Christmas 2017

Christmas 2017

 

RUDY THE WONDER REINDEER

I can’t believe the last time I posted was in May.  My how time flies.  Here it is Christmas and I have just finished decorating.  Health has been a big issue this year, so decorating has been kept to a minimum. 

After looking around Pinterest for a while, I decided to paint my tree.  It is an inexpensive green plastic tree from a local craft store and not too bad looking, but I was just tired of green.  After three cans of white spray paint the tree was done, but not completely to my liking.  It is not white, it is sorta, kinda greenish-blue?  But when I added all the balls, etc. it looks quite good, and expensive.

In case this is the first time you have read me, here’s pictures of my tree from 2015 and 2016. 2015 is my "hillbilly" tree, and yes, it is in a milk can.  2016 is my “dolly” tree, those are some of my dollies I collect for Christmas.  

  

This year I decided to go a different route completely.  I call this my “glam” tree.  I am not glamorous, but I think my tree turned out perfectly. 

First picture is tree just painted.  It was pre-lighted, so I just painted the lights, too.  You can’t really tell and it gives the lights a muted quality.  In this picture, up close, it actually looks white, but in fact, from a distance it does not.  There were small pinecones already on the tree, so I painted them, too. 

This next picture is from a distance and still just lighted.  No decorations.

 

Just lights, see, it still looks sort of green.

But up close it looks white!!!

Whiter still.....

These next pictures are just various pics I took. I am not a photographer so some turn out good, others not so much.  I couldn’t decide which where the best, so I just put all of them up.  You can decide which are the best.

Here it actually looks almost blue.

But here it looks green.....

And here almost white.....

White?  Blue?  

After I finished the tree, I continued to peruse Pinterest for ideas, and stumbled upon sites with decorated chandeliers.  Since I have a large chandelier over my dining room table, and we always eat Christmas dinner there, I decided to decorate it.  I could not have done it without the Hubster.  He is my spouse, my caregiver, my lover, my everything.  Last April we celebrated 50 years of marriage.  WOW!!!  He did an incredible job on the chandelier.  He cut the magnolia and holly (from our yard), and I had bleached the pinecones I got from my neighbor.  I affixed the balls and crystals to the chains and more crystals and he managed to get them hung up without pulling down the chandelier, or falling off the ladder.  A job well done, Hubster!!!!

 

I think this is the best picture.  I really love the way it turned out.

It's almost impossible to tell just how large this chandelier is.  It is 10 lights making it big.

Up close...clear balls, white balls, pinecones....AND CRYSTALS

Closer still

Well, except for the snowman wreath I made, and my dollies, that’s about all the decorating I have done so far.  Here’s some miscellaneous pictures of the wreath and some of my dollies. 

 

Nativity from 1953, painted white

So easy to do and looks so good.

Raychelle Reindeer and Santa Mouse

Reinbear and Snowy

My “couch” dollies and the newest member of the family – Randolph Reindeer.  Isn’t he a cutie?  But not as cute as Rudy.

Randolph Reindeer

Yep, that’s Rudy Reindeer looking over the nativity.  He’s real nosy, has to be in on everything.  One of these days I’ll blog about Rudy’s adventures, I’ve got a whole album of him doing his “thing”. 

And Rudy

That’s all folks for now.  Wishing everyone Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, and a very, very Joyous New Year.  I’ll be back in January with something awesome, it may be food related – hint, hint……

And remember – Never give in, Never surrender and God bless.

Bizzylizzy a/k/a/ Victoria

10 LITTLE LAMPSHADES

10 LITTLE LAMPSHADES

finally done

Hello again.  I know back in January I promised to have another post soon, but when you have health issues sometimes that just goes out the window.  But I am back now. 

      Remember the January post about the practice lampshade I did?  It turned out okay, so I went ahead and redid the 10 shades for the chandelier that had been languishing in the bathtub for a year.  Hubs got it hung up and I got the shades on.  It’s in the master bathroom. 

      The first picture is Hubs holding it up just so you can see what it really looks like.  The next picture is a close-up of the shades, in process and done.

      This application was a bit different from the one in January’s post.  I discovered that on the shades with the braid trim all I had to do was lift the braid up and gently, but firmly, slide the fabric under and then re-glue (just a tiny bit of glue).  I, of course, painted  the glue on the back of the fabric with a small paintbrush, and a bit on the shade, especially around the edges where the fabric would be.

     

However, on the shades with the flat trim it was a bit more difficult.  The trim was firmly glued down so I had to approach it from a different direction.  As you can see from the pictures, I over lapped the trim then just added more trim over that.

