Sometimes It Pays To Never Throw Anything Away

Sometimes it pays not to throw something away.

At least, that's the rule, for a crafter.

You just never know what you may need for some future creation.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself as I'm running out of craft space.

In any event, in a previous Linda's Blog post entitled "What Was Once A Beautiful Natural Arrangement Became A Beautiful Silk Floral Arrangement" I told you about a trip to Michaels and my buying more silk floral than I needed for a silk floral arrangement I wanted to re-create.

And, remember I told you I had more than one silk floral arrangement in mind...

Well, I had decided that I wanted to make another Christmas silk floral arrangement that we could take out year, after year, after year using an adorable red and green striped ceramic base that was part of a beautiful natural floral arrangement that was given to me by my son-in-law and grandchildren for Christmas many years ago.

The base was large and was actually something that could be used as a cookie jar as it even came with a red and green striped cover.

I had saved it all these years as I thought it would make a fabulous base for a Christmas silk floral arrangement. Remember, I said you just never know when something could be useful for a current creation.

Well, this was the right time to put that base to good use as I had more than enough silk floral to create the Christmas bulb arrangement I wanted to re-create and to create a fabulous arrangement using this base.

The base was rather large so I knew I needed a lot of silk floral sprigs. Plus, you know how I like my silk floral arrangements to be full.

Well, I ended up using all the silk floral I had bought at Michaels so everything had been put to good use - even though some of the floral sprigs were at full price.

I was pleased with the arrangement.

Hubby thought the arrangement was absolutely beautiful.

And, my son-in-law thought the arrangement looked beautiful.

And, a ceramic base from years ago became a sentimental keepsake.

See - it pays to never throw anything out.......

I need more craft space......

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What Was Once A Beautiful Natural Arrangement Became A Beautiful Silk Floral Arrangement

I've written several Linda's Blog posts over the years about some of the natural floral arrangements that hubby has surprised me with over the years that are always absolutely stunning.

He likes to use a local florist that is run by two sisters that create beautiful English Garden type floral arrangements and most of the arrangements they have created for him are in large vases.

Well, several weeks ago he surprised me with a different kind of floral arrangement for him.  It was a beautiful Christmas arrangement in the most adorable container - a Christmas bulb with top included. The arrangement was filled with red roses, red carnations, white mums, ribbons and greenery.

I loved the arrangement and the container so much that I decided that once the natural flowers died I would re-create it with silk floral. I thought it would be a lovely Christmas floral decoration that we could take out year after year. That's the beauty of silk floral - it doesn't die off and can be used again, and again, and again.

So, last week when Michaels had all their Christmas silk floral on sale I decided to buy enough silk floral to re-create my arrangement. I wanted to get red roses, red carnations, and white mums along with greenery and some sparkly pieces.

You always know that when you buying silk floral for any arrangement that you're going to buy more silk floral than you actually need to create your piece. And, I, for one, always buy much more than I need as I like my silk floral arrangements to be full.

So, I bought a few silk floral sprigs. Okay, make that several sprigs...... Okay, make that many more than I needed to re-create this piece.

And, of course, they didn't have any white mums so I had to substitute white roses, white carnations, and white poinsettias. I also bought some red poinsettia as I wasn't such whether I would like them better than the red carnations when creating my piece.

They also didn't have the evergreen sprigs I wanted so I had to substitute a few other greenery sprigs.

Okay, make that may other greenery sprigs.

Okay, make that many more than I needed to re-create this piece.

And, of course, I had to get a few Christmas sparkly pieces - just in case I wanted to add them to my arrangement. So, of course, I ended up buying way more than I needed.

In looking at the cart hubby said, "You need all that?" I, of course shook my head - yeah!

Remember, I said, you never know until you're creating your piece exactly what's going to look right and I like my pieces FULL. So, for sure, I needed all of this.

Hubby, of course, is on to this ruse and knows I always buy way more than I need and always have more than one arrangement in mind.

Besides, it was all on sale - or so I thought.

Well, when we went to pay the cashier said the red roses and white roses weren't Christmas floral so they weren't on sale. What?????? They look like Christmas flowers to me.....

And, they were with the rest of the Christmas floral. The whole floral department was, in fact, filled with nothing but Christmas floral - how could these not be on sale?

Half the store was dedicated to Christmas floral for heavens sake......

Needless to say, there was already a long line of impatient customers forming at the registers (or should I say foaming at the mouth) as the cashier had been ringing up all the individual sprigs I'd chosen for several minutes now.

So, after looking at hubby and giving him my sweetest "I'm sorry" look, we purchased them anyway at regular price (gritting our teeth) as I really, really wanted to use the big Christmas bulb holder and re-create the floral arrangement I absolutely loved.

And, as hubby well knew, I had another Christmas silk floral in mind that I really, really really wanted to create.

Gotta Love A Beautiful Natural Arrangement Given With Love

How can you not love a beautiful natural floral arrangement? Especially when it's filled with roses, hydrangeas and tulips in bright, cheery Christmas colors.

