Christmas Village Fun

Ok so I know that this post does not have anything to do with wood or building something but that is going to happen every so often. This village is just fun though. There are a lot of memories to go with this village. I actually painted it way back when I was in high school! We have added a couple store bought ones over the years but most of it is hand painted. The first piece I painted was the town hall. I was so excited to have it done but my excitment was a little deflated when I realized that I messed up on it. The tower clock on it had roman numberals on it for the numbers. The bottom number which of course is a 6 should have looked like VI. Well I must have been day dreaming or something because it turned out as VII. After being sad for just a minute I decided that I would turn it into something fun. Every house I painted after that included one "mistake". It was fun to be creative and come up with the on purpose "mistakes". Some homes had little eyes looking out the door or a funny pink brick. I like to have people try and find them. I usually like to put up the village by myself but when you have children that just does not happen.

There are lots of little pieces to get out and look through. That is part of the fun. This years village was a little different because we needed to include a new purchase. A CHRISTMAS TRAIN! Maybe it is because I have a little boy now or something but our village just needed a train. That made setup a little trickier because I knew I wanted the train to go through a tunnel. Once I got that figured out I was on my way.

I learned how to set up a christmas village from my Uncle Joe. He is the king of Christmas villages and his is way bigger than mine. He even painted a big mural to be the backdrop for his. I kind of fell in love with his and that is why I got started on mine!

It does not look very pretty as you are setting it all up. You can see all the cords and it looks really messy.

That is until you add the MAGIC. The SNOW! I loved the snow that I found at Michaels this year. It covers everything so nicely. You can't even see all the ugly cords from the lights. Just the beatutiful glow under the snow.

A little part of me might still be five because I like to pretend that I live in this little village. Strange I know but I am pretty honest. Besides, who would not want to live in this fun little place. The finishing touch to the village is the village sounds. To really date myself there is a little walkman under that snow that plays a cassette tape of village sounds through speakers in the snow. I just don't know if I would have it any other way!

Just a little extra tidbit about this village is that there is a little tuba player the the band that is playing in front of the city hall. I played the tuba so this guy and I are kind of buddies. We get each other.

Christmas-ish Rustic Tray

I say Christmas-ish because I know that I will use this tray year round. How I came about this tray was kind of funny. I was out in the shed and I had just gotten my table saw out. My friend was coming down to rip some wood for a project of her own. While I was waiting for her to get there I saw my pile of scrap wood over in the corner. I had many images floating around in my head of trays that I had looked at. There was the wood just sitting there and there I was with a saw in front of me. Can you see where I am going with this? I hurried and cut out some wood that I could slap together to make a tray! It is just a little box so it wasn't too complicated. That is why I can say "slapped together".

It was starting to get a little cold outside so my stairs going out to my garage became my building space. You may ask why I did not put it together out by the table saw. Well, that is for another day. Anyway, I got out all my stuff and put the pieces together. Kind of like a puzzle.

With the box all done it was time to stain it and put on the finishing touches. Can I just say that I love to stain wood! It turns it into a whole different piece. It is so satisfying. After a trip to home dopot and hobby lobby I had this thing as good as done. (I have to credit my favorite ladies again at Shanty 2 chic for the idea for the corner brackets).

I had it all finished and in my hands and still did not know what to do with it. I don't really have many places in my house to set trays. Eventhough I wish I did. Then it hit me. This tray was going to go on my kitchen table and help me make a Christmas winter scene. Like most other times I had the picture in my head but just had to make it a reality. Bam! There it is. There is one thing that I wish was different about this and that is the candles. These candles are fine but I really wanted the candles with the flickering wick. I just could not bring myself to spend over $100 for three of them so off to walmart I went and $10 later here we are. It is so fun.

Another thing that I love this Christmas is the battery operated LED lights from Ikea (I tried to find the link for you on their website but they were not to be found. They are in the store though). I don't have plugs in all the places that I would like lights and these do the trick. And for $2.99 you just can't beat that. I put them in a couple different places this year.

On my snowman shelf...

and my stair garland

Adds just the perfect touch when there is no plug available.

Where to Begin

I am so happy to have a place to pull together all of my projects! My own little junk drawer of the mind. I have spent way too long having them all float around in my head. First off, I love doing projects. I always have. I love creating things, making things and building things. My brain just starts swirling when I start thinking of a project and all the ins and outs of how I am going to accomplish the task. It can be a challenge but the feeling when you accomplish it is out of this world! I just kind of jump right in and have fun as I go. This post is going to be a little bit of everything because I want to catch up to the here and now. I have done a lot of things and I have to admit that I am not very good at the before pictures. Actually I am not very good at the after pictures either so here we go.

I have to admit that I am a pretty good copycat. It kind of blows my mind when I have my own original ideas. Even then they are bits and pieces from all kind of different things I have seen. But hey, most of us are like that, right? This first project was a supper fun project because it was the first time that I fell deeply in love with a tool. Yes, I am in love. It is the one and only Kreg Jig. I discovered the wonder of this tool on one of my favorite websites. Shanty 2 Chic is such a fun site to dive into and get ideas and dream. I get lost in there sometimes and have to pull myself back to the real world. Much of the inspiration for this project was siphoned from their lovely site. Now back to the project at hand. I wanted to make something new for my kitchen and I knew I wanted it to hold plates but I did not want the same old same old plate holders that everyone had. With my rustic tendencies I put together in my head a wooden plate holder that would hold all white plates.

I put these puppies together in no time really. It was a great afternoon spent outside chasing my then 1-year-old down the street and bringing him back to my house. My neighbors are so nice and just give me that "Oh just look at you trying to do something constructive with a toddler. So cute" look. But I pressed forward.

I was so lucky when I went to Tiapan Trading to look for white plates because they were all on sale and they were just what I was looking for! Best Day! I knew I needed a few different kinds and grabbed a bunch. I took my finished project to craft night with my friends and they helped me arrange the dished in multiple different ways until we hit the right one. Those ladies are awesome. I put them up and kind of freaked out at how big they were on my wall. Then I realized that was only because my other plate holders were so small. I calmed down and then just loved them and still do!