A few minutes in the Christmas room

Last Thursday we took a wonderful outing with friends -- a train ride along a lake shore where we met up with a cruise ship and took a lengthy cruise and narrated tour of Lake Winnipesaukee.  If you are interested in learning more, go here: Rail and Sail.

After disembarking, we wanted to go out for ice cream and decided to go to a reliable year-round favorite, Kellerhaus.  They make their own ice cream and candy and are absolutely worth a visit if you find yourself in New Hampshire's Lakes Region.

Long-time readers may recall that this is a favorite destination for some of our local grandchildren.  They enjoy looking at the toys and also the Christmas rooms and candy shop after we enjoy our ice cream sundaes each December.  A couple photos from previous visits are below.

Our friends had not visited the Christmas room when we brought them there before.  So this time, we all browsed the Christmas room, and I thought I would share a few photos with you all.

One corner in the Christmas room.

I especially liked the icy tree at left and the scalloped felt tree at top center.

An ornament bargain bin

These are jingle bell ornaments resembling snowmen and are personalized.  One would have to spend a long time searching for specific names.  They were only 50¢, so it might be worth it to take that time.

Part of the ornament wall

Christmas dishes and felt poinsettias

This platter and pitcher above may be my favorites of the Christmasy things we saw.

And that's how we happened to be in the Kellerhaus Christmas Room -- and some of the pretty things we saw there -- on July 23.  It seemed our visit needed to be documented here on my Christmas blog!

A visit to the Christmas Loft

 

A Saturday seems like a good day to post about a staycation day we took back in January.  It was the day after my birthday, and we had gone out to lunch here: Lincoln Diner.  I failed to take any pictures while there, but here is their logo (I love  how it resembles a White Mountain National Forest sign:

After lunch, we decided to visit The Christmas Loft in the next town.  We were hoping for some after-Christmas bargains, but there really weren't any.  Still it's an enchanting shop and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Snagged this image from their website.  It's nicer than my Kindle photo at top.

A whimsical welcome sign greeted us and I love the snowflake ribbon on the wreath.

Below are some images from the various themed trees in this shop.

From a tree featuring cardinals.  Isn't it beautiful?

This tree has a gingerbread/baking theme -- this photo is a close-up of the tree below.

A little more of the gingerbread/baking tree.

Pretty tree with ornaments and all white lights

A peppermint themed tree

This one seemed to have a snow sports theme.  Note the skis as the tree topper!  It also had snowflakes, snowballs and frosty pine cones.

We really enjoyed seeing all of the festively themed trees, and there are also many, many scenes set up with various villages.  We didn't find a lot that we needed or could afford, but we wanted to get a little something as a memory of the day.  

So what we ended up with was an ornament but it is not at all Christmasy.  Below is a scan of it.

 

 

The bag they put the ornament in was so fun!  I had to scan it and show you all. 

This sweet bit of decor is living permanently at our little cottage, Lakeview Lodge.  One of the kitchen cabinet doors is the perfect place for it.  Our daughter had painted the cabinets in 2020 with a gray chalk paint as part of the renovations.  Over time the paint has crazed a bit and I actually love the look.  The sweet glass cabinet knobs are original.

What a fun way to celebrate my birthday!  And we have a special year-round ornament at our little cottage to remind us of our visit to the Christmas Loft!

Ways to repurpose used Christmas cards and scraps of gift wrap

 

 It was recently brought to my attention that I've apparently never written a comprehensive post on this topic.  So it's time to do just that!

There are so, so many ideas out there and I have made many of them.  There may even be too many good ideas to share in one post.  We will see how I do with this one. 

Gift tags are, of course, one of the more obvious uses for your Christmas cards. And there are lots of ways to do that.  But here is a post of some of the techniques I've used: gift tags.

