A Glittering Christmas House~

This is my house last Christmas. This is the last Christmas we will be spending here. Since this little house is the first house the Hubby and I purchased, I am slightly melancholy about that.

After seeing all the glitter projects in the November issue of Martha Stewart Living, I was inspired to immortalize this little house in glitter.

First, I had to tweak the picture a little bit. I wanted it to look like it was taken on a snowy day. So I went to one of my favorite photo-editing websites, Picnik, and made her look like this...



Much better. Now, I must warn you, the rest of these pictures are horrible. Try as I might, I couldn't get them to turn out the way I wanted, but because I know that my fabulous readers have equally fabulous imaginations, you will all know how utterly fabulous this project really turned out to be. (fabulous.)

I started out by printing 4 copies of the photo. Then I cut them into pieces, because my goal was to give the finished project a 3D effect. So piece #1 is the entire photo. Piece #2 is just the house. Pieces #3 and #4 are the dormers and the lawn, stairs and trees/bushes in front of the house. And piece #5 is just the lawn.

Then I got to have some serious fun. I used a paintbrush and spread Mod Podge (because I like it better than glue for glitter projects) over the snow on each of the pieces and poured glitter over the Mod Podge to create glitter-y snow!

Here's where the pictures really don't do the project justice. I was trying to get a good photo where you can see the 3D effect, and you can kind of tell in these, but not really. What I did at this point was use those puffy adhesive squares that you can buy at any scrapbooking/craft store to layer each piece over the one below until I achieved an adorable 3D glitter-y version of my cute house all dolled up for Christmas.

You can kind of see the 3D effect in this photo better. But anyway, I put the whole project in a pretty white shadowbox frame, and now when I pull it out every year for Christmas, I'll remember our first house with fondness! Wouldn't it be fun to make one for each house we live in? With the rate at which we move, I'll have my own Christmas village in no time. ;-)

Have a great Wednesday~

J'adore Papier~

Before we get into my real post for today...YES, this is the Shabby Nest...just playing around with a bit of a new look. (I keep changing the header - so you may see a different one if you come back later.) Any thoughts? ...and please, be gentle :-)

If you have been reading my blog for very long at all, you may have noticed that I am infatuated with paper...or papier (because as Fancy Nancy would say "everything sounds fancier in French"!)

I adore paper....stationery, craft paper, scrapbook paper, handmade paper, wallpaper...you name it. And, as a natural result of this infatuation, I love crafting with paper. I love to draw, I love to create, I just love to make things with paper.

Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite recent paper crafts with you, along with links to any tutorials I have for them.

First up...these beautiful paper flowers. I just found this tutorial last week via One Pretty Thing. Aren't they just lovely? (And so, so easy!)

Next, these darling paper stars. These are so much fun to add to a package you are sending to someone special. I actually got the instructions to make these from Family Fun Magazine, but couldn't find them online, so I did my own tutorial here.

This is an Easter photo, but the cute little rabbit comes from a great website called Toymaker where you can print out lovely paper toys! Just cut, fold and glue. So. much. fun.

Also an extension of my love of paper...a love of books...especially old ones. Last Halloween, I created this festive fellow. Without the pieces of paper that create the jack-o-lantern face, the book still has a place of honor on my buffet. Just love it!

And finally, my sweet glitter heart ornaments. Have I told you all how much I love glitter? Well, I do! And these hearts were so fun to make too!! Here's a link to the post where I tell you all how I made them.

Hope you all got a little papier inspiration today...

And a reminder that I will be hosting a Frugal Friday Linky Party here on Friday! Hope to have you all join up with your Frugal OCD* decorating projects! *Obsessively Consumed with Decorating.

Happy Labor day~

Affordable and Fun Spring Decor

Welcome back to Spring Spruce-up Week at the Shabby Nest! Since everyone is very budget conscious now-a-days, I thought I'd share some Spring decorating ideas that don't cost a lot of money! After all, we still want our homes to look pretty even if we don't have a fortune to spend. Whenever I need fun ideas, I turn to...what else? The internet! And Blogland, in particular.

First up! Pretty eggs...This idea came from an idea for decoupaged spheres found here. I just love these! I'm actually going to make some of them later with some of my toile wrapping paper. (Just can't get enough toile!) But I decided to adapt the idea for spring/Easter, and this is what I came up with...decoupaged plastic Easter eggs...with lots of glitter. I just used scrapbook paper, Mod Podge and glitter...lots of glitter. They're so pretty! I *heart* them.

Next, more little birdies. I gave you all the link to the pattern for these pretty birds in this post. This is a great pattern because these little pretties can be adapted for all seasons. For spring, I decided to make some in a soft linen. I love them, but Mr. One isn't so sure. He thinks they're kind of "ugly" was the exact word he used. But then I could tell he felt bad, and tried to make it up to me. Ah well, he's only 8 after all. I still love them. And I think they will transition nicely to summer as well.

If you haven't already heard of the Toymaker, you will thank me! It is an amazing site, chock full of paper lovelies for you to print and make. This sweet little bunny is actually part of a game that you can make from the site, but I thought it was so cute, I needed to make one for Easter.

