A Little Christmas for One and All

As we get ready to celebrate another Christmas I had to share one last quick but much loved project. I have Christmas wrapped and under the tree for my daughter Cassie. There's one more member of the family that we always make sure enjoys the holidays. It's Trey, our 4 year old Bicha-poo. He is a sweetheart. He has so much personality that after a bath and comb out today, I thought he needed something festive for Christmas. So wasn't I surprised to read the latest post over at Don't Disturb this Groove Blog, written by my friend Brandi. She had the cutest post on making no sew bow ties for her fur family. So, I made Trey a bow. Here he is:

                                   My bow is a little larger, but I think it's so Trey.

 Trey is such an important part of our family that he has his own ornament on the tree.

  In fact, he has more than one ornament.

This ornament was originally $5.97 but was on sale for $1.47 this week!!

So, if Trey has a new red collar and a bow, plus ornaments on the tree, he has to have gifts too.

We bought him a peanut butter flavored raw hide wreath to chew & his favorite Wild berry treats.

Next, my daughter wanted to buy a couple of stuffed animals for Trey. Now if you have a dog of any size, you know that a stuffed toy doesn't last long. Well, there is no way that I'm spending $5-$15

on a stuffed animal that looks like this in a couple of days.

 This was once a fiber filled dog!

 Dogs love the crunch sound they make when they bite into an empty plastic water bottle. You can buy stuffed animal toys that have an empty water bottle inside of them. Better yet, you can make your own for $1.07 each. We went to the Goodwill and bought 4 stuffed animals ( 2 of them brand new with the tags still on them). After running them through the washer and dryer, I ripped them on one of the seams and removed all the fiberfill from the body. Next I  inserted an empty water bottle and whip stitched them closed. That's $4.28 for 4 stuffed toys instead $20-$60. 

Here are two of the toys.

                                                 

                                                     I really like the one eared puppy !

I'm sure Trey will love his gifts and have a very, 

Merry Christmas. 

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas !!

The Christmas Coverup

I have two pictures in my dining room that I love 10  months out of the year, but sadly this Christmas they just didn't fit in. This year I went old school and used a tree theme that I haven't used in about 5 years. Wanting something different this year and not wanting to buy a lot of new stuff I went a little more traditional, red and white.  I know, I'm usually not at all traditional in my Christmas decor, but this year, why not!! I have a wonderful collection of hand painted Santas and Angels, just waiting to be used again.

So, the turquoise and orange pictures were definitely clashing with the red and white I was using. So, what to do, and what to do that would be easy and cheap.

There are a pair of these on the wall in my dining room.

 

 

 

 

 One option was to warp the pictures in wrapping paper and adding a bow. Nah, wasn't really what I wanted . Then I came up with an idea, now I don't think this is an original idea, but it's a good one.

I bought 3 pieces of  foam board and cut them to make 2- 23.5 in squares. I had to piece them together as the boards at the dollar store are 20x30. I cut the boards so that they would fit nice and snug inside the frame. Next, I used Christmas scrapbook paper and created 4 squares. Using chipboard letters from the $1-1.50 section at Michaels I spelled out Noel and Hope.  The letters were spray painted gold and embellished with gold glitter.

 

The letters are glued onto small pieces of cork to create a 3D look.

A couple of my hand painted Santas sit on the table under the "cover up" art.

To make sure the boards stay inside the frames with the added weight of the letters, I added 1- 3M Command strip to each. So far so good. My total cost for this quick cover-up was approx. $13.00 for both. I used every coupon available and caught the paper on sale too. I already had the paint  and the Command Strips.  After the holiday these can be stored away for the next time I want to use them.

So, what do you think ? Do you see a quick cover up in your future?