Projects Of Christmas Past, Present and Future

Jingle bell time is a swell time when you're in good company.

And I'm in good company.  Five bloggers and a few ghosts.

Are you familiar with Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol?

It involves that Ebenezer Scrooge guy who is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, who knock him down from his crotchety demeanor.

But because I'm fresh out of real Christmas ghosts and I'm not as crotchety as Scrooge, you're about to be visited by the ghosts of projects past, present and future, or more accurately;

A project with old wood....
A sign with lettering....
And a quick and easy project you can do in the future.

The future is any minute from now right?

A ghostly blast from the past.

Even if it is in the past, I could never forget my reclaimed wood Christmas tree made from the top of a spool.

And the reason I could never forget it is because it's a heavy beast to move around and inconvenient to store.  But I love it's simple rustic shape and the 'O Tannenbaum sign.

The tree started out as a regular round wood spool top.  It was cut down to size to resemble an evergreen, and the base is made from the leftover wood spool pieces.

The ornaments that dangle from the branch ends are heavy glass bottle stoppers I scored at a garage sale, and after this post I just might need to use them as their intended purpose corking the top of some Christmas spirits and I don't mean ghost spirits!

 A Sign Of A Present Apparition

Presently, I had a Naughty & Nice Christmas bedroom tour where the main attraction is the sign I made hanging above our bed.  After Christmas I will flip the sign over and make one that is year-round friendly, one of many *future* projects inspired by the present.

An old piece of barn wood with just the right orange'y red tone to fit in with the colors of the room, was stenciled with one-time-use homemade letters. 

The background of the wood didn't need to be painted at all, the present patina from it's past was perfect.

I think I just made a new tongue twister.

Rumor has it that whomever sleeps to the right of that sign is receiving coal this year, but I don't believe that for one minute.

I hope.

Technically this future is now the past.

Once something is done it's in the past right?  As I type, this project of the future is actually still in the future for you and me both because I haven't made it yet.

However by the time you read this and by the next paragraph, the future project will have been done and the photos included, so I guess the project will have moved into my past, but since you are about to read about it, it's still in your future right?

Do you think I over thought that just a bit?

I wanted something simple, and I rarely craft in the ways I did when my kids were small, but what is easier than using glitter and a glue stick?  And what is a bigger pain in the rear-end than getting every last glimmer of glitter cleaned up?

Let me answer that last question..... nothing.

A left over scrap of barn wood from my present project was used to craft into the future.  I toddled on out to the garage and cut some random sizes, and in the name of being totally project transparent, at that point I had no idea what they would become.

Coppery bits were necessary because the other ornaments on our tree are copper and orange-ish. Also since there are no longer any child made paper plate or macaroni Jesus ornaments on my tree I knew it needed a little homespun to go along with the glass bulbs.

Why are there no longer any paper plate or macaroni ornaments on my tree?  That's a story for another day.

I dug out some forgotten craft supplies that contained tiny bits of junk, and these ornaments evolved with the help of a couple tiny silver bells held on with a thin bit of twine and a thumb tack, and some mini rusty tin stars.

The glue stick was used because it dries faster and is less messy than regular glue, and I could push the glitter right into the glue on the sides.  And I also used the glue stick  because it was in the craft bin and then I didn't have to hunt down another adhesive.

I'm no good at drawing stars, so to my pile of Old Sign Stencils my coursers they flew and I simply placed a star shape stencil on the wood piece, smeared the glue stick on and sprinkled the glitter in.

Of course I do make more challenging signs using the stencils, in fact I have a *future* project that is taking place today after I write this.

For the top part of the ornament I opened the junk drawer looking for some little hooks, and instead I found the wood pulls I removed from some old blinds last spring.  I painted them up, shook a little glitter on the wet paint and glued them on top of the blocks of wood.

I'm going to continue making these today till the little blocks of wood are used up, but this future project post needs to be completed, which will then be my past project joining another past project and a present one, and I don't know about you but all this past present and future stuff is very confusing to my ghosts.

The future of my Christmas 2017 is arriving rapidly.  I've gotten a late start on preparations - I think it had something to do with a Florida trip sidetracking me - there are caramels to make, gifts to buy and a few signs to make for friends.

That white stuff the tray is sitting on is real honest to goodness snow.

Speaking of friends, I told you at the beginning that I'm in good company, and those friends have quit their baking and wrapping long enough to bring you their own past, and present junky posts.  Click on the links below to see what they are up to.

And in case you are wondering - to my knowledge none of these bloggers are ghosts or crotchety.

Donna of Funky Junk fame leads this junky team.  

I could write a book about everything Donna is known for, but here at the Ranch she is the inspiration for anything stenciled, especially at Christmas when I like to gift signs to my friends and family using her Old Sign Stencils line.

Speaking of books, Becky at Beyond The Picket Fence 

has a couple of those and in her spare time she up-cycles, 

re-purposes and paints her way around Christmas projects like nobody's business.

Carlene from Organized Clutter

 and a fellow Minne*snow*tan is a re-purposing genius.

She can take just about anything and turn it into something!

Susan, Susan, Susan... from Homeroad 

 has never met a long forgotten item 

that she can't figure out a way to update and make it useful again.

Quick Links to Past Projects & Awesome Stencils

Wood Spool Christmas Tree

Naughty & Nice Christmas Bedroom Tour and Kringle Coal Sign

Old Sign Stencils