Another Great Pottery Barn NOEL sign

Great minds think alike.

from pottery barn

 

I was surprised when I hadn't seen other NOEL knock off signs when I first noticed them in the catalog of PB. I actually searched for knock-offs before I made my own:

But I was perusing different link parties today and found this wonderful NOEL knock-off sign from Frugal with a Flourish.

Here is her NOEL sign:

Too cute.  She got her letters at Hobby Lobby- closer to the type-font that PB has.  I may have to make a trip to HL to make another sign for my downstairs mantel.

If anyone else has a PB knockoff sign, let me know and I will link it up.

Pottery Barn Knock-Off: NOEL sign

My husband had to ask me while doing this project "What is NOEL?"  I said, "Uh....Ummm...it's everywhere at Christmas." 

SO I had to look it up to be official- it means 'the Christmas season," or also "a christmas song or carol."  So there you go.

I was inspired to make this from this awesome Pottery Barn sign as I was perusing their website for decor ideas:

So I decided to make this for myself.  Many reasons, for one, it was about $120 not including shipping. It was metal, so I'm sure shipping was $$$.   Also, it is now sold out, so even if I wanted to buy it, I couldn't.

So off I went to JoAnn's (with coupons in hand!) to buy the letters.  I had to make a decision about the type of letters.  The letters I got at JoAnn's were about two feet high each- so the total hight of the sign is around 4 feet tall.  Now the Pottery Barn sign is about 3 to 3.5 feet tall, so it is still pretty substantial.  But the 4 foot tall sign won't fit where I originally wanted it on my mantel.  They had smaller letters, some that were a foot each, that would fit perfect on the mantel, but they were sans serif, so they didn't look exactly like the PB one.

My grand idea was to use Rustoluem Hammered spray paint.  We had some that my husband used to cover our picinic table.  We had Hammered Brown, but I had to buy some Hammered Bronze- I'm quite indecisive.  I did decide to use the Bronze.  But after I saw them and compared it with the picture, they ooked more brownish.  So I lightly sprayed over the bronze with the brown for a mottled look.  I think it looks pretty good!

The next step in creating my NOEL sign was a bit of a challenge.  Assemling the letters.  So I tried the trusty glue gun.  No go.  they just wouldn't stick.  So after peeing off dried glue gun glue, and peeling off paint ( I hope it doesn't show!), I found some would glue in the garageNot wood, but painted paper mache-type medium, it was worth a shot.  I had to take out the dried glue to get to the good stuff.  I had no camps.  SO after 15 mintues of holding the letters together, they promptly fell apart!  Now what?!  So I finally decided to staple the letters together to help the dry.  A comedy of errors, I know!

But the next morning, that NOEL sign was very sturdy.  Here it is in the office. (Can you tell I need to dust my vent!)

And here it is placed at the very tip top of the mantel.  Before other Christmas decorations.  I need to get some long, sparkly reed-type things to put in the pots to add height and visual interest.  I almost thought about putting the NOEL sign on a shoebox or something to raise it up so you can see the bottom of the letters from the ground.  

 But you can see it from the landing outside the master bedroom.  For now it will be as is.  First I almost killed myself getting it up there.  Then I had hubby bring in the big ladder so I could dust that upper ledge and sweep out the cobwebs.  But it does look pretty cool!  the "O" isn't quite as round as the PB sign.  Once I get all my decorations up, I'll take a pretty picture of it all.

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Win a Silhouette!

I love this machine, and I don't even have one.  There are a few bloggers out there with chances to win a Silhouette machine, and House of Hepworths is one.  Check out the giveaway here.  I would love to win one.  If not, Santa may bring the $70 Cricut to my house this year.  Silhouette has a cyber-deal for $200 for those Santa's that can afford one.  Check out HOH for more details.

Give-aways are also happening here:

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Thanksgiving



Happy Thanksgiving!!

This is our Thanksgiving Thankful Tree.  I got the idea here from Crap I've Made.  My daughter is in KG this year and they have had a few Thanksful projects this year, so she is really into this.  To make the tree, I didn't have a roll of brown craft paper, so I cut up brown paper lunch bags.  The kids love to put up their leaves every day.

Here are their Thankful leaves, since you can't see the writing in the picture:

5yo daughter: brother, Mom, Dad, Grandma, friends, God, Joy, Peace, people who give others food for Thanksgiving, Her dog, her cats, teacher

2.5 yo son: Mommie, Daddy, doggie, cats, toys, superheros, racecars, cars, blankie

Interesting, huh?  At least it gets them thinking.

For today, the day before Thanksgiving, we all have the day off.  Homemade pancakes, making a Thanksgiving dessert, making Thanksgiving turkey art for Grammy, and maybe going to see the new Rapunzel movie.  What are you doing today?



Fall Leaf Wreath

I made this Fall Wreath a few months ago after seeing the post on House of Hepworth's.  She Made a lovely wreath all from leaves and pics from the Dollar Tree.  All for under $10!!  I ended up getting my garland of leaves from Micheal's for a really good deal.  Then I got my sunflowers from the Dollar Tree.  Really easy project and it looks great!  Mine is a bit brighter than hers, but I still love it.  Warning- I did get many glue gun burns doing this project.

Here is the tutorial for the House of Hepworth wreath.  I bet you could make something similar with a Christmas theme.

Land of Nod floor pillows

A few months ago I made these Land of Nod inspired floor pillows, following the tutorial from House of Punks.  It was the first "big" project that I sewed.  My kids have Pottery Barn Everywhere Chairs, but they have taken a beating.  My daughter doesn't sit in hers any more, she lays on it.  So when I found the home decor fabric on sale from JoAnn's I bought it and went for it.  Then later in the week, I had a terrible sore throat, souldn't talk, so I stayed home form work and made these.

Here's how they turned out.

I do wish I would have used the pink piping for the girls one, the green doesn't stand out enough.  And I stuffed hers a bit too much- it is more rounded.  The kids mostly use them for hitting each other with.  But my Mom was impressed! (she is a pro at sewing!)  These little cushions cost about $15 per, since I got the fabric half off.

I do want to get them some bean bags for Christmas, although my DH is worried that the cats will pee on them.  But I would LOVE to make them these from MADE.  LOVE them.  But, it is just too much $$ that I want to spend, even though I know it will look awsome.  If I can get the fabric on sale, I think it will cost at least $50 per bag.  I know that is going to be half the price you can get them at pottery barn, etc.  But I think I will just get them the $20 ones from Target for Christmas.  Maybe I will make ME one!