Merry Christmas To All!

I am taking the holiday off. Spending time with children and grand children. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will see you in January!

God Bless!

Christmas and Movies!

In just a few days, Christmas will be here. It is hard to believe, but true. Are you a movie goer? I was just reading that Christmas Day has become a big day in the movie industry. Many studios like to release big-budget films on December 25th. 

According to Box Office Mojo, an online movie publication and box office reporting service, no film has fared better on Christmas Day than "Sherlock Holmes," which premiered on December 25, 2009, earning just under $25 million in its initial day onscreen. 

Last Minute Centerpiece

Need something on your side table, coffee table, or anywhere, why not create a cranberry candle centerpiece. I needed three for the round tables that we set up on our deck for our annual Christmas party. I knew I wanted candles, but didn't want to spend a lot and I didn't want them to take up too much room. 

I looked in my stash and the fridge to see what might work. This is what I came up with.

2013 Ornament Exchange

This was my first year to participate in the Ornament Exchange, over at I should be mopping the floor. I was a little reluctant at first, not sure why. I had a fabulous time. We were paired up with another blogger that became our exchange partner. I met Sonya via email and we learned a little about one another. She lives in Buford, GA and has 9 Christmas trees in her house:

Candy Cane Wreath - Kids Activity

With school ending for the holidays, you might need a great craft for the kids to do. Why not make a Candy Cane Wreath. My neighbor's daughter loves to come to my house. She said I was "the world's best crafter"! Kids are so naive!! 

We always do some sort of craft when she and her friends come over. 
On Saturday, they were coming over to work on Christmas presents for their moms. She brought me this candy cane wreath that she had made. She is nine. What a lovely surprise.

Craft Frenzy Friday!

Craft Frenzy Friday is live and I am so excited to be one of the co-host. Join Cara and all of the other hosts and co-hosts and show off what you have been working on this week. We look forward to seeing all of your creations, recipes, diy or anything you made. Come join the fun and check out last weeks features!

We want to thank all of our Craft Frenzy Friday participants last week and welcome you back this week! Please be sure to like your host on all social media you want!  We appreciate the love!  Also, just a reminder we pin all the features on two Craft Frenzy Friday Pinterest Boards so you will get twice the love!

Craft Dictator

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Turning the Clock Back

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West Street Story

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And our two co-host this week!

A Dash of Sanity

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Eclectic Red Barn

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If you are interested in co-hosting email Cara at craftdictator@gmail.com!

Now on to our wonderful features!

All the features are picked by the host and co-host of the week!


Christmas Spiced Nutella Cocoa with Gingersnap Rimmer Recipe at Anyonita Nibbles

   
Paper Christmas Tree at Place of My Taste

 
Christmas Apron for Kids at Kiddie Foodies

 
How to Build a Crate at The Turquoise Home

 
Dollar Store Chalkboard Plate at The Blissful Bee

Be Sure to Grab a featured button here!!  Also, go grab a Craft Frenzy Friday Button here!  We'd love to see them on your page!

Now onto the party!

**Please note: By linking to this blog party, you are giving Craft Dictator and Obsessive and Creative permission to use your photos and content as part of the weekly features if selected.**

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See you at the party!

Holiday Mason Jars

It seems that so many of us just love mason jars, myself included. They are so great to decorate with.  I have many from my Grandmother which I try to keep separate. About 5 years ago when I lived in Pittsburgh, I drove to Vermont to visit my grand kids in the summer. That year I went to a garage sale late one afternoon. They still had many items to sell and I think they were getting tired. 

There were three boxes of mason jars. Needless to say, I was on them immediately. She had them priced at $5 per box. I am not sure how many were in each box - somewhere between 10 - 14 each. Some were large, but most of them were the small ones and all had their lids, like the ones in my picture below.

She saw me looking at them and said, "you can have all of them for $5". I tried not to fall over and grabbed them up before anyone else did. Since there was only one other person there, I was pretty safe.

Knotted Burlap Christmas Wreath

I was trying to decide what type of wreath to make for on the deck, hanging from the old window. I wanted to use materials that I already had so I looked through my stash. I had made a "burlap tied knot " banner for the 4th of July, if you missed that tutorial, you can find it here. So I thought I would try the same technique but only put them on a straw wreath instead of a banner.

Southwest Turkey Burger and Kale Chips

Don't get enough green vegetables?  Have you ever wondered what to do with kale? Kale is a nutritional powerhouse. One cup of chopped kale contains 33 calories and 9% of the daily value of calcium, 206% of vitamin A, 134% of vitamin C, and a whopping 684% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus. Wow, move over spinach!

This turkey burger and kale chips makes a super healthy meal with great taste.

Love Cyrstal Chandeliers - Hate to Clean Them

Do you have crystal chandeliers? I have several. As I began to decorate for Christmas, I looked at my dining room chandelier and thought "oh yuck"! Way too much dust. They didn't even sparkle. Should have taken a picture when it was dirty. 

Someone posted awhile back about how to clean crystal chandeliers, but I forgot to save it so that was out. 

It is rather overcast today so I had the lights on.

Dressing Up Grandma's Cutting Board

What a week I have had, the flu caught up with me and took me down. All I wanted to do was to crawl in bed and sleep. However, the dogs had other ideas. We spend a lot of time outdoors and they wanted to be outside. They were not sick.

When the dogs were little, I taught them to ring a bell, tied to the door handle, when they had to go to the bathroom. Well, that bell was ringing off the handle.  Every time I would lie down on the sofa, the bell would ring. After a few days, the bell came down.

I did manage to work on this cutting board that was my grandma-in-law's. 

Garage Sale Dollar Days!

Happy Monday to everyone! Hope your weekend was great. Our weekend was a little rainy, but I did manage to get to a couple of garage sales. I was so excited with my finds. Here are most of them.

I scored the mirror and the two wire baskets at one sale for $1 each. I love to get wire baskets for plants.

Orange Metal Stand - What to do with iit?

Not sure what this was. Seems like something you might find in a service station that holds some car parts. 

Found it in the trash and decided to take it home, since I can't seem to leave perfectly good items go in the trash. Now that I have it, I have no idea what to do with this bright orange thing. Any ideas ????

Fall Update of Grey Rocking Chairs

Remember those great free rocking chairs I got from my neighbor? Well, we use them all the time and I wanted to give them a fall update. I had hoped to post this before Halloween, but that never happened. As you can see, I had a Halloween pillow on one of the rockers. It has since been removed.

I created the Autumn banner by cutting up some fabric I had - brown and tan canvas.

 I cut some rectangles and then folded them to cut some points.

Then I used letters that I had purchased from Walmart that I used in my Fall plaque.

I placed the letter on the fabric and then used a magic marker to fill in the letter.

I attached the letters to some twine with my hot glue gun. I had purchased the basket at Long and Scott Farms for $2 - lid included. 

We have tea out here in the evenings while the dogs play and we talk about our day. 

These rocking chairs are just great and we are using them all the time. Not bad for something free. 
What shall I do with them for Christmas?

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