Christmas Crafts

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Christmas is: decorating.  It excites me to put away the usual home decor and bring out the special trees, ornaments & such that help bring that Christmas feeling to my home.  However, when I brought up my Christmas decorations this year, I found that I was bored with a large majority of what I had.  (Seriously, are you surprised?)  So, I got to work on making a few new additions to the yuletide decor.  My only stipulation was that I had to spend as little $ as possible.  And I'm proud to say that I only spent $6 on the wreath.  Everything else was made using all the other 'craft crap' and wood I found around the house.

I've had so much fun I might need to make this an annual tradition (as if the Christmas season isn't busy enough already...)  I might also need to make a tradition of giving away a few of the things I'm tired with...I only have so much storage room, you know.  Here are some of the things I've made so far:

Ornaments
Every year I like to do a different tree, so this year I decided to do an alphabet tree for Jack.  Instead of a star I have a big letter 'A' at the top of my tree, and I have ornaments depicting each letter of the alphabet.  I needed something for 'H' and 'W', so I made these.

The wreath is similar to the rag wreath here, but I used a much smaller ring.

Tree

I LOVE those cone trees I see everywhere, but I'm way too cheap to actually buy them.  So, I decided to make one.  I formed cardstock into a cone using the method shown here.  Then I wrapped it in twine using a glue gun to make it all stick.  I got the idea here.  I have many plans for similar trees, but I probably won't get around to them this year. 

Wreath

I saw this tutorial long before Christmas and decided to try it myself.  It was lots of fun!  However, if you decide to do one for yourself to hang outside I would suggest using the cheap dollar store ornaments...the paint on the nice ones I used has started to peel due to the cold.

Christmas Countdown

I originally saw this idea here, and decided I needed to make one of my own.  I used paper rather than vinyl for the numbers.  If I were to do it again I would definitely borrow a Cricut from a friend...cutting all the numbers out by hand was a pain, and they didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked.  But, I'm still happy with the overall result. 

I still have a couple more projects that I hope to finish before Christmas.  I saw this technique & thought it was absolutely ingenious, then quickly came up with a way to use it.  However, since my printer is broken I'll have to wait to try it out.  But, I'll make sure to show them to you when if I finish.

More Crafts

A while ago I went to visit my sister & worked on some projects that I'd been wanting to do for quite a while.  I've finally gotten around to showing them off...aren't you proud?

Neck Pillow

I've seen these for adults, but never even thought to make one for a kid.  When I saw it I thought, "That's pure genius!"  So I made one myself.  I got the idea here, but recently found an awesome tutorial here.  The second one is so cute I might have to make Jack another one.  It's been quite handy, especially to avoid all that head bobbing when he falls asleep in his car seat.  He's even used it to take naps in the grocery cart. 

Bathroom Curtain

Not that making a curtain for your bathroom window is a novel idea, but our window happens to be in the shower.  Seriously, who ever thought that was a good idea?  Ross & I spent forever trying to come up with a window covering solution that wouldn't get moldy or ruined and finally came up with this.  It's outdoor fabric hung up with curtain rings on a tension rod--that way we can take it down & wash it whenever we need to.  Apparently the manufacturers think people only need white tension rods, so I had to spray paint mine.  Lucky for me we have an endless supply of silver spray paint in our garage.  And if you ever need some inexpensive curtain rings, this is a great place to get them. They have a B&M store close by.

Fabric Pumpkins

Aren't they fabulous?  I got the idea & pattern from my friend Lisa.  They're incredibly easy.  I'm working on putting a tutorial together so everyone can make some. You know you want to.

Baby Crafts

One of my good friends recently had her first baby, so naturally I wanted to make something for her.  I did a lot of blog searching to find the perfect gifts.  (A necessary part of the creative process, of course).  Here's what I came up with.

Nursing Cover

I found this great tutorial.  The only change I made was to add a second fabric on the back. The material I chose was a little see-through, which seemed to defeat the whole purpose of a nursing cover in the first place.  Even with my remedial sewing skills this was an easy project.  At least it was once I realized I hadn't wound the bobbin correctly...and had done lots of unstitching.  Despite my beginning-sewer-issues I'm looking forward to making another one.  Maybe I'll make one for me, even though there won't be another baby for a while. 

Nursing Bracelet

This thing is PURE GENIUS.  Each bead marks a 15 minute interval, so you can put the charm at the time when you last fed your baby. And since it's made with memory wire, you can easily switch arms so you know which side to start nursing on next. I wish I'd had one of these when Jack was first born.  Most days I was too tired to remember my name, let alone when he last ate or what side he started on.  I got the idea from this creative blogger.

Iron-on Onesies

I realize you can buy onesies with cute stuff on them, but where's the fun in that?  I wanted to give her some onesies that were a little different.  Thanks to microsoft clip art I was able to make some fun ones.  The saying on the dump truck picture is courtesy of Ross.

So, anybody else want to have a baby so I can make more fun crafts?