Easy Christmas Gifts: DIY Decorated Jars

As I now have about a foot of snow in my yard, maybe more... I thought it would be a good time to start sharing some Christmas projects. I guess the beauty of freshly fallen snow just gets me in that Christmas mood. The reminder that with the birth of Christ we are all offered the free gift of salvation, the opportunity to be washed whiter than snow. 

With that being said, of course Christmas is my favorite holiday to celebrate. I enjoy everything about it... meditating on what my Savior did for me, the costly price he paid for my ransom, the deepness of HIS love. I enjoy the extra time I get to spend with my God, my family , and my friends at this time of year. I look forward to the extra days off from work/ homeschooling  my husband and I will have, to just enjoy what God has blessed us with. And of course I enjoy crafting little pretties for my family and friends.  

Like these super easy decorated jars. These started as Great Value maraschino cherry jars. I washed them and removed the labels. I then used mod podge to adhere the Christmas paper and labels to the jar. Make sure to use 2-sided paper, so that what you see inside the jar looks pretty too. I used Websters pages Botanical Christmas paper. I then used a free printable Christmas label from Pioneer Women found here.

Next,  I Mod Podged the lids and rolled them in Martha Stewart's fine craft glitter. Lastly I used mod podge to adhere the labels to the top of the lid. 

Once the jars are dry, add your favorite snack. I filled mine with chocolate covered cinnamon bears. Yum. 

These were so much fun to make, and I loved the results. I hope you are inspired to make something fun for your loved ones this holiday season. May we all strive to glorify God, by enjoying HIM now and forever more. 

Psalms 51:7

       Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow

I 

A Western Wedding

Yes, I really do remember what I say I will do... I just... sometimes don't manage to get to doing what I said I would do. Well, this is not one of those moments. :-)  I wrote in my last post that I would share details of the wedding with you all, and now I'm going to do just that. If you just so happen to be planning a western themed wedding... OH, enough already,  just let the pictures do the talking.

This is where the bride is to be married. Her brother built this entire set up...

Close up of the sign, the bride's mother made this using a wood burner. 

Close up of flowers and tulle wrapped with twine around the posts.

this is where the guests enter to sign the guestbook and leave their gifts and cards. The guest book rests on an old barrel, and a $2 burlap sack adds a touch of the rustic. 

The guest book and just look at the pen holder!

This is where the guests were to leave their cards. The bucket was purchased at Micheals craft store. Then we wrapped the bucket with tulle and twine.  The "card" sign was made using a free printable vintage frame from Prima Marketing's Facebook page. I distressed the edges with ink and used the pencil transfer technique to print the word "card"( using the font of my choice ) onto the frame image. 

Flowers placed in Mason Jars at each table for the reception. Each jar is wrapped with vintage seam binding, and set on a paper doily. I thought that this added such a charming touch to the wedding. 

Tin cans were used to hold the "Wedding Wishes" tags. Each guest could write a message for the bride!

The tags are a free printable found here. A piece of twine was tied through the top of each tag. The tin cans were just old soup cans, wrapped with tulle and twine. Then the happy couple's brand was added for a final touch.

Let's not forget the cake... isn't it beautiful? ! A very good friend of the bride made this cake for her!

I love the idea of flower filled glasses between each tier! 

This was such a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. May their marriage be a union that will bring honor and glory to God for all of their days. :-) I was so privileged to have been there. 

If you've missed anything:

Bridal shower invitations

Something old/ new/ borrowed/ blue bridal shower

Vintage Chipboard Wedding Album

Wedding Wishes Tags

Thank you for stopping by,

DIY Personalized wood boxes

I really wanted to do something special for my nieces this year for Christmas. They're growing up, and toys just aren't their thing anymore. I thought what girl doesn't want her own private place to keep her special items in...  So I made my nieces these personalized boxes, they really are simple to make, yet look like you paid alot for them in some fancy boutique. I would have loved something like this as a girl! Let me show you how I did it. 

First I started with a plain wood box that had black metal accents. I forgot to take a before picture, but I bought this exact same box from my local Hobby Lobby. Using a 40% of coupon made the cost of the box around $4. 

Next, I painted the entire box using bright white base by Kilz. I even painted completely over the black metal accents. 

Then I sanded the entire box in order to smooth it, and distress it. I really wanted to sand over the metal accents to add that distressed look. 

Now to add some color. To do this I used ordinary acrylic craft paint. I added water to the paint until it was the consistency of colored water. Then I quickly painted the water mixture onto the box, and quickly wiped it off (using an old, dry wash cloth) before it dried. The color stays in the wood grain giving the box a sort of cool, but antique look. The more that you repeat this process the darker that the color becomes, so you control the look of the box.