I just had to share this next idea with you. I ran across it in this month's edition of Good Housekeeping! Don't these cherry blossom branches look amazing?? Those little blooms are made of tissue paper. Fashioned into flowers and hot glued to the branches. I was going to do this and post my creation, but I just haven't had the time yet (little Mr. Three has a birthday this week, and I have been busy getting crafty for that...pics next week!) But I guarantee that I will try this and post my results later.

Photo from Good Housekeeping

And finally, I simply love it when I get links to Pixies that my readers have created. I had to share this darling pixie created by Attic Gal Rachelle. Isn't she amazing? Check out her little wings...Easter eggs! And the sweet little tutu made from silk flower petals? So cute. Hop over and check it out.

Photo from Attic Gals

I hope that these ideas will help put some "Spring" in your homes!!

Join me tomorrow for some more spring/Easter decor and a little surprise too!

Have a lovely Wednesday~

Inspire-Me Tuesday~

I may or may not have mentioned it before, but I have a bit of a love affair with paper. I love stationery of all kinds. I have an obsession with scrapbook paper. I love to create with paper. Paper. Paper. Paper.

The Princess turns 6 on Friday. So we are in the throws of creating a Fancy Nancy birthday party. Normally, being the paper-obsessed person that I am...my favorite part of throwing a party is creating the invitations. SERIOUSLY. One of these days I'll share a few of my creations... But, while browsing in Target, I ran across these darling invitations by Anna Griffin. (The girls can wear them...)


And I did a first a for me. I purchased invitations. But seriously, folks, these little crowns are perfect for Fancy Nancy invites...I admit, I did add a little glitter glue to look like gems, but other than that...perfection.

So, just for fun, I looked up the Anna Griffin website. If you love paper...or fabric...or just eye candy...pop over. And her blog is wonderful too. Here are a couple of photos that inspired me.

I would love to have one of these in my craft room/studio with pretty papers spilling out of every nook and cranny.

Last two photos from Anna Griffin Blog

I saw a piece very similar to this at Brimfield last summer. Oh how I would have loved to bring it home. sigh.

Now go forth, inspire, and be inspired.

AND DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE DRAWING (ON MONDAY'S POST ONLY) FOR THE LOVELY CROWN NECKLACE. DRAWING ENDS WEDNESDAY!

A Little Valentine Project~

Early in January I found this cute Valentine wreath on the Williams Sonoma website.

Image from Williams Sonoma

But I decided I could make one I like even better (and save myself a little $$). So I set to work trying to find some vintage Valentine printables on-line. I had no luck until a couple of days ago when Heather Bullard posted some free vintage Valentines. They are so cute! So I printed them up for my wreath.

I didn't want to use as many Valentine's as they used in the WS wreath because I thought it was a bit "busy" for my taste. So I just used one of each. They made a circle just the size of one of my dinner plates. So I traced one out on some cardboard and used a small bowl for the inner circle. I cut out the wreath shape, and simply used stick glue to adhere the cards to my cardboard wreath.

It was very cute, but I decided that it needed a little something more, so I used some Mod Podge and glitter...of course! Added a pretty little bit of ribbon and VOILA! I just love it!

Happy Crafting~

The Sweetheart Tree~

Okay, so in third grade we had a music teacher that taught us some of the most obscure songs imaginable. But there was one that has always stuck in my head... and I find myself singing it occasionally in spite of myself. It is rather sweet, and very applicable to the *heart* holiday. It's called the Sweetheart Tree.

They say there's a tree in the forest,
A tree that will give you a sign.
Come away with me, to the sweetheart tree
Come and carve your name next to mine.

They say if you kiss the right sweetheart,
The one you've been waiting for,
Big blossoms of white, will burst into sight,
And your love will be true ever more.

A little cheesy...yes. But here, my dear readers, is my sweetheart tree.

I took my glittery hearts, and added a little sheer cream ribbon. Then hung them on my thankful snowflake sweetheart tree. I left the little birdie there because he looked so happy sitting amidst all the glitter! I just love Valentine's Day!

I'm off to get some more pillows made for my Etsy...

Have a lovely weekend~

Love Me Some Glitter~

I had some fun this weekend. My snowflake tree is in need a facelift for Valentine's Day, so I spent Sunday afternoon making some heart ornaments. The best thing about it was the fact that I sat at the kitchen table with Mr. One (My 8-year-old for those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about) who was working on an altered composition book. Yes, Mr. One is an artist. He was busy cutting and pasting Star Wars Lego figures to the cover. He has a sense of humor, that kid. When he showed me his finished product, he had given light sabers to a Spongebob character, and Patrick too. I just loved that we could sit there together and create. So. much. fun.

Here's what I came up with...

I just freehanded heart shapes onto some chipboard, then I cut them out, and decoupaged on some scrapbook paper. I used some distressing ink to give them a vintage-y feel, and to tone down the color, and then I glittered them all up. They turned out so cute...I wish you could see the glitter better...but I had to use "indoor lighting" (gasp!) so the photos are a little yellow. But you all are clever, and I know you get the idea. I'll have to take some pics of the tree when I'm all done. (Still have to make a few more hearts, I think.)

Have a lovely Monday~