Christmas Gifties: Stuff I Made

I was waiting till all the gifts were received before posting pic's but I've decided to just prewarn! I actually had to open some of the gifts to photograph them! So, Heather, If you are reading this, you might want to stop!


These are photo album covers I made for family. Here are all the boring details if you are interested:I made the jackets out of either brown or black felt stitched with lime green and cream thread. I found the image of the baby from a vintage baby book, then scanned it and did stuff to it in my paint program..Like cleaning it up and changing the color to a sepia tone. The dark circles seen are actually Pumkinbutt's name spelled out in those neat scrap book stickers that look like old typewriter keys, those were also scanned in (however, I blacked them out for this photo...You never know what identity stealing creeps might be out there!). Next I printed out the completed image on white t-shirt iron-on transfer paper and applied it to a cream colored canvas duck material. I attached this to the felt with fabric glue. Along the edges of the image I put grosgrain ribbon. On the brown covers I used a lime green with brown dots along with some that is brown with a cream stitching down the middle. On the black album I put a black ribbon that had an off-white stitching down the middle (just like what I used on this cigar box purse) along with some ribbon that looks like a measuring tape. I also did this whole process on the spines of the albums.





This is a wrist cuff type bracelet I made for heather. It has a velvety leopard print ribbon with 2 vintage buttons sewn on.

I made this choker for a gal I know that is really into Goth stuff. It is made from some pre-eyeletted (if that is even a word) ribbon that looks like leather. I made the charm from shrinky dink of an image that she has always liked. It is of a cute bat that is on a onesie of Pumkinbutt's from when he was a baby. I also made her boyfriend a matching wrist band out of the eyelet material.


A tabbed revamped notebook. I made it from one of those non-spiral-ringed composition notebooks, a vintage record album cover and a little glitter. There are three tabs on the right side made from part of the cover.

These are Christmas ornaments that I made for family.

the ornaments are made from clear glass balls from Michael's. I then put a photo backed with a piece of festive paper,some fluffy stuff to rest on the bottom (fake snow or red paper crinkles), red vinyl number stickers for the year, and an actual vintage Christmas seal (seen on the back side). I also did some etched dots on some but they don't really show up in the pic's.
I also made a notebook for my step father and an earring and necklace set for my mom but forgot to take pic's...
Whew! These 2 posts have taken me 2 days to do! Thanks for reading!

Christmas Gifties: What I Got

I received alot of really nice stuff this year, I certainly didn't deserve. Pumkinbutt got these cool vintage games from my mom along with a retro radio flyer roadster (to name just a few things). Since I see these as kinda for me too (he he) I decided to put the pictures of them up.
Pictured above are the things that my friend and fellow Dixie Doll, Heather, made me. 2 magnets (pictured at top,right) from images of vintage ladies with sassy sayings, a CD comp of 'whitetrash' music from such artists as Wayne Hancock, the Old 97's and Drive-by Truckers (upper left), a mini notepad with a retro housewife collaged image on it (lower right) and a beautiful recipe book with a MikWright card decoupaged on the front that has an image of a lady at her work desk on the phone saying" ...And then that bitch had the nerve to show up with jello instead of her assigned chicken casserole. Now, I'm not one to gossip, but can you believe how fat she has gotten; bitch, please!" ha ha! A perfect repice book for me! She also included a few of her own recipes inside that I have been trying to sneak a peek at when over at her place! ha ha!Not pictured, but she also made me a 2005 Christmas ornament of our little family's Christmas picture. I have already packed it up for next year. She made me one last year also.
I also got a cordlesss Dremel , a MP3 player and a new sewing machine (from my mom); along with clothes, a pair of shoes, craftin' stuff, and some little wood games (from Dixie Doll Kathy). I was very spoiled this year!

Belated Feliz Navidad!

My favorite restaurant in Hurricane Alley is La Hacienda. I go there every Friday night. When they are really busy they give you a number...And the number is scrawled on a small piece of dingy crumpled up diseased looking posterboard...So as a late Feliz Navidad or an early New Years gift..(whichever), I made them some new "take a number" cards. I found images of vintage travel posters for Mexico on the internet and used my computer's craphole paint program to put the numbers on, then had them laminatedl! Yay!
I am soo in love with the image of the cacti on the right hand side... hmmmm :)

More goodies from the mail!

Jennifer from The Felt Mouse liked the PBR beer can ornaments from the Bazaar so much she bought a set. And along with sending me a check, she sent these GOODIES! A knitted finger puppet of a monkey in a fez (ala Pumkinbutt) and another nicely wrapped gift that I had to photograph before opening it! The wrapping paper is hand stamped atomic stars in pink and black along with embroidery floss and a cute black button for the tie. So much attention to details!
and inside the cutely wrapped gift..(sorry for the crappy photo) cute pink skull hair barrettes! Thanks soo much Jennifer!

