{advent is brewing}

Tea is arriving, beautiful, from all around the world.

As it goes up onto the advent tea wreath, I'm eagerly awaiting the first cup tomorrow -- I'm thinking we've got to start with a Teapigs tea 'temple', sent from England!

{the second annual advent tea swap}

Ladies and gentlemen, dust off your teapots -- it's time for the Second Annual Red Red Advent Tea Swap!

As the first swap was such a success, we are really excited to repeat the tradition! Last year, teas arrived from all over the world, including China, Finland, England, and America. We tried unusual flavours, found some new favourites, (as well as discovering that Justin thinks chamomile tastes like "warm urine") and loved sharing the experience with some of you.

Would you like to join in this year? Here's how it works:

What you'll need: 25 bags of tea. (20 to swap, 5 for yourself)

What you'll do: You'll be paired up with four other tea swappers, and send each of those people 5 bags of tea. 20 bags of tea will arrive for you -- paired with the 5 you kept for yourself, you'll have enough for one bag of tea for each day of advent, and a one for Christmas Day.

You can make yourself a tea wreath to display your advent tea, check out my advent tea calendars, or just keep all your teas in a nice pot by the kettle!

How to join in: Send me an email at astrid@redredcompletelyred, before November 13th, including your mailing address, so that we'll know where to send the tea!

(Note: if we have enough local interest, Bryan/College Station folks, we can have a separate swap group without the need for postage)

Looking forward to sharing a nice warm cup of tea with you this winter...

{for the love of burlap -- with m'lynn}

Here we are again with the last in our series of guest posts. Today, we're welcoming M'Lynn of The Creative Cup, who also writes a beautiful and thoughtful blog here. She has put together a

burlap wreath, made all the more perfect by the red flowers! Inspired? Yes, me too...

Burlap is my go to medium for most all of my home decor projects. I'm head-over-heels in love with this fabric because it is so inexpensive, it has wonderful texture & colors, and it helps fill my home with a rustic-country flare that suites our decor and agriculture lifestyle. My latest burlap project just happened to have a little touch of red to fit with Astrid's love of the color. Inspired by the wonderful wreaths I found and pinned on my Pinterest board HERE, I made this scrappy burlap (with red) wreath to welcome guests into our home.


I used exactly one yard of burlap, a heavy duty wire wreath frame, and fabric scraps left over from previous projects. No sewing was required, just knotting, tying, pinning, gluing, and twisting.
 
May this burlap (with red) wreath be a pleasant way of welcoming our friends and family into our burlap-filled home.

Thanks, M'Lynn. A lovely choice of colours, and what a brilliant way to use burlap! Thanks, again, to all our guest bloggers -- I'm on my way to England tomorrow, where we'll have Internet access, and we'll have some photos of Denmark up to show you very soon!

{inspiration: woolly wreath}

Perhaps this will make up for last month's disappointment of a wreath -- which, let's face it, was a bit of a pom-pom-tastrophe. This month, I joined the Jesus Said Love ministry with their generous project, and we made twenty wreaths for local ladies, using the tutorial for this beautiful yellow yarn wreath.

Next step: make one for our door! Our Mossy March wreath, which is still up, is looking rather bedraggled. I have my suspicions that local birds have been helping themselves to the moss!

Mossy March Madness Wreath

We're welcoming in the spring this year with a plump and springy moss wreath, inspired by Alice in Wonderland. 

Dare you knock on our door and fall down the rabbit hole?

Valenlime's Day Wreath

February's wreath is finished and hanging, a Valentine's wreath with a twist (of lime). Made from twenty-five mini Texas limes, plus the two key ingredients for a good love note: a heart and a pun.

If you're making a wreath this month, please share a link to it, as we'd love to see! If we get a couple, I'll do a little round-up of them all at the end of the month.

January's Wreath

What is it about January that zaps away energy? I'd promised you (and myself) a wreath for every month of this year, and so today was a scramble to put together something, anything, wreath-like. There's nothing like the last day of a month to force out the creativity!

When I set myself this wreath-of-the-month challenge, I had millions of ideas -- mostly involving wire, hot glue and beautiful home-grown greenery. But now, where on Earth is that spool of wire? What on Earth should I glue to what? And why on Earth does all my basil keep dying?

Clearly, a new direction was needed. And it just so happened that all the freezer-paper and paints from the last project were still out on the kitchen table (the one up side to Justin being away!)

As if to punish me for putting off the wreath for so long, Tilly had one of those days. She was happy to play by herself for precisely ten seconds -- precisely enough time for me to do... well, absolutely nothing. So, channeling all these new Mummy muscles, I hiked Tilly up under one arm, and painted with the other. (Please note: I did the cutting while she napped. Let's not get carried away with multi-tasking!)

