A Wood Project for Christmas

Ashlee called the other day and said she had a project for us to do on Tuesday. We had our day planned to hang out at the Barn at Hansel and Gretel. Well, Emma hurt her neck at gymnastics...that threw a kink in our plans.......literally! 

She is ok, but she couldn't move her neck at all! I took her to the doc and they helped her work it out! 

Ashlee and I changed our plans to Wednesday. She came over around 10am and brought some old wood from her neighbor's fence! It was old and grey and worn out! Perfect!!

We were making mangers for Baby Jesus! Ashlee saw one her friend's husband made and knew it was the perfect project for us. 

We didn't have a pattern, just a picture. We totally just figured it all out. First we cut the long side pieces. The first cuts were a little too long. The proportions had to be right. We just cut 5 or 6 inches off and then cut the other 3 the same. 

Next we cut the pieces for the ends. Those pretty much needed to be a square. It would square up on the ends. We did no official measuring. 

Here are several of the cuts. The top one is probably too long. We cut it to match the two smaller matching pieces. That little piece was going to be an end. We love the rustic-ness of it! 

We didn't have any extra hands to take pictures of us screwing all the pieces together. We just lined up the smallest piece to on of the longer pieces and put in two screws. Next we took the other "side" piece and screwed it to the small pieces matching up the corners. 

The next step was to cut the legs. All of our pieces were the perfect widths from the fence. These smaller pieces made the best legs! We just held them up to the bed area and cut them to fit. The last step was to screw in the legs under the base. We made it and X shape for ease. 

Our finished project! Do you think it is as cute as I do? I was thrilled with the outcome! We literally were finished in an hour. That included Ashlee going through the house looking at all my Christmas decor and finding screws as we went along! 

This project was so simple and fits perfect with my wood Christmas tree and tiny tree with burlap! I added a bit of straw. I do not have a baby to put in my manger, but I may take the top of a post or just a wood ball and wrap it up in a blanket to make it look like a baby!

Ashlee posted a pic of hers on Instagram with this precious star and her "baby Jesus". I'm smitten!

Sharing on Funky Junk Interiors SNS for the first time!

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly!

Sing it with me.....fa la la la la la la la la! 

I was decking the halls this weekend! I really just finished. And by that I mean, I have 90% of it up! Seriously, like late last night, I decorated the last tree. I'm not completely satisfied, but it will have to do! I have a few odds and ends laying around and I need garland for one more mantel...but, other than that. Gah, I have a lot of stuff!

Tomorrow I am making a manger for Baby Jesus! Ashlee is coming over with some old wood from her neighbors fence. No, she didn't steal it. At least I don't think she did! He put up a new fence and this was laying-there-not-being-used! I can't wait to get it finished. It's going to be so adorable!

I thought I would share a few in-the-process pics of the house as I was up to my eyeballs over the weekend!

This is a portion of my front porch on Friday as my boys were leaving to go to the hunting camp.

This is THE tree. It will be full of red and white goodness when I'm finished with it! The lights. The lights are going to be the death of me. Every year, I say I am going to take all the lights off and start over. I never do. I add more lights on top of the lights that do not work. If I could fix those measly little bulbs that cause all the trouble, I would probably have thousands of lights on this tree! Notice how it is a couple of feet taller than the ceiling there. Thankfully, the ceilings are high in the middle of this room. The only spot for this tree is right where you see it. In the middle behind the couch and right next to the dining room table!

I love my upside down tree! It's so fun and non-traditional! This is how it came home to me from the storage unit. Mesh was all out of order and those paper flowers are a little catty-wompus! Notice how it is flush with the ceiling. It had to be tilted and shoved into place. We have low ceilings at Hansel and Gretel, like less than 8ft. ceilings! The lights. ugh

Just a pic of some of the sticks that go into THE tree! You will see those again, but that's another post!