You can't.

How can you not love a beautiful natural arrangement when it's a totally unique arrangement unlike any you've seen before? Filled with floating cranberries...

You can't.

How can you resist taking picture after picture after picture of it?

You can't.

But, best of all - how can you not love a beautiful natural floral arrangement when it is given to you by members of your family with oodles and oodles and oodles of unconditional love?

I know I can't.

Still Loving Custom Gift Wrap Boxes

I just love Christmas boxes decorated with beautiful wired ribbons and floral accents. In fact, for quite some time I used to elaborately decorate all the Christmas presents. I love the creativity involved with trying to decide which paper to use, which ribbons to use, and which accessories to add. The presents always look so pretty when stacked together. Everyone would say that they just looked so pretty they didn't want to open the present.

For me decorating the presents is kind of the same as looking at containers filled with crazy quilting or creative embroidery trims and embellishments. The trims and embellishments always look so pretty all combined in a container. Too pretty to use sometimes.

You could also find this to be the case with fabrics sorted by holiday, season, or color. Almost too colorful and pretty to use. I know I find myself always saving the prettiest fabric for that very special creation. It's so pretty that, in fact, you never use it.

As usual I'm getting off course - so back to the story.  As the family grew over the years trying to elaborately decorate all the presents almost became impossible. It got pared down and down and down. I still do it from time to time for hubby or some really special presents but, for the most part, spending days on end elaborately decorating my presents is over.

However, several years ago my hubby suggested that we add some festive color to the kitchen by decorating some fake boxes and placing them above our kitchen cabinets as Christmas decorations. With this suggestion I, of course, was in 7th heaven. I could decorate several boxes to my hearts content and look at them during the whole holiday season. So, I did five of them and we placed them atop our cabinets.

The decorated boxes looked so pretty atop the cabinets but we decided that we needed something in between the boxes and so we went to look at some of the other floral decorations I had made during the last two decades that we hadn't seen for awhile.

To our delight we found 3 of the artificial miniature evergreen trees that I had created when I was in my miniature evergreen tree phase. And, guess what, they fit up there just fine and looked wonderful with the presents.

So, for the past few years we've been decorating above our kitchen cabinets with Christmas boxes and artificial trees. Then, something amazing happened. Spoonflower.com started offering custom gift wrap in matte and satin finish for your custom fabric designs.

I was thrilled beyond belief and, of course, had to create my own custom gift wrap designs for all of my compatible custom fabric designs. You know how much I love creating custom fabrics - don't you. Given I have a lot of custom fabrics designs this has taken me a quite some time.

Well, when thinking about which Christmas decorations we were going to put out this year I thought changing the decorated boxes above the kitchen cupboards to my own custom gift wrap designs would really be nice. So, I ordered some of the Christmas and snowman winter satin gift wraps I had designed.

I had seven to choose from in my Christmas custom gift wrap designs. And, ten to choose from in my winter seasonal custom gift wrap designs.

It wasn't easy to choose, but I did. I ordered the ones I chose this morning and hope to have them shortly. When I get them I know I'll be anxious to wrap the boxes and put them above the kitchen cabinets. Of course, I'll take pictures so you all can see how they came out.

How can you resist adorable custom gift wrap - especially when it has adorable snowmen and Christmas images on it. I know I can't. Then again, when it comes to custom fabric designs and now gift wrap - there's not much I can resist.

Reminded How Much I Love My Victorian Village Cross-Stitch

 

In putting my Christmas decorations out this year I had decided to put my Victorian Village cross-stitch shadow boxes on the mantle in my dining room next to the two nutcrackers and one snowman nutcracker.

In setting them up I was reminded about how beautiful the cross-stitch design was and how beautiful they looked in the shadow boxes my younger brother have made for me and which I had sponge painted.

My Victorian house village was created based upon a Dimensions cross-stitch Gold Collection kit called "Christmas Village Ornaments." It was supposed to be a series of Victorian house ornaments with a cross-stitch front and felt cloth back outlined with a braided gold band.

However, I didn't make my Victorian village as cloth ornaments. Instead, I enlisted the help of my younger brother to create wood shadowboxes that I painted with a blue/white/green sponge affect.



I had purchased this kit with the thought of giving the finished projects as Christmas gifts several years ago.

However, like everything else I create cross-stitch I tend to fall in love with the finished products. Some more so than others. Some so much so that, sometimes, I selfishly decide to keep them for myself and my home decor. Okay, to be honest, make that many times.

However, it's not always my fault. Sometimes it's hubbies fault. He, too, tends to fall in love with some of my creations and doesn't want to give them away. So, I guess I'll have to thank hubby for convincing me to keep the Victorian Village.

Now if you really believe I kept the Victorian Village just because hubby loved them and not because they had something to do with the Victorian era I have a bridge I could sell you.....

A fabulous blue house....

A traditional Victorian pink lady......

A bakery.....

A church.....

Rudolph's tree farm....

and, Kringle's toy store.

