Christmas is winding down and New Year's Day will soon be here! It's time for another year and a new beginning. However, I always like to take a look back over the previous year to see which posts were the most popular...just to give me an idea of what you, my readers, like to see here at Confessions of a Plate Addict! Sooo...here are my top ten posts...
When it comes to decorating for the holidays, is there anything that says Christmas more than plaid? Maybe it’s all the red and green but it just makes me feel all warm, cozy and Christmas-y! I have it sprinkled around the house during the holidays in just about every possible form! Sooo… I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to add it to your decorations!
If you are like me and you make a lot of your Christmas decorations, the beginning of November always signals that it’s time to get those projects going! Sooo…I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you…and they are all made with some form of sheet music! It just says Christmas to me…so simple, yet beautiful! Here are eight fun and easy ways you can add sheet music to your Christmas decorations!
I really had fun working on my latest project…my French sheet music Christmas candles! I love the vintage look and the warm little glow that they are adding to my Christmas decorations this year! And…they were easy and inexpensive to create. In fact, I didn’t spend a penny to make them!
Summer has been keeping me busy…lots of yard work and fun extra time with the grands…but I just had to show you my latest project…little summery sailboats made from sheet music! 
I seem to have a thing about sailboats lately! They star in my new summer sailboat pillow…a combination of burlap and canvas sporting a wonderful sailboat stamp. You can see more of it, including a tutorial and free graphics, by clicking here.
And I have pulled out my vintage Joseph Conrad novels…part of a series of his complete works dating from 1925 that my friend Linda at Nina’s Nest and I found at Goodwill a while back. He is still one of my favorite authors, dating from my teenage years when a crush on Peter O’Toole made me read Lord Jim in preparation for the movie! lol And, to my surprise, I discovered my love for books about the sea! A more fitting prop for my little sailboats cannot be found! 
The boats themselves were very easy to make. 
And…voilà !…here it is! I am taking it for a little ride on a stormy sea to test it out! 
This one has something special. Do you see what it is? Yes…one of the pennants sports a black cat! 
And here’s a final look! I love them...and they were free since I already had everything I needed! I am going to have fun moving them around the house to add a little summery touch! And…now that I can make origami boats, I will test them out in the wading pool with my little grands! 
Need some last minute ideas for Christmas? I have been playing with these…tiny trees made from vintage-y scrapbooking paper! Imagine them as ornaments filling a tree, serving as table decorations or place card holders or even added to Christmas presents! Fun! Today I will show you how to create two different styles of tiny Christmas trees…
…in addition to the folded vintage paper trees that starred in my shabby Christmas centerpiece that I showed you earlier! If you would like to see a complete tutorial for making these, click here.
The first is a tree made of stacked layers of folded paper. I used a French script scrapbooking paper that I found at Archivers. Honestly, it was a little thick and difficult to work with for the smaller layers. I think next time I might use sheet music or print-outs of vintage script. I found a video for all of you visual learners like me that explains how to do it with almost no words! Click here to see it! (And for those of you who are metric system challenged like me, the circles are roughly 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 inches in diameter. I did it the old-fashioned way and used a compass to draw my circles.) I made one change…I used a bamboo skewer rather than a pencil to stack them, then cut it even with the bottom of the trees. Be sure to make the cut for the pencil (or skewer) very small. You can always make it a little larger if need be.
Here’s a third tiny vintage tree that is also super easy! For this one, I used some vintage-look sheet music scrapbooking paper also from Archivers. I especially like this paper since it has two sides! Or you could create your own by using rubber cement (it doesn't wrinkle) and gluing two pieces back to back.
They are super easy! Here’s what you do…
Aren’t they cute and fun? I printed the pattern in several sizes to create three different sized trees. Just add a little ribbon loop to make ornaments or add a little star to the top with names inscribed and voilà …instant place card holder! 
Miss Kitty thinks they would make a fun addition to Christmas packages, too! Wow! She looks like a giant in a tiny vintage forest, doesn't she?
Here’s another look at them. Aren’t they cute and festive? And they were so inexpensive...just a few dollars for the scrapbooking paper! I’ll be looking for even more kinds of paper to use and more ways to use them! And…they are so super easy that the children can help make them, too! We are down the last few days and I am getting really exited! I can’t wait to see the grandchildren’s faces on Christmas morning…that’s my favorite part!
Here’s a super easy project for you…one that I have had in the back of my mind for a while! It’s my Christmas centerpiece made from lots of fresh greenery from the yard with a few silvery berries for sparkle. It fills a fabulously frenchy galvanized container…a wonderful gift from a sweet friend…with a trio of shabby folded trees to finish it off!
Miss Isabella says that this is so simple that it’s not too late to give it a try!
