rustic christmas stars

Last Christmas a friend and I spent a day putting these stars together and staining them, We spent a second day decorating with ribbon and bells and other Christmas ephemera.

The star below was designed by my daughter for her Grandma.  I love the red berries!

Most of these stars had homes in mind, but I have a couple left. This star has a pretty printed ribbon, 3 gold jingle bells and some greenery attached.

The pine cone is dipped in gold glitter

I've used a natural burlap on this star, with the edges fringed. Christmas coloured jingle bells, some greenery and a little bird decorate the front of the bow.

These birds are very cute and realistic looking.

These stars are over 2' in diameter.  They make a great door decoration in place of a wreath at Christmas.

Concrete leaves

My girlfriends and I got together a few weekends ago and, with Rick's help mixing batches of concrete, we made these gorgeous concrete leaves. The rhubarb leaves are huge and the finished product is HEAVY, but so beautiful.

The leaves ended up drying in the garage for two weeks while we vacationed in Scotland.  Rick took the pressure washer to them to get all the dried leaf off the concrete. Love how all the veins are so clearly defined. This one is a hollyhock I think. 

We painted the leaves black with acrylic paint and then used Perfect Pearls to add the shimmery colour.  They were finished off with a couple coats of sealant so we can leave them outside.  The rhubarb leaf I did 3 years ago was starting to show the black acrylic paint through the Perfect Pearls so I added some more colour and a couple more coats of sealant.

 

The three leaves below are from a weed growing in the back corner of our yard.  Someone told me it was horseradish.  The leaves get longer and skinnier as the summer goes on. I'm hoping to make some more of these leaves in late August, early September when my friends from down South make a visit to Fort St John.

 

My garden is going to be full of concrete leaves if I have my way.  I might even make a few for gifts...