You would keep them too - wouldn't you?

Gotta Love Nutcrackers

  

This year I decided that my BIG wooden  nutcrackers would stand guard in the kitchen/family room, one on each side of the fireplace.  In putting them out I thought about what happened when I bought the BIG nutcrackers several years ago and brought them home without consulting the "dollies."  What a brouhaha that was.

I had to apologize to the "dollies" not for bringing home dollies that weren't handmade, but because I hadn't consulted them ahead of time.  It's a long story.  If you'd like to read it again I've re-posted it at the end of this post.

Well, after putting the BIG nutcrackers out I decided that two small nutcrackers and one nutcracker snowman that I had bought at a Hallmark store a year or so ago (I think) would look nice on the dining room fireplace mantle with the Victorian Village cross-stitch shadow boxes I had made many years ago.  They were totally adorable and the cutest nutcrackers - even if they aren't handmade.

 

I was a little hesitant in putting them up as I had also purchased these 3 without consulting the "dollies."  I was hoping that since they were so small it really wouldn't matter to the "dollies."

However, the "dollies" can be so unpredictable that I just didn't know what would happen.  It's been a week now and, so far, everything seems to be okay.  Then again we're talking about my "dollies." You just never know with them....

Here's what happened the last time I brought home the BIG nutcrackers without consulting them:

I should have know better. I had a feeling that they were going to cause a stir, but I bought them anyways.

I always prefer handmade items - especially dolls and silk floral arrangements. However, every once in awhile you see something that is just perfect and that you just couldn't make for the price. Such was the case with the BIG wooden Nutcrackers I saw recently at JoAnn's.

But, I should have know better. You see, I had decided this year not to decorate my mantels for Christmas, opting instead to use some of the big dolls, pine-cone arrangements, and silk floral arrangements I had made. Well, after finishing the decorating and being satisfied with the way everything looked hubby happened to mention that he thought two candles framing the sides of our large family room fireplace might look nice.

In thinking about this, I agreed and mentioned maybe large Nutcrackers would be nice, too. I, of course, knew I'd never find any that were affordable and knew that I couldn't make two in time for the holidays.

Well, I just happened to be at JoAnn's the other day buying some Christmas fabric at 50% off and just happened to walk down an aisle of Christmas decorations at 60% off. Well, standing guard in one section of the aisle were Nutcrackers of all different shapes and sizes. I saw some small ones, some medium sized ones, and then I spotted the LARGE 3 foot wooden Nutcrackers. And, they were 60% off.

I thought they would be perfect for the sides of the family room fireplace and, well, how could I pass up a  bargain like that? So, I bought two.

Well, during the ride home I started to think about the Nutcrackers that were standing (or I should say seated) in the back seat of my car and wondered how the "dollies" were going to react. All the BIG dolls in the house were handmade and these two were not. I wasn't sure the "dollies" would like it. I started to get so hesitant about it I almost turned the car around to bring them back.

Then I said to myself, "That's ridiculous, Linda." It was only two dolls after all. What's the big deal?

Well, I should have know better. To put it mildly, the Nutcracker reception in the house was stone cold. Nothing. Not one of the "dollies" came out of The Dollie Storage Room to greet them.

Plus, it was eerily quiet. Not a sound coming out of The Dollie Storage Room. Hubby said, "Do you think they all left?" I didn't know. Would they really resort to such measures? Given that the "dollies" think they're human I just didn't know what their reaction would be. It seemed highly unlikely that all 1,796 of them would just leave over this. After all, the Nutcrackers really were cute and really were perfect for the family room fireplace. But, it was eerily quiet.

So, I went to check on them in The Dollie Storage Room. Well, two of the BIG dolls hubby and I had made were standing guard outside The Dollie Storage Room. When I tried to open the door they wouldn't let me. They blocked my entrance and said, "What's the password." "Password," I said. "What password?"

They responded, "Well, Linda, without the password we can't let you in."

"What," I said. "Are you out of your minds?"

They responded, "Like you were when you decided all on your own to bring two BIG manufactured Nutcrackers into a house of handmade dolls to stand guard without consulting us."

Then I knew. The "dollies" were angry at me and they were taking it out on the Nutcrackers. It wasn't the fact that the Nutcrackers were manufactured dolls. It was that I hadn't consulted them first. They were mad at me not the Nutcrackers.

Since I knew there would be no peace in the Walsh household until I apologized for this slight to the "dollies" I decided to do just that. I said, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking. I should have consulted all of you first, but I just couldn't resist them. They were just so BIG, so perfect, and such a fantastic deal. I just couldn't pass it up."

To which the "dollies" responded in unison, "Just don't let it happen again."

I couldn't believe it. Here I was - a 58 year old woman being chastised by "dollies." I just shook my head and moved aside as 1,796 "dollies" left The Dollie Storage Room to greet the new Nutcrackers. The "dollies" after all did have manners and well, it was only polite to greet the new additions.

And, greet them they did. The party went on into the wee hours of the morning.