Glue gun love!

I was recently introduced to Pinterest.com, and my new obsession with DIY Christmas decorations soon followed. I'm not joking...

Crafting accessories!

I first saw a cute wall decoration made out of wine corks that I decided would be perfect for my planned "wall o' stuff." (I'm planning to make a "Pottery Barn" collage wall in my den) I have been saving wine corks for years, but had no idea what to do with them. Perfect! So late one Sunday night - it was really about 6:30pm, but I felt like it was later:) - I ran to Michaels to pick up the necessities. I left there with a mini glue gun and 50 sticks of glue, a wooden letter "M", some twine, and wrapping paper (couldn't resist!). After spreading out my painting sheet on the floor of the den, I set out all my crafting accessories and got to work. The letter was white, so I first painted it blue and stained it. After everything was dried and polyurethaned (to take the stickiness away), I started glueing! So much fun... It was actually a really easy process. I had to do a little planning to get the corks to fit onto the letter, and I had to make an emergency run to my friend Dani Ray's house to get more corks, but about an hour after I started, the project was complete! Here's a pic...

Flush with overwhelming feelings of accomplishment, I turned my attention to the next Pinterest DIY craft that caught my eye... a no-sew Christmas tree skirt. It looked beautiful! And as long as I didn't have to sew, I figured I could do it. After 2-3 trips to Walmart, Michaels, and Joann's for fabric, a painter's canvas dropcloth, MORE glue sticks, iron-on fabric glue, ribbon, and no-fray glue, I was ready to start my next crafting adventure! 50+ glue sticks, 3 dull pairs of scissors, and 5+ hours later, I was FINALLY finished... I don't think my back will ever be the same. Those 5 hours were spent crouched on my hands and knees, painstakingly glueing 2 inch strips of fabric onto the painter's canvas. I have to say that I love the final product, though:)

I STILL have blisters on my fingertips from this dang project...

And lastly, I needed some stockings to hang on the mantle! Again, I was perusing Pinterest (it's of the devil...) and saw some precious burlap stockings that I thought I might could make. Again, I do NOT sew, so I knew I would have to make them with my new favorite toy - my hot glue gun! I just looked at some pics online and kinda threw the stockings together. I tried to iron a liner inside the burlap first - the iron-on glue didn't really hold, so I just put hot glue dots and stuck it together. Then I glued the edges of the burlap together really tightly and added a little ruffle on the top with my leftover fabric from the tree skirt. I was pretty impressed with myself! They actually look like stockings! Can't wait to decorate for Christmas!

Now I just have to find someone to put goodies in these things!