I'm in LUV .....

With this little fellow -

 

Remember the curtain rings that I purchased for 50 cents  - I have made three more little wreaths, and this birdie is my absolute favourite. 

For this birdie wreath, I just wound green glitter chenille sticks around the curtain ring and then hot glued the little birdie inside

 

The next variation used the same principle however I used just the common green chenille sticks (no glitter) and then glued a snowman button to the wreath.  A white chiffon ribbon was threaded through the loop at the top for the hanger.

 

 

Finally, for the third wreath, I wrapped the outside with white/cream wool and then glued on a bright candy  cane button - threaded through some red/white bakers twine for the hanger.

 

 

With the many Christmas buttons available (especially in my online store, check out the link to see just how many different packs of buttons are available, and this does not include the snowmen buttons), the possibilities are endless.

 

The three wreaths all together so you can see the difference.  They do not look quite the same, when they are lying flat!

 

 

I could not resist showing you this next photo, it was the first one I took of the little birdie wreath, with my garden in the background... he nearly got lost in all the greenery.

 

 

After playing with my buttons and curtain rings, it has given me an idea for another project using this pack of buttons.  It is a cute pack of buttons from Dress It Up, reflecting the nativity scene which I have just added to the store.

 

 

Wish me luck

Judy

Snowmen Peg Magnets

I am really on a roll with my little Christmas decorations.  Today I hand painted some wooden pegs - just the cheap spring loaded variety.

After a couple of coats of white paint, I drew the snowman faces on with permanent markers, yes I could have painted the faces on, but this was much easier

 

 

I then dressed them - rusty buttons, scarves, hats, anything I could find

Check out the tiny weeny buttons on this one!  I burnt my fingers trying to hot glue them down the front.

 

 

I then cut a little round magnet in half (so that it would not show from the front) and glued it to the back of each snowman

 

 

Now you can place them on the fridge or any other metal surface.  I tried placing them on my new rustic metal Christmas tree, however I could not fit the entire tree in the photo.

 

Hope you can get the idea from the following couple of photos.

 

 

 

 

I just realised when I was posting these photos, that I had forgotten to give the snowmen some blush on their cheeks ... I must go and do that immediately before I forget.

 

I am setting myself a challenge to try and make a small decoration everyday until the end of November ... I hope I succeed.

 

Take care

Judy

Three More Button Tree Ornaments

As I had the buttons out yesterday to make the button ornament tags, I decided to make some more button tree hanging ornaments using different coloured buttons.

 

I changed the trunk style, instead of using brown buttons, I used:

 

1.  a small wooden spool

 

 

2.  a gold jingle bell

 

 

3.  a small silver liberty bell

 

 

This next photo shows the liberty bell base better

 

 

Each tree ended up a different size, and this just depends on the number of buttons you use - I really like the variety. 

 

The only difficulty is finding the right piece to place on top of the tree, the star beads work well although I would have like to have had something different on each.  I had many star and angel buttons, but I could not attach them to the top securely.  I had different coloured stars, so that ensured they are a little different from each other.

 

I have to warn you once you start making these little button trees, they are addicting, I loved making them

 

Because I had not set up a tree, I was having a problem trying to take photos of my new ornaments, Today I grabbed a small branch from the yard, and put it in a rusty bucket - just so that I can take these photos ... what do you think?  Nice and rustic!

 

 

I hope you have started making your Christmas tree decorations for this year?

 

Judy

 

 

 

 

 

Button Ornament Tags

Another easy Christmas tag for the children to make are these Button Ornament tags

 

Go through your button jar and find some cute flat buttons.  Place them on your tag in a pleasing position and then draw a line down to the button placement.  Remove your button(s) for a moment and hand draw a little ornament hanging loop, you can just see this above the button placement.  Now glue your button on, that's it!

 

I did colour in the ring reinforcement on my shipping tag as it was "white" and looked out of place,  I just used a black marker to colour it.