I can't tell you how much I love this wood tree. It is by far, my favorite! I have several of these wood trees, but this is the one I love! Of course, Southern Accents Architectural Antiques is where this one was born. I went to Cullman one day with Daphney to get a tree for her. She had seen the one Shane delivered to me earlier in the week and she HAD to have one, too! So, off we go on a road trip. We were in the wood shop with Kolby, Garlan and Shane. We were picking through the pieces of wood and I saw this green trim on the floor. I picked it up and immediately saw a tree! The guys all thought I was crazy. This was before I started working for them and bringing them all of my out-of-the-box ideas. They were used to living inside their little world and not being too creative with it. I'm sure if they saw this one now, they would all gawk at it. It's like a Charlie Brown tree. It needed to be made and loved. Now it sits by the giant fireplace at Hansel and Gretel. I may not ever take it down!

So far, 2 Christmas Casualties

Thursday morning, aka Thanksgiving Day, Connor went over to the storage unit to get our Christmas tree and decorations. A full car and full trailer later, he brought back 85% of the decorations. We went back on Friday and got trees and several more boxes. I will be back again on Monday to see what's left!

We were heading out the door for our family gatherings. 2 stops for the day. We unloaded the trailer and filled up the front porch. Hansel and Gretel now looks like the Grizwalds/Clampetts.

As we were loading up the car for the day, I opened the back of his Yukon. I know better than to do this with my car. It is always full and something WILL fall out on you or it will break. Well, guess what? My most favorite Christmas decoration of my childhood was the first thing to fall out. I heard the crash and saw the bubble wrap and knew in that instant it was THE Santa. The one that as a child, I would go into the attic each year looking for. I would avoid everything else until I found that Santa.  I couldn't wait to put him on the mantel. He just looked like the sweetest Santa in the world and I knew that is what the real Santa Clause looked like.  Once he was on the mantel all the Christmas magic filled the house and the countdown could begin.

I cried. Real tears were streaming down my face. I was so upset that he was broken. I was also upset with myself that I had opened the back without looking. I wanted to blame in on the hubs, but how could I when I was the one that should have gotten it all myself. Then I would have known there was more back there. So, after assessing the damage and picking up every single shard of pottery, I can't give him up. My sister, Natalie, said I could cover it up with a hat. It was the whole hat that was broken. I don't know if it will look right. Maybe you have an idea?

After putting up 2 trees and covering one with lights, garland, sticks, and ornaments, I was fluffing the tree and off came a Radko angel. Ahhhhh, she already had a broken wing. I bought her when Emma was a baby. She shattered into many pieces. She got swept up and out the door. May she rest in peace.

It's too devastating to leave on a bad note. I will share this adorable snowman with his bokeh background to bring you happiness! He is a cutie!

I will get more pics up of Hansel and Gretel all aglow this week. I have several more runs to get more lights and I'm thinking I need real garland instead of the fake stuff this year. Which do you use? Real tree and garland or fake? 

Turkey Craft Night with The Smoking Glue Guns

The Smoking Glue Guns: Crafters who get together once a month and craft. and eat. and drink. and talk about girl stuff. 

Filling our bellies was the first priority!

Ashlee is the hostess with the mostess. Seriously, I want these turkeys. the feathers, oh my! Her house is amazing. I'm going over to take pictures after Christmas so you can see her fantastic decorating skills!

Craft: Stamping salvaged wood. aka vintage to vogue. The beginning: stamps and ink.

A sample....or two

The mess:

The action: 

We used rubber stamps and clear stamps. The creativity was flowing along with the punch!

Nichole made these cute wedding blocks! We decided she should hang them together and link with a little piece of chain. 

And this "my sunshine" she wrote on the back to her daughter! #swoon

This is one of my favorite shots! A pile of thankful goodness!!

There were a couple of these! Too bad we didn't have more long pieces. 

Christy's stash. She knew what she wanted and got right to it! I love her "stack"

I'm giving these as hostess gifts this year! Wine or Champagne? It WILL have a cute tag on it!

Lori gave me the idea to do a house number! It's my FAVE!

22. twenty-two. 2-two. twenty-2 

It's her number.

Ashlee's finished products! She was full of fun ideas!
Does anyone see a Christmas tree? or is it just me?

The group shot. Missing Krista :-(

So glad to get to know this girl! 

Lori even did a little impromptu photo shoot for Lucy Lockets! 

