DIY dried Orange slices

I really like the way how natural Christmas decorations give a certain type of nostalgia to a space. It reminds me of Victorian Christmas' or Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. So I wanted to try and add some natural Orange slice ornaments to my tree. And maybe say I absolutely love how they turned out! And it was ever so easy. 

Start with navel oranges. I bought about five and got about 20 ornaments out of them. 

Preheat oven to 225°F.

First slice the oranges as thin as you can with a really good slicing knife. Watch your fingers! (some people like to use a fork to hold your orange in place. )

 

Next blocked your orange slices on the kitchen towel or paper towel to release the excess moisture. 

Place the orange slices on a baking rack and place in the oven  on the middle rack. 

Let these babies cook in the oven from 2 to 3 hours. Well every 30 minutes turn the oranges around so they don't stick. Watch out they don't burn some of the slices or thinner than others and usually the ones on the outer edges get darker quicker to remove those first. Let them dry out in the oven until they are no longer juicy. 

Here is how mine look like after they came out of the oven:

Let them cool for a bit and then let your imagination take over what they're going to be used for:) 

I used mine for both my advent wreath and for Christmas tree decorations. 

I poked a hole in it with a large toothpick to make a threading whole (is that a word?) lol... For my jute to string. 

The End

~ Cat

Advent wreath {striped ribbon and oranges}

One of my favorite scandinavian christmas traditions we have is the lighting of the advent wreath. We light a candle 4 Sundays before Christmas. My kids love it. What we do is turn off all the lights in the house and just have this aglow with our Christmas tree as we sing carols and eat a homemade christmas treat. This year I invited my mom over to craft with me as we made this wreath. It was a blast!

I found some greenery to cover the wreath with. I don't know the type of tree it came from...sorry. But it was nice and soft to work with. Cut it into small pieces and than tied it onto the wreath with green floral wire. 

 {Sorry for the bad pix, my camera ran out of juice when I was about to take pix, so iphone quality it is!}

I added the candles {bought at Ikea for $1.99 a piece.} by carefully hammering a nail into the bottom of it. Than with some hot glue for extra support placed it onto the wreath. Lastly came the decorations. I dried some fresh oranges {how to post to follow}. And hot glued them on as well. Black and white Striped ribbon for more cuteness and than finished it by dusting a  small amount of gold glitter on the wreath itself. 

I can't wait to light the first candle. I almost have all my Christmas decor up now so stay tuned for more:)

~Cat

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy thanksgiving. I have so much to be grateful for this year. My family, my good health, my faith and so much more. Also last but not least, our building permit that we have in hand now. Here's to another great year!:-) 

~Cat

Homemade boxwood wreath.

Funny story, so I have wanted a boxwood wreath for years now. I know I know I say that with a lot of thing;) lol. I would always see them and see the price tag that was added to it... no thanks, I can totally make one of those myself for so much cheaper. Growing up in Denmark my mother used to make wreaths out of boxwood all the time. It Has kind of a sentimental value to me. It reminds me of my wonderful mama and the wonderful years that we lived in Denmark. Anyhow onto the funny story. I've been looking for one of these bushes that I could plunder FOREVER! But I had no luck in finding a bush. :-( So I have decided to plant lots and lots in my new home.) By the way update , on our house: our building application is currently being processed. Smile!:)

Ok so, we own a rental property. We are about to put it on the market to sell after owning it for our entire marriage. I went there together day with my husband to help clean up and get the house already to go and to my surprise there in the front yard was a beautiful boxwood Bush. how have I not notice this bush before?! It was hidden in between a couple of other big bushes and I guess it never really had a chance to breathe. Oh my , I went crazy! Yes I trimmed the darling thing. It will look wonderful next year, with lots of room to grow;) I would love to see how it turns out but unfortunately since were putting the house on the market I probably won't ever get to use the boxwood again ,so I will have to patiently wait until I can plant my garden sometime in the next 2 years. 

This is how I DIY'd my very own boxwood wreath.

Started out with choosing the size of wreath I wanted to use . I bought a few with my 40% off coupon at hobby lobby. I used a  dark grapevine wreath to make sure that it would blend into the rest of the branches.

Then I used some green wire to wrap around the wreath. 

I was than able to take tiny pieces of boxwood and tuck them into the wreath. I had to do a couple of layers to make sure that it all turned out even. 

Absolutely love how it turned out! . I finished it off By adding a cute black-and-white striped ribbon and hung  it up onto my lovely mirror.. 

Here is a picture of the finished product.

With a little Halloween Decor.

The boo queen from a few years ago, and a cute little spell book made with the one and only Lindsay at countrygirlhome .blogspot.com.

here is my little Halloween autumn vignette for this year. I wanted to show a tiny bit of my Halloween Decor. Picture is without the lights.

