Janet of All Trades

I love decorating and Christmas is the perfect holiday for me since I can re-decorate the whole house temporarily with old and new items. I especially like trees and in the past few years I have either made or found some of the most amazing renditions of Christmas trees to decorate my house.  It all started about 40 some years ago when I really wanted a Christmas tree for my bedroom. Reason being that one of my older sisters had this huge magnificent artificial tree in her room and I wanted one too. So my little brain started to work on how I could build my own. I proceed to cut some evergreen bows from a tree in our backyard and stuck them in a coffee can with a little dirt. I made a paper chain and ornaments out of felt. It was perfect and so the obsession begun. Since then I have always had a real tree for Christmas up until a few years ago when it just did not seem right to be throwing a tree to the street every year.  I then became obsessed again with making tr...

While wandering around West Elm, I came across some Burlap covered books being used on a display. I thought they were interesting and knew I needed to make them. So I collected my materials. A few old books,burlap and Mod Podge. Now this is an easy project with great results. First I cut a piece of burlap just larger than the book. Then I completely covered one side of the book with Mod Podge. The carefully wrapped the burlap around the book.It gets a little messy but the results are wonderful. I made a few with a geometric fabric as well and really like they way they turned out. I probably make more since they so easy and make a great impact on decorating! Enjoy!

This year I have been working and creating with burlap on many projects and I was excited to see that Martha Stewart has an eye for it as well. Numerous Items in Burlap and the color of the summer,Yellow. On closer inspection of I noticed some burlap covered candles from Jayson Home and Garden I think someone else had this idea too.. Well my name isn't Martha, but sometimes I think it should be! Enjoy!

I recently bought this large lantern for our patio and was perplexed on what to place in it. It needed two large candles but after some research the two candles were four times as much as what I paid for the lantern!Then I remembered that I had two battery operated candles that I could use. After placing them in the lantern, I realized they are much too small,too busy and just the wrong color. So I decided to make a sleeve out of burlap to make the candles tall and change the color. I cut two pieces about 1" and 4" longer than the top of the candle and then hand sewed up the side. The burlap added a little height and color to the lantern, but it still needed something a little more. My husband suggested a little bit of twine to add some interest! I think that it helped lighten up the color a bit and added a little more texture.  Now I just need to stay outside late enough to turn them on! Enjoy!