A very novel use of Christmas cards is to make little boxes out of them.  This post  tells just how to do that very simply.  I had tried making these boxes in the past, only to find that it was a very complicated process, involving the drawing of many lines and folding them at intersection points, etc.  This procedure is much simpler and more straightforward, and the boxes are just so cute you may find yourself addicted to making them.

Ornaments are also a great way to use Christmas cards.  This post shows how to make an ornament and also a pin!

Two Victorian style ornaments

Pin made using a Christmas tag

 The following posts have other ideas using gift wrap or Christmas cards: Juice-can lid ornaments; ornament from Mason-jar lid.

 

My granddaughter and I made Christmas card banners one year and they were so much fun to do.  I've been wanting to make some similar ones only for winter.  I could use wintry Christmas card scenes. card stock in shades of blue, navy ribbon, and use snowflake buttons in between the individual pennants.

 One of the first real craft projects I made with used Christmas cards was this one: Christmas card "kissing ball".  I made many of these for gifts over the years.  These are a bit time-consuming but I think the results are worth it.  The one I made for our home has lasted well and has taken on a real vintage look over the years.  It has had to be re-glued in places a few times, but that's a simple matter and easily taken care of.

Below, you see the "kissing ball" hanging in a doorway.

The kissing balls can also be made smaller, using, if I remember right, 1 1/2-inch circles, to produce ornaments that can be hung on the tree.  To do that, I would either simply use glitter on the edges and/or use tiny colorful beads at the intersections.  I've made these smaller ones in the past and just used glitter, but small colorful beads (in place of the mini Christmas balls used on the large ones) should look nice too.

So there you have a few ideas!  I've got more thoughts buzzing in my mind, and I know somewhere I have another couple of pictures I could use, but those will have to wait for a less busy day.

Faux clip-on candles for the Christmas tree

 

This is such a neat idea from Ashley at Lil Blue Boo Blog: How to make clothespin clip-on candles. These are made from the peg type of wooden clothespins, spray-painted white and then artfully dribbled with hot glue to resemble wax drippings.  Another coat of white paint is added when the glue is dry and cooled.

Flames are made with teardrop shaped wood pieces, painted with yellow and orange acrylic paint.  Then these are glued to the top of each clothespin "candle".  Ashley has a fabulous tutorial.that looks simple and easy to follow.  The finished candles can easily be clipped right on to a Christmas tree branch.

Photo by Ashley at Lil Blue Boo blog

This is one of those ideas that I would never in this world thought of on my own.  I've had it pinned to my Crafting for Christmas board on Pinterest for quite some time.  So thankful I finally got around to checking it out!

Rusitic embroidery hoop ornaments from the Crazy Craft Lady

 

 Speaking as someone who has a large stash of small embroidery hoops in their craft closet, I am always looking for fun ways to use them, especially in Christmas crafting.  This idea from Aimee at The Crazy Craft Lady is a really good one!

Head on over to read about it: Rustic Embroidery Hoop Ornaments and to see more photos.  These round ornaments use a foil cookie sheet to resemble a "tin" backing.  One paints it gray to achieve this effect.  The embroidery hoop parts are stained brown to make them much more attractive than the plain wood.  Details are added with bottle brush trees, wood pieces, and black & white checked ribbon.

 
So pretty, don't you agree?   I'm thinking this might be a fun project to include in our annual crafting adventure with grandkids!  I've just pinned this to my Crafting for Christmas Pinterest board.  If you have a similar board, you might wish to do the same.

A fun little project: transforming purchased ornaments

 

 So I was in Walmart to purchase a few components for a gift I put together for a gift exchange.  I had a lovely Advent devotional and some holiday teas but wanted to make it into more of a gift basket.  I wish I had gotten a photo, but I failed to.  I got some Christmasy napkins, added in some nice mugs found in Walmart, a bag of  the recipient's favorite Christmas cookies and I can't even recall what else.  To use as a container for the gift, I found in the regular housewares section a bright red bowl with a white colander (both plastic) nestled inside it.  It looked pretty and festive and yet was highly practical and could be used in the kitchen later.  I lined it with a Christmasy dish towel (also Walmart) and made a set of four coasters sort of like this one 

 to go with it.  

