Smoky Mountain Christmas

Who knew Santa traded his reign deer for flying pigs?
(Decorations outside Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge)

My family and I LOVE the Smoky Mountains.  We particularly love Sevier County. Sevier county includes the wonderful towns of Sevierville (Dolly Parton's home town!), Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg Tenessee.  Most places go all out for the Holidays, but these three lovely towns really know how it is done!  This is the second year that we have gone to enjoy the sights and sounds of Winterfest and once again, we were not disappointed!  Lights, lights, lights, and more lights!  There are Christmas themed shows including Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede in Pigeon Forge.  It is just BEAUTIFUL and so much FUN!

This trip we decided to visit the Deer Farm Exotic Petting Zoo in Sevierville and Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg.  When you have kids (or are big kids like my hubby and I) animals are always a good choice. We also had a big breakfast and did some shopping at my personal favorite eatery the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant, which is surrounded by shops like the Apple Barn and Cider Mill, their own candy shop, Christmas shop, and even ice cream shop!  You could spend all day at this one location. 

This area truly has something for everyone. In Sevierville you can take in a multitude of wonderful musicals and dinner shows or pet exotic animals in one of the petting zoos.  In Pigeon Forge you can take your family to Dollywood, have a fabulous country style dinner at the Old Mill or the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant, ride go-carts, or go shopping at one of the several outlet shopping centers. In Gatlinburg you can walk the quaint alpine village streets, see the various Ripley's attractions, including Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, enjoy the ski lift and views from Ober Gatlinburg, tour the artisan trail loop, or play a game of putt-putt in your choice of venue. You can zipline, horse back ride, or just enjoy the view!  You shouldn't miss the opportunity to see the wonderful peaceful sites of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Newly weds, or family's of any and every size will find something that they love about this area.



My boys outside the Applewood Farmhouse Grill in Sevierville, Tennessee.



Over this next week I plan to tell you much more about the adventures we had this visit and share some of our favorite photos from our wonderful Smoky Mountain Adventures!  Stay tuned!

You know who, driving his "red-neck sleigh" outside the Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Tis the Season!



For someone like me, with limited free time, the Holidays can prove to lessen the amount of free time for creating. Well, maybe not all creating. There are trees to put up and decorate.  There are mantels, doors, and table tops to dress in Christmas finery. However, in my case at least, after a long day at work, checking home work, getting kids fed and dressed for bed, checking off items from my Christmas shopping list, wrapping, baking, Christmas parties, etc. I am amazed that I have ANY time left at all. Amazingly enough I do manage to find a few minutes here and there to do what I love. Don't be surprised to open a gift from me and find one of my creations made with love!

Everyone Needs an Angel: Part II

Now that you have your angels made, you have to decide what you would like to do with them.  You can leave them as they are.  You can let your kids paint them, or add glitter.  There is no limit to what you can do to “finish” these cute little ornaments.  This tutorial may seem like overkill for a simple clothespin craft, but.  I wanted to take something simple and it into an heirloom quality item.  I think I accomplished that.  I decided to “antique” my angels.

I used inexpensive tubes of Apple Barrel paint and Deco Art crackle medium.  I first painted the angels a cream color.  I allowed them to dry.  Then I went over the paint with the crackle medium. 

There are no bonus points for neatness here.  You want the finish to be a little rough.  If the paint is thicker in one spot than another – perfect!  The perfection is in the imperfection! Use the same thought process with your crackle.  As a matter of fact, you don’t have to crackle the entire angel.  If you like, you can just do a spot or two.  Use your own artistic interpretation of “antique.”

Close-up of crackle finish

Now we want to really give it that dirty, dusty, old look.  For this we need stain.  You can purchase a water based stain if you like.  I chose to make my own stain.  To do this I used an olive colored paint and mixed it with water. 

The more water you use, the thinner your paint.  This is completely up to you.  You can experiment on a scrap piece of wood if you like to determine the best consistency for your taste.  My stain is pretty runny.   The crackle finish on my angels is pretty fine and I want the stain to get down into the small crevasses. You can drop your angel in the stain or use a sponge or brush. 

You can rub off excess stain (as I have done) or you can allow the stain to dry as is. I recommend using coffee filters to remove excess stain.  They are lint free and absorbent.  I have found they work best for me.  You will need to let the stain completely dry before moving to the next step.

We are in the final stretch now!

Once your angel is completely dry, we need to put a protective coating on her to keep her looking great.  My choice of medium for this task is paste finishing wax.

Using a small amount of wax and a coffee filter, lightly buff the angel with the wax.  This will give her a protective satin finish.  It adds just the right finishing touch to the antique character of the angel.  A bonus too in that there is no drying time once you are done, you are done! A word of caution though;  buffing too hard can damage your angel.  An angel without wings and a halo, just isn't an angel.  Go lightly and you will be pleased with your outcome.

