Plans for Christmas 2013 Decor...

It's November. Halloween is officially over. I'm gonna go out on a limb and declare that it is now officially okay to start talking Christmas... Mmm-kay?

When I look back upon my last few years of holiday projects, I noticed that each year I tend to focus on a particular material or style.

Christmas 2010 was white felt and silver paint-- It was my first year trying to revitalize our old, tired Christmas decorations.


Christmas 2011 was all things smooth and shiny-- pearls, satin, glass.


Christmas 2012 was natural materials and colors-- burlap, muslin and mother of pearl.


So what's in store for 2013?

Christmas 2013 is going to be the year of faux fur, leather (or pleather) and... metal hardware. Haven't quite figured out how I'm going to fit this in, but... Hey, that's part of the challenge!

Faux Fur Trees coming up soon...

[Pin It // Make It] Heart-in-Hand Gloves

Pinterest... Do you pin?  I was lucky to have joined when it was in beta mode and I've been a dedicated pinner ever since. If you haven't tried it, it's a great tool to capture and share inspiration and resources.

However, how many times do you pin things and how many times do you actually do something with that pin? Except for a few party planning ideas, my record is pretty bad. So, as a little push for myself, I thought I'd start a new series-- Pin It // Make It.  Sounds easy enough, right?  :) 

A week ago I pinned these heart gloves and, after a little research, tracked down the original source at eu.Fab.com and also yastikizi on Etsy. Cute, huh. Since there's not a tutorial, I had to create my own. Now, if you know me, I hardly ever sew and just learned to thread a needle a few years ago. So, ahem, don't judge me too hard. Anyhow, with my basic skills, I thought I would recreate these heart gloves.

Well, there are a few differences. First of all, mine is the much cheaper version...$1 gloves and $0.25 acrylic felt. Also, the heart could've been a little bigger... If I wore gloves more often, I'd invest in a nice wool pair and also use a wool felt. But I hardly ever wear them, so this will do.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Handmade Tree Vignette

Here's my 2012 Handmade Christmas Tree vignette. It's peaceful, it's neutral and little woodland creatures are hiding in there...My kind of decorations!  Many of the trees were used in last year's vignette, but I also added six more. Is there such thing as having too many trees? 

Click "Read more" for the details

[Make] Felt Rose Tree

I love Christmas.  Apparently I love Christmas Trees too.  Over the past couple of years, I've made several handmade trees. Here's my collection as of last year--

click here for the details

I really love working with white wool felt. It's easy to work with, has a clean look and the details really stand out. Since I have several 12-inch trees, I decided to make some smaller ones to give a little visual diversity.  That's how this White Felt Rose Tree came about--

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Felt Flower Pin

This was a last-minute birthday flower for one of Smarty Pant's teachers.  I literally put it together in 15 minutes, so it's a winner in my book!

[Make] Washing Machine Felted Hearts

The other day I shared my Needle Felted Heart project, now here's how my Washing Machine Felted Hearts turned out.

I found that using the washing machine shortened the process and made a more compact 1-inch heart.

Click"Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Needle Felted Hearts

Felting with wool roving is something that I've been wanting to try for a few years now.  I finally tried it out this week and was happy with the process (not too difficult) and the results (cute inch-size hearts).

There are several ways to do this.  I tried 2 different methods-- felting with a needle and felting with a washing machine & needle...  Today I'm sharing my Needle Felted Heart Project.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Felt Feathers

Continuing on with my feather theme (also seen here), I decided to make a few out of felt.  Very easy and something that can be done on the quick.  These can be used as a gift topper, strung together as a garland, or even arranged into a simple wreath. 

Click "Read more" for the full post

[Make] Felt Gift Card Holders

For the first time, I'm giving several gift cards as Christmas presents. It feels like I'm "cheating" on my gift buying duties, but somehow I think the recipients (mostly teenagers) will be pretty darn happy to pick out their own doodads! Since presentation is important to me, I knew I wouldn't be happy just giving away cards in envelopes.  So today, I created these easy felt gift card holders.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Felt Pinecones

I have a few dozen ornaments that I'm in the midst of restyling.  Most are a strange peachy gold color that I'm "upgrading" to white and silver.  

Last year I used felt to make some fluffy "snow ball" ornaments and I really liked how they turned out--

click here for more detail on the felt snow balls

However, since I only made three, I thought a few more wool ornaments were in order. Instead of snow balls, though, I thought  a few felt pinecones would be a nice addition to the tree.

Click "Read more" for the Tutorial

Achoo! - Felt Tissue Paper Covers

This year our family is flying through tissue paper. Since school started in September, I don't think we've had a week where someone didn't have a runny nose.  [sigh]  Ah well, hopefully that just means that they are building up some sort of superstar immune system.  In the meantime, I'm thinking of buying some stock in Kleenex...

So now that I'm finally personalizing the kids' space, I thought that the pink box of tissue paper in Smarty Pant's Car Room was looking sadly out of place.  And with my felt-addiction, I thought I could easily make something fun, unbreakable and boy-friendly.

With a little craft felt, upcycled boxes, foam board (for the wheels) and a hot glue gun, this took shape...

Ooh, maybe I should color in the wheels... they look like Oreos!