 

 

I am going to use these tags on my co-workers Christmas gifts this year.  I think they are even suitable for the men's' gifts.

 

 

I think I will make some more button trees while I have the buttons out.

Did I mention I LOVE BUTTONS!

 

Judy

Snowman Tags

It is time to think of Christmas projects that the children can make.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it may be a good start - Snowman Tags

All you need for the snowman are three different sized white pom poms, a couple of small twigs from the garden and something for his scarf.  I used a piece of bakers twine.  I placed my snowman on a shipping tag, however you could just cut out a tag shape from cardboard.  I think corrugated cardboard would look fab.

NO instructions are required, just follow the photo .. it is that easy

I sprinkled a little mica flakes on the bottom of the next snowman tag, to give the illusion of snow and used a small piece of grapevine twig for his hat.

I think the children will like making these and they can decorate them as they like.  Maybe glue some cloves down the front for buttons, or make a nose etc.  This is just the basic idea and can be enhanced in many different ways.

Till next time

Judy

Curtain Ring Wreaths

These little Christmas wreaths were made from curtain rings. 

 

I picked up a pack of curtain rings from the second hand store for only fifty cents

 

 

The size and colour were ideal to turn them into little wreaths.  I just wrapped some strips of fabric around them.  You can now decorate them any way you like, add ribbon, bells etc

 

 

These will look great on my Christmas tree.  Any suggestions of what I can do with the rest of the curtain rings?

 

Judy

 

Chenille Candy Canes

Do you want a easy Christmas project to do with your children?  This project would be ideal - Chenille Candy Canes.

 

All you need to do it thread alternative red and white pony beads onto a chenille stick (pipe cleaner) and make the hook at the top by bending gently.  Just ensure you double up each end, so that the beads do not slide off.  It is that simple!

 

 

 

I have the pony beads in store - for only fifty cents ($0.50) for a pack of 100 - so a very inexpensive project to make and it also only uses 1/2 chenille stick for each candy cane.

 

Use these candy canes on your Christmas tree, just loop them over the branches, or as a decoration on your gifts. 

 

Judy

Button Tree

I have only made one of these button trees (so far), but I want to make more - they were so easy, and look fantastic.  I certainly should have plenty of buttons to make more ...

 

All you require to make these are brown buttons (for tree trunk) and then a number of green buttons in diminishing sizes for the actual tree.  I used a star pony bead for the decoration on top.

 

I followed the basic instructions from this site Modern Minerals however I used jewellery wire for threading the buttons on, this made it very simple and was easy to thread through, and also gave a lovely sturdy hook for hanging.

 

 

 

I wonder what they would look like with different coloured buttons, worth a try?

 

Judy

Ribbon Tree

I know I have been remiss in updating my blog lately, however I have been spending all my free time in the garden.  It is a lovely time of year to renew garden beads, cut back overgrown shrubs etc before the hot summer days.

I have a number of small Christmas Tree decorations to show you, the first is these cute little ribbon trees.

 

I first saw these on Pinterest, and then I found a site which gave a tutorial with all the measurements.

See link here for Sunshine Yellow blog.

 

One word of advice if you are making these, is to try and use double-sided ribbon.  Because of the way that they are folded, you see the reverse side ... notice my white ribbon tree.  This was the first one I made and thought it would very cute with the green xmas trees on the ribbon, however on one side of the tree the pretty little trees are on the inside!

 

 

The plain green one is much better

 

 

But my favourite is the red one - I used the pony beads on this one.

 

 

Nice and bright.  I will have to get my small Christmas tree setup, so that I can photograph them actually on a tree, I am sure they would look much better, than just lying flat on the table.

 

Are you making handmade decorations this Christmas?

 

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

Halloween Pegs

A quick and easy Halloween craft for you

 

Place some Halloween themed or coloured washi tape on one side of your wooden pegs.  Then using stickers, glue them to the top of the pegs.

 

I have used some free graphics, and my apologies to the originator as I downloaded them a few years ago, and I cannot remember where from.  I just printed them on cardstock, punched them out and then glued them to the top of the pegs.

