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 

Sewing Up Scarecrows

Hello, Dear Friends,

How are you? I hope you are staying well and encouraged.

I've been making scarecrows. 

I have an adorable scarecrow that comes out every October.

 When I purchased him off of eBay, I thought he was handmade. He was made overseas and sold through a wholesale company called Pearson's Simply Primitives. They are no longer in business but they used to have some cute stuff. 

He has a handmade look about him and he's one of my favorite decorations to pull out each autumn. 

 I wanted one with a similar look for our house out in East Texas. 

Last year, we didn't close until October 19th, so I missed a lot of fall decorating out there. 

I searched online for more inspiration. Inserting Primitive Scarecrows into the search bar on Etsy yields abundant results. It does on Pinterest as well. If you are using eBay, search for Primitive scarecrows in the Antique category. 

A Southern Living Christmas book was given to me our first year of marriage. A doll pattern inside has been used several times over the years. I dusted off the book and traced the pattern for my scarecrow. 

It's been a while since I've made a doll so it took almost all day.

It was a lot of fun but it didn't look like my scarecrow. It didn't have that grungy, primitive body. It had a flat head instead of a rounded head like my existing doll. The arms also needed to pose. To get a grungy effect. I used coffee grounds and finally, Waverly dark antiquing wax but he still isn't very grungy. Gathering all the bits to make this doll a fall crow deterrent was very entertaining. 

Patterns for the clothing was included in the book. I adapted the pants to make overalls. 

The ticking strip reminds me of the Osh Kosh overalls that I had as a tween.  

 The next day I decided to try again. 

A snowman pattern previously purchased off of Etsy had the rounded head. 

The snowman had no legs so a set was made using the Southern Living doll pattern. 

Coffee and cinnamon was used to stain unbleached muslin. 

I drenched it in coffee and sprinkled it with cinnamon. 

The pieces were dried in a low temperature oven for about 15 minutes. 

The house smelled like cookies so I had to make some. 

The fabric was still not as grungy as I'd like but I began sewing it together.

I put some rolled up chicken wire ribbon inside so that the arms could pose. 

The chicken wire ribbon was found at Hobby Lobby in the ribbon section. 

It works marginally well. 

I don't know how crafters make any money. Again, it took me almost a day to make the second doll. 

My original scarecrow has button eyes so I tried using buttons on both of the dolls but it didn't look right. 

I embroidered the faces. It took me a couple of tries to get it right. 

The little tags were fun. 

Which do you like better? 

I'll let you know which one makes to East Texas. 

The exterminator classified our scorpion situation in East Texas as an infestation. The pets and I have been staying home while Bill goes out to batten up any openings. The pest control company is going to re-treat next week. 

They come in looking for water when it is hot and dry.They better be all gone before the cooler, fall weather arrives. I don't want to miss any fall weather out there.

I get that our problems are minuscule compared to what is going on in the world but it is about to get on my last nerve. Please say a prayer for us. This last year and a half has been so hard. I think we've both struggled with depression, at times. 

Crafting and creating is one way that I keep buoyed, if that makes sense. 

"God is our refuge and strength, a present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

As always, thank you for stopping by. I'm so blessed by your presence.

Katie  

Five Uses For Ticking Striped Fabric

When I was a young teen, my sister and I embarked on a cross country road to trip with my step aunt.

It was a wonderful journey and we had the best time. We drove from New York to Wyoming. 

We spent the night in hotels and ate out every single meal. It was tons of fun. 

 I discovered a couple of things that have stuck with me to this day. 

The first time I'd ever had sour cream on a baked potato was on this trip. I've loved it ever since. 

We were disturbed in the middle of the night by bears outside our hotel window. I'd never been scared by a bear before. 

I think I had Ranch dressing for the first time on that trip too. I go in fits and starts with Ranch Dressing though. 

The best thing about the trip was the feather pillow that I adopted. It was in the back seat of my aunt's Camaro.  I started using it for car naps in her cool car. At the end of the trip, my aunt gave me that pillow. It was covered in vintage ticking. I've been a fan of ticking since that time. 

It became thread bare and eventually I had to recover it. Feathers flew all over the yard. Try moving pillow feathers from one covering to another. It's a lesson in futility! It also looks like it's snowing.

I adore ticking! 

I want to share with your my five favorite uses for ticking striped fabric. 

Placemats:
I made some placemats out of ticking about four years ago. These placemats have been the foundation for some darling tablescapes.

Pillows: 

Not bed pillows but decorative pillows. I love them thrown on the couch to ground the corners.
They are a Farmhouse Style staple and they go with any pillows that I pair them with.

Ticking comes in red too.

Valances:
This is a recent love.  