Re-Decking the Tree!

I know it's Dec. 29. And here I am redecorating the Christmas tree! But, I know I'm not the only one out there that does this, am I ladies? I got this cute retro Santa wire ribbon from Michael's at 70% off after Christmas. I wanted to see how it would look on the tree now! I got 7 rolls and the tree only needed 1! But that's okay... I will be decking the house out next year in the other rolls along with doing a wreath in it too. Overkill? Maybe.. That reminds me, while Pumkinbutt and I were out today, we drove by this house and it was total Christmas TACKY! I will try to get a picture of it before it gets taken down to share.
close up of the cutest Santa ribbon ever!

Yay, We're sluts!

My girl gang, the Dixie Dolls, are now honorary members of the Doll Sluts based out of Seattle! The Doll Sluts are also a group of crafty bitches, like us! Lisa Petrucci (whose artwork is our club logo) invited us and sent us all shirts, as seen above!

Scrap Crafty today: I found it over at My little Mochi . It is for making a wearable pincushion out of a gatorade top!

'Aww how cute' Christmas Dessert!

For the Sunday dessert for Christmas I tried out two things I found in 'Better Homes and Gardens Dec 1956 and 1960' mag's. Shown below is Merry Christmas Salad. Christmas just isn't Christmas without at least one jello molded salad!

And these little darlings are Marshmallow Men! "Can they be from Santa's North Pole? From Candyland? From Mars? " I don't know, but I bet Martha Stewart would have been all over this idea if she would have found it before me! Each little guy's body consists of 2 large and 4 small marshmallows glued together. The eyes and nose are ball topped straight pins (if you don't have black or red ones just paint with nail polish) The cone hats are paper, the buttons are glued on sequins and their rosy checks are actually blush applied with a q-tip. The wings are made from green candy slices and pinned in the back.
I love this little scene! There are 2 cupcake ideas for making a reindeer and a sled for the marshmallow men..Next year for sure! I have got soo much Christmas related stuff to share that I wasn't able to get around to before! So I will be dragging out Christmas for another week here!

Tis the season for extension cords!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...All over my house. As I think I have mentioned before I collect a number of things...Too many things ... And one of these collections is vintage Christmas stuffs. Pictured above and below is the mantel. I got these deer at the hospice sale a couple of years ago...And I have seen them on eBay listed for $19 each (not saying that the person listing them will ever get that much!) but I paid 50 cents..For all of them!!! HE HE HE HE (evil laugh directed to those evil overpricing eBay bastards!!) They are about 11 1/2 inches tall and have that red flocking on them along with silver glitter on the antlers and the tails. I placed cotton batting and white lights under neath to look like snow.

Santas perched on the china cabinet in the diningroom

The main tree with another collection consisting of flocked santas

in various sizes and poses. I love a white tree!

Evergleam Aluminum 4 foot tree in the dining room on the sideboard on a blanket of snow.-- out of reach of pumpkinbutt!
This 1 1/2 foot tree is made from aluminum sleeves that are stacked and the design is punched out, inside is a red light bulb. It is made by Evergleam. And yes, once again it's on a blanket of 'snow'.

In the wise words of Clark W. Griswold, I tell family and friends that visit our house "You deserve a house like this to spend Christmas in" as they look for the nearest exit!

Ha Ha!

Yay for mail! Thanks Sarah!

I'm soo excited! My first mail since I started 'My House Is Cuter Than Yours' (other than things I have bought)! My friend Sarah loves old cookbooklets also and sent me her extras! I did not have ANY of these! They are a series put out by 'Good Housekeeping' and are copyrighted 1958. She also sent me a copy of 'The I Hate to Cook Book' (not pictured). It is a half humor/ half cook book featuring instant-cooking delicacies. Believe me, this won't be the last time these cookbooklets are mentioned because I know I will be making some recipes from them for sure!

Welcome!

Here is a photo of my front door displaying my vintage plastic light up santa's. I used to think I had too many, but now, I am on the hunt for MORE!!! I now have a vision of doing the whole front yard in them! My obsession started about 10 years ago when some friends told me about this house in our neighborhood that was all christmas tacky. It had a scene in the side yard of a UFO landing, a ladder propped against the house with stuffed animals climbing up it, lights hanging off anything that would hold still and ...my favorite part....a tree in their yard FULL of these santas. It was my favorite part of the decorations and we used to go as a group every year to see the display. But a few years ago those people moved or something because there are no decorations any more..... :(. So, here is my homage to the santa tree.