After the paint dries, I adhered coordinating scrapbook paper to the inside of the box using good ole Mod Podge.

here's another look at the inside of the boxes when finished. 

( tip- if paper wrinkles don't worry, the wrinkles go away once the Mod Podge has completely cured. This should take about 24hrs. Also you can sand off any excess paper that comes out over the top of the box)

For the top of the box, I cut out a bird image from coordinating scrapbook paper. I used Mod Podge to adhere the bird, then I free hand painted the tree limbs. Lastly, I sanded over it all to add that distressed look. 

Now for the best part, The personalizing! I used the pencil transfer technique that I shared in my necklace hanger tutorial. The only difference is that instead of a scroll design, I'm using letters. I found both fonts at dafont.com. You can download any font from their site for FREE! 

This box I made for my son over the summer using an old bread box that I found at my local thrift store. I did have to power sand it first, but it was so worth it! I have many more ideas for boxes using the same techniques. I'll be back to share more with you later... until then, happy crafting!

Christmas paper fun

There is no end to what you could create with a little imagination, and some fun scrapbook papers. I'm loving working with my new Websters pages vintage scrap papers. I purchased the papers from Juliana over at Dolce Scrapbook. Once I added a few embellishments, it was finished. Juliana has been such an inspiration. I'm always excited to create with her. Stop by her blog, and take a look at all of her wonderful creations, while your there be sure to visit her eBay store. You'll find high quality scrap booking supplies that will get your creative juices flowing. 

I actually cut out the bird from the cover of the scrapbook paper tablet, then I used Martha Stewart iridescent  white glitter to add some bling to the bird. Think of it as a little Christmas sparkle. 

The inside of card is an entire page of Websters pages Christmas collection. The only thing that I did to this page is distress the edges using chalk inks, and add more of the glitter to the flower rings. You could add whatever text you want to the middle.

So go on and make something to give to those that you love! I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. I will not post again until after the New Year. Until next time......

Fine print... I'm not endorsed nor affiliated with eBay, Dolce Scrapbook, or Websters Pages. These are simply my opinions.

I'm linking to: Far above Rubies

Beautiful DIY Name Plaque

Today I want to share something with you that my good friend created. It's simply gorgeous, I'm going to copy it for my daughter's room. (using my daughter's name, of course.)

The first step is to select a plaque for the base of the wall hanging. My friend found this one at Hobby Lobby in the bare wood section, she then spray painted the entire plaque white.

She also found these cute, curly wooden letters at Hobby Lobby, then she spray painted them pink.

Once the spray paint had dried, she adhered coordinating patterns of scrapbook paper to the letters using Modge Podge. She just traced the shape of the letter onto the paper, then cut it out.

Once the Modge Podge is dry, then sand to smooth out the Modge Podge using a fine grit sand paper.

Next, she adhered the letters to the plaque using  hot glue. The flowers and leaves are just stickers, how easy it that! I can't wait to make one of my own. This name plaque is to be a Christmas gift for her new baby niece. It's a handmade gift that I'm sure she will cherish for years to come.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Blessings,



My Memories Suite giveaway, and Thanksgiving Place Cards.



I would like to share a product with you, that I've recently enjoyed. It's called MyMemories suite, digital scrapbooking software. Below is an example of what you can do.

I'm not very experienced at digital scrapbooking, but this made scrapbooking much more convenient. I think this is an excellent way to give pictures to family, and friends. Also, scrapbooking is not the only way to make use of this program. You really can use it for so much more. It allows you to create slide shows accompanied by the music of your choice. You can share your pictures in multiple ways, through e-mail, or burn your albums to a dvd, or one of my personal favs. I can craft with it. Here is something that I created using the MyMemories suite.

Place cards for my Thanksgiving dinner! Here's what I did.

first I designed the place cards using the MMS software, just choose your papers, size them up, then add your embellishments.

next, I printed the images onto cardstock

then, cut out the image.

Next, I embellished using Martha Stewart glitters. I just love the extra bling it gives...

and, TA-DA! This was so easy to put together using the MMS program. I have a head full of ideas using this software... 

Give away has ended.

But the best part is that I get to give away the software to one lucky reader!

 Here is what you need to do to enter the give away.

1. Become a follower of my blog, or subscribe by e-mail.

2. go to http://www.mymemories.com/ and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then

3. come back to my blog, and leave a comment telling me what paper pack was your favorite.

The give away will end on Friday. October 14th. So be sure to enter before then. I will announce the winner on Monday, October 17th.

And, if you don't win, you could still buy the program.

My memories is offering my readers $10. off the price of purchase, just enter code STMMMS70145 at checkout. There is no expiration for this offer.

I hope that you enjoy this program as much as I have. Have fun scrappin :)

Blessings,