The Wonders of Mod Podge~

I wanted to make something to gift to certain people in our lives and looked into iron on transfers,very expensive. I then tried to make my own using wax paper, butcher paper & just plain copy paper all to no avail.  B-U-T I did not give up, one night as I was laying in bed it hit me!  Years ago I remembered transferring an image on to a piece of wood with Mod Podge & wondered if it would work,well GUESS WHAT?  It did & this is what I ended up with~

 Pretty Sachets ~

I got most of the crown images from The Graphics Fairy, love her blog and made 30 of these sachets for my sisters  as well as for the teachers at the school our angels attend.

It was so much fun making these! I did not realize how much I missed sewing & they were very easy too I might add, it took some time but well worth the wait. Here is the process:

First I copied all of the crown images onto one sheet of paper~

 I then cut out each crown and applied a heavy coat of Mod Podge~ 

 I then placed it onto my fabric and covered the image with water

Make sure you are able to see the image clear & defined not opaque (as shown)

I placed zip lock bags between the front & back of sachet to prevent the image from being transferred to the back side DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP

 Allow to dry~

I allowed these to dry over night

 Here they are all dried out~

 Here is the oxymoron: now that they are dried you now need to wet them!

Making sure the image is clear & defined, again not opaque

 Now the magic~  Start peeling away the paper & see your hard work coming to life~

 I also used this brush to scrape away the paper~

 Now time to wash away to ink from the transferred image~

  I stuffed the sachets with polyfil & cut pieces of cardboard  soaked them in scented oil to add to the polyfil~

I sewed up the opening by hand added some bling  and they are now ready to be gifted~

Told you they were easy, time consuming but rather easy, what do you think? You gonna try to make some?

*****

I don't know about you but I seem to be disorganized now after Christmas and my house seems to be in a constant state of chaos.  I hate that, so what have I been doing? PLAYING! Okay and organizing too! I started with my craft room & went on to closets.  We had a tornado warning on Christmas day 'our first' so I grabbed the angels & took them into my closet (my husband was in mass) which was a mess I did not feel safe in there at all, so that got me thinking I need to remove magazines,(boxes) home decor items and anything heavy or sharp in case we get another warning.

I then went onto the kitchen & did the medicine cabinet & the pantry.  I took 4 big trash bags to a thrift store that helps the mentally disabled. Things are looking up.  I have yet to tackle the messy house because I am having such a good time playing with my angels and cleaning can wait until they return to school.

I pray you had a wonderful Christmas & I am sending Blessings for 2013~

Thank you for stopping by Atir Inspired Decor~AID

GRAB A NICE DRINK SIT BACK & BROWSE ~Atir Inspired Decor ~AID~  IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS I  WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THEM SO PLEASE BE KIND & LEAVE ONE OR MORE IF YOU LIKE~ I WOULD ALSO BE HONORED IF YOU BECAME A FOLLOWER OF ~Atir Inspired Decor~AID~

Christmas Home Tour~Den, Bar & Rec Room

Lovies, I am sorry once again for not keeping up with my posts, I wanted by now to have had my Christmas Home Tour complete, but I was thrown for a loop with the tragedy in Newtown, CT.

Here is the last of the Christmas Home Tour allow me to start in 

THE DEN~

 This little Christmas tree I have had, well since before I met my husband so that makes it well over 20 years old, it is in great condition because I take good care of our things.  The container it is in is not the original I bought it at Hobby Lobby last year after Christmas sale~

 The fleur de lis & cross  decorations were meant for a small tree, I was lucky to have found some amber colored bead garland at a thrift store for $2.00~

 This "STAR" is actually a brooch that is interchangeable with other faux colored stones. I love the way it looks as our star~

My small collection of Christmas books that my husband has bought me throughout the years, I wish I can find some other Christmas miniature books.  This little white dove is in honor of my beautiful mother, she called all of her children & grandchildren "Turtle Dove"~

The Bar~

 The bar had no shelving & had doors to close it up, I had my husband remove the doors & we had these glass shelves installed, I am glad we did this now I can showcase some pretty things~ 

 This container that houses my cork collection was found very recently at a thrift store it has Arden stamped & a black rubber like stopper that I am not able to remove on the bottom.  Anyone know what it is?  What it was used for?

