Winter Wreath

First, thank you SO much for all your super-sweet comments after my last post -- it was such a nice welcome back! :)

So waaaaay back before Christmas even, I made a winter wreath for our front door.  And although I wish I didn't have to have a winter wreath up in January in February, we do live in Minnesota, and it is definitely still winter here.  Brrrrr!  Not to mention, we've had more snow this year than I've ever experienced in my whole life -- so yes, the winter wreath will be staying up for a few more months. 

This wreath is SO fun, and SO easy (and cheap) -- you know, my favorite things!

First, I found this wreath at Goodwill for only $.99.  I liked the twisted viney branches for my base -- and just took off the "Christmasy" decorations on the front.  I decided to paint it white for a bit of winter elegance. 

I gave it a few coats of white spray paint  -- oh yes, this was definitely painted quite some time ago -- with our below zero temperatures there is just no spray painting right now :(  

The next thing I did was spray paint some big pine cones. First I primed them so the paint would stay on through the cooold, coooold, months.  I chose a metallic blue for these pinecones -- another fun wintery color. :)

Soooo shimmery!  I love it -- the color just screams winter, right!?!

Next I glued three pine cones onto the front of the wreath with some trusty Gorilla Glue.

Finally, I found a pretty brown ribbon in my stash and tied it onto the front to hang it on the door:

I hung it on the door -- and viola!

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and cute this wreath was!  I think it turned out pretty glammy from where it started, don't you think?

And the absolute BEST part was that I only spent $.99 on the actual wreath!  (Although I did splurge on the blue paint which was $3.29 -- still okay though, right!?!)

 

Linking up to:

Mondays:Between Naps on the Porch ; C.R.A.F.T; Craft-O-Maniac; Keeping it Simple; Mad in Crafts; Making the World Cuter; The DIY Showoff; The Girl Creative Tuesdays:  All Thingz Related; House of Grace; I'm Topsy Turvy; Lucky Star Lane; Sugar Bee Craft Edition; The CSI Project; These Creative Juices; Today's Creative Blog Wednesdays:  Blue Cricket Design; Creations by Kara; Debbiedoos; Domestically Speaking; My Backyard Eden; Night Owl Crafting; Seven Thirty Three; Someday Crafts; The Thrifty Home; Trendy Treehouse Thursdays: Beyond the Picket Fence; Craftastical!; Fireflies & Jellybeans; House of Hepworths; Life as Lori; Somewhat Simple; The Shabby Chic Cottage Fridays:  Chic on a Shoestring; Finding Fabulous; Fingerprints on the Fridge; Frou Frou Decor; Frugal & Fabulous Design; It's a Hodge Podge Life; It's Fun to Craft!: Just a Girl; Remodelaholic; Simply Designing; The Shabby Nest; Tatertots & Jello Weekend:  A  Little Lovely; Be Different Act Normal; Funky Junk Interiors; House of Thrifty Decor; I Heart Naptime; Kuzak's Closet; Under the Table & Dreaming

A New Year! (And some new changes....)

First off I have to say a big fat thank you to you guys for puting up with my extended "leave" from the blogging world.  I hope you haven't missed me too much. :)  And another huge thank you for all the kind and concerned emails I've gotten from you wondering what's up over here at the Hand Me Down House.  I really do consider all of you gals my friends -- so I 100% appreciate your concern and kind words.

My absence started out as a short break during the start of the Holidays -- but the Holidays for us means a lot of Christmas shopping, and A LOT of Christmas Get-Togethers.  So I decided to stop blogging for the whole month of December.  There just wasn't a lot of time to fit everything in for my family and I, let alone doing projects to the house and keeping up with my blog.  But after a month long recess, I've decided I will be making some changes here for the next year.

This post is SO overdue -- I've been meaning to fill you all in sooner -- but I've really been dreading writing this. So, with that being said I will tell you I'm not quitting my blog.  I would never just give it up like that.  But, I will be blogging much less than my once  5 times a week schedule.  I'll update you on the house as we change it and I'll certainly post any fun projects I do.  But I plan to do projects and house updates a little bit less -- so don't be suprised to see a gap in posts.  And also for this reason I've decided to cut my advertising.  There is a lot of pressure that comes along with having sponsors; and it was making my blogging more of a job than enjoyable.  Blogging started out as an absolute LOVE of mine -- and I want to keep it that way.

Don't mistake this "cut back" in posts and projects for a dislike of blogging -- I still very much LOVE it!  It's so fun seeing my bloggy friends faces every day and see what's going on in their wold.   And as I'm writing this now after a month of "taking off" -- I'm remembering how good it feels to "talk" to you girls!  But my family is the most important thing in my life -- and I have to make them my priority.  That means maybe letting a project at the house sit for a few days so I can visit grandparents, or not stopping at the craft store for new materials so I can go home and see my hubby -- I'm sure you can all relate.  

I hope you can all understand how much I just love being apart of the blogging world -- I absolutely do!  But between family, work and just every day life; I had to cut back on some things that were taking my time away from the things that truly matter.  

Some bloggers decide to make their blogging a full time career, like John & Sherry at Young House Love -- and some decide to give it up completely for the sake of time, like Disney at Ruffles and Stuff.  Well I'm right in the middle -- I can't give it up completely -- but I can't maintain my crazy posting and crazy projects and still have the time I need for work and family. 

So -- I hope you can forgive me for the missing month of December -- and I hope you can still enjoy my posts in 2011!  We've got big plans and dreams for the house that we're hoping to accomplish -- and you guys will be included in the process!

 

Some Favorites from the Linky Party :)

I just cannot tell you HOW much I absolutely LOVED all of your projects that you linked up for fall (yes, I know I'm a bit late on sharing all these -- oops!)  Even though it's winter and all the Christmas projects are in full force, I still want to take one last peak at the fall season.

So in no particular order -- here are my absolute favorite fall projects from you guys:

Heather at Straight Stitches made this "Nutty Wreath"  

LOVE IT!  This would be awesome for Christmas, too!

Lisa at The Pursuit of Happiness made this adorable pumpkins with burlap.  

To DIE for, Lisa!  They are just perfect!

Sunny at Life in Rehab whipped up this gorgeous aqua and cream colored spread of fall decorations. 

I just love the use of "non-typical" fall colors -- it's just stunning!

Sarah at Bird's Papaya made this adorable topiary herself -- and of course shows you how to!

Beautiful use of moss!!

Kathleen at Between Blue &  Yellow made these absolutely gorgeous knockoff burlap vases from dollar store materials!

This is waaaay better than the pricey version -- I love it!

 

I absolutely loved ALL your projects -- they were just wonderful to look at and I loved visiting your blogs!  Thank you so much for making it a wonderful party!!


And since this was SO much fun -- I'm going to be doing a Christmas party too!

 

WINNER of the CSN Giveaway!

It's time to announce the lucky, lucky winner of our CSN Giveaway!! :) YAAAAAAAAAY!


Don't forget to check back at CSN throughout the Holidays for awesome deals on gifts and traveling goodies.


So with that said....it's time to find out who won this awesome prize!!

And that is......

Mrs. K 11/23/2010 08:53 AM

I get to go back to my hometown for Thanksgiving. I am thankful for that!
steps52(at)gmail(dot)com 

 

 

YAY! MRS. K!  Send me an email and we'll get you your fabulous CSN prize!

I absolutely loved reading all the things you guys were thankful for and what your Thanksgiving plans were!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  And thanks for sharing all your awesome projects -- I'm going to be spotlighting a few of them tomorrow! :)