Are you just happy to see me or are those Christmas cards down in your pants?

I think this is the best card holder I've seen yet! This idea is brought to you by Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Ideas for 1958.

" A snip of the shears, a dab of glue will rate you as a smart gift maker!

Santa card holder has a tummy pouch for Christmas mail. Cut out big red felt circle for body, matching half circle for the pouch. Stitch pouch to body, add belt, buckle to reinforce opening. Cut out santa's face and cap, add white felt beard, eyes, nose, cap trim. Add pert tassel ball and loop for hanging."

Vintage Christmas Pattern Thrift Score!

Last week pumpkinbutt and I went to a thrift store in town and picked up these two vintage Christmas craft patterns for 1.50 each.

pattern#1 front

back

The pattern shown above is to make either a tree skirt or a round table cloth, a candy cane cardholder, stockings, and tree ornaments. I love that card holder! The pattern is copyrighted 1970 and is made by McCall's.

pattern#2 front

backI really like this pattern more so than the one shown on the top. This pattern is to make "Christmas Trimming Motifs and Stockings". Which means a table cloth, a mantle 'valance', a wall hanging, and stockings. On the back it has this really cool idea for a New Year's table cloth. It is the reverse side of the 'Merry Christmas' tablecloth shown on the front cover. And isn't that stocking neat that has a roof line for the cuff? I would really like to make a mantle valance, one that looks like snow ...... This pattern is copyrighted 1957 and it's also by McCall's.

Inside each of the patterns were hidden surprises. The pattern shown on the very top had envelopes of some of the ornaments already cut out of felt but not completed. The pattern on the bottom had some newspaper clippings about making bows and embellishing the exterior of wrapped gifts. But the neatest thing was a handmade Christmas card and the original idea for it.

Can anyone tell me why vintage felt is so nice and smooth and thin? That crap they sell at craft stores is blah, but I don't have any other alternative. I read about alot of folks out there making wool felt from sweaters picked up from thrifts but I live in Florida! We don't really have any sweaters here in thrifts except for those god awful fat knitted 80's ones with nasty glittery embellishments on them. And then I looked into buying wool felt sheets! Ha! Way too pricey! I guess I'm just SOL in the felt department.

I am starting to see a light at the end of my 'Christmas crafting tunnel'. It's a very dim light but at least it's a light! How is everyone else's gift making coming along? Hopefully we all will be sipping a flaming rum punch by Christmas Eve !

By the way, I have an update for a recipe link for the flaming snow balls !

It's a Cajun Christmas--aiyeee!

The last installment of 'what I did at my mom's thanksgiving weekend'. Every year she and I do her Christmas tree in a theme. This year she picked 'A Cajun Christmas'. I grew up in Louisiana and my Mom has a major fondness of all things Cajun and typical of the state.....New Orleans Saints, crawfish, Mardi Gras, zydeco, I could go on but I think you get the point. So for the decorations/ornaments we had mini Tabasco bottles (courtesy of the US government...Thanks to hurricane Ivan and MRE's), alligators and crawfish shiny trinkets that were originally on Mardi gras beads, larger plastic crawfish, real Spanish moss (that I plucked off trees on the side of the interstate on the way up), and red chili pepper lights.

here is a close up

And here is a crappy picture of the tree lit. I think it looks rather swampy, if I do say so myself! My mom also made a star tree topper out of Tabasco bottles and the plastic crawfish but it's not too clear in the photographs.

Flaming Snowballs!

I found this lovely image somewhere on the internet and was very intrigued by it. A dessert that can soar through the air and so festive at that! There was no recipe so I made one up partly with a little inspiration from an old recipe about making "snowballs" from cupcakes.
So here are mine, I took the photo at an angel to give it that flying through the air look...

My how-to: Any flavor cake will do. I used chocolate just because I had some batter left over but red velvet cake or coconut or even strawberry would be neat. Only fill the cupcake wells about half full. Bake even number of cupcakes. Let cool, cut tops to make flat. Ice the tops of 2 cupcakes and stick together; top to top. Ice sides. Cover in flaked coconut. Pipe green leaves on top. Add red candies such as m&m's or red hots. Place candle. Light and stand back just in case they take flight!

Now, the top photo says 'ice cream'. Which could be done by making a ball of ice cream and covering it in coconut. Or perhaps, the recipe I wrote above could have the cupcakes hollowed out and ice cream put in the center. I do not , however, recommend throwing them on a plate like a frisbee as a serving suggestion! I have a feeling the spoon wouldn't stay on the plate like the picture shows!

update: Barb from Woof Nanny found the recipe for the ice cream version of the snowballs !