So, with exactly three hours to spare until February starts, may I present...

January's wreath!

A Year of Wreaths

Over advent, our tea wreath became one of my new favourite Christmas traditions. It also encouraged me to see wreaths in a new way -- they can go beyond run-on-the-mill winter greenery, and be fun, useful and unique. So, this year, I've set myself a challenge: to create a new wreath every month in 2011.

 1. Edible Wreath, 2. Marshmallow Wreath, 

3. Cinnamon Wreath, 4. Garlic Wreath

There are lots of inspired people around the world creating wreaths, like those above. I love the idea of a ring of herbs, ready to be used by the cook, a marshmallow wreath for the snowy months, cinnamon sticks to add a little fragrance to your entryway, and a garlic wreath to keep away any vampires!

5. Road Sign Wreath, 6. Thread Spool Wreath,

7. Wool Wreath, 8. Crayon Wreath

Others have made use of their extra wool, thread spools, and crayons, and have even recycled an old road sign!

Perhaps you like this idea and would like to join in? Each month, I'll have a spot for you to share a link to your own wreaths, so that we can inspire each other. For me, January's wreath will be started once we return from England, and shared with you as soon as possible... stay tuned!

Advent Tea: Sneak Peek

Exciting, unusual, tasty-looking teas have been arriving from the lovely people participating in my advent tea swap. And though the final wreath isn't finished yet, here is a little glimpse of it in progress.

English tea, French tea, Finnish tea, Texan tea. 

Red tea, green tea, black tea, white tea. 

My teapot is quaking with anticipation!

Gather Ye Pinecones

For the third instalment of Start Now and Be Ready for Christmas, I've got some pinecones for you. There's something just lovely about bringing nature into the home at Christmas, and pinecones are relatively easy to find -- most craft shops sell them by the sack-load. But perhaps these ideas will inspire you to start early, and have time to collect your own this year.

1. Pinecone Wreath

(source)

A lovely alternative to greenery, I'm sure this wreath would be quick work, with a variety of collected pinecones and acorns, a circular foam base and a lot of hot glue.


2. Pinecone Centrepiece

(source)

Old candlestick-holders, pinecones, and a glittery star or two, and you've got a little Christmas sparkle for the table. I love that the pinecones are so compact, so if your Christmas feast consists of dozens of dishes, they will squeeze in nicely between the turkey platter and the brussel sprouts.

3. Pinecone Gift-Wrap

(source)

If your family is competitive each year about who can wrap the fanciest presents, then perhaps a pinecone and pretty ribbon will finally put you in the lead?


4. Pinecone Garland

(source)

Simple, natural, beautiful. I could imagine this garland in a cosy Christmas log cabin, or in a sleek Scandinavian apartment.


5. Pinecone Christmas Cake

(source)

Martha Stewart design, of course. And though you can't eat the pinecones, the pine-needles are made of chocolate!


6. Pinecone Tree

(source)

And if you hit the jackpot and find a mountain of pinecones, why not make your whole Christmas tree out of them! Just be careful if your dog is anything like Bella... or else Christmas morning might be a carnage of chewed cones!

(Start Now and Be Ready for Christmas is inspired by a series over at The Fable of the Table)

DIY Autumn

I've been craft crazy this week, all in the spirit of Autumn! Here is my new wreath, all oranges and yellows, hanging proudly on the door:

And a leafy felt draping, inspired by A Beautiful Mess, which adds a little colour to our hallway:

My big project, though, was more of a restoration than a creation.

Last weekend, a 3 foot wooden witch came to live with us. She used to be Justin's Grandma's, then his Mom's, and now she's ours!

She arrived in a trash bag, in several pieces, looking like this:

Her head had come loose, revealing about fifty years of lumps of dried hot glue! Her straw was a bit ratty, her hair was wild and had glue stuck in it, too. But Bella and I believed she could be beautiful again!

First, we gave her a hair cut, and scraped as much of the glue off her neck, chin and arms as we could.

(Bella is sad because I wouldn't let her eat the straw or the lumps of glue)

Then, we gave her a nice new layer of glue, fixing her head back on and sticking her broomstick together.

The glue was still pretty obvious in the space between her head and body, though, and her arms had goops of straw-glue that I couldn't budge. So... I gave her a dapper little batik bow tie, and a rather fetching brown felt cape, with a little pink button!

Now, she looks very sweet in front of the fireplace! I'm going to call her Mildred.

Yay for family antiques! Yay for hot glue! Yay for felt in all its forms!

xo