     

     It wasn’t too difficult, just time consuming and patience exhausting.  Yes, I exhausted all my patience with this one, but it’s done now and I really like it.  Here it is all done and pretty.

     And that folks is all there is for now.  I am working on a post with my “garden” and painted pots, along with a nice post about fermenting veggies.  This should be of interest especially to those with any kind of Adrenal Insufficiency.  We tend to crave salt and fermented veggies are a bit saltier than regular veggies unless you load them up with table salt.  So, keep a look out, it shouldn’t be too long before I have it up.

      And as always, thank you for reading me and please bookmark me, pin me, and come back often.

      And remember – Never give in, Never surrender, and God bless.

Victoria

a/k/a BizzyLizzy

PAINTED POTS

PAINTED POTS

I haven’t been doing a lot lately, it’s hot, it’s humid, and my allergies are acting up. The tissue people are making a fortune off me.  I did get my “garden” going and I already have baby squashes.  The peas are doing okay, just slow.  I thought by now they would have been a lot larger, and the okra is just sort of sitting there.  The tomatoes and green beans are healthy looking and growing, but in my opinion, slowly. 

We have been spending a lot of time just sitting on the deck this year and I just could not stand looking at all those mismatched pots. Some had something like cement on them, and others were just permanently dirty.  Some of the pots are over 20 years old (the small terra cotta ones). 

So what did I do?  I painted them, of course.  It’s one of the things left that I can do.

  Now I’m not going to tell you how to paint a pot, but I will give you a few pointers to make it easier if you are a beginner.

#1.  Have no fear.  If you mess up, just paint over it.

#2.  Soak your pots and saucers in warm water for at least two (2) hours before trying to paint them.  Sit them out in the sun to dry.

#3.  Spray paint is great.  Spray paint the pot, then get your craft paint and paint the top a different color, and stencil a pretty design on the lower part.  When dry, spray on a sealer.

#4.  If you are not a stenciler, there are a few things you need to know – less is more.  Use a stencil brush and almost no paint.  Look on Pinterest for more detailed stenciling instructions.

#5.  You don’t have to do it all at one time.  Take one day to spray paint, then decorate at your leisure.

 

I have sprinkled photos of my pots throughout this post.  Some are hand painted, some are stenciled and some are still unfinished.  I’ll get to them before summer is over.  

So just dig in and do it.  Your plants will thank you, your deck or patio will thank you and your family and neighbors will thank you.

And remember – Never give in, Never surrender and God bless.

And as always, thank you for reading me and please bookmark me, pin me, and come back often.

Until next time,

Victoria

a/k/a BizzyLizzy

I DID IT!!!  REVAMPING A LAMPSHADE

     As I was surfing around Pinterest the other day I saw a tutorial recovering (updating – upcycling – revamping) a lampshade.  I have several that could use a makeover, but I also have a 10 light chandelier I purchased in Dec. 2015.  It has been languishing in the bathtub in the Master Bath.    I couldn’t decide where to hang it, it is, after all, 10 lights!!!  That’s quite large, but I decided this week to hang it in the bathroom. 

     When I saw the makeovers on those lampshades I was inspired.  I bought lampshades off e-bay as they were more affordable than the ones around town, even with the postage.  All 10 are not alike, 5 are the same, and 5 are different, but as I will recover them, they will be the same color, but not the same shape.

     I did not want to tackle this without knowing what I was doing, and I did have an extra one (well, actually two), so today was practice day.  I scoped out some leftover fabric from a few years ago, and started in on the shade.  The first thing I did was remove the banding at the top and bottom, then started taking off the banding down the sides.  After I had removed two, I realized I did not have to remove them completely, all I had to do was loosen the sides and I could slide the fabric underneath and glue it back down.  This saved umpteen hours and fingernails.  But the top and bottom banding had to be removed.  Then I set out to cut a paper pattern.  Easier said than done.  Ever tried to draw a straight line on a curved object.  It cannot be done.  What to do?  Get as close as possible, cut the fabric from the pattern, lay the fabric on the lampshade and cut away what’s not needed.  Be very careful doing this, you need enough to slide under the banding down the sides. 

This is not glued down, only at the top, this way I could see if it was the right size.  It wasn't.  This is the one that was a bit too narrow, but it's barely noticeable, and after all, it is just a practice piece. 

