twinkly trees

I keep a row of blue jars on my mantel, each with bits of nature in them. Feathers, rose hips, dandelion puffs, a nest...and now...

a sparkly forest.

I gave myself permission to play today, and this is what I did. I've been enamored of those jars with the little bottle brush trees in them. I tried making bottle brush trees...not my thing.

Instead I went with wool and made a simple treescape, needling a string of mini LED lights in the largest tree and tucking the battery pack up inside the lid.

Just enough twinkle.

Happy weekend all.

flint corn wreath

 

 Mother Nature knows how to dazzle with color in Autumn.  The leaves, the light, and even the corn seems in full display.  I love the soft greens of spring and the joyous colors of summer but the deep rich tones of Autumn resonate with me in a deeper way.

 

  When I saw a pile of flint corn at the farmer's market I had to bring them home with me.

 

I had planned to wire them to a grapevine wreath of an appropriate size, that I was sure was in my workspace, but of course that wreath was nowhere to be seen.  I had two wreaths, one large and one small, so I made do.  Instead of painstakingly wiring the corn to the wreaths, I opted to glue gun it.  (I was tired, it was a long day, it happens)

 

The finished wreath is quite large and I plan to hang it up on the side of the house.  It will go well with the big old pumpkins that I'll be pulling in from the garden today.

Of course, I think it looks fetching with my little sunflower in the middle too.

Are you enjoying Autumnal color where you are?

Stockings Hung By The Chimney With Care

One of the projects I wanted to work on this year was a set of stockings for the family.  We've been using a hodge-podge of stockings that we've picked up over the years.  Yesterday I sat down with Maya's stocking instructions, some burlap sacks from the feed store, the bag of lace bits I found at the antique store, and some vintage buttons, and got to work.

Each family member designed their own, picking their lace and buttons. 

I was chuckling at R's choice of all military buttons with one "lady shoe" thrown in. 

S has great taste in buttons, the bear button is a collectible. 

A went with a butterfly theme, and E inherited my poinsettia brooch.

I had a few satin coat linings on hand from the coats I've deconstructed to make into felt, so I used those to line the stockings.  I don't machine-sew often and the satin was a bit fiddley for me, but all in all I think they turned out OK.

Today we'll decorate our tree and make some cookies.  I still have a number of projects I want to complete on my list but I've vowed not to stress myself out if they don't get done.  What good is "time off" if you're all stressed out, right?  I hope you're all having a relaxing season too.

Happy Sunday!