12 Days until Christmas!

The week after Christmas is usually spent cleaning and storing Christmas decorations for the next year. Organization starts to take over thought processes and planning and dreams begin to come up with the perfect organizational solution.

Scrapbookers and paper crafters collect all sorts of memorabilia, papers, stickers and the lot. Trying to keep projects organized yet easily accessible is a difficult task and additional organizational tools can aid in this process.

Get a jump on the organizational frenzy and pick up a paper tote for the crafter in your home for Christmas. This tote has seven 12×12 compartments to sort papers or projects and has 7 smaller compartments for organizing stickers and embellishments. The convenient handle allows it to be carried with ease from work space to storage and back again without worry of dropping your project.

This tote is perfect for both the seasonal crafter and the beginning crafter alike. This handy organization tool would be a welcomed gift!

13 Days until Christmas!

With 13 days until Christmas, the days are getting getting shorter and the temperatures are colder. Entertaining friends and family means dishes and standing in front of the dreaded sink. I am happy that the person that initially built my home had the forethought to put a heat vent in the perfect spot so the warm air will blow on my feet as I stand there washing up after dinner.

The other welcomed item that makes dish washing less of a chore is a rug under my feet to help fight the chill. I love new rugs because they are “cushy” and hold the warmth a little longer when the furnace shuts off.

Rugs are an everyday item in our home and at times get overlooked at Christmas time. The gift of a new rug is a welcome thought in my home. It is always good to have an extra rug in case I don’t get to the laundry like I should.

The rugs at The Rustic Corner come in various colors and sizes and can be special ordered to fit your needs. Stop on in and roll some out and if you want to walk across one in your socks, we could probably let you do that!

14 Days until Christmas!

Holy cow! Two weeks until Christmas! Where has the time gone? The good news is you still have time to get your shopping done, cookies and candies made, and your Christmas cards in the mail. I find it humorous that as an adult the days until Christmas just fly by and as a child it seems to take forever for Christmas to finally arrive. I would be happy with a middle of the road time frame. Enough time to get all the shopping done and lots of time to enjoy family and friends.

With only two weeks to go, it is time to break out all the Christmas apparel you have and start rotating through to final days until Christmas decked out in all the Christmas glory!

I have pins, bracelets, and various other decorative baubles to dress up my everyday attire. The Rustic Corner has some real cute holiday-dress-me-ups from Grandma’s Buttons. This is a fantastic line of vintage buttons and images melded together to create one-of-a-kind pendants. Some have a more holiday flair such as a vintage Santa face while others are more everyday and could be worn all year.

There is a limited supply of these Grandmother’s Button charms and if you want to get one I would advise you stop in today to see what is still here. These are perfect for a babysitter, mother, grandmother, boss, co-worker, friend or any other special person on your list.

15 Days until Christmas!

I hate to be the one that admits this, but the recent snow makes it feel more like Christmas. I did use the snow day to get some work done and a few Christmas cards made. Now I just need to get them mailed.Yes there is still time to make your own cards.

I don’t want to hear how “you’re not crafty” or “my sister is the artsy one in the family not me”. The truth is we are all crafty, artsy or creative in some way.

So you can’t draw a stick man, neither can I. That is what I use stamps for. Stamps do the drawing for me! Now I can make a super cute Santa or cuddly mouse with a cup of hot chocolate and I didn’t even have to pick up a drawing pencil!

Now that we have “drawn” our image. There are a number of ways to decorate your “drawing”. You could use colored pencils to fill in areas with color as much or as little as you want. If you want to stretch yourself, you could use watercolor pencils. (No cringing!) All you do is color just like colored pencils and when you are done, you take a wet paint brush or water pen and smooth or blend your colors. One more option for you is Copic markers. They are an alcohol marker that blends beautifully and the colors are numerous. There is every color in the rainbow and a couple that aren’t. If you want to see the markers in action or try them yourself, feel free to stop in and ask for Tami or Erin and we would love to show you how they work!

The last thing you need is stuff – cute stuff to attach to your card. Maybe bling is your thing. We have self-adhesive crystals, Stickles or Glimmer Mist to help in that area. If you want a more nostalgic look. Maybe a few buttons, a little lace and a paper flower or two. Yep, we have that too!

If you get stuck and need ideas, there are magazines and internet sources too numerous to list. The best source is to stop in The Rustic Corner and try a little hands-on play with a few materials that we have in the craft room to see what is going to work for you. Just tell yourself it’s ok to try and you will amaze yourself with all the hidden talent you have inside!

16 Days until Christmas!

Those of you who know me know that I LOVE MOD PODGE! It’s no secret. It is one of my staples in my craft room. I cannot imagine life without it. It is so versatile and there are many different types to fit all your crafting needs.

I can remember as a child being sent outside with a Mod Podge and taking the whole afternoon to create a masterpiece. What better gift to give the crafter on your list! I was looking through a retro book this morning and had to giggle at all the crafts that were made using Mod Podge: trays, frames, decorated rocks, matchstick frames (hee! hee! Remember those!), lamp shades, covered glass bottle vases. Oh, you remember! Go ahead and try to say you don’t but no one is going to believe you!

One of the projects that I enjoyed most was a paper mache pig. It was here in the store but it hase been placed in a new home where it will be well taken care of. Man, it was hard for me to part with that one!

