Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

The year has wound down and only a few hours remain until the New Year begins. As such, I have begun the required organizational clean up in my studio/office and thought I might share with you a few Christmas gifts from this year.

I made ornaments again this year. I like making them, they're quick and easy and allow me to get as ornate as I’m in the mood for. This year I added a little metal work to the mix by making the larger bead caps I used. Some just by dapping and shaping, and others I punched, shaped and LOS’d.


Some for my forum friends and our annual swap


and some for my family.

I’m blessed with a hubs and children who give truly thoughtful gifts, so of course I got some great gifts again this year. This one though, is my favorite! It’s been a running joke between the hubs and me for a good number of years now. He likes his coffee black and I like mine not so black, so it was an absolutely perfect gift and was immediately hung in the kitchen above the coffee pot.



Here’s hoping the New Year brings you Health and Prosperity and a great deal of Happiness!

Thanks for stopping by!
See you next time!

on ReMaking my Christmas Wreath

I missed last weeks blog post I know but I do hope you’ve been enjoying the hand made Christmas finds I’ve been posting on the Rebel Mouse side of things here on the blog!

First things first - I’m getting much better at stacking rings!! Woohooo me! I’m now wearing 4, three stacked and one knuckle ring. I am so excited it won’t be long, I’m sure, before I feel they’re good enough to offer them to you in the shop.

My swap items were sent out the door later than usual :/ and Christmas seems to be descending upon us at an amazingly fast rate this year. You feel it too? So I thought it might be fun to snap a few pics as I reworked my wreath this year.

I had made a wreath several years ago and it was hung proudly on the front porch every year. Then we had an unexpected storm that beat the heck out of it, breaking it into several pieces. Tucked away in the storm cellar, it waited until I had the urge to rework it. A couple weeks ago, I saw a wagon wheel wreath posted by Two Women & a Hoe that I loved. Those of you who have been following the blog know I live in a log home and a slightly rustic/slightly victorian decor is the way I have been leaning. As such I just happened to have a repro wagon wheel I had planned on using to rustic up a chandelier and decided this was a much better idea for it :) I’ll use the pretty chandelier up here instead, the hubs likes it better anyway so that should make him happy and the bronzed chandelier can go downstairs minus the wagon wheel.

So here we go: this is the inspiration wreath:


I have got to learn how to resize these smaller!

and this is a quickie step by step on how I made mine.

You will need:
a wagon wheel (repro is fine, mine is)
a pine bough garland
a holly leaves garland
red velvet ribbon
burlap ribbon
floral pick of rose hips or other red berries
Scissors

Gather all your materials and keep them in an easy to reach spot or have a helper at the ready. Paige helped and took photos too!

Step 1 Photo 1
Begin by wrapping the pine bough garland around the wagon wheel.

Step 2 Photo 2
Find the center of your holly garland and the center of your wrapped portion of the wheel. Bring the two centers together and begin wrapping the holly garland around the wheel. First one side, then the other. This keeps the garland on the wheel balanced should one length of garland be longer than the other.

Step 3 Photo 3
Cut a length of burlap and make a bow for your wreath. Cut another smaller piece to tie the bow to the wreath, but don’t tie it yet.
Find the center of your red velvet ribbon and make a couple loops slightly larger than your burlap bow.
Place the burlap bow in the center of the loops and tie the smaller piece of burlap around the two bows.
Tuck the berry pick into the bows knot at the back.
Tie the bow onto the wreath. I usually like mine just off center.

Step 4 Photo 4
Take the red velvet tails and weave them in and out of the garland, allowing it to twist and curl as you like.
Cut a piece of burlap about the same length as your velvet ribbon and tuck it behind the bow and into the garland at pleasing intervals.
Spread the loops of the red bow to fan them out a bit. Bend and twist the berry pick so that it sprays out and you’re happy with how it looks. That’s it, you’re done! Hang it out or lean it up against the wall, add a basket or some pinecones and you’re good to go.

I hope this inspires you to make your own wreath. It's incredibly easy and the results are fun! The wreath I replaced used a styrofoam form as a base. I used pretty much the same techniques on it as this one but covered the entire form.

Thanks for stopping by!
We'll see ya next time!