Here’s all you need…some scrapbooking paper cut into an elongated triangle, a wooden skewer and, if you wish, a glittery star to top it off. Mine came from the Pottery Barn outlet…German glitter star vase filler…but you could just as easily make your own.
And here is how you do it:
And taaa daaa…there it is! I used floral foam in the bottom of the container to hold the greenery and the trees in place. I found the scrapbooking paper at Archivers. This one has a French script motif. Yes…I looked…there really are French words in that scribble! lol
I love this one! This paper has a vintage sheet music motif…
…and even has a different pattern on the back! You will see more of it in my next project!
And there you have it! It doesn’t take long at all to assemble this one…just some cuttings of whatever you have in your yard and a few simple folded Christmas trees! I love this shabby look…fits right in with my rustic Christmas there this year! Now I have just a few more things to show you before Christmas gets here. It will be here before you know it! Are you ready? 
Wow! Christmas will be here before you know it and it’s time to get crafty! I am seeing a lot of interest on Pinterest and on my blog in my tutorial on creating sheet music decorations for Christmas. Sooo...just in case you want to make your own, I thought I would show it to you again…with a few more details added. It’s super easy and very inexpensive to do! 
First, I tried my hand at sheet music candles. I took some vintage sheet music, found at Goodwill for about $1.00 for a whole book, and some cream pillar candles from Michaels…bought with a coupon, of course, and went to work! I simply cut the music to fit, brushed Mod Podge on both sides and attached it! I like the glossy-finished variety. Then I finished with two more coats of it and…
…here is the result! What do you think? The candles should tunnel burn…down the middle…but I think I will wait until closer to Christmas to try that! For now, they will just look pretty! And they were so inexpensive to make, coming in at about $2.00 each! Woo hoo!
Then I was looking at all of the little sheet music scraps when an idea was born…sheet music ornaments! I had bought a plastic sleeve of 4 ornaments for $1.00 at Target and decided to try covering those since the little hanger was already built in. I cut the music into small pieces, notching it in about half way in 3 or 4 places so that it would fit the curve of the sphere a little better. Once again, I applied Mod Podge…my new BFF!…on both sides and two final coats of it at the end. I added a bow on top and…
…voilà ! And since I already had the supplies I needed, these were just 25 cents each for the ornaments! Love it!
And finally, you know I had to try making a sheet music wreath! I have seen so many pretty ones! I will say that it was a lot of tedious work, but fortunately, I was aided by my lovely assistant, Miss Isabella!
It’s simple to put together! Start with a foam wreath form. I found mine at Dollar Tree and cut the foam in half because it was too thick. Then I wrapped it with a strip of white fabric from my stash so that it wouldn’t show. Next, start hot-gluing the cones starting with four…one at each side…north, south east and west…then fill in in between. This is how it looks from the back of the wreath.
Continue adding the cones going from the largest to the smallest. I opted for a wreath with no hole in the center…almost a kind of sheet music flower instead.
And there you have it…fun with sheet music! These really could be used any time of year but I am planning to incorporate them into my Christmas decor. I’ll be showing you some of that soon!
Here is absolutely the easiest Christmas project you will ever try…my Wisteria Knock-off sheet music candles…because I am going to give you just about everything you need to do it! I think it is my favorite project this Christmas…not just because they are easy, but because I think they are pretty, too!
Here is Wisteria’s version…gotta love them!…so wonderfully simple and beautiful! Theirs is a set of four 5 inch high votive holders on sale right now for $21.60 plus shipping. 
Mine are made using 7 inch high pillar candle holders from Dollar Tree at a total of $4.00 for all four of them…so they cost $1.00 each since I already had everything else! Woo hoo! In addition to the candle holders and four pillar candles, you will need twine, a sheet of red construction paper, printer paper with access to a color printer, tape and glue…that’s it!
Just make two copies of each of the following illuminated manuscript pages at 8x10 inch size…I use Photoscape, so this is how they calculate it…and then trim it to fit. Next, wrap the graphic around the candle holder and secure with tape. I used the leftover piece to cover the white space after I taped it. I don’t show it here, but I trimmed off the white edges and glued it over the taped seam. Here are the graphics...
Next, I made simple tags to attach to the candles. According to Wisteria’s version, they actually translate a portion of the text. However, I have no clue what mine say…although I am certain it is Biblical…so I just used theirs. Here it is…(Note: the first two lines go together as in the photo above…the rest of the tags use one line.) 
Since the candle can be turned so that a different side shows, it is only necessary to have two different pages to achieve four different candles.
I love the way they glow in the candlelight! They really look like old illuminated manuscripts on parchment, don’t they?
And here they are on the buffet in the dining room for now. Can you believe how easy they are and how good they look for only $1.00 each? We’ve still got a few weeks until Christmas, so you can make them in a jiffy and have plenty of time to use them! Let me know how it goes if you decide to attempt them! Enjoy!
