Paper Rose Holiday Ornaments

I promise not to stray too far away from my blog's usual focus on gardening, but it's the holidays, and it's fun to do little celebratory projects.

These little rose ornaments are easy to do and they'd make great last minute gifts.

Here's what you need to make your own flower ornaments:

Materials and supplies you need to do this project:

• clear glass Christmas balls
• paper roses
• sprigs of seeded eucalyptus
• scissors
• wire cutters

• low heat glue gun and glue sticks
• ribbon, decorative string or metal ornament hanger

Just a few words about the materials in this project: Glass ornaments can be found in a variety of shapes at craft stores. I bought round balls and glass hearts.

For the flowers I chose roses, but you could use any type of paper flowers.

Paper roses can be found at craft stores, but I have also found them at the Dollar Store for a much cheaper price. It pays to shop around!

Step 1: We are going to begin this project by making rose buds and individual petals.

Moving around the circumference of a paper rose, gently push back on the outer row of petals until the rose and the row of petals become separated. Snip off the wire stem and set aside the rose bud. Altogether you will need 6 or more rose buds.

Don't discard the outer row of rose petals and leaves!

Separate the leaves and rose petals by gently pulling them apart. Cut the two sections into individual rose petals and leaves.

Step 2: Remove the top of your glass ornament.

Take your wire cutters and snip away the stems of 3 or 4 roses as cleanly and neatly as you can.

Fill the ornament with roses and the petals you made in step 1. (Tip: I glued a couple of roses back to back so they'd way always be facing out from inside the ornament.)

Place the top back on the ornament. Now you are ready to decorate the exterior.

Step 3: Put a dab of hot glue on the back of a rose and attach it to the top front of your ornament. Flip the ornament over and attach another flower on the top back.

Step 4: Centre two more roses in between the first two flowers.

Step 5: Tuck two of the rose buds you made earlier in between the roses at the top of the ornament to fill in the gaps. 

Place one last rose bud just below the centre rose to create a bit of a cascade down the front of the ornament. Repeat on the back, adding a bud just below the centre rose. 

Finish with a couple of green leaves at the sides of each bud.

The final step is the most finicky and involves working with small pieces of Seeded Eucalyptus. 

Seeded Eucalyptus is fairly easy to find. I found this bunch at the grocery store, but it is also commonly available at most florists. 

I fastened the stems of my Eucalyptus together with an elastic band and hung them to dry, as I plan to use the Eucalyptus for other projects. For this ornament project however, we are going to use just the seeds and not the foliage. The seeds of the Eucalyptus are so dry I think you should be able to use them right away, without taking the time to dry bunches of Eucalyptus first.

Step 6: Cut a large branch of seeds into small sections that are about 1/4" long (on the lower right hand side of my step 6 picture there is an example of these small stems). 

Touch the seed's stem to the end of your glue gun to pick up the tiniest amount of hot glue. 

Tuck the seeds in among the paper roses.

Use some ribbon to create a hanger, or even easier, attach an ornament hook.

These ornaments would make a great stocking stuffer, hostess gift or present for your child's teacher.

Put your ornament in a pretty box and use more flowers instead of a bow. 

(I hot glued my flowers onto my gift box.)

I am sure any recipient would be thrilled with this heartfelt gift.

5 More Ways to Dress Up a Basic Evergreen Wreath

Last holiday season I gave myself a challenge: take a basic evergreen wreath and personalize it. I had so much fun with this project, I thought I would do it again this year.

In case you missed it, here's a quick snapshot of I came up with:

Based on page views, your favourites were the Lady Bug Wreath and the Blue Jay Wreath. 

I also did a Partridge and Pear Wreath, A White Rose & Berry Wreath and a Fruit & Berry Wreath (the links will lead you to the how-to's).

This year, the challenge again began with a very basic evergreen wreath, which I purchased at the grocery store for $10.99. 

My wreath came with a rather sad, crumpled bow and a few token pinecones. But the hard work was done for me, so I am not complaining. All I had to do was to dress it up and make it pretty!

So what did I come up with for the 2015 holiday season?

A Snowy Owl Holiday Wreath

(Here's a link to the how-to)

A Holiday Bell Wreath

(Here's a link to the how-to)

An Antique Rose Holiday Wreath

(Here's a link to the how-to)

A Butterfly Holiday Wreath

(here is a link to the how-to)

And finally, a Teddy Bears and Toys Holiday Wreath.

This one is for the children or grandchildren in your life!

(Here's a link to the how-to)

So what's your favourite?

The Silver Lining

What will many flea market and antique dealers tell you is a tough item to sell these days? Silver. 

No one wants to have to polish it!

I certainly couldn't see myself polishing silver, but then these two champagne buckets caught my eye. They were $10! How can you beat that for affordable elegance? (I must point out here that the champagne buckets are only silver plate and not sterling silver, but hey, I was after style on a budget.)

After that, I started to see silver in a whole new light.

Let me state at the onset of this post, that I am not suggesting you take up polishing silver knives, forks and spoons as a hobby. I am sure you have way better things to do with what little free time you have available. 

I think that you are smart to pass on any small, high maintenance items like cutlery. 

A few larger pieces however, might light up your holiday table or add some panache to your mantel display. Silver is classic. It adds sparkle and a touch of sophistication. 

And the best reason of all that I can suggest for reconsidering silver? Because it is not popular at the moment, you can often find silver for a song.

I don't imagine that I will use my two $10 silver buckets not for champagne. How often do I serve champagne after all? Instead, I will use them to dress up potted plants and bulbs.

Here, I just dropped the plastic pot in and let it catch on the sides of the silver bucket. (To water the cyclamen, I would suggest that you carefully remove it from the silver champagne bucket, water the plant, and let the it drain in the sink before re-interting it back into the silver bucket.)

Just image how great the silver bucket will look with a potted amaryllis this holiday season!

 This is an old silver pitcher that was probably used in an upscale restaurant to serve fresh ice 

water to patrons. Cost $7.

Spring flowers look great in it.

Add some white mums, evergreen boughs, a few stems of red berries and the water pitcher becomes a nice arrangement for the holiday season.

This large silver tray cost $8 (again silver plate, not sterling silver). In my house, it will probably never be perfectly polished. I like the way a bit of patina brings out the decorative pattern of the tray (or at least that is my excuse anyway). 

We often watch television in the third floor attic, and so I use trays to carry drinks or a snack to the third floor. 

A silver tray might also be useful for serving coffee in the living room after a holiday meal or perhaps might be used to group cups or glasses into an orderly presentation on a buffet table.

While I can be fussy to buy for, when it comes to perfume, I like just about anything. So for years my husband gave me perfume for Christmas. The collection of bottles began to looked messy on the top of our bureau, so I organized them in a small round tray. Silver tray $2.

I may not be willing to polish knives and forks, but I am up to polishing a fancy serving spoon in order to impart a bit of glamour into a store bought pie. I personally don't think it even matters if the spoon matches the rest of your flatware.

For those of you reluctant to do even the smallest amount of silver polishing, mercury glass makes a great stand-in and has all the same holiday sparkle.

I got these little glass vases at the local grocery store for $3.99. They came decorated with a pinecone and faux evergreen bough that was tied onto the vase with a piece of raffia.  I think that a group of these vases would look great scattered down the length of a holiday table.

Where can you find similar silver pieces? Watch for silver items at flea markets, thrift stores and even garage sales (my $2 tray was a garage sale find).