Friday, November 12, 2021

Crafting A Primitive Christmas

Hi, Friends,
How are you? I hope you are doing well.
I never thought that I'd alter my Christmas habits because of a cat but never say never. 
This cat, as you know, has captured our hearts. She is the first inside kitty that we have ever had. 
The last time we had a new kitty, he decided to climb the Christmas tree. He broke some adorable vintage red gingham Shiny Brites. 
I forgave but I did not forget. 


My collection of antique ornaments is not as large as it used to be but I got into Lenox ornaments the year that my little brother had his stroke. Searching for one for each year of our marriage was a really good distraction during that sad time. Antique shops, eBay and thrift stores yielded good dated ornaments. 
Bill gets me one or two every Christmas to add to the collection. Can you imagine a tree full of Lenox ornaments hitting the ground? 



I began to think of other ways to display those so that they are kitty cat safe. 
I'll show you if it works out. 

When we got the dry sink for out in East Texas, I began surfing Pinterest for all things primitive. 
So many cute things caught my eye and I began crafting Christmas ornaments for a kitty safe tree. 

I mixed up some applesauce, cinnamon, and glue to make a yummy smelling dough. My co-worker and I did this once about 25 years ago. It was such a mess with my pre-schoolers that I vowed we would never to do that again. Well, never say never. This was still a horrendous, sticky mess but the ornaments came out super cute.  



Never sort through your cookie cutters in June. You will inadvertently get rid of a cute gingerbread man shape. 

The candies came all tied together, I cut them apart and aged them a bit with antiquing wax. 


I tied some together with baker's twine to make a darling garland. 



If you search for Primitive Christmas crafts on Pinterest a darling stocking appears.
I picked up a package of children's socks at Walmart and gave them a grungy coffee and cinnamon treatment. The house smelled good that day too. 


I love these. I stuffed them with old greens and berries that were slated for the give away pile. 
The red and white gingham candy cane came from Etsy. 

I saw a darling sign while I was perusing the internet. 


It took me 23 million hours but I saved $39.00! 


I made some jolly fabric gingerbread men. 


Again it took 23 million hours. I'm really picky about faces, apparently, but 
I think that I've finally figured them out. 

The thrift store yielded some little cottages that needed a gingerbread motif. 


Sarah from She Hold Dearly did this on her YouTube channel with little tin houses. 
So, so cute. 


The little houses were 50 cents each. The glitter was 23 million dollars. 
Craft supplies aren't cheap. I was out of a lot of craft supplies this year. 



I'd been crafting for a few weeks but I still wasn't sure how it would all play out together.
In the end, I'm going for a very red and white French Country meets American Primitive look. 


I love red and white around my birthday, so we already have a pretty good collection of red and white French inspired accessories. 
I can't wait to put this all together.  
That is all for now, my friends.
I hope I've inspired you to get crafting.  
Katie 


9 comments :

  1. Oh, I love it all. your "gingerbreading" the little houses is just adorable. You know I've had socks that looked like that after working in the yard all day. Didn't smell like cinnamon though, tehe. your sign is super cute too. You've been a busy girl!

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  2. Everything is so pretty! You have shared some great ideas! Thank you. Hugs,

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  3. Love your gingerbread garland. The sign is adorable too. Hope you have a great rest of the weekend. xoxo Kris

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  4. I just love it! I too love red and white and prim so this hits all my likes. The gingerbread house is so adorable and so is the sock ornament. You are so creative and crafty. Can't wait to see more. :-)

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  5. I really laughed hard at your 23million references. We had two cats that battled for the top of the tree...and took the whole thing down. Luckily the tree had a lot of soft ornaments and styrofoam, this was in our early years. After that we either attached it to the ceiling or to the walls. Waking in the dead of night to the "PING" and the shivering shards falling through the branches is definitely worthy of 23million groans..>LOL! Sandi

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  6. Katie your decorations are lovely! I love vintage ornaments and have saved many of mine to still use them. My kids roll their eyes every year when I take them out, but I don't care. They bring to life so many beautiful and precious memories.

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  7. It's all darling, Katie (but then when you do it, why wouldn't it be?!) Here's something that works for stabilizing the tree -- on the tree stand legs place a heavy box/container of Kitty litter (sealed, of course) on each on and cover with your skirt or a quilt. You have litter for six months, the tree is more stable. Stimpy knocked my tree down twice before that method -- and never again!

    Love our little people and all the cute. Big smiles!

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  8. Hi! I came here from Not Dead Yet Style and I love your blog! Such beautiful Christmas decorations! I'm not good at crafty things but I love seeing others' beautiful creations. Keep shining!

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  9. How lovely and comforting it sounds to make a simple Christmas craft! I adore the idea of enhancing the Christmas season with traditional components and homemade decorations. It makes me miss the good old days and fills me with warmth and nostalgia. Additionally, anyone may always pay someone to write my assignment if they need assistance with homework during this hectic time of year, freeing up time for creating and celebrations!

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