 These pink & green ornaments were from my mother in law, I have not used them until this year, because they were "lost" I am so glad we found them!  I think I am going to leave this tray, turned  chalk board  right where it is it fits this area perfectly~

Of course I need to show off my beautiful swans.  This was a gift from my youngest sister,  I  really 'guilted' her into giving it to me~

The Rec Room~

 This is the "fun" tree, my angels tree!  One of my angels loves to decorate it year after year and I must say he does a very good job making sure they are spread out over the tree.  Can you see the green bear & the white bear with the Santa hat? My husband gave these to me in my stocking on our very first Christmas together.  They are so special to me, he was still a collage student & poor so I really treasure them & make sure I show case them every year~

The santa's got a makeover, okay I just added some fairy lights & snow, but I think it made them look so much better~  The wreath my sister made me. You see every year my sisters & I make our gifts to each other & if they have made something Christmas(y) I make sure to put it up every year.

Thank you for stopping by Atir Inspired Decor~AID

GRAB A NICE DRINK SIT BACK & BROWSE ~Atir Inspired Decor ~AID~  IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS I  WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THEM SO PLEASE BE KIND & LEAVE ONE OR MORE IF YOU LIKE~ I WOULD ALSO BE HONORED IF YOU BECAME A FOLLOWER OF ~Atir Inspired Decor~AID~

Newtown Connecticut Memorial~

My husband & I like everyone else is hurting, hurting for all of the beautiful little angels that have gone to Our Lord too soon and for the brave women that gave their lives protecting them.

We want to help in some way but since we live no where near Newtown  CT. we thought the only way for us to help is by praying & remembering, so this is our little memorial that we built together in honor of them~

 I went out first thing this morning and bought these crosses from the Dollar Tree, we wanted angels but I was not able to find any~

 I had a vision in my head, so I had my husband looking for star lights at every big box store & he was not able to find any, last night after mass I went shopping & I found snow flake lights, they are not stars but they look enough like them so I bought them. I wanted each star to represent each person that passed, the string had 30 stars I told my husband we could maybe remove them or make them darker & he suggested that we leave them & they can represent FAITH~HOPE & LOVE~ I loved that idea~

 Here we are trying to make everything fit & look nice~

 My husband has beautiful printing so he printed all 27 names on the crosses I bought this morning we then glued them on to this bead board really I helped I just can not take pictures of myself & glue at the same time~

This is what it looks like once the sun went down, it is not what I had pictured in my mind but I think this is just so beautiful &  now the people of Newtown CT. know how much we are thinking of them and praying for them. When you see this please send up a prayer for all of these wonderful amazing lives that are in heaven now~

If you feel inclined please pass this post on to everyone you know, it is not to increase my following, but so that those hurting will receive the prayers we are asking you to pray when you read this post~

PS~I know this is not my normal post, but I can't seem to put the words together with my feelings & this is the best I am able to do.

Christmas Home Tour~Foyer & Staircase

I so enjoyed decorating this part of our home.  For the stairs I had  a vision in mind and it turned out just as I imagined.  I set up several vignettes for the foyer table and this is what I ended up with, so simple yet so sweet~

 The white tree is broken at the bottom but it is still pretty & useful, I just needed to cover the broken part so I used the same beads that I have used in several other vignettes I topped the tree off with the same ornaments I put in the other apothecary jar, and can you see that cute little white Christmas tree in the little cloche I made from an old candle holder~

 Heading upstairs, 2 large swags that I made from layering greenery of every color & size~

 The pretty brown & gold ribbon was my inspiration for the colors I used this year~

 My pretty gold fruit fleur de lis adds additional color~

 Along the staircase I just used garland and at each pillar I made a smaller swag like the big one minus the fleur de lis~

*****

The Creche~

 I LOVE this Creche, it is from my MIL she gave it to us when we got married and we have put it up every year since~

 Isn't it just lovely~The REASON FOR THE SEASON~ The little twiggy thingy  with the red bow is a candle my beautiful mom made many many years ago, of course I use it every year, she was so creative~

I have a love of Nambe, and this is a huge bowl that I have under my console table on the landing.  I added brown branches,  fairy lights, decorative orbs and the brown beads, oh I don't want to forget the beautiful bird~

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GRAB A NICE DRINK SIT BACK & BROWSE ~Atir Inspired Decor ~AID~  IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS I  WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THEM SO PLEASE BE KIND & LEAVE ONE OR MORE IF YOU LIKE~ I WOULD ALSO BE HONORED IF YOU BECAME A FOLLOWER OF ~Atir Inspired Decor~AID~