All of the photos were taken by Lori Gordon. She is an amazing photographer and if you want fabulous photos of your family, she is the one to call! If you want to learn how to take photos like her...she will teach you! Click Workshops

Talk of Alabama TV/Christmas Crafts and Lucy Lockets

Hanging out with Nicole on Talk of Alabama! It's always fun and very last minute! Yesterday I dug around and called my friends to find a Santa Can from a past ornament party. Molly came through! Nicole came to a party several years ago and loved this can!

I took old vegetable cans and spray painted them red, added red ribbon and a square for the buckle, a little glitter and voila.....SANTA to hold the take home cookies! He is so cute and easy-peasy! A great hostess gift filled with your favorite treat!

We pimped out some of my Lucy Lockets, too. Always fun to show off some of the latest. Notice the display? It is an old corbel I picked up at The Depot and the antler shed that John Connor and his buddy, Parker found in the woods at Hansel and Gretel. Lori took a couple of photos last night to highlight how cute it is! She's an amazing photographer!

We made some of these crafty ornaments at the Smoking Glue Guns party last night....post about that later's baby! 

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Linking up to these fun girls linky party!! Setting for Four, Cupcakes and Crinolines, Its so very Cheri, Three Mango Seeds

Stuff The Stockings Giveaway

This Contest Has Been Closed  All winners have been notified by email.  Scroll down to the Rafflecopter to see if you won!!

Welcome to the Stuff The Stockings Giveaway!

I've teamed up with fourteen other bloggers and some fabulous sponsors to give you the chance to win one of TWELVE amazing prize packages to help stuff your stockings this holiday season. Check out all the prizes you could win!

• $100 Prize box assortment from The Plaid Barn
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• $50 credit to Lucy Lockets
• $50 Prize Pack from Bloom Designs Online
• $50 Shop Credit to Sutton Place Designs
• Three each Stencils up to $50 value from Cutting Edge Stencils
• Accessories eDesign Package (valued at $150) from Amber B Interiors
• "In This Home" wall vinyl from Wallquotes.com ($42 value)
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• $150 gift card to Mirror Mate
• $50 credit to A Step in the Journey
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• Allume Swag Package worth $50 courtesy of A Nest for All Seasons
• Personalized Wax Seal Necklace from Designs by Tahra ($50 value)
• Stencil up to $50 value from Cutting Edge Stencils
• Beadboard Christmas Tree from Southern Accents Architectural Antiques ($50 value)
• 22 can Krylon Spray Paint Assortment (approximately $110 value)
• Simply Ornamental Curved Christmas Tree ($45 value)
• 6 pack of Upholstery Spray Paint from Spray It New
• Custom Social Icon Design with Installation from This Bold Girl ($120 value)
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• $100 Gift Card to The Pants Store
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• Assorted Vintage Tea Towels by Setting for Four
• $100 Gift Card to Kirkland's

  To increase your chances of winning, we've broken the prizes up into twelve separate prize packages valued at approximately $150.00 to $200.00 each. Click the image to unwrap all the prize packages:  

To be entered into the giveaway, be sure to "like" all of the Facebook pages below and be sure to enter the Rafflecopter to have your entries counted.  
Thanks for liking us! Now head to the Rafflecopter and let us know that you've completed this task. Your entry will qualify you to win one of 12 great prize packages. Since there are twelve prize packs and we will choose twelve lucky winners! The giveaway will open Monday, November 19th and we will announce the winners on Cyber Monday, November 26th. Good luck everyone!  
a Rafflecopter giveaway A note to all Internet Explorer users: If you have trouble seeing the like boxes, please use a different browser, such as Firefox. This giveaway is in no way affiliated, administered or endorsed by Facebook. Please read the terms and conditions inside the rafflecopter for complete prize details and eligibility requirements. If you do not have a facebook page, please email melissa@thehappierhomemaker.com for alternative entry. This giveaway is hosted by: The Happier Homemaker Nellie Bellie Unskinny Boppy A Nest for all Seasons Domestic Imperfection A Step in the Journey View Along the Way LiveLoveDIY Ginger Snap Crafts Mom 4 Real A Pumpkin and a Princess Lucy's Inspired The Bold Abode Shaken Together Setting For Four Good luck everyone!!