2009 November 30 | Beneath My Heart

One thing that my mom decorated with every year was cranberries.

She usually placed them in a glass container with a white candle in the middle. It was always stunning.

You know how I love me some RED!

So I wanted to come up with some ideas to decorate with cranberries this year too.

I searched the BHG website and found some inspirational photos I wanted to share with you.

Isn’t this a beautiful tablescape?

I love the way they layered some greenery underneath the cranberries. Gorgeous!

Here’s a beautiful idea for a napkin ring. Some green ribbon, holly leaves, pine cones, and cranberries…beautiful! Ladies, we could sooooo do this one!

Cranberries look beautiful in silver dishes. I like the rose below, but I think I would have put a touch of white in the middle instead.

See how the touches of red from the cranberries look amazing with the silver? LOOK CLOSELY…those are cranberries in the bases of the layered cake stands. That’s an idea I want to steal!

Have you ever strung cranberries on a string? I haven’t, but I’ve always wanted to. If you have tried it, let me know how it turned out. Any advice would be appreciated. :)

And stringing cranberries from a chandelier is always charming.

Okay, I love these! They gave directions at BHG.com, but I think they just pinned the cranberries onto a foam ball. How cool is that?

Here’s another idea you could make with a foam ball.

Another lovely….

And who wouldn’t want to see this when visiting someone’s home?

You could fill the glass jars with real snow if you are lucky enough to have some of the good stuff. But if not, you could fill it with the fake stuff and get the same effect.

Purely magical!

Well, that’s it. Now run off the the grocery store and buy you some cranberries. If you have any more brilliant ideas for cranberries, please share!

Have a blessed day!

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(I posted this as a guest blogger over at Shanty 2 Chic a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to share it with you again in case you missed it!)

Check this out!

I got this chair at Goodwill for $6.50. I know “she” looks a little rough, but all she needed was a second chance.

So here’s what I did:
First of all, I decided to paint the chair black. I used Valspar spray paint in satin from Lowe’s.
Then I used a fine grit sandpaper to sand down the edges a bit.
As you can tell by the picture below, I left the chair in my garage too long without supervision.
One of my boys thought it would be fun to tear the material off the chair, thus the result…

Oh my, she’s looking really bad now!
But I didn’t let that stop me. I still had my vision…
She just needed a little more cushion, so I used my staple gun to apply some extra batting to the seat and back of the chair.

Now she was ready to cover with my material.
Of course, I chose burlap. My current obsession!
I started with the seat, using my staple gun to secure the burlap.

I cut the fabric around the arms of the chair, folded it under, and then stapled it down. (This part was not easy, and it did not turn out perfectly, but it still looks good to me!)

When I saw the extra burlap hanging below the staples, it looked like a cute little ruffled skirt. That’s when I decided that I wanted to add a skirt to the chair. (The above pictures were taken at night in my garage, so the burlap looks darker.)
Next, I covered the back of the chair using the same process as I did on the seat.

Then I stapled and trimmed the burlap on the back of the chair.

Next, I stapled on a piece of burlap to cover the back of the chair.

Now for the skirt…
I placed the cording in the middle of the burlap, folded the material over, and sewed it up using my zipper foot. Then I trimmed the excess material.

Notice I didn’t even use pins when I sewed. I’m dangerous like that!

I made a long piece of burlap that measured 5 inches wide and sewed a small hem. Then I pinned some ruffles in the material. I didn’t even measure them the same length apart. I just eyeballed it. That’s how I roll.

I attached the cording to the skirt, and sewed them together.

I made some double cording and hot glued it over the staples on the back. I got that idea from an upholstery book. (I will be explaining how to make the double cording in a future post on my blog.)

Then I attached the skirt with my staple gun.

I bought this chair for $6.50.
I bought about 4 yards of burlap from Hobby Lobby when it was on sale for $1.99 a yard. That’s $8.00, and I have some left over.
I already had the black spray paint, cording, and staples. So this whole transformation cost me about $15.00!
I’m lovi
ng that!
Every lady needs some cute accessories, so I made her a little pillow.
This picture was taken in our master bedroom, but I made the chair to go in our guest house.