When the Spirit moves...

When the spirit moved for me the other day, I knew immediately I had to pull up my boot straps and move with it! And, in case you were wondering, I'm referring to Christmas decor...
I've had my tree and decorations up for a while now....just wasn't feeling very inspired or creative this year. Until I found these stockings I sewed last year and threw in a drawer! My goal for 2012 is "finish what you start" so what better time than the present to start!


The stockings are not your standard size....more for elves I would say. They are made out of osnaberg fabric and embellished with some fun bits and pieces.

I adhered some old watch faces to some pleated ribbon, as well as the numbers 2 and 5....a nod to my junk sister Andrea.

Next up, an aluminum "C" for "Cassie" or "Christ" or "Christmas" and some jingle bells....for dashing through that snow we don't have just yet....

In secret anticipation of said snow, how about a sparkly snowflake ornament with a vintage button taking center stage?

What could be prettier than a vintage mother-of-pearl buckle? How about a m-o-p buckle with some rhinestone bling added?

I used twine to make loops for the stockings, and added some evergreen from one of my shrubs. Yes, the evergreen is dry. We need snow....shh...

They're small enough to hang almost anywhere...

Here they adorn a chippy, open shelf cabinet bottom....my make-shift mantel for the season!

Dear Spirit.....please move me much earlier next year!

Find more holiday spirit here:

Happy Holidays everyone!

Semi-homemade DIY shelf

Hello everyone! I'm joining Kimba's DIY party over at A Soft Place to Land for a little show and tell about my most recent project for my kitchen. I'm calling this shelf "semi-homemade" since I already had some gorgeous factory made corbels...just had to purchase some trim and a board for the shelf top. Here's a peek at the finished product holding some of my favorite white ironstone and pottery....all decked out for the holidays!

The corbels were given to me by our local lumberyard a few years back when we were building our house. The architect ordered the wrong style/size, and since they were a custom color/glaze, they were not returnable to the manufacturer. Yay me!

I went to my nearest home store (only 130 miles away!) and found some trim, which I think may actually be chair rail, and a nice hardwood board for the shelf top.

After calculating and measuring for size, I cut my pieces and began gluing and nailing (I've come to love my nail gun!) This may not seem like a terribly difficult project to you, and truthfully, it wasn't.....but you must understand, angles and me...we don't always get along so well. I figure that's why somebody created wood filler!!

Here it is in it's assembled, wood-filled state:

I knew I could never replicate the factory finish on the corbels, so I decided to create my own. I used Kilz spray primer in white to coat the entire piece. After drying, I lightly sanded it with fine grit paper and fine steel wool. Paint? Nope...just primer! The finish after the steel wool was perfectly smooth.

I then coated the entire piece with Ralph Lauren's smoke-tinted glaze, thanks to the gals over at Shanty to Chic for sharing one of their secret weapons! I left some of the glaze in the crevices of the corbels and it just naturally soaked into the imperfections on the trim, the rest I wiped off lightly.

I LOVE the results!

You could easily make a similar shelf with shelf brackets, unfinished corbels, or even antique corbels and get the same results.

Thanks for tagging along! Happy Holidays...stay warm!