     Cut all the fabric panels at one time and clip them to the top with clothespins.  I did not think of this when I was trying to see if I had cut them correctly, it would have made things so much simpler if I had.  I used fabric glue, NOT hot glue.  This fabric glue will not get soft if the shade gets hot.  I have a sweatshirt jacket with decorations that are fabric glued on and it has been washed and dried numerous times.  This stuff is permanent, and it won’t hurt you, like hot glue, and if you wash up while it is still damp, warm water and soap will do the trick. Once it dries, however, nothing is going to dislodge it.  I have also seen a couple of Pinterest posts using E-6000.  DO NOT use this indoors.  It is toxic and smells to high heaven.  If you have any kind of breathing problems, even a cold, you will regret using this.  Fabric glue is the only way to go.  It does not smell and dries clear.

I “tacked” the top of the panels to the top of the shade to see if they were the right size, most were, one or two had to be trimmed.  One was too narrow, but since this is a practice piece, I just left it.  This shade probably won’t be used for anything, so no harm, no foul.

     Once I determined the pieces fit, I spread the fabric glue on the back of the fabric with a brush and just smoothed it down and under the banding.  This does take some practice, I got better as I went along.  The last few look so much better than the first ones.  After it dried for a while (actually it was about an hour – I needed a rest), I glued the top band and held it in place with clothes pins.  I let it sit for about an hour (needed another rest and a cookie), then glued the bottom band on.  Also held on with clothes pins. 

     Yes, I will put a list of materials you will need and clothes pins will definitely be there.  Luckily Hubs found a whole bag full in the “shed”.  Don’t know where they came from, but was lucky to have them.   

Materials needed:

Lampshade

Parchment Paper

Fabric glue

Pencil

Scissors

Ruler

Clothes Pins

Bias Binding (unless you can reuse what’s on the shade)

Decorative Gimp, Rickrack, etc.

Paper Plate

Small Artists Brush

Instructions:

Remove banding from top and bottom of shade.

Loosen sides of banding down sides.

Cut parchment paper about 8 inches long by 6 inches wide.

Lay shade on side, lay paper inside shade between ribs, draw lines down ribs and across top and bottom.  Remove paper and trim.  This is your pattern.  Make sure it fits between the ribs, you need a little overhang.  It should fit just under the top fold over and the same at the bottom.

Cut out all fabric pieces.  I used 6 different fabrics. I used pinking shears so they would not fray, I also used Fray Stop on a couple. 

Decide which pattern goes where, you don’t want two florals next to each other if you are using mixed patterns.  Also separate the colors if using several different colors.  I reused the banding that came on the original shades.  Because I want some continuity and the white banding provides that, I will be using it on the 10 shades for the chandelier.    They're your shades so you can use whatever you want, but I believe all the shades should have at least one thing in common, and for me it is the banding.

    The bottom banding is a little crooked, but the glue was still wet so I could tweak it a bit, which I did.  As I said, this was a practice piece.  Now that I know what I'm doing, the others will be much easier to do.  

A few tips:

                  Don't get in a hurry.  Set aside enough time so you don't rush.  

                   Use fabric glue instead of hot glue or E-6000.

                   Use pinking shears instead of scissors.

                   Use a paper plate to squeeze out the glue onto, use an artists brush to apply glue.

                   Wash brush while glue is still damp.  After it dries you may as well throw the brush away.  

                   Use lots of clothes pins.

                   Use lots of glue.

                   

 Here are the shades I'll be using for the chandelier and the fabrics.  

To be continued ............

depending on how long it takes me to cover 10 shades.  

I know on my last post I promised pictures of my dining room makeover and library makeover, but there are so few that I decided to just put them here.  

Dining room:

About the only thing changed in here were the windows.  I took down those plantation blinds and put up mini-blinds.  Hubs made the cornices and I painted them.  Just like in the Living Room, first I stained them and then painted over the stain with three different shades of gray.  I know they look blue, but believe me, I did not use any blue paint.  I think the room looks more open and with the plants, more airy.  One of these days I going to get around to getting slipcovers for the chairs.

Library:

This was the office/hobby room.  Because of a couple of conditions I have I had to give up my hobby of making jewelry, so I didn’t need a hobby room anymore.  But we had books, lots and lots of books.  After weeding out and donating a couple of boxes full, this is what we had left.  As of today, Hubs has added even more, so we are looking for places for more bookcases.  It still isn’t quite finished, so will be an on-going, never-ending project.

Hobby room - before

Now it's a library, sort of......an on-going project.

     As it progresses I'll post more pictures.  One of these days I hope to be finished.  Unlike Ms. Remington, I will not build forever in hopes of making amends.  And hopefully someday I will learn how to take decent pictures.

     So until later, Rant, Rave, Redecorate and try new Recipes.  Hopefully next time I'll have some new recipes and a few Raves.  I've just about given up Ranting......it just takes too much energy.

     Victoria

     a/k/a Bizzylizzy

Any and all comments are welcomed.  And pin me on Pinterest.