Chistmas Gift Plaque

The homemade Christmas streak continues for my mother.  In addition to the sheet music topiary, I made her this initial wall plaque. 

There is something so gratifying about handmade, and for me, the joy of handmade is magnified when I can "repurpose" and thrift my way to a beautiful, "new" creation.

This plaque started out as Halloween decore I got at Ross five years.  I liked it, but decided I could let it go for the sake of something better (anyone else ever have that happen?).



I slapped on a few coats of acrylic paint in the color "Sand."

Here is a little something I got at Goodwill for fifty cents.

It got a "Sand" paint, vintage sheet music, and Mod Podge treatment.

Here is some pretty black toile scrapbook paper I got at Hobby Lobby.

I decoupaged it onto the larger plaque.

Then I glued the smaller plaque onto the larger one.

I bought a $.99 chipboard "I" and painted it black. 

I also smudged a little of the taupe paint on the edges to make it look weathered.  Then the initial went onto the top of the smaller piece.

Two little wooden accents got a coat of black paint and Mod Podge to finish it.

And they were placed on the top and bottom of the large plaque.

The end!

Another handmade gift completed!


(P.S., I linked this to Someday Crafts and Trendy Treehouse.  Please see their buttons at their permanent home on my sidebar!)

Sheet Music "Topiary"

I find topiaries irresistable.  And decoupage. Anyway...

In addition to making our Christmas ornaments and just being crafty in general, I'm working on making many of my Christmas gifts for this year.  Since my mother is a pianist, and I love topiaries, I decided to try to merge the two into a gift for her.

A sheet music topiary!

Not only was it fun to make, it was inexpensive. Here's how the cost broke down:  $1.50 at Goodwill for the candlestick, $1.99 for a styrofoam ball, $3.99 for craft moss, and $3 at an antique store for vintage sheet music (I already had wooden dowels, and Mod Podge).

I cut the sheet music into thin strips.

Inserted a wooden dowel (I broke the end off to shorten it a bit) into the ball, and decoupaged the strips of music onto it.

I cut down a piece of foam and glued it into the candlestick to support the dowel and ball.

And I glued a little moss to the base of the dowel to hide the foam and glue.

Not hard to do at all, and it turned out very pretty and unique. 

I think she'll love it.



(P.S., I'm linking this to  Second Time Around Tuesday.  I'm also linking to Transformation Thursdays, Saturday Spotlight, Saturday Soiree, Style Feature Saturday, Saturday Nite Special, Just Something I Whipped Up, Motivate Me Monday, and Make it For Monday.  See their buttons at their permanent home on my sidebar!)