A Really Pretty Givaway!

               There's a new blogger out there having an end of year GIVEAWAY!  But you have to hurry!



Her name is Teresa and her Blog Is The Shabby Texas Cowgirl .  Her blog is beautiful and so is the giveaway.

So go on over...take a look around... read about the giveaway...and put your name in.

Here's a peek at part of what she's giving away. But there's more...

New Knobs For The Kitchen Cabinets

When we first remodeled our kitchen, the cabinets were finished and the men were waiting on knobs for the cabinets.  I ran to Lowes and grabbed something that would do.  Well, some of them had the finish start to peel off. 

I had bought knobs at Hobby Lobby for a few furniture pieces I refinished, and loved them so much.

I decided to use some of them for the kitchen.

These are olive color.  I knew the color would go beautifully with all of the aquas, linen, and white in the house.

This one is on the pantry door.  They only had one and I need 8 more for all of the drawers.

I have them on order right now. I also need 13 more for the rest of the cabinets.  They are ordered too. So I'll pick them up in a week.

I'll show the whole kitchen then!

They have a "silver" back plate on them and they're faceted like a jewel.

I priced them on the Anthropologie website and they are twice the price of Hobby Lobby's 50% off sale, and they charge $15.00 shipping.  It's well worth a couple of trips to Hobby Lobby to get all that I need. 

And...NO SHIPPING CHARGES!

Although the choices are a little more limited at Hobby Lobby, there are still tons of styles and colors to choose from.

I'm so happy with the ones I picked!!

DIY Chandelier Idea On A Budget!

You know those beautiful double layer light fixtures out there?  We'll here's how you can make your own!Get these beads now while they're 50% or more off!  I used faceted silver.  The smooth ones look beautiful too. I used the medium size ones.  Not the little ones.  You can use any color.  Even the pearlized ones.

One of those fat plastic tubes did about 1/3 of the lamp.  I would buy 4 tubes to be safe. They're so cheap, and at the after Christmas sales everywhere!!

You'll need a metal wire wreath form.  Mine is a 12 inch size. I spary painted it silver.

(In this picture you can see a close up of the key ring chains)

I cut my strips of beads in 25 inch lengths.  The way I hung mine made the lamp 15 inches high.

You can customize how ever you want.

I hung mine from the kitchen light fixture wirth a twist tie, just to hold it there while I worked on it.

Make the twist tie very secure so it doesn't slip off.

I just started hanging the beads with the outside shorter.  When I got them all on...I started adjusting the lengths to all be the same.  Again...the outside layer is shorter.

This is hanging a little crooked because I don't have enough chains added yet.  The chain at the top is little packs of key rings.  I added as many as I needed to make the length I wanted.

The wreath form has joints on it.  Attach the chain lengths to those areas.  I'm showing 3 but you'll need to add as many lengths as there are joints.

Note ~ When we hung ours, we got the cheapest pendent light we could find at Lowes.  You can use a hanging lamp kit too. We wanted a little frosted glass shade over the light bulb for a softer light.  We wired the pendent to the center ceiling hole and and hung the new "chandelier" so the light was down through the center of the beads....I'm sorry... I can't remember how we hung the bead part from the ceiling.  It was so long ago. We may have drilled holes in the ceiling fixture cover plate.  Or use one key ring to bring all of the lengths together and use some wire to attach it to the screw at the celing base. 

I know this doesn't help, but I really can't remember.

I know you all are so creative out there.

If you have any ideas leave them as a comment so others can read them.

Kelly

What I've Been Up To...

Have you ever made a Tie Blanket?

Well... Let me tell you!  These things are fun to create, pick out fleece colors, and match to the people you're making them for.

Making the ties is another story.  After awhile you get good at it though.

I made all of these for Christmas gifts for my family.

Hancock Fabrics has table after table of this fleece.  It's always on sale at Christmas time.

When you gather up all of your fabric, it can be 8,10,12 cuts at the cutting table.

And you're usually waiting behind someone having the same amount cut.

It's a long visit to the store!!

This one is for my son who lives in San Francisco. He's about all things brown.  Knit caps, t-shirts, hoodies, socks.  I knew his had to be brown.

This one is for my other son in Southern CA.  When he came to visit last summer, he went out and bought some camo swim shorts.  I thought of him when I saw this.  I love the camel color I put with it.

This one is for his girlfriend.  I backed it in heather grey instead of black or white.  It's so soft and pretty.

A few years ago, another one of my sons in CA said he wanted "one of those red and black check flanel shirts".  So this reminded me of him.

It's funny...as you're making all of the ties..you get lost in your thoughts about the person you're making it for.

It's such a great feeling.

This one is for my sister's dog "Lucy".  She's a Boston Terrier mix who was in a shelter for a year waiting to be adopted.  My sister saw her and took her home to live with them.  She waited so long for a home, and she's the most precious, loving, sweet little dog.  Oh when I think of the amazing dogs and cats in shelters waiting for good homes, that people will ever know about..

And this one is for Lucy's mama...my sister.  I made her's wintery and fun.

And then her husband who loves everything blue.  Every Christmas someone gives him a blue shirt or blue jammies.  On Dec. 27 last year he had a terrible brain bleed.  Just out of nowhere.  He was walking Lucy and came in with a terrible headache.  Who would have know when we were all so happy at Christmas last year.

I'm happy to say, a year later he is doing great after lots of therapy.  Thank God.

Like I said...you think about the person the whole time you're making the blanket.

This one is for my little 3 yearold grandaughter Avery.  It's hot pink "Hello Kitty" and hot pink Scottie Dogs.

She's going to look so precious wrapped up in this.

Now for my oldest son. (Yes...I have 5 of them. 5 sons)   Avery's father.  He's loves motercycles and paints the gas tanks.  Not all flames, but I thought this one would be fun for him.

And his wife...my sweet daughter-in-law.  She did their room in dark grey, black and white.  I hope she likes this one.

My "oh so fun younger sister"  I knew I could make her's bright and happy.  I just went all out on FUN!

And her husband.  His isn't as fun, but he's such a serious person. lol

I think he has a shirt like this  ;)

Last year I made a few from college team fleece, Washington Redskins,  Hannah Montana, and a camo one for our black lab "Sugar"  (she sleeps on it every night)

Give it a try!! 

I can think a few more I need to make!

Tips For Making Them

I buy 1 and 2/3 yards of fleece. (in 2 colors)  This makes a 60" square blanket.  (if you use 1 yard, it will look like a bath towel when finished.)

The finished selvege edges have a lot of stretch to them, so after you cut off that edge, your fringe cuts can be a little wider and shorter.

I'd say about 1 and 1/4" wide and 2 and 1/2" long.

For the other 2 sides, cut the strips about 1" wide, and 3-3 1/2" long.  They will all look the same after the selvage side fringe stretches.

This side is soooo hard to tie if they're too short or wide. So be sure the strips are long and skinny.

If you buy plaid...make sure when they cut it they follow the lines on both sides of the folded fleece.  Or you will have to cut off a bunch to make your plaid lines straight.

I only cut the fringe on one side at a time.  I lay it on the guest room bed. That way I can close the door from the animals if I have to stop in the middle of makng it.

For your corners, cut out a square at each corner.  This little square will be the same length as your fringes.  This will meet up your corner fringe perfectly.

Kelly