What lights you ask ? I have some lovely Halloween lights that flicker. I simply taped them to the back of my "entrée table" so you cannot see the actual light bulbs or wires. Love the ambience it gives. I used some of the leftover boxwood to place in a little white vase with some of the same black-and-white striped ribbon for a bow. I am quite pleased with my Halloween fall decorations this year. Have to keep it simple and not get everything out since a lot of our things are still in storage. 

I'm already making plans for what to decorate with for the house when it's finally done. People might think I'm crazy but this is such a joy for me.:) what I have in mind is lots and lots of boxwood wreaths at christmas! I think these are evergreens, but u get the idea. Our diningroom will have this kind  of windows.. 5 of them:)

Here's my inspiration photo: 

... and I am just tickled that our building permit is FINALLY being processed! 

Happy Halloween everyone!

~ Cat

Old chair makeover {part 1}

I have owned this chair for a good 5 yrs or so now. I bought it at a local craft fair for 35$. I have LOVED it for such a long time, and still do. The only problem I had with it was the fabric. Not my favorite. I have painted so many things in my home this lovely krylon ocean breeze but I'm ready for a change. So I decided after much thought to paint this beauty.

 Going more with what I have in mind for our new home, I decided to Scandinavian it up a bit;) gustavian style if u will:) getting back to my roots I tell ya, lol! 

I used the same colorsas my tremour mirror revamp. only I omitted the dark glaze. I still Havnt found the right fabric for the seat yet, so I just used something to cover it up for now. Stay tuned for part 2 for that update. Forgive me with my lame cell pix, my Mac keyboard is MIA during the move and I am still trying to replace it so no nice NIkon pix for now. 

I still need to touch up the back rest a bit...

I love it!

Now, some advice please. I want to give my bar stools a makeover. 

I'm not a fan of the red undertones in the  wood. Never have been. These chairs where a storage unit find so...

They looked good in my old kitchen. But the plan is my new kitchen will be a creamy white.

 So I am thinking to paint them

White 

Cream

Or 

Gray

 With a glaze maybe?? 

 

Or leave the wood and just paint the black? Oh and I will need to add a new seat cover. Help. I've been wreaking my brain trying to decide and ...well...I just can't! 

3 days later...chalkboard complete

I finished! I can't believe I actually kept my fchalk away from this for 3 whole days! Once it was all dry I "seasoned" my chalkboard by running the long flat side of my chalk all over the board first vertically and horizontally.

Than I wiped it down with a soft dry cloth. 

Next I looked up some chalkboard inspirations via Pinterest and started the fun! I free handed this, not too bad I think for my first try:)

I loved this project! 

The End

~Cat

DIY Chalkboard from an old picture

I am sure you have all seen the huge large chalkboards out there with the most beautiful lettering art on them. They are everywhere and I have wanted to try out to make one for some time now. 

My family and I moved to a temporary condo close to where we will be building our house. The way things are looking we most likely will try to break ground this spring. (Crossing our fingers). 

Until than we have this adorable little condo, and I get to decorate decorate decorate!:) annnd I will be using lots of command strips, lol. I am slowly putting things together, keeping in mind that whatever I create will eventually go in our forever home. So I wanted to try out making my own chalk board.

my mom had this old picture frame in her basement, and She wasn't using it for anything so she gave it to me. And it was perfect for that huge chalkboard that I soooo envy other bloggers owning. And the frame was perfect too for it! The original gold it was painted was a little drab so I painted it Annie Sloans Graphite. ( oh dear how I am in LOVE with this color). LOVE I say:) 

Her is the BEFoRE picture:

I removed the glass and backing. Than cleaned it . I let it sit while I started on the frame. I painted the graphite on and than took a wet rag to rub off some of the paint to help the gold show thru. 

After that I started painting the glass. I used rust-oleums chalk board paint. This paint is awesome! I painted strait on the glass. About 4 layers. It takes a while to dry between layers so I had to be patient. 4 hrs between coats...sooo temping!

Once dried I placed it back in the frame. I have to wait a whole 3 days to use chalk on it, so I am on day 1 right now. Once I reach Wednesday or Thursday I will  than "Season" it. I can't wait! 

And here is the AFTER:

Please forgive me for posting this corner without any real decor. I'm still in the process of unpacking.

I can't wait to see how it will look all chalky. And hung up on the wall!

Now, on another note:

Introducing my new horse! I have wanted one of these forever and when I happened upon him at Tai Pan trading co I had to have him! The original one I fell in love with was white, but I still like him like this. 

What do u think dear reader? Shall I paint and antique him? 

If so he would look like this 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stay tuned for the chalkbaord all chalked (is that even a word) up!lol anyways...

~Cat