I've always  been intrigued by those elaborate Christmas Villages, but they are very costly not to mention time consuming to put up and take down. This year I was surprised to find some cute little Christmas village houses and accessories at the Dollar Tree. I purchased a few but they needed a makeover to fit in with my color palette.   I painted them white and added snow only to the roof of the houses.

I tried to create a snowy winter scene. I just painted the houses white, then sprinkled a mixture of railroad model snow, glitter mica snow, and Epsom salt on the roof. Here's a before shot of the houses,

Romantic Candles

 I've bought a ton of holy candles from the dollar store, with the intention of  altering them in some way. I finally came up with a quick and easy way to give them a soft and romantic look.

Christmas Peat Pots

This year I'm trying to make most of my Christmas decorations using things I already have. I've got lots of peat pots, so I thought I would make a few tiny ones to hang on the tree and a few larger ones to place in vignettes. I've always loved  altered peat pots and have been anxious to try making a few. I was so inspired by the ones Dawn at The Feathered Nest makes and Rosemary at VillaBarnes creates that I finally tried a few.

My New Old Basket

I have a desperate need for places to store my vast and some might say obsessive collection of decorating books. While cleaning out my shed I discovered a basket my mom gave me years ago. Light bulb! it would be perfect for storing some of my books. The color and look of the basket was cute but I'm kind of going in a more Scandinavian/ Shabby/ Farmhouse look. What to do? paint of course.

I base coated the basket in a gray gesso and paint mixture, then dry brushed over that with multiple layers of the white paint/gesso and the grey gesso/paint mixtue.

Acorns Wearing Sweaters and Flocking

I saw the most beautiful velvet acorns in the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Magazine. As soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to make them. Not having velvet on hand I tried using an old sweater instead. Of course I had to add a little glitter to mine.

Fall Porch

Well better late than never, that's how I felt about decorating my porch for fall. The final push came when I went to the produce market and all of the fall plants were really cheap. I had no excuse for not adding a few fall touches. For once procrastinating paid off .

I added kale, mums and pansies to the large urns,then poked in a few faux pepper berry sprays and Chinese lanterns.

Witch's Workshop

When I added Halloween decor to my fall vignette I envisioned a witch's  workshop. Not having a witch lying around I decided to make my pumpkin the witch. I added a witch's hat that I made for my daughter when she was in Pre-K. Then I added ravens, cob webs, a witch's broom, tattered books and a white owl.  I filled my lantern with a ghoul.  Here's how it turned out;

I Bought bat silhouettes from the dollar store, glittered them and made a garland. The skeleton, ravens  and black fabric all came from the dollar store last year.