Oh Christmas tree

I was cleaning out the basement and I came across 2 styrofoam cones that I got at a yard sale this summer. I think it was a quarter for the both of them. Anyway, hooray! There are tons of cute ideas all over on other blogs and Pinterest about different ways to decorate these things up, but in the end I didn't follow any tutorials and just did my own thing.

 I wrapped the cone up in strips I tore off one of the old sheets in my fabric stash, then hot glued different kinds of lace in rings all the way up. So easy. the stand is just a little 2x2 scrap that was laying around. I think I might try to white wash or possibly use a vinegar stain to age the wood, but for now it's fine.

This lil' guy is smaller than the first. I had a scrap of some faux-patchwork fabric that was just enough to cover the whole tree (my backup plan was to use various Christmas or Christmas colored prints to fill in any gaps). Then I added some ric rac and some tassels (which are really just acting as a placeholder for pom pom trim) and called it good.

My decorating taste has been undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts lately. I've always been a fan of some kinds of old fashioned and vintage stuff, but right now I'm all sorts of into it. Maybe it's just Christmas. I was definitely bored of my lots of metallics and garland thing I usually do, so this year I went completely the opposite direction. I'm going for a fun vibe, I suppose. here's what I mean:

Possibly even borderline kitschy? That big Santa definitely is (it belonged to my husband's grandma and my guy just loved it when he was a kid, so we ended up with it).
I beg pardon for how unbalanced this is right now; I was just kind of throwing things up there. I do plan on moving the paper chain and then adding more garland across the top. Maybe a string of big bulb Christmas lights. If I get around to it, I'll probably change up the art that's there, too.

So, my motif this year is fun, colorful, vintage Christmas. Anybody else out there have a theme they stick to? This is my first year actually thinking it through enough to actually put a name to it.

More thrift store stuff

Technically, these are from a consignment shop, but it's all pretty much the same, right?
My mother-in-law called me last Saturday morning to tell me that a consignment shop in my hometown was having a 55% off sale, so away I went.

 

Tons of awesome children's books. I plan on using these in my daughter's new basement room (which might be getting ahead of myself, since it's only partially framed right now) as some functional decor. The companion library ones are really cool- they're one book on the front, then you turn them over and upside down and they're a different book!

 These were my favorite find. There were a ton more there, but I only picked ones that were in pretty much perfect shape. Because of these, I've totally been in a Christmas mood. I wanted to get the tree out and decorate, but my husband said no. So I put them all in a jar on the mantle so I could still look at them, and so Mike won't accuse me of pushing the season (because he does not notice jars of stuff on the mantle).

Another awesome scarf. I think that makes my final count 4 for this summer. It was kind of sad to bring it home and immediately put it away with the other summery stuff, but the hat rack is currently overtaken by fall/winter scarves (post coming soon).

I think I got about a dozen doilies for about 3 dollars? I have a pinspired project in mind for these that will be lovely.

I scored some other awesome deals, including some vintage floral ribbon that I just die for and a brooch that's going to be part of a necklace sometime in the future.

Happy Veteran's Day (yesterday)!

And sometimes progress looks like progress...or...Let there be light (in the basement)

Right now it the basement looks like progress AND a big giant mess, but the title was long enough as is.

 Anyway, there's still concrete dust everywhere, but these babies make it all worth it:

Mmmmm. Big windows. There are two 4'x3' in the family room area, one 4'x3' in the bigger bedroom, and one 3'x3' in the smaller bedroom. It's incredible how different the basement feels now. It's so bright down there! My husband and his dad are the ones that installed them. It was kind of stressful for me, because while looking at videos online and reading a million diy articles, it didn't seem like anyone had done the exact same thing we were.

 Since I don't have pictures, I won't bore you with what we came up with to secure them and fill in the hole left by the old window (in the second picture- on top of the window to the right), but I think it's going to work just fine. We made our own hybrid method that worked for our situation.

Next is window wells and trying to get the yard put together enough so that we won't have a giant muddy mess come spring.

Sometimes progress is just a big giant mess

A giant mess with holes and dust and dirt and rusty pipes EVERYWHERE.

I've mentioned before that our basement isn't finished. Well, it just might be by the end of the year!! I've been insanely excited about it. Like when I heard the plumber could move where our water line came into the house, it MADE MY DAY. I told him that about 10 times, too. And while thinking about having the basement finished just gives me happy hives, sometimes the mess does put a bit of a damper on things. Here's what the last few weeks have looked like:

{This is a plumbing mess.}

We were getting two new floor drains (the existing one is in our family room space) and the bathroom fixtures roughed in. It was an entire day full of dust and noise.

Don't worry about the giant pile of dirt that's overtaking the walk up to my front door. I don't. We (which, in this case, is pretty much just my little brother) had to dig window wells so people could come cut giant holes in the foundation of our house with giant saws. Four giant holes, four giant window wells (they had to be dug 4 feet back from the house, a foot on either side of where the cut needed to be made, and 18 inches deeper than the bottom cut).

Dirt was (still is) literally everywhere.

Oh no! The water pipe!

It's cool, just dig down 2 more feet. That's what we needed to do to have the water line entrance moved and still be good to go, code-wise. Small price to pay to have the window be where I wanted it. I could have stood at the bottom of that hole and been buried standing up.

Then they came and cut the big giant holes. You may have picked up from my tone that I was kind of nervous about this, despite the fact that they were ready to go with the steel lintels that would take the weight of the house. It's just... a big giant hole in the load-bearing concrete wall your house is built on. Right? That's scary.

Things were fine, though, and now you can stay tuned for part 2, when progress actually looks like progress.

Freezer paper stencilling

Well, I had some friend give birth not too recently, and finally got on the ball about sending them the gifts I had planned. And then I got on the ball about getting phone pictures onto the computer. (I don't know what my deal is, it's not like it's hard. But every time I think about doing I'm just like "UHG. I can't believe those pictures aren't already there. Why can't they just get on the computer automatically? This is the worst." First world problems, anyone?)

The process: I used my Silhouette to cut out shapes from freezer paper, then ironed them onto the onsies. **IMPORTANT STEP: cut out a piece of cardboard or whatever you have handy that will stop paint and put it inside the onsie to prevent paint bleeding through to the backside. Then just blot in the paint like you would with a stencil and remove the freezer paper as soon as you're done (otherwise it gets all soggy and is a pain to remove- ask my friend Ang about it). Then the paint dries and you can heat set it following whatever directions were on the paint you used.

A note about paint possibilities: I used acrylic paints mixed with textile medium for the ones in the first picture, and Tulip fabric paints for the ones in the second. Both worked well, but it's possible that the Tulip ones came out brighter. I'm not sure, since I didn't get to put the finished products side by side and there were a lot of other reasons that might explain the second picture looking somewhat more vivid (i.e. lighting conditions, the paint is maybe still wet, those are all on white backgrounds).

{These were a team effort- my college roommates and I thought these up, then the few of us who live close together got together and made it happen. I'm not going to try to explain the ones that are obviously inside jokes. That only ever ends in regret.}

{These were for my geology friend. Schist is a kind of metamorphic rock. I also made a trilobite one that's not pictured because I messed up the first one pretty bad and had to remake it later.}

Anyway, these are totally a fun and no-sew alternative to the applique onsies I've shown here and here. You should try it.


Or don't. Whatever. I'm not your mom; do what you want.

Thanks for reading!