I've made two valances for the kitchen windows and one for the laundry room. 

They have such a Farmhouse feel but not just American Farmhouse. I think they also go with European Farmhouse Style.

Cupboard Curtain: 

One of my favorite uses for ticking are the curtains for the doors of the pie safe.

 

China and recipe books are hidden behind the doors.

Last year the ticking was red. This year it is blue. I love the ticking behind the rabbit wire. It almost looks like a checked pattern. It is a great way to add a little more fabric to a space.

Slipcovers: 

This is my favorite new use for pillow ticking. 

The slipcover for the curved back World Market chair is so darling. It has a fun cottage feel but the lines are clean and crisp.

I get my ticking at Hobby Lobby. It has a nice heavy weight that closely mimics antique ticking. 

Look for it in red, black, tan, aqua and green. 

Some of the colored ticking isn't as heavy a weave as true pillow ticking. This faux ticking is not really a tight enough weave to keep in pillow feathers.
Make sure you pre-wash the fabric before using. I learned this the hard way.
There you go. Five fun used for pillow ticking fabric.

Have a wonderful day.
What are you up to this weekend?
Katie

Follow The Yellow Brick Home
A Stroll Thru Life 

Buy It NOW At Dollar Tree

I'm not sure what is going on over at Dollar Tree but it seems that they have stepped up their game. 

It seems to me that they can give Michael's and Hobby Lobby a run for their money in the crafting/seasonal decorating game. 

Their fall stuff has it the stores. Go to Dollar Tree now!

I love, love this thankful sign.

I told you about our sweet pup in this post. She has recovered and we are very thankful. 

While she took it easy, I did the same which resulted in some YouTube binge watching. 

I do not watch regular T.V. anymore. In fact we have removed our T.V. from the living room and we gave it to our son. 

A television in a formal living has always gotten on my nerves. 

In each and every house, we've tried to hide it. 

Bill went to work one day when we lived in Lubbock. While he was gone, I reworked our breakfast bar, re-oriented the doors, and stuck the T.V. inside. 

We actually left it behind when we moved. That was kind of mean, now that I think about it. 

Anyway, we canceled most of our U-verse channels and we are saving $100.00 a month. 

It leaves plenty in the budget to spend at Dollar Tree. Haha. 

I spent about two days (after the chores were done) watching Dollar Tree YouTubers on my laptop. 

They make some unbelievable stuff out of Dollar Tree items. 

Not at everything at Dollar Tree is worth it though. My advice is to know when to splurge and when to save. 

Which leads me to this post. 

I'm going to show you some great things to find at DT. 

Their seasonal shapes are very worth it. 

A chip board sign from one of the other craft stores is going to cost more than a dollar even when it's on sale. 

This mason jar shape could be used "as is" or repainted. The glitter will sand right off. I'm not a fan of the glitter.

The red truck is a hot item this year. It too four trips but I finally found it. 

It also comes in blue. I picked up both with the intent of repainting one of them. 

The raffia bow and galvanized leaf will be removed. When I removed them from the blue truck, the paper pulled off. Some low heat with the hair dryer might be a better option for loosening up the glue before removal. 

They had some good looking silk flowers. 

These will be grouped together or added as filler.

This pick with the pumpkins came from the first store.

They were not at any of the other stores. 

They have faux bittersweet again this year. 

Olivia from Olivia's Romantic Home made some stuff out of the Buffalo Check tote bag and the baby blanket. 

She was a blogger before she began her YouTube Channel. 

I have no idea what I'm going to make out of these but I grabbed them when I saw them on trip number four. 

Some of their pumpkins are on point. 

They had some velveteen covered pumpkins. The two I picked up will probably be recovered in some sort of fabric. 

There were some smaller pumpkins that were not a good value. 

A bag of pumpkins and gourds from Michael's would be a better deal. 

The scarecrow is a cutie. It would be cute in a wreath or as a pick. 

The sign will be flipped over and remade. 

The galvanized script words are highly prized. 

I was very pleased to find these. 

A few other random signs came home with me. 

I didn't want to pass on them in case I find another inspirational YT video. 

Here are some final shopping tips:

Go to all the stores in your area. I have one that is usually better than the others but I checked them all. 

It took four trips to get this haul. 

Buy it when you see it. If you don't, it will be gone. 

Think outside the box. Think of how an item can be used in a wreath or repainted. 

Dollar Tree is great for crafters. 

Mix your finds with higher end items from other stores. 

That is it for now! 

Have a wonderful day. 

As Olivia would say, "Let's get crafting." 

I hope you enjoyed this post. 

If you did, Pin It, Share It and comment below. 

Katie

A Stroll Thru Life 
Knick of Time