a 'week of glee' ~ day four

for today's dollop of 'glee'

i have delved into the 'gleeful' past to bring you something i made two years back...

it is quite truthfully my favorite 'gleeful' item of all time.

i look forward to getting it out of the attic and i dislike having to put it back in the attic after the 'gleeful season' is done and dusted.

it is i believe, to be a perfect example of how a handcrafted piece made from 'leftovers' can bring 'glee' year after year.

so without further a do, i bring you

a 'cluster of glee'

quite simply made

and

brings a whole lot of 'glee' to a front door this season

as i said above, i did this in 2007 but i am willing for you, my dearest readers to delve into the archives of my crafty memory and tell you how i made it,

so in turn you can go about your 'gleeful' day, gathering odds and ends, to make your very own 'cluster of glee'

now here's the tricky bit, i did start with a string of bells as my base.

i had these lurking in my christmas box...

this could be a problem for any on the handcrafted thrifty challenge, and then again perhaps not, for you are a crafty lot and have plenty of inspiration of your own.

my thoughts are perhaps some vintage baubles hung on a cord or lace may make for a nice starting base,

i could just see a wonderful little grouping of colored ones,

or perhaps just plain silver.

i took some

yarn

(wrapped into snowballs)

felt snowflakes

(i saved from a gift given to me)

red felt hearts

(a garland from ikea i chopped up)

odd scraps of lace

(you could cut up old doilies for this)

and

large vintage shell buttons

i proceeded to thread them all together in a pleasing order.

i made seven strands, all varying lengths,

finishing off by handstitching them together at the top

of the cord, holding the bells.

this looked a little messy and so i hand stitched a nice piece of vintage lace over the 'mess', thus disguising the 'messy situation' that had occured and making it look like it was all part of my master plan in the first place...

and that's it.

i do like a 'gleeful' project that can be made from leftover crafty bits,

has the potential to shine in it's handcrafted 'gleeness'

and does what handcrafted things do best,

makes a house into a home.

and she is thinking, one can't ask much more than that from a little 'cluster of glee' ~ Tif

footynote: just a thought, as it's impossible to tell the size of my 'cluster of glee' in the pictures, this little sweetie measures 26" or 66cm, from top to toe :)

a 'week of glee' ~ day three

there is nothing quite like the anticipation of giving a gift,

be it new, handcrafted or thrifted.

if the perfect gift is found in advance,

the anticpation can begin several months before the gift needs to be given.

or in the case of my man it can happen the day before, and even then it's not the perfect gift and even more importantly (perhaps men take note, across the land), do not leave the receipt lying around.

i can only imagine that when i met my man at the age of 16, he did not think he would still be with me as i turned 40, thus instead of taking 24 years to think ahead... he suddenly went "oh crap, Tif's 40 tomorrow, i know i'll go to Costco, buy her a panini maker and leave the receipt lying around so she knows how much it cost and the date i bought it")

"STOP TIF!!... enough, this is not good for a 'gleeful' post, this is bringing down the tone of 'glee' and also you promised 'closure' on the panini episode of 2008" i hear you exclaim, dearest readers

and quite right you are, thank goodness i have you to keep me on a 'gleeful' track and not drift off on a negative 'non-gleeful' note.

for today's dose of 'glee' i would like to bring you...

the gift of giving 'glee'.

i do believe that giving a gift of 'glee' is a terribly exciting thing to do and even more so if it's wrapped up 'gleefully'

i like to do this, just as i do my etsy orders, with thought and consideration

and a whole lot of lovely catalogues that come my way...

for Etsy i now use recycled tear outs from magazines that i have ferreted away,

inspiring images of lovely interiors,

but when the 'gleeful' season rolls around i produce my pile of 'specials'

i'm talking anthropologie

i'm talking toast

and

i'm talking noa noa

for their pictures are beautiful

and they really do make for wonderful recycled wrapping paper

for today's purpose of showing you how i wrap a box of 'glee' i have retrieved

one half used box of tissues

one box of chocolate pudding mix

one box of banana pudding mix

one dvd from our #2's collection

and

one something else,

that i cannot remember for the life of me what it is

(only wrapped it yesterday, for goodness sake)

and as it looks so lovely all wrapped up i'm not willing to undo it

if i'm giving a gift that isn't conveniently box shaped, then i find a box to fit it, even if i have to go looking in my food cupboard

and then i get to work,

tearing catalogues

sticking tape

and when my little bit of glee is covered

i wrap some cream thrifted yarn around it

and finish it off with a vintage button card

and that's it, quite simple and i am quite sure has been done a million times before but i thought i would share how i like to give glee

and as if that wasn't enough

another 'glee giving' idea is to customize your 'gleeful seasonal' cards

i was fortunate to stumble across a set of unused vintage ones at the thrift store a few weeks back and i was really rather happy with the little birdie on the front.

but i couldn't leave it alone,

i have added some frayed little rosettes to the branches

i do believe these little cards are now a 'gift in themselves'

and wait, there's more glee going around

the lovely Victoria has been sharing my little gleeful garland over at her place

and just before you are all 'gleed out'

the talented Ingrid has just unveiled her new 'gleeful' website, it's in english and best of all, you can order her beautiful crocheted wares direct from it.

i don't think it gets more 'gleeful' than that dearest readers...

but then again does it?

only tomorrow's 'day four' knows the answer to that

she is spreading 'gleefulness' wherever she goes and hoping you forgive her 'bah humbuggy' panini begining ~ Tif

a 'week of glee' ~ day two

when i decorate my shed with glee i do the usual 'gleeful' things,
i put up a tree, no higher than 5ft, add ornaments and then i decorate our two fireplaces with such 'gleeful' delights as garlands, fairy lights, pesky gnomes, little trees, yarn balls and other such 'gleeful' things and then i tend to stop there.

my reasons being, if i continue with adding 'glee' all over the place,

within the week it's doing my head in, i can't breath for feeling i'm being attacked by 'gleeful' things wherever i look and i am just counting the days until i can remove all the 'glee' and put it in the attic.

now we all know this does not make for a very nice 'gleeful' atmosphere and so i have learnt over the past few years the best way to add 'glee' around my shed is to put out things i would usually have around but they just happen to be in the colors of 'glee'.

white, red and green

and best of all

they are handcrafted or vintage.

thus i am less likely to have the urge to purge

(you got to love that last sentence, it just came over me and i was like "oooh, Tif, that's fab... the urge to purge", one could almost say it 'gleefully' and in a sing song voice.

"i've got the urge to purge")

so i thought it might be nice if we went looking on Etsy today for 'gleeful' items that lend themselves to the season, but actually would be things i would happily have in mossy shed any day of the year.

so without further a do, i give you

a 'little Etsy glee'...

a lovely set of green canisters from

{the cottage cheese}

a sweet garland from

{3 GIRLS and a goat}

a wonderful vintage dutch tin from

{blue bell}

a little bit of peace from

{elizabeth wren vintage}

a pop of red dansk ware from

{selling vintage}

a beautiful paper doily garland from

{kristina marie}

a perfect home for pesky gnomes from

{yesstreen}

a vintage ornament in 'granny chic' colors from

{emily lynch}

a festive feeling stool from

{wood & wool stool}

a little collection of jolly colored spools from

{paut luck}

a gleeful grouping of vintage ladies from

{space jam}

i do hope you have found that to be a nice filling 'quoter of glee' and that it puts you in a gleeful mood for the rest of the day

she has counted the use of 'glee' for today as over 16 times and she is thinking that's not bad for day two of glee ~ Tif