The Apple Street Cottage

It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Cottage - we'll talk about that in a later post, but, for now, here are a few pics of our holiday decorations: Keeping it simple with a wreath, sled, pine-bough swag, and a handmade kissing ball. Lenox Santa Cookie Jar Charlie Brown Tree - my favorite! This bowl is always displayed at Christmas. The dining room in non-traditional colors. Ornaments that bring back so many memories! It wouldn't be Christmas without (at least) one pig decoration! There is so much more, but, for now, Merry Christmas from our house to yours! Linking to: Make It Pretty Monday Creative Spark To Grandma's House We Go Home & Garden Thursday Shabbilicious Friday Vintage Charm Craft Frenzy Friday What To Do Weekends

OK, I might have helped a little... 😉 We spent Thanksgiving at our daughter's house this year and she always wants to try to do one 'crafty project' while we're together. This year, she wanted to make an ornament wreath, and if you ask me, she 'knocked it out of the park'. We headed out to the discount store and chose these ornaments: Let me give you one word of advice.  Take the time to remove the caps from your ornaments and hot-glue them back on .  I made an ornament wreath a few years ago and left out that important step. Many of the ornaments fell off and I had to re-make the wreath. Save yourself some trouble! Take a wire hanger and bend it into a circle - here's how we started: Then open up the top of the hanger and you're ready to start adding ornaments. Let give you 2 more tips.   First, when you hot-glue the caps on the ornaments, wear rubber gloves.  Many people don't have finger caps for protection and, belie...

Of course he is, it's December!  The jigsaw has been getting a workout creating Christmas goodies and today I want to show you Santa. I am loving my pallet wood and things you can make with it.  I wanted a Santa so I started searching on Pinterest for ideas.  After looking at several options, I created a pattern (using the various ideas) to create my own original design.  I wanted the main piece to be 4 boards wide and I wanted to fit 2 of them on the full-length of the board.  Does that make sense?  Since my pallet wood is about 40" long, I made each Santa 19" in height. Here are the pattern pieces I drew on newsprint: After tracing them on the wood with a marker, the jigsaw got to work: You'll notice I chose 2 lighter-colored boards for the center pieces. That way I didn't have to paint Santa's face.  After sanding to smooth the wood,  I used super glue to attach the 4 main pieces and finishing nails to give it more support.   ...