​text by Steph     ​Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!

Looking for a little different Christmas tree this year? Check out this tree made using wood dowels and Perrier bottles! How-to video above.

A year ago on vacation at Walt Disney World, we spotted a really neat piece of art at the Epcot Food and Wine festival. We took pictures and thought it would make a great DIY project one day. That day has come! I used this as inspiration for the Christmas tree version I made.

text by Vicki     ​Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!

One of my favorite ways to create is by using “what I have” on hand—stuff that is in my stash of raw materials, odds and ends, including lamps in all state of disrepair. When Steph challenged me to create an unconventional Christmas tree, I headed to this stash to see what I could come up with. I was intrigued by the idea of transforming the “bones” of a lamp into a multi-level tree complete with wiring to make it a functional lamp as well. 

I decided to use wood platters and other circular wood objects as my layers with assorted lamp base parts as dividers between the layers. I also used a metal tray when I realized I needed a larger base and found I could drill through it easily enough. 

​text by Steph     ​Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!

I've been a Gilmore girls fan since season one. When I heard that it was coming back I was so excited! My first thought, I have to watch each episode again in preparation for the new show. My second thought, we have to make a DIY project in honor of Gilmore girls! 

With the new show being called "Gilmore girls: A Year in the Life," we knew our DIY had to incorporate the seasons in some way. Who doesn't want a little Gilmore girls all year round?! So grab some coffee and a mallomar and enjoy "Gilmore girls: A Seasonal DIY Tablescape."

We had so much fun making concrete pumpkins for Halloween that we decided to try another concrete fall decor project. This time we wanted to try out a new product, RapidSet, which we learned about from a Home Depot Pro. It's a very strong cement (concrete being cement + sand and rocks). It's very smooth and can be removed from a mold in 1 hour. 

Having just discovered how fun and easy it is to work with concrete, Steph thought a plastic pumpkin would make a great concrete mold.The advantage for those of us living in warm to hot autumn weather is a concrete pumpkin will not rot and can be left out all October. Win!

All of these pumpkins start with a mold made from a $1 plastic pumpkin. Seems like these are in every big box store you go into these days! We picked up three (purple of course).

While viewing Restoration Hardware’s spring 2016 online catalog of decor items,  I noticed glass cloches filled with collectible objects and thought they’d make an easy & personal decor piece. These were the inspiration for this subtle & quick Valentine’s decoration. It’s a nice addition to my winter table-scape decor.

One dreary, rainy Monday morning this month, I found myself without transportation & feeling kind of blah. What to do? I decided to pull out my Christmas stuff & start decorating, but one thing stood in my way….no tree! Last year I retired my tree with the intention of purchasing one at the after-Christmas sales. The buy never happened so I was treeless. ​

Many of you have enjoyed our Pool Noodle Lights post from May. Since that post we have discovered a new product that makes the lights even easier—Immersible Battery Operated Lights manufactured by Darcie purchased at Joann Fabrics. Now you don’t have to be concerned at all if the lights get wet.

We created a Christmas/Winter version of the pool noodle lights. ​

Volunteering at a thrift store provides plenty of opportunity to purchase “raw” materials, that is things to remake into new things! It really sparks my creativity. Steph asked me to come up with an arrangement for her dinning room table. It had to be rustic in keeping with her Christmas/winter decorating theme with a touch of purple.

Steph enlisted my help to design a holiday vignette for her fireplace mantel. She wanted it to be rustic & I wanted it to have a little sparkle as well. She loves snow so I knew that aspect had to be incorporated. She likes to keep her decor up past Christmas, so she tends to go for a winter theme rather than traditional Christmas decor.

With two grandsons 5 & 2, I’m pretty culturally literate about Lighting & friends, Ryder & his four-footed buddies, and Jake & his little band of pirates. Last year for Halloween, grandson Tyler, wanted me to dress as Izzy as he was dressing as Jake. As my hair is short & gray, I needed a wig. I designed one with yarn sewn into a bandana. The idea could be adapted to other costume needs.

This project was so much fun! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at creating these since noticing them on Pinterest. There is no right or wrong way to create the bottles & wands—use your imagination & your treasure trove of crafting stuff. (What? not everyone has bins & boxes of totally random stuff to craft with?!)

I pinned this idea a year ago. I loved the technique although not the subject matter. Just don’t like the creepy aspect of Halloween—never have. I wanted my books to be classic with no creepy elements & to be able to read them following the cover transformations. The music book is the one & only college text book that I saved. “The Enjoyment of Music” 3rd edition—loved that class. That’s where I learned about Bach’s Little Fugue in G minor & the Brandenburg Concertos. Give them a listen if you’re not familiar with them. 

This really great shelf/mini mantle came into the thrift store where I volunteer, The Living Harvest. It was a little worn & oak “orange” but I knew it would be a great display piece.