Scrap Crafty~ Mod paper trees

I love these trees and they are made out of paper! I found the idea in Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Ideas 1960 magazine. Instructions as written:

Santa's Fairyland Forest

Cut quarter-circles of largest possible size from sheets of construction paper. Fold the straight edges together; bring fold to cut edges, folds to folds until you have 16 segments Reverse some to get accordion pleats. On outer folds, make deeply slanted cuts about 3" apart. Slit on folds where cuts were made so points can be bent upward. Cut bottom edge of outer folds on slant. Staple sides.

Okay, now maybe it's just me, but those instructions are a little confusing however I think looking at the photo and just using the instructions as a guideline might work. I also have never seen construction paper big enough to make the taller trees shown so maybe poster board would be the way to go. I wish I had time this year to try to make a few of these.... I am so behind in my Christmas Craftin' it ain't even funny!

Do I look like I give a rat's ass?

Another "While I was at my mom's for Thanksgiving" adventure. The office for MikWright is in Charlotte and we were invited to stop by. My mom and I are really big fans and were so excited! We got to meet the authors: Tim, Phyllis and Bob. I really love Phyllis, she is such a doll! We got their autographs and hung out and chit chatted some. They also gave us some goodies. Yay for freebies! We all got MikWright tees (seen in the upper right hand corner), 6 greeting cards w/ envelopes, a "Mikwright Entertaining" planner (it is a party planner for one to write ideas down in along with some MikWright sarcasm, and I am all about some party planning so I will love using this book), and an air freshener (that's the green thing in the picture). The air freshener is so damn funny! It has an image from one of their more popular greeting cards of this lady with a mop in one hand, a cigarette in the other and a smirk on her face reading "Do I look like I give a rat's ass?" Ha HA! And the air freshener is "Freshly mopped Floor pine scented"!!! They are so clever!

Aluminum Christmas Tree Museum !!!

So this is the place I was referencing going to in the pre- thanksgiving post! It's a traveling museum just of vintage aluminum Christmas trees! I first heard about it last year when it was in our local newspaper ('Hurricane Alley', Florida). It was hidden somewhere in it, not on the front page or anything. I made it a mission to it this year due to my love of vintage Christmas stuffs (I have 4 vintage trees myself!)! It's located a few hours from my mom's house in North Carolina. The museum is called ATOM . ATOM is the acronym for the Aluminum Tree and aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum & Research Center. Love it, however I think they left a few letters out of that acronym! The top photo sums that definition up very well, I think! This year the museum was within a historic house that it's self is a museum. There were 3 rooms packed with the aluminum trees. Displayed were about 30 large trees and 20 smaller ones along with 10 color wheels and 5 revolving stands. Most of the trees have unusual themes to them.
(L-R themes) Star trek, the first tree ever in ATOM, Marilyn Monroe, and I guess, Crystal Gayle .
I know nothing about Crystal Gayle so I don't quite get why the tree has purple and gold balls and flowers stuff on it, I would think it would have long locks of hair hanging from it, but oh well!

This is the Elvis tree, Tucked in the branches were little pictures and mini lunch boxes of the King, also a set of fake sideburns. On the main website it shows that the record star seen near the bottom of the tree is suppose to be the topper. This one had a Burger King kid's paper crown on the top. I think the record star would have been the wiser choice!

This one is really funny! It's a Tammy Faye Bakker tree. It has tubes of lipstick, mascara, fake eyelashes, a ball cap that says 'Saved', a putty knife with what looks like tan make-up on it, and actual PTL ornaments from 1985. Under this tree where a few of her records and books.

Pink Flamingo tree. Also seen somewhat, off to the right, is an aluminum bonsai tree with silver fortune cookies hanging from it. And in the background on the window ledge are some of the smaller trees.

Here is a view of the third room. In this room was a Star Wars, Wizard of Oz, disco ball, snowball, patriotic, angel, and a few 'this and that' tree themes.

Even Pumpkinbutt got to enjoy the museum, of coarse this has taken when the curators backs were turned!

On the website, a few other trees that I mentioned, but not pictured, are shown. I was disappointed that the bathroom tree was not displayed this time (it can be seen in part on the website). It apparently has shower curtain rings linked together to make a garland,toilet tank balls and rubber ducks hanging from the branches. Under most of the trees displayed this time were vintage stuff, like records, kitchen trash bags in an original container and a space age looking mini TV set as the 'gifts'. There were Christmas lights lit and hanging from the ceiling and vintage Christmas kitsch decorating the fireplace mantles. It was very neat! I highly recommend going if you live near the Asheville, NC area.