Southern Scraps

We started dragging out the Christmas decorations today. We worked on the outside but I have yet to begin inside. I took some of the indoor stuff and decided to share this because it was fairly easy and inexpensive to make. I made this about ten years ago. This photo is about two years old, but I think this still looks great. I've stored it carefully through the years. Some of my other stuff has not faired so well and went into the trash today. Ten years ago, I found myself without any Christmas decorations to my name because I had gotten divorced earlier that year. Getting decorations was not on my mind, getting the heck out was all that mattered.  I also did not have the funds to buy a lot of expensive decorations because I had just moved into my own place and had a very small income. I had seen these lighted floral arrangements at a craft fair and decided this would look good on my hearth. Thank goodness Christmas lights are cheap and make everything look nice.  I to...

Fonda's  Holiday Wish List Meme TodaysMama and GameStop   are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you. 1. What is your holiday wish for your family? To be happy, stress-free and healthy! 2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? We visit my in-laws for cinnamon rolls and gift exchange. 3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?  Maybe an  out of country trip. 4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? with music, movies we watch every year, and decorating together with the stuff we already own. 5. What games did you play with your family growing up? Chinese checkers 6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? I don't have any kiddos, but if I did, I hope they would be able to stay overnight with their grandparents like I did on Christmas eve. 7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-h...

If you are not brave enough to fight the Black Friday crowds, or just prefer to shop online, I'm having a sale in my etsy shop . Certain sections, including Christmas and jewelry and gifts are marked down 10% for Black Friday. AND I'm participating in Somewhat Simple's Holiday Boutique so if you visit there, you'll find an additional coupon code. Here are some of the items available in my shop: Colorful memory wire bracelet Rejoice greeting card set Gift card holder Thanks for visiting and have a safe and blessed Christmas!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4 (New International Version, ©2010) Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. May you have time to reflect on all your blessings today. I have so much that I do not deserve and I give credit to God for it all. 

Back during the summer when I got interested in fabric and all those great flowers everyone was making, I tried my hand at a couple. I finally got around to deciding how I might use these flowers and added the pin backs this weekend so it could be a brooch . I made this one from the following you tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gecQrb1fzIk I cut my circles out with a scalloped Nestabilities scalloped circle die. I used two fabrics and two sizes of circles. It takes a lot of circle to get them really full, but I love how this one turned out, especially with the scalloped edges. I think it looks great on this jacket. I'll be linking up to Get Your Craft On and other great parties. Thanks for stopping by.

Last night our church had our annual Thanksgiving soup and salad supper. It's a nice meal and service where we reflect on our blessings and what has occurred during the last year. I made Simple Broccoli Salad for the meal. It really is a simple dish to make, especially if you get the precut, prewashed ready to eat broccoli florets in the bag. 2 cups broccoli florets 4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled 1/4 cup sweet red pepper 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon vinegar (I actually used about 1 and a 1/2 times what was called for so on the dressing ingredients and also increased the amount of broccoli and bacon so it would make more.) Combine broccoli, bacon, and red pepper. In another bowl, stir the mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar until smooth. Pour over broccoli mixture and toss to coat. Doesn't it look festive with the red and green combo? Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

If you are new to paper crafting and wondering what tools to invest in, I highly recommend punches. They are versatile and can be used for many projects. Here are some things I've done recently with my punches. I made these tags using a scalloped punch (about 1 1/4 in), angel punch, 1 inch circle punch, 2 inch circle punch and 2 1/2 inch scalloped circle punch. I layered all the circles to get what you see here. Here's a mini breakdown:  The word circles are from Cutting Cafe .  You just print and punch out! These tags can now be used for lots of things- dress up candles, gift packages, gift bags, and treat bags. You could even hang them on a Christmas tree as ornaments. I also used another file from the Cutting Cafe and a scalloped square punch to do these cupcake toppers . I have a lot fun with my punches! Thanks for looking. I'll be linking up to some parties listed on the side.

I added a little fall/Thanksgiving decor to the dining room table. I picked up new place mats when I got the Halloween mats. I picked some that will match my decor year round, but can be accented for the season. I purchased some sunflowers on clearance at Michael's and put them in the crystal vase that is always on the table. I added my dollar hurricanes that I made for Halloween and filled them with some small gourds and pumpkins. Remember my fall wreath and my pondering what to do with the leftover gourds and such? I found a use for them. I had to pick up another package and add to them but that's okay. The other package was on clearance at Michael's as well when I got them.  I reused the thrift store napkins and made new rings. I made the rings from a paper towel roll, scrapbook paper and felt leaves cut with my Sizzix. The die is probably out of production but I'm sure they make another version.  Here is a tutorial for the napkin rings. I won't share m...