If you would like your angel to star in your latest Christmas tree production, then you will want to add a string.  I have chosen to use silk cord, like that used for jewelry (mainly because I make jewelry and have it handy), but you may use whatever stringing material you like.

Put a dot of tack or craft glue (something that will dry clear) at the center top of the angel's wings.  There should be enough space to gently tuck the ends of the string so that they are hidden below the wings.  You may need to use a toothpick to aid in hiding the ends of string.  Let this dry overnight to insure a firm hold on the string.

All this work has paid off!  We now have a beautiful angel(s) to adorn our household Christmas scenes!

Christmas Cone-Head!

Yes Sir! That's me - a Christmas cone-head! I am sure you have see a lot of cone shaped "Christmas Trees" being sold for decorations in pretty much every retailer that sells any kind of Christmas decor.  Some are metal with lovely dangles, some a plastic with sparkles and glitter... So pretty.  Well, I am stealing this and making my own.  I am not selling you my version of this idea as anything original, but you can certainly create your own original take on this very idea! 

For my version, you will need a paper mache cone (find one at your local arts and crafts store), a hot glue gun (make sure it is fully loaded!), and plenty of pretty floral "picks" (also found at your local arts and crafts retailer).

As you see, I chose picks with these beautiful berry-like doo-dads.  They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.  You can use whatever you like.  I also covered my cone with a like colored piece of felt prior to adding my berries, but depending on your color palette, you can do anything you like from using a like colored piece of material, to leaving it as is, to painting it the color you desire.  I used a cone that is approximately 10" tall.  It took about 10 picks to cover my cone, but keep in mind that depending upon what size cone, and the type and size of pick you use, this may vary.

You can simply pull the "berries" from the pick, but to reduce damage to the "berries" I chose to clip them from the pick with a pair of wire cutters.  If you don't have a set of wire cutters, you can get a very inexpensive set from most retailers.  You can find them in several departments from floral to hardware.  I then, very simply, hot glued my "berries" to my cone starting at the bottom and working my around the cone and up to the top.  

Look how pretty she is!

Can't you see her in all her loveliness, standing in the middle of the dinner table during the Christmas feast, surrounded by all the wonderful Christmas finery!  I must make more! So easy, so pretty and I caught the picks I used at a great sale!  So CHEAP!!!  But so pretty, no one will know!

I never FELT so many flowers!

One of my new discoveries and the very thing that has lit a fire under my creative tushie this season is the yarn wreath with felt flowers.  I admit it, I saw this browsing Etsy, and you see what happened next…  Of course I didn’t copy the artist’s original design.  While I do believe imitation is the highest form of flattery, I would never try to pass off another person’s work as my own.  I am an idea thief. This is MY little wreath and I LOVE it!  It reminds me of a warm cozy sweater I just want to cuddle up in!  As I have been researching other ideas to take on how to create the beautiful flowers for the wreaths, I have had my eyes opened to so much more! All this time I thought felt was just a children’s craft project. What I fool I have been!  I have a good little stock of various types of felt flowers growing in my craft room…  I can’t wait to show you what I do with the harvest!!! Stay tuned!!  And while these flowers are indeed FABLOUS, felt can be turned into so much more than just flowers! It can be made into beautiful coasters, trivets, slippers, dolls, and stuffed animals… the list go on!  I foresee a lot of felt in our futures!

45 Days Until Christmas! Oh My!

I know a lot of you are saying, "But what about Thanksgiving?  We haven't even had our turkey dinner yet!"  Well, if you are an arts and crafts person, like myself, then you are probably making decorations and/or gifts and/or gift wrapping and/or Holiday attire.   In which case, you have to start thinking about these things way ahead of the Thanksgiving bird!  If you haven't yet, as we love to say in the South, "Bless your heart!"  You better get to it!

I have recently taken a hiatus from jewelry designing only to be slapped in the face with the creative desire to make all things Christmas.  Now I feel the need to throw some jewelry in the mix as well.  I have been known to sell my one of kind pieces in the past.  I also, when I am able to part with them, which is often just as heart wrenching at parting with a beloved friend, have been known to gift my creations.  Again, jewelry making is no original concept of mine, or anyone else's.  We know cave men/women were some of the earliest jewelry designers, I mean, take Wilma Flintstone for example!  She was the proud owner of one of the most iconic necklaces known today!  So we stole the idea of becoming artisan jewelry makers from our earliest fore fathers and/or mothers. And I stole the idea from another thief who stole it before me.  What makes it original is what you do with it!  So here are a few of my past designs to give you some inspiration.  Now I need to get busy on some new ones! Happy Creating!