grace grits and gardening - ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Christmas Card Display

December 8, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I love Christmas cards. Not only do I enjoy sending and receiving cards, but I like to display them throughout the season. The images are just too pretty to not show off. And my favorite way to display Christmas cards involves no crafting whatsoever. If you follow my blog, you may have already guessed my method. It’s the same way I display old photos.

I use vintage flower frogs.

Flower frogs make the perfect stand for displaying Christmas cards, old photos with Santa, and vintage holiday postcards. No hot glue gun required. No rules required either.Continue Reading

Handmade Ornament Ideas

December 6, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I signed up for the Arkansas Women Bloggers handmade ornament exchange and immediately thought what on earth was I thinking? I had to come up with a homemade ornament idea just when my mind felt tired and blank. Ornament.Exchange.Remorse. With only a couple of weeks to made final edits and get my manuscript to my editor, I was doing everything except what I should have been doing. (Not gonna lie, it feels good to say my editor even though there’s always a chance she may return the thing back marked “lost cause”.)

Anyhoo.

I was matched up with Jessica who blogs at Life With the Bauer Bunch. Jessica, a small town Arkansas girl, is super busy working and raising three kids. She blogs about motherhood and figuring out life as she goes (her words). Jessica is real and normal and reading her blog is like visiting with my best friend.

I finished my edits, my manuscript has been sent and I managed to make an ornament for Jessica too. The season of eternal holiday magic.

Here it is.

Jessica and her kids seemed to like it. Whew:))

I sort of cheated because I’ve made this ornament before. You can get the basic pattern HERE. I changed up the process somewhat by using scrapbook paper instead of vintage book pages, and I Mod Podged it to make it a bit more substantial. The buttons and rick rack are vintage. I used glitter glue instead of real glitter which is not so messy.

Now for my surprise.

Alicia who blogs at Simple Words by A drew my name. Alicia and I met last year in Helena and even canoed the Mississippi River together without incident, a bond not many people share, right?

A self-proclaimed crafter and apparent overachiever, Alicia sent me two handmade ornaments. (Sorry, Jessica. You got shortchanged…)

Her gift included a sweet, handwritten letter. When was the last time I received a letter?

The ornament on the left is filled with Hemingway quotes because she knows now much I love Ernest Hemingway. Very thoughtful! The fun ornament on the right is covered with a soft red and white yarn. Both really boosted my holiday spirit.

Now if I could just get my Christmas tree up!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis url=”http://wp.me/p58902-1aU”]#Homemade #ornaments = holiday spirit! @SimpleWordsbyA @thebauerbunch @ARWomenBloggers [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Celtic Women – It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Farm Art Friday: Vintage Wheel Rake

December 5, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Happy Farm Art Friday everyone:)

While my friends and I explored the Mulberry River Valley a few days ago, I noticed this old farm implement hidden in the trees at the edge of a field. Inside the boundaries of the Ozark National Forest, we were surrounded by natural beauty and true Arkansas history in a place largely unchanged by time. This hay rake looked at home, part of the landscape. I wondered if its original owner lay buried in the Yale Cemetery only steps away.