Here are a few awesome crafts that you can create with just a little work and some glorious Mod Podge! www.plaidcraftexpress.com 

17 Days until Christmas!

So much time is spent in the kitchen. It is the hub of a household and the gathering place where stories are told. When we think of home it usually involves some kind of memory of something mom (or dad) use to make that no one else seems to be able to duplicate.

At our house, it is Grandma’s sugar cookies. Try as we may, no matter the temperature, humidity or the phase of the moon, we cannot duplicate Grandma’s sugar cookies. Yes, we have the recipe written in my Grandma’s handwriting and it still has a stain on it from the first time I tried to re-create her masterpiece. I do have an uncle that comes pretty close and has been voted by the rest of the family as the “sugar cookie master”. Too bad he can’t ship some to me at Christmas time, but the cookies are fragile and cannot withstand the shipping process.

I can remember my Grandma with a towel over her shoulder flattening the cookies with a meat tenderizer smiling and chatting the whole time. She always had flour sack towels. The kind with the printed image in the corner colored in by grandchildren. I wonder if she only got those towels out when we visited just so we would know she used them with love.

I love the feel of new kitchen towels. Some of my towels are getting so worn down that they have holes and no longer wick up moisture. We all have those towels. The ones we use and think of throwing but never do. Those towels always seem to show up back in the drawer to use again.

I would love new towels for Christmas. Towels are not something that I think to buy for myself. There are so many other “more important” things on my list before I think of towels even though I would LOVE to have new ones. I guess it’s just a mom thing – thinking of others in our lives before we think of ourselves.

The Rustic Corner has many different colors of towels to fit your home. If your loved one has purchased window curtains at The Rustic Corner, we can even match the towels to those. All we need is your name and an approximate time of purchase and we can find the style that was bought and match the towels for you. A set of 4 towels, a couple wash clothes and place mats would make a perfect gift! (Hint! Hint!)

Don’t forget to register your Christmas Wish List at The Rustic Corner! We will send the list to the person you choose and they can call to reserve the gift and we will wrap it and stash it until Christmas! Sweet! Stop in for great gift ideas for all the awesome people on your list. We look forward to seeing you soon!

18 Days until Christmas!

Eighteen.  I remember those days. If only to be young again…

Speaking of the youngsters and the not so “young-sters” in your life, why not add a little bling to their crafting projects with Stickles? Stickles is a glitter glue that is super easy to use and adds just the right amount of sparkle to any project. Don’t let the small bottle fool you. A little goes a long way and with all the colors to choose from who could pick just one?

These are perfect stocking stuffers or the “one more thing” that you need to finish off that gift to get it wrapped and under the Christmas tree.

If glitter glue is not for you, we always have bits of micro glitter tucked in here and there with the right color for you! Stop in The Rustic Corner and pick up yours today!

19 Days until Christmas!

One of the most tedious task to a crafter is adhering small objects to projects and having to hold them until the glue dries or trying to apply the adhesive in the first place without getting it all over everything. Too many times I have glued something to my project only to have the glue ooze out the edge and leave a mess.

The Xyron Create-a-Sticker is the tool to cure what ails your crafting project. It is extremely easy to use. Just slide your letter or cutout into the Create-a-Sticker and turn the lever and out comes your object with adhesive on the back ready to be stuck to your project! It’s that easy!

There are multiple sizes available. The smallest is the 150 that will take objects up to 1.5 inches. The next size is the 250. It will take up to 2.5 inches. The last that we carry at The Rustic Corner is the 500. It will take objects up to 5 inches. Each Create-a-Sticker comes with an adhesive cartridge and is refillable. Crafters of all ages would love this handy tool. If you would like to see it demonstrated, just stop in The Rustic Corner and we would love to show you!

20 Days until Christmas!

Candles can give off such a beautiful glow. Sometimes you may want a candle in an area that just isn’t compatible with an open flame and an electrical source isn’t nearby. Remote control candles are perfect for these areas. They offer flexibility in placement whether it be in a high spot above cabinets or in an arrangement that is just too difficult to use a traditional candle.

The remote controlled candles are offered in a two pack or a variety three pack, have a 3″ diameter so they will work with most candle rings you may already have and are available in vanilla.

These candles are safe for teens, college students, elderly and everyone in between! We have a customer that loves to use them around the whirlpool bath. No power? No problem!

21 Days until Christmas!

It seems impossible to find something that not everyone else has. We want our gifts to stand out and express the individuality of the recipient. Jumping from store to store in the quest to find that perfect gift can be exhausting and frustrating.

The Rustic Corner has many one-of-a-kind, handmade gifts. The only problems with them is we can’t keep them from going out the door at a furious rate! The good news is, when something goes out the door we have to replenish with something new. The new items are up and quickly go out which means The Rustic Corner is in a constant state of flux. If you stopped in last week and couldn’t find the exact thing that you are looking for be sure to stop in again this week to see what has changed!

I do not have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times that we hear “You gals have really changed things!” This always makes me smile and giggle a bit inside. There are times that is is hard to keep up with filling in places that need “something new” as the “old” items go out the door.

We have some very talented individuals in our area that consign items here at The Rustic Corner and we are proud to carry their wares. We extend this thank you to them and encourage them to “keep up the creative work” that make our store such a wonderful place to visit.

Father Christmas will be at The Rustic Corner today from 10 am to 1 pm! Stop in and fill out your Rustic Corner Wish List and Father Christmas will see to it your list gets sent to the person of your choice at no charge!

Also take the family to the free Christmas movie “The Grinch that Stole Christmas” at the Charles Theater starting at 1pm!