Pinterest Save - Away In A Manger Ornament

Gosh. I thought that I was going to fail at the last moment, and not continue with my one Christmas Decoration a day challenge that I set myself. But thankfully Pinterest saved me with this quick little ornament

 

This ornament was based on a post from "Tales of a Trophy Wife" which I saw on Pinterest.  Lucky I had everything I needed to make these sweet ornaments.

 

As you can see from the above photo I tried three different versions of the wreath.  The first wrapped in hessian on a bed of wood filling, with a wire hanger.

 

 

The second, wrapped in felt on a bed of Spanish moss with a fishing line hanger.

 

 

The third and final one I wrapped the baby in wool on a greenery bed, and then placed a larger rusty star on the outside of the wreath.  This one has a jute hanger.

 

 

Three little ornaments, that took only about 5 minutes each to make.  Thank you Pinterest!

 

 

 

I do have excuses why I was running late with this post though, do you want to hear?

Firstly my computer was dismantled so that I could have new windows installed yesterday - so I had to reconnect it all AND then today I have spend the entire day packing up online orders from the store.  It was a huge day for me, and I still have to go and water the garden as the temperature reached 36 degrees today.  Just the beginning of the summer heat.

 

Until tomorrow, take care

Judy

Button Wreaths

My sister Sue and I got out the button jar today and made these little button wreaths for the Christmas tree.

 

The only supplies needed were BUTTONS, chenille stick, ribbon and cord.  This was the mess, and the quality of the photo is bad, because we were sitting outside in the sunshine crafting.

 

 

You can finish off each wreath differently .. a couple of examples are:

 

With just a bow

 

 

Or with a accent button

 

 

Lots of fun, and a good use of your button jar.

 

Judy

 

 

 

Paper Straw Tree Ornaments

I received an email from one of my suppliers with this cute little project for Christmas. 

Paper Straw Christmas Tree Ornaments.

 

I had the supplies required, so I decided to give them a go ... quick and easy and I think an ideal project for older children.

 

For each tree you require, 1 1/2 paper straws, 1/2 chenille stick, 7 pony beads, 1 star bead, and a little piece of cord for the hanger.

 

As I could not find any green paper straws, I thought I would try it with plastic straws.  The colours are not as deep, however it certainly does work the same.

 

 

This is a start on my handmade Christmas tree decorations for 2013

 

 

Click on the "suppliers" link above for the instructions to make these little trees.

 

Judy

Little Christmas Ornaments

This post is showing a couple of little Christmas ornaments that you can make in advance and pop away ready for Christmas.

1.  Tea Light Snowman  - utilising a battery operated tea light - turn it into a snowman face. His nose shines orange when the light is turned on

Cut out a fabric hat to fit the top of the light, sew and stuff lightly.  Glue onto light and then glue a fur trim to the edge of the hat.  Make sure you leave the on/off switch at the back uncovered.
Tie a co-ordinating bow and then glue it to the bottom of the light.

Paint the face as desired, I used many different expressions on my lights, just by using a permanent marker.  Dot the eyes with a little white paint, and smudge the cheeks with red paint.

Glue a small magnet to the back of the light, so you can place it on your fridge etc

 

 

These battery operated tea lights are inexpensive and would make great teachers gifts.

2. Rusty Bell Reindeer -  Use any size rusty bell to make this reindeer decoration

 

Very simple, tie a string hanger through the top of the bell, and then thread half a bumps chenille stick through. Twist around the top loop of the bell to secure.  I then glued a small red pom pom on for his nose, used the black marker for his eyes, with a small dot of white paint for an accent.

A little bit of fur or jute for hair, a small button for decoration and he is finished.  This is easily a decoration that your children could help make.

 

 

Can you see how the shape of the bell, determines the mouth .. I am definitely going to try some more of these, however using bigger bells ...

I also washed some beautiful mohair fleece today, it is definitely a favourite medium to use for Santa's beards, and I am lucky enough to be able to purchase it locally.  The only trouble is that it has not been washed, and it is very smelly.  It requires numerous washes / rinses to remove all debris and smells, but here it is, drying on some bricks in my backyard.  Beautiful curls, just waiting to be used.

 

This is the same fleece I used for Santa's beard on the Ho Ho Ho Santa. - you just tease out the tight curls for a fluffy beard.

 

Till next time

Judy

Rustic Star

Just before Christmas I had time with my nieces and nephew in Tumut.  We were sitting out on the lawn and decided that we would each make a star for Christmas.

 

We found some really old timber pieces and tied them together with wire.  A fabulous rustic star.

This is the one I made, and I have since hung it on the side of my craft studio.  I love it.

 

Another quick star project resulted in these:

Scrappy stars

 

 

A star shape was formed by pressing a pipe cleaner around a star cookie cutter.  Join the ends, and then wrap with fabric.  These look great tied onto the Christmas tree or as tags on your gifts.

 

Judy

More playing - fabric and tags

I have continued to experiment with the recycled business cards and printing on fabric.  In some cases combining the two.

As I did not have a variety of Christmas stamps to add greetings onto the business card tags, I thought I would try printing some out onto calico.   I just created a table in Microsoft Word and entered in "one word" sayings.  Printed onto fabric, and then cut and glued them onto the tags.  Add some cute Christmas buttons and this is the result

Not one to be faint hearted, I decided to see how a larger coloured graphic would work in the printer.

I had downloaded a prim stocking pattern from The Olde Country Cupboard, which included a page of prim Santa photos.  So off to the printer I went, with my calico attached to the cardboard.  SUCCESS.

Here is a photo of a small Stocking Ornie I made from felt with a small printed Santa  graphic.  Next time I will make them more prim and with fabric as shown in the pattern, however the felt, bakers twine etc were still out on the studio table, so I used them

So much fun,

Until next time

Judy

Playing with Owls

I love all the little owls that have been popping up on the web the last few months, so I thought I would see if I could make some.

I only wanted something that could be popped on a shelf or in a bowl - unobtrusive, however needed to be cute.

This is what turned out, the first two were a little short, so I added another 1" to the pattern (?) / scrap paper and made another two - yes I am happy.

Quick, easy - filled with bear pellets, so they can be flopped anywhere - mostly all glue gun used in this project ... and scrap fabric used also

FUN

Judy