I'm having fun making gift card holders . I used the sketch at Friday Sketchers for this one. The image is from MFT and is colored with copics. The papers are by Cosmo Cricket.  Crazy for Challenges is having a Christmas challenge so I'll be linking up there too. Thanks for looking.

I used the sketch over at Papertake Weekly as inspiration for the design on this gift card holder . Papers are by DCWV and stamps are by MFT. I colored with copics. Directions for making these card holders can be found HERE .   Thanks for looking. I have a couple of gift card holders listed in my shop .

Last time I posted I shared the rattan balls that are part of my fall decor. Now I'm sharing "the rest of the story" LOL. This is the bookshelf behind my couch, which is pretty much what you see first when you enter my home. I framed the "Stay Calm and Gobble On" from Craftily Ever After   printable in the frame that hubby painted for me with the leftover Krylon paint from the potted trees pr oject, picked up a new arrangement (on sale at Big Lots), a pumpkin with words, and some gourds and pumpkins (70 cents each at Big Lots). I put the pumpkins in the candle holders that are part of my every day decor. I couldn't find any orange/yellow colored candles but I like the pumpkins and gourds. I did order some amber colored candles from Crate and Barrel that arrived last night but I think I'll leave what I've got. This is all so simple and quick to do. I haven't changed the decor since we moved into this house four years ago but I've been inspir...

When I took down the Halloween decorations, I wasn't ready to put up my newly made hurricane vases . I wanted to continue to use them. So I decided to use them to display some fall/ Thanksgiving theme decorations. I wanted to add some warm browns and coppers to my decor, so I got some of the rattan balls from the Dollar Tree. I purchased some spray paint from the clearance section of Michael's - Valspar Odds n Ends fast dry enamel in copper and Valspar suede interior mid brown. The copper was a small can and you can tell in my close up photos that I really needed another one to do another coat, but from a distance the balls look good in the vase and I'm pleased. I really like the suede paint too and I'm looking for something else to paint. I painted all of the balls in the packages (2) and had more than I needed for the vase, so I put the extras in a dish on the bottom shelf of my bookshelf/sofa table. Here's my vase and balls ( and you're getting a sneak peak ...

I'm popping in with a card I made for a couple of challenges. I am not playing with the challenges nearly as much as I used to be but I am working on my Christmas cards and I'm incorporating a challenge here and there when I can. Charisma Cardz and Critter Sketch both issued challenges for Christmas cards. I made this  Christmas card  using MFT stamps ( Santa Baby) and Basic Grey papers. It's a fun little card for your special guy- the inside reads "All I Want for Christmas is you." Papers: BasicGrey Eskimo kisses Stamps: MFT Tools: Nestibilities label, Copics Accents: ribbon, flower, button

I was searching through my old project photos and found this cute little decor that I made a few years ago for a swap. The photo is not great because I was not blogging then and didn't have a good camera. I thought I'd share it anyway. I got the wood base, pegs, and letters at Wal-mart. The scarecrow was probably a Dollar Store item. I painted the letters and pegs and base. I should have painted the scarecrow's peg but I see now I didn't. I layed each letter down on scrapbook paper and traced them. I cut out the paper and decoupaged (Mod Podge) the paper to the letters. I decorated with some leaves, berries, ribbon and stickers. This is another fairly quick and easy project. Thanks for looking. I'll be linking up to the parties on the side.

I finally got around to trying this quick little craft today. This is so easy - I don't know why I put this off so long. I wanted to make magnets for another note and tote set I'm working on. I have three sizes of glass pebbles because I couldn't decide what was best when I was shopping for this project. Two of them came from Michaels and one bag from Dollar Tree. I decided to use all three once I got them out and realized how easy this was. I used "scrap" scrapbook paper and circle punches. I decoupaged the circles to the back of the pebbles and then adhered magnets and thumb tacks with E6000. This is by no means a new idea or craft- these are all over blog and internet land. Here's a shot of what I started with: Here are my finished products: Since I have a school teacher and a student in the family, I'm going to be making more for stocking stuffers. This takes just minutes, except for the drying time. Don't have even a few minutes to spar...