DIY Snowflakes

My newest project was to create a couple large snowflakes to hang in an empty frame. I used basal wood (super lightweight) to create the snowflakes. I started with wood glue, but who am I kidding, there was no way I was waiting for it to dry. I switched to hot glue and was able to quickly get three snowflakes put together. I gave them a coat of gold leaf to match the frame. To hang the snowflakes from the frame I used fishing line. Perfect another project done!

Christmas Beaded Wreath

Okay before you think I have too much time on my hands, I made this before I had kids or cable.  They took me forever to make and I made six of them that year for gifts.  I know, CRAZY.  I found this time consuming craft from good ol' Martha.  They really do turn out pretty when they are done.  It just takes lots of beads and time.

Christmas Stockings

I forgot to show you my son's stocking I made last year.  It literally took me the whole month of December and this year I added his name.  I've always liked the colorful and sequined stockings.  Growing up my siblings and I had similar Bucilla stockings and I absolutely adored them.  I thought my kids would enjoy the same type of stockings too.

Drawstring Bag

I'm not sure if anyone else is in the same boat as me, but I'm always scrambling to get my Christmas presents done.  I can say this one is done and headed out the door. I sewed up this drawstring bag to go along with a present I bought.  It just looks pretty all packaged up in a handmade bag.

Nesting Ornament

Here's something I did a while back with a set of egg shaped lions that nest within each other.  I thought they'd make cool ornaments so I drilled a hole into the top of each one and fished a piece of twine through the hole and tied it off.  The kids love these and have so much fun opening and putting them all back inside of each other.

Angel Costumes

Last week, I ended up taking on the task of making 23 angel costumes that needed to be completed for the Christmas pageant this Friday.  Oh my goodness, If I don't have to make another angel costume again I'll be happy.  They were very easy to make, but when you keep making the same thing over and over again it becomes tedious.
Here's a picture of my two angels in the costume.

Penguin Ornament

Here is another handmade ornament that I made a few years back.  Very simple and it doesn't take nearly as long as the Santa ornament took me.

Materials:
foam egg
celluclay
paint
felt (hat and mittens)
google eyes
small wood stars (feet)

Mix up the celluclay mix.  Cover the egg in the celluclay and let dry.  Once the egg is dry you can sand it where it needs smoothing and paint the penguin's body.  For the feet I used little wood stars that I cut up and painted orange.  Glue the feet to the body.  The hat and mittens are made from felt and I used a blanket stitch to give it a little more decoration. Glue the mittens and hat on to the body.  Next, I glued on the eyes and nose.  The nose is a small triangle of felt.  For the ornament hanger I used a piece of jewelry wire and a big bead that stays put once I crimped it and tied it off into the hat.  I think he's a cute little ornament.

Wrapping Presents

So, the stomach bug came to reside at our house the past few days, thus the reason there hasn't been a post in a few days.  It took everything I had to stay awake and watch after my kiddos. My husband I took shifts laying on the playroom floor watching our youngest one, while our daughter was very content watching as much TV as she possibly could.  I even busted out with the new Shrek movie which was supposed to be a Christmas present.  Anyway, we are feeling much better, on to my post. :)

I absolutely love to wrap presents and make beautiful bows to go on each of the packages.  My key to wrapping presents is double stick tape.  I hardly ever buy the regular scotch tape anymore.  I just fold over the raw edges and put a piece of double stick tape on the paper.  It gives it such a clean look and doesn't take much longer to use double stick tape.
To make the present more appealing I like to add bows, trinkets, hand-made gift tags.  There are many ways to create a special package and you can make each package unique and creative.  Here are some of the presents I wrapped for Christmas.

 A close-up of the "A" that I made with wire and beads. 

 

 Pom Pom out of yarn for a bow.

Simple piece of twine with some white jingle bells.

Christmas Decoration Revamp

About 8 years ago my Grandma sent me a crocheted tree Christmas decoration.  I'm pretty sure it was something that she made years ago and was passing it along to me.  This Christmas when I was pulling my decorations out I decided it was time to replace the ornaments on this cute little crochet tree.  Some were missing and others damaged as you can see from the picture.

I wasn't sure if I would just knit up some little Christmas ornaments to replace them or if I could find some small ornaments to replace them.  I did find some ornaments, but they were pretty fragile, so I opted to go with red jingle bells.  I think they look perfect and are just the right size.  Unfortunately, the picture doesn't show the red well, but you get the idea.