 

These can now be used to close off treat bags, place a magnet on the back and place on the fridge to hold your children's Halloween projects.  Easy and many uses.

 

 

Judy

 

Orange Sculptures at Griffith

Every year thousands of people head to Griffith NSW to view these citrus sculptures.  The 3D sculptures are created using more than 100,000 oranges and the same number of rubber bands to hold the fruit in place.  My sister Sue and I were one of the many visitors yesterday.

 

 

 

 

Each day the volunteers replace any damaged fruit.  It really is a most impressive and unique display.  I think my favourite is the Kentucky Chicken display - it was huge.

 

This is my first attempt at using Picaso to generate a collage and I wonder why I have not used this free software before?  It was so simple to use, although I should probably straighten each photo in the collage!

 

What did you get up to at the weekend?

 

Judy

Did you know I am a "GREAT" Aunt?

I love being called Great Aunt Judith, doesn't that conjure up a ancient old lavender smelling person that you have to visit and let kiss you ... it gives me quite a giggle that these two little rascals call me "Great Aunt Judith"

These two are my eldest sisters', youngest sons' children, Clay & Brooke

Ann (my sister) has dressed them up for a 1920's birthday party, and she sent me the photos which I had to share.

 

 

Don't they look adorable?

 

 

Lots of new products being ordered for my online store for Christmas, so I am being busy, although I would love to take time to make something for Halloween.

 

Judy  (aka Great Aunt Judith)

 

 

Pink Ribbon Gifts and Birthday Party

As mentioned in my last post, I finished off my guests pink ribbon gifts .. now I am not going to show you what I made until after the dinner as I know a couple follow my blog, he he

The first photo is a easy one - Pink Ribbon Water Bottles

All I have done is here, is printed out the pink ribbon graphics, and just wrapped it around the bottle. I think it looks effective.

Next is the mystery bag of gifts

I can tell you there are three little gifts inside these cute pink candy striped bags tied off with pink tulle.

All Done ...

Then last weekend, we went to Tumut to celebrate my nephew Thomas's 9th birthday.  I have to tell you after playing a game of soccer with the family, I am absolutely sure I am not as young as I used to be ... boy, I ached the next day, and that is not just because I had football stud marks in my ankles, ouch!

  

Close-up of the cake, I did not feel at all guilty having a slice with all that fruit on top .. it was delicious.

Until next time

Judy

Busy, busy, busy

I have eventually found time to get back and update my blog.  Life at the moment is extremely busy.
My Red Carpet Market Day was extremely successful, not just for myself but for all staff holders, which was fantastic.  It was very well promoted, and I think this is one of the reasons it was so successful.

The annual Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer dinner is coming up, and luckily I have finished the 120 small gifts for all the participants.  Little mystery boxes... I know what is inside, do you?

 

Now all that is left to make is the little thank you gifts for my table of guests. I have all the supplies ready and I have dedicated this weekend, to getting them all finished.

 

 

Do you see that little rotary cutter in the bottom left hand side of the photo.  It is one that I had in my online store, and it is the most fantastic cutter for paper.  It also means that I do not grab my fabric cutter by mistake. 

 

The Pink Ribbon dinner is being held the same weekend that I have a trade table at a Quilt Exhibition in Ganmain, so I will have to be extremely organised to be able to attend both functions.  I will have all the pink ribbon gifts finalised this weekend (fingers crossed) and then spend next week getting product organised for the Quilt Exhibition.

 

The following weekend, I will be in Tumut, with my nephew celebrating his 9th birthday, they are growing up so quickly, and I adore spending time with them.

 

Then the next weekend is the Pink Ribbon dinner as well as the Quilt Exhibition, so you can see the reason I have to be organised, and can I also use this as an excuse for not updating my blog?

 

I know it is not really an excuse, as everyone leads such busy lives, but the time just seems to be moving quicker than normal lately

 

Have a great weekend

Judy