DIY Grapevine Heart Garland
Anthropologie is currently selling a grapevine heart garland for Valentine’s Day, and I thought I could make one for cheaper and put my own spin on the craft. I was right, for once, about the cheaper part. And I love putting my own spin on a craft, so this one was right up my alley. I did not consult the Crafting Constitution to determine if there is a rule decreeing that a garland must be composed of like-sized items. As you can see, the hearts on my garland are different sizes and don’t connect at the same point, but they are all strung together. I could hang it below the…
Off To a Rough Start
“I’m off to a rough start,” said Handy Husband. It was Christmas Eve, and we were in the gym doing our arm workout. (Dedicated, I know.) After more than a year of lifting weights together, we have a routine. Handy Husband starts loading up the weights while I record what exercises we are going to do in our weightlifting journal. I typically call out, as a reminder, the weights that each of us is using for the first exercise. I’ll say something like “You’re doing 72.5, and I’m at 37.5 on each side.” We don’t go up in weights super frequently, so it’s not necessarily new information. Except, on this…
Happy List: #418 Happy Christmas and New Year
Happy early Christmas! This is the last Happy List and blog post of 2025. Yes, it’s coming to you early in the week because I’ll be taking the rest of the year off from the blog to enjoy the holidays. It has been an absolute delight to share our projects and crafts with you this year. I say it often: we would do what we do even if no one was watching, but it is more fun to share it with friends. Thank you for being one of those friends and choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here. I hope you have fun, learn something new, and…
Happy List: #417
Ho, ho, ho! Welcome to the Happy List. It’s the last weekend before Christmas. I’m sure you’re busy, so thank you for taking a break to hang out with me. This week on the blog, I shared the giant paper angel I made for our living room mantel. She’s pretty, and I’m biased. I also shared some candid shots from around our house this month. Our house does feel very festive right now. Thank you so much for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here with me. I hope you have fun, learn something new, and leave feeling inspired. It truly makes my day to connect with…
Christmas Around Our Home 2025
It’s almost Christmas! Today, I thought we’d relax a bit, and I’d show you what Christmas around our home looks like right now. I walked around the house and snapped photos over the course of ten minutes, so most of what you’ll see today are those candid photos. We’ll start in the music room. Perhaps my most creative craft ever, in terms of upcycling, is the piano hammer Christmas tree sitting on our antique radio. It’s subtly festive, and most people probably wouldn’t realize what it is made from. If you’re my piano tuner, though, this is the sort of decor that tickles your ivories. He probably does think we’re…
Giant Paper Angel – Christmas Mantel Decor
I’ve watched creators making paper angel ornaments for a few years, and I wondered if the idea would scale. Could I make a giant paper angel using brown kraft paper? Spoiler alert. I could, and I did. Here she is in all of her glory. No word on if the heavens declare her amazing, but I do! For reference, our mantel is 7 feet across. The angel is just shy of 4 feet tall. As you can see, I couldn’t leave well enough alone with just the angel. Not me. My holiday fireplace decorating always escalates. (See here and here for evidence.) The paper angel looked lonely up there. She…
Happy List: #416
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am delighted you are here. This week on the blog, I talked about nuts. That was a first. I had fun decorating with in-shell nuts this year and shared five ways you can decorate with nuts for the holidays. I also shared pictures of our 2025 Christmas tree. I’m calling it the blue and metallic tree for lack of a better name. It is full of handmade ornaments and clippings from our property. Thank you so much for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here with me. I hope you have fun and leave feeling inspired. It makes my…
Blue and Metallic Christmas Tree
Welcome! Come, join me in my living room. I’d love to show you my blue and metallic Christmas tree. It’s a little bit rustic, a little bit glam. We’ll call it an opposites attract situation. This year, pretty much all of the ornaments on the tree are handmade or semi-handmade, meaning I put my own spin on an existing ornament. Truth be told, it’s more fun for me to make Christmas ornaments than to decorate with the things I make. However, decorating a Christmas tree isn’t exactly a chore. This blue and metallic Christmas tree is decorated with all sorts of fun ornaments, most of which are reused from prior…
Five Ways to Decorate With Nuts for Christmas
Decorating for the holidays with natural ingredients is a hoot! This year, I have come up with five ways to decorate with nuts this Christmas. Three of these ideas are mine. Two are not. I consider the two ideas that are not mine to be crafts-in-waiting. There’s only so much time in a day. I can either buy something another maker has made if I really want it now, which is okay! I can also save the idea to make it another year. At my current rate of idea saving, I have enough crafts to keep me busy for the next 1,413 years, give or take a decade. Can you…
Happy List: #415
Ho, ho, ho! Happy December, and welcome to this week’s Happy list. I am delighted to see you here. This week on the blog, I shared how I decorated the Carriage House for Christmas. It’s a very rustic setting, and I should have taken a family picture in front of that mantel. I also shared how I decorated our dining room fireplace for Christmas. If you love fireplace decor, this was your week to read the blog as I published back-to-back fireplace posts. Thank you so much for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here with me. I hope you have fun and leave feeling inspired. It…
