Cats and Christmas Decorations

     I did my decorating in the house for Christmas.  I pulled out three big bins of decorations and got it done last night.  I don't put up a regular Christmas tree because I have two cats and I gave up my precious Christmas tree when the cats came to live here.  I do have a nice collection of small trees and I put those on my dining room table. 

    One of the newer things I bought to decorate for Christmas this year was this pretty ceramic mixing bowl that I found at Marshalls.  I added a small lighted tree to it.  I found the tree at Lowes, but I also saw it at  Joann's and it was cheaper at Joann's.  I love it.  This picture was taken on my kitchen counter but this mixing bowl and tree will not stay there because, well, cats.  I know that any large glass decorative items I want to keep need to be placed on the floor.  My cats can be kind of crazy when they are chasing one another through the house.  If the bowl is already on the floor, I don't have to worry about it.

Another Christmas Craft

I've been watching Christmas DIYs on YouTube and I saw a couple of ladies cover Styrofoam cones with fabric or scarves to make Christmas trees and I decided to try it.

I bought my Styrofoam cone at Hobby Lobby last Saturday using my 40% coupon and I saved a three dollars on it.  I found the cute fabric in my Christmas fabric stash, I bought the silver star at Michael's on Sunday and saved a couple of dollars on that with my frequent buyer membership, I had the piece of round board (I bought it for a decoupage project, but it was perfect for this tree), and I bought some sliver metallic paint to paint the board.  I had a chance to use my glue gun and I used up two regular stick of glue putting this together.  Fun. 

I'm loving this tree.

Yarn Hat Christmas Ornaments

I've been wanting to make these for the last couple of years but I didn't have the time until now.  I found several youtube tutorials on how to make these.  I used a 1 inch section of a toilet paper roll as the basis for this hat.  I got three pieces from one toilet paper roll, hence the three ornaments you see here.  I ended up cutting my yarn pieces about 12" long and I cut 50 of them to make sure it covered the entire piece of cardboard.  It took me about 10 minutes to cut the yarn and another 40 minutes to secure the yarn onto the piece of cardboard and finish the ornament.

Here's a link to a tutorial.  Youtube tutorial on yarn hat ornaments.

Easy Christmas Ornaments

I found a very cute tutorial to make some easy Christmas ornaments with fabric and fusible fleece (link below).  I didn't have anything specific in my Christmas fabric stash to use for these, so I went on etsy and found a fabric that will be fun to use.  This is Susan Wingate's Snowman Stitches.  I have to check my ribbon stash to see if I have some pretty ribbon to make hangers.

Link to Easy Christmas Ornaments.

Here is the fabric I want to use.

I think these square pieces will be lovely as ornaments with ribbon.  Can't wait to get this fabric.

Return From An Amazing Vacation

Last week my dear daughter, my dear friend and I took off on a week driving trip.  We planned a trip from Florida to Savannah, Georgia and then to Asheville, North Carolina and back again.

Our first stop was Tybee Island Lighthouse and Fort Screven.

We walked the River district, and the historic section of downtown Savannah.  We also took a Ghost Tour one evening.

We took a day to drive up to Asheville, North Carolina and play in the mountains.  We had a low key birthday celebration for dear daughter on her birthday.  We spent the day walking through Asheville downtown and boosting the local economy.  Dear daughter finally opened her gift and loved it.  I gave her Stitch ears so she will have special ears for future trips to Disney World.

We spent a day at the Biltmore Estate meeting another friend for the day, toured the house, ate lunch at the Stables, bought souvenirs and returned to our vacation rental very tired.

Our last day in North Carolina we wanted to drive up to Mount Mitchell but the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed because of ice on the roads.  We did manage to visit the visitors centers on the Parkway.  We drove over to Hendersonville and spent the morning and part of the afternoon looking at the local history in the old courthouse.  There is a beautiful quilt that memorializes the local history in that courthouse.  

Then we went to Grandad's Apple Orchard for apple cider doughnuts.  Here is the view from that property.

Our last stop was Chimney Rock.  The road up to the view was full of hairpin turns.   I enjoyed this stop more than I thought I would.  You take an elevator up 26 stories from the parking lot and you arrive at the top of the rock.  The views were amazing.  Then you can walk up 44 steps to another section of the rock for more views.  Here is a picture of Lake Lure from Chimney Rock.

That was our vacation.  I got one ear warmer knit on vacation.  Here it is.  This was the Licorice Red Heart yarn that I bought last month.

Gifts Wrapped With Fabric

 Dear daughter will get these gifts next week and I promised I would let you see them as well.  These are the packages I wrapped with fabric (dogs in Halloween costumes), sewing up the ends with contrasting thread and big stitches, adding a fun ribbon.