I'm thinking of adding some text... like "honk if you mean it"... or something nose-related  :)

I also made one for the boys' bathroom.  I'm a little tired of cars, trucks, fish and robots (the typical boy themes), so I think I'm going to go whimsical-- whales, hot air balloons, and such.  I saw these wooden whale tissue covers the other day and was inspired. Since my kids like to carry around their tissue boxes, we can't do wood... but felt works!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

linked to:

tatertots & jello
under the table and dreaming
be different, act normal
between naps on the porch

Happy Chinese New Year!

photo via steamy kitchen

My inlaws spent a good portion of their lives in Hong Kong, so to celebrate the Eve of Chinese New Years, we got together for a traditional family feast. And last night... boy did we feast!  Our meal included noodles for longevity, dumplings for wealth, fish & chicken for abundance, shrimp for happiness, and sticky rice cake for a rich, sweet life & family reunion (didn't realize the dessert was so symbolic until I looked it up!).  We don't follow all the traditions... basically it's just a great reason to get the entire family together for good conversation and yummy food!

Happy Vee took a nap yesterday (hallelujah!), so with my free time, I decided to make some felt "fortune cookies" (a la Martha Stewart, which I mentioned here), and stuff them with Dove chocolates and a condensed version of everyone's personalized "2011 Chinese Fortune".  For the kids I went a step further and added some hopeful predictions like "will learn how to use the potty" and "will become a better listener".

i cut out a step or two and sped up the process by using color-coordinated pipe cleaners & a hot glue gun

my "cookies" weren't holding together, so i put a little dot of hot glue on the top rim.  worked like a charm!



And, just for fun, here's the general forecast for 2011

The Year of the Rabbit

Most Rabbit years are quiet, positive and inspiring and 2011 looks to be heading in this direction – a refreshing change after the fast-moving and quite dramatic Year of the Tiger. Family, diplomacy and personal development will all be highlighted in 2011. Once again alternative sources of energy and green living will be under the spotlight. The arts and culture sector of society will very busy producing amazing works of art and staging important exhibitions throughout the year. Love, romance and family life are well-starred, with a renewed appreciation of loved ones and friends. Overall, it should be a fun and relatively peaceful year. Even though aggression, violence and war zones will still be in evidence, the Chinese Rabbit year favours peaceful solutions and diplomacy, so there will be a feeling that all is not lost and that hope is still very much alive.

via moonslipper.com

Peace and diplomacy?  I'm all for that!  Happy New Year!

linked to:

paisley passions
the shabby nest

Felt Heart Garland

Here's how my Felt Quilled Heart Garland turned out--

i put a couple dots of hot glue on the top of each heart and attached the baker's twine

now the mantel has a little fun color and, believe it or not, little hands have yet to touch it.

i hung the garland using these clear 3m hooks.  they're tiny, almost invisible, and easy to apply & remove.



I had extra hearts so I did a vertical garland as well--

it was an easy way to gussy up the hall closet

if i had planned this out better, i would've strung the twine through the center of the heart during the gluing process (and perhaps punched a small hole through the bottom of the heart for the string to pull through).  but it turned out fine hot gluing the baker's twine to the back of the hearts. 

See here for the felt heart tutorial

This week went quickly, but boy am I glad it's almost the weekend.  Have a good one!

linked to:
all things heart & home
tatertots & jello
under the table and dreaming
between naps on the porch
coastal charm
someday crafts
the shabby nest
someday crafts: valentine's linky party
somewhat simple - valentine's linky party

Quilled Felt Hearts

I said earlier that I wasn't planning on doing any Valentine's Day crafts... but that was before the mini-heatwave struck us.  Something doesn't feel right when you're looking at snowflake decor and it's 80+ degree weather outside.  So I decided to add some Hearts to our otherwise winter white mantel.

When I walked into Paper Source the other week, I was immediately smitten by this quilled heart garland kit--

I think quilling is beautiful and those who do this intricate craft deserve some sort of medal.  It is not for the impatient and sloppy! If you're interested in quilling, this is a terrific blog to be inspired by. 

I thought I could easily convert this paper craft into a hardy felt project that can be reused year after year.

So off I went to Joanns for some craft felt and pipe cleaners.

this stuff is great, and I like how it's made from post-consumer plastic

And you have Hearts!

I ended up creating a garland for my mantel.  The lighting is poor right now, so I'll be back later with photos!



linked to:

paisley passions
sew much ado
tatertots & jello
someday crafts: valentine's linky party

The Christmas Mantel - Felt Snowflake Garland



a close-up of the felt snowflake garland
not the best shot with the reflection from the mirror...
i had to hang it quickly though... little people were starting to climb on the step ladder.

tutorial & templates via my cute stamps :: found via creature comforts

cutting out the snowflakes was a little tedious... the "stiff felt" gave my scissors a workout.  but it was worth it!

i tried using my cricut, but the blade wasn't sharp enough. i'm sure there's a way to get it to work but, being a cricut novice, i need to do more trial and error.

and these little self-stick gems made the "bling" application very easy.

during the day

and at night!

And I finally "found" a stand for the ruffled tree amongst some of my fall decor. 

From this...

To this...



So the Mantel is complete...

Just need to finish decorating the tree, finish shopping, bake & decorate gingerbread cookies and wrap presents. 

Ay yay yay!

Have a TERRIFIC weekend!!!

linked to:

the shabby nest

tatertots & jello
somewhat simple's holiday ideas
between nap on the porch's deck the halls