could also use little baskets or bags.  Just attach a pretty gift tag made out of vintage wallpaper and you have a very special and personal gift!

Holiday Design House

Several years ago, my very wonderful designer friend, Lisa, and I were selected to participate in a Holiday Design House sponsored by The Old Lucketts Store in Leesburg, Virginia.  If you have never been to Lucketts, I assure you that it is definitely worth a trip. They are located in what was an old post office and general store and they have tons of fantastic vintage finds.  Several times a year, a number of designers are selected to each decorate a different room in an old Victorian house that sits on the Lucketts' property.

Lisa and I were assigned a small upstairs bedroom.  It was a very exciting project for us because we were basically given carte blanche to design the room any way we wanted. The only real requirement was that it have a "holiday" theme.  

The house was very pretty, but also very old and not in terrific shape.  We really had our work cut out for us!  You will not be surprised to learn that we went with a very shabby chic, pink holiday theme.  Lisa chose the paint color for the walls - a beautiful pale pink. I find that pale pink is such a difficult color to get right - so picking a good one is no small feat.  This one was perfect and everyone asked for the name of it (I, of course, have forgotten what it was called, but Lisa will remember).  The vanity and bench were dressed in voluminous skirts of pink silk.

A bed fit for a princess with more pink silk and vintage fabric and lace pillows.

I made this wreath entirely out of vintage glass ornaments.  It was so heavy and I was terrified it was going to fall and break into a million pieces.

Stockings made from vintage fabrics, lace, and millinery flowers.

The design house was an incredible experience.  It was completely exhausting (don't know how we pulled it off given that Lisa and I both live over an hour away from Lucketts), but it was so much fun!  

Eye Candy Ornaments

These are some of my very favorite glass ornaments. 

These are from the American company, Shiny Brite.  They are made of delicate glass and date back to the 1940's.  It's amazing to me that they have survived all these years. 

The Corning Company (of Corning, New York) made the basic glass ornaments and machine-lacquered them on the outside.  They were then sold to other companies, such as Shiny Brite, where they were carefully hand-decorated.  

I just love the pastel colors and candy-like stripes. So very shabby and pretty!

Target Tuesday: Tutus

I happen to have daughters, so our house is literally filled with tutus.  There are pink tutus and white tutus, lavender tutus and silver tutus, short tutus and long tutus, sparkly tutus and serious tutus, petticoat tutus and crinoline tutus. And yet, despite this plethora of tutus, I find that one can always use another.

I found these in the toddler department at Target.

I suppose these are technically skirts, but they are made of tulle (three layers plus an underskirt to be exact), so I think they could also be considered tutus.  They come in very pretty pastel colors (aqua, pink, and white), in sizes up to a 5T.  And they are truly a bargain at $9.99.

Since I can never leave anything alone, I decided these could use a "bit" of embellishment.  So I got out my millinery flowers, rhinestones, and ribbon and got to work.  If you are looking for durability, I would suggest hand sewing everything, but fabric glue works pretty well, too.  

Given that these would most likely be used for dress-up, I chose not to use my vintage millinery flowers for this project.  These are just flower petals that I removed from some floral stems that I found in the silk flower department at the craft store.

I think these would make an excellent holiday gift for any special little girl in your life.  Because who can't use another tutu???

Haute Couture Water

I am a major sucker for packaging.  It's really sad, but you could put almost anything in a pretty package and I'd probably buy it.  So, it's no wonder that I was so excited to come across Evian's newest bottle of water designed by the acclaimed fashion designer, Christian Lacroix.

It's called the "Prêt-à-Porter" 2008 Limited Edition bottle.  How beautiful would this be for the holidays?  It''s delicate,white lacy pattern is so gorgeous and it has that shabby vintage look that I love. 

Now, pretty bottled water does not come cheap.  On the Evian website, a bottle is selling for $13.95!   But, if you're pinching your pennies (and who isn't these days?), you can find them at Target for only $4.99!   Still a bit pricey for a bottle of water, but after you've finished drinking it, you can recycle it and use it as a vase for flowers!  See…totally justifiable.  J