sound ornament

I was going to try and make an ornament for the grandparents this year with Leo's prints or something on it, but I just didn't have the time.  I did happen to see this post a couple of days before Christmas and thought I might be able to tackle it in time - which I did, just didn't get pictures of them all!

I grabbed some fabric ornaments from Target and voice recording devices from Build-A-Bear.  Leo wasn't cooperative when it came to getting him to say something, but I managed to get them done Christmas Eve.  it's not fun if you're not cutting it close, right?? :\

we'll see how well it holds up in storage and I might try again next year when he's more likely to say more things and possibly on command!

Christmas wreath

right after Thanksgiving we went out to east Texas for the weekend and I swiped a bunch of pine cones to use for another wreath.  I got my wreath form on sale, and picked up some ribbon and poinsettias from the Dollar Tree, and used plastic ornaments I already had on hand.  this was a group project, so I needed it to be less expensive, and it ended up only costing me about $6!

it was really simple to make.  we wrapped ribbon around the wreath and filled in with the pine cones, ornaments, and flowers.  we were a mix of seasoned and green crafters, but everyone's wreaths turned out great!

I'm so happy when my group craft projects turn out well and with minimal injuries :)  staying away from hot glue helps, but because these weren't store bought pine cones they were sharp and there was still the occasional "ouch!" whispered in the making - between the wire twisting, pine cone pokes, and wreath scratches I know I had my fair share!

one thing that I learned doing this wreath was not to turn my nose up to cheaper "silk" flowers.  the Dollar Tree by our house has a bunch of poinsettias, but they're all mushed together and crumpled and just not really all that attractive, so I was a little anxious about finding filler there for these wreaths.  I got some just to see if I could straighten out the petals and it wasn't working :(  then I looked over at the corner of the room and spotted the steamer and thought I'd see if I could get the fabric to relax with a little steam - and it worked awesomely!  I will be going