Hello, hello!  Last Wednesday I read this post from these two uber-talented (and funny) gals, Katie B and Sherry P and REALLY wanted to participate.  This time around they are co-hosting the challenge with Ana White and Erin from House of Earnest. I stalked followed the summer challenge and just loved the idea and the projects that were submitted.  But at that point I hadn’t taken the plunge into Pinterest OR blogging.  But, I had just gone beach combing to gather driftwood to make something like this pic I had pinned.  (Pic source here.)  And, since I live on the island of Curaçao and am literally surrounded by driftwood AND fancy myself a DIYer I figured I’d give it a go.  First, I made this one: then I made a couple more…   As you can see, I played around with decorating them with a combination of coral, sea glass and more traditional Christmas tree décor.  And from there I was unstoppable.  Well, except when Ellen came on.  Seriously, Justin Timberlake and Cold Play for the whole hour?!?!  Yes please! For a complete rundown, here was my process over the course of a few days: Gather driftwood – Free and Fun! Especially since I was with the hubs.  :) When we got the wood home it ended up in a pile on our patio and I started organizing it by size and separating the odd-shaped pieces that might make good “tree trunks”.  (Yes, we clearly over-gathered, but there are other projects in sight.)  I basically ended up with two long lines of wood in the shape of a VERY tall tree. This made it easier to select pieces for the individual trees I was going to make since the end shape I wanted was, well, a tree.  Brilliant!  With the pieces all laid out I sprayed them with an anti-bacterial cleaner and let them dry thoroughly over the course of a few days.  Then just brush off any loose sand, etc as you select pieces to use.  (Please excuse the black dog leg and tail in the photo, you can formally … continue reading →