On a whim, I also ventured into the mini ornament area to find something small and simple for a package tie-on.  I chose these because they had a fun country look with those wood beads.

And I ended up using one of the "Merry Christmas" ones.  I might have used the "Holly Jolly" one too, but ... 

Can you guess why I didn't?  Look close now!  Or maybe you won't have to look that closely.

Yes, they say "Holy Jolly".  What a stupid mistake!  

Still, I felt they were salvageable, so when the grandkids were over for their crafting spree, I asked Josiah to have a go at transforming them.  I felt that all it would really take was to cut a small, suitable size scene from a Christmas card and glue it over the top of what was there.  

And he did that for two ornaments, the one at the top of the post and the one just below:

 

But then he really outdid himself and made one more! You see it at lower left below:

See what he did here?  He cut a piece of green foil gift wrap to cover the saying.  Then he took a piece of gold metallic cord, curved it into a Christmas tree and added a star sequin at the top.  Next he glued a mini grapevine wreath ato it and added a bit of greenery and berries.  Stunning!

I love watching the creativity of kids and teens!  Josiah and all three of his siblings have creativity in abundance.  I'm almost glad the out-of-country craftsman messed up "Holly Jolly".  Now I have a one-of-a-kind handcrafted ornament to add to my tree.

Candy Cane Christmas Company

 

 I recently found the Candy Cane Christmas Company on Instagram and decided to check and see if they had a website.  They do!  I took a few screenshots to show you all the sort of decor that they carry.  It has a nostalgic, vintage vibe that many of you will enjoy greatly!

Oh, the ornaments!

The most popular categories include Boxes & Buckets, Ornaments, Reindeer, Santa, Snowmen, Tabletop/Mantel Decor, Throw Pillows, and Wall Decor.

In the Nostalgic Feels corner, you will find Bubble Lights, Shiny Brites, and Dummy Boards.

Many of the items here are out of my price range, but they do have sales.  And it's an inspiring, delightful place to visit just for the fun ideas!

Head on over for a sparkling visit at Candy Cane Christmas Company and see what's new!

Sweet farmhouse style ornaments

 

Photo from Simply Designing.net

 Remember those adorable colored-pencil coasters from last week?  While browsing around at Simply Designing.net, I discovered these sweet farmhouse ornaments and fell in love with them.

You can see that the components are very simple: embroidery hoops, ribbon, berries, and bottle brush trees.  There's a complete list of what you need to make these ornaments (including a glue gun, and black spray paint) on the post, along with the step by step instructions.  

I already have a good number of embroidery hoops on hand, so this will be a good way to use some of them.  I believe I have a few bottle brush trees also, and quite a bit of ribbon.  The berries may be the only thing that I have to purchase.

This would be a fun craft to work on this summer!

Vintage Holiday Feltcraft

 

Yes, hard as it may be for those of us in a certain age bracket to believe, 1985 is now vintage!  I found this booklet in clearing out the family homestead.  I don't believe it was ever used.  Yet it's a fun find and worth sharing here in my Christmas kitchen.  

Above are two of the ornaments -- Country Square ornaments 1 and 2.

And here are two of the cuter ornaments -- a sheep and a gingerbread man.

And here's a holly-trimmed doorknob hanger -- complete with jingle bells -- and a Christmas tree coaster.  The coasters would be fun to make, I think.

Above is pictured one end of a table runner.  Sort of a neat pattern.

Above, is a Joy, Peace, Love Christmas banner.  If I were to make this, I would choose nicer colors.  

In reality, I am not likely to craft from this book at all, since all of the patterns need to be enlarged to make them usable.  At this point in time I believe that life is too short to enlarge patterns.

There you have it -- vintage holiday fun with felt from Current Inc. circa 1985!  I'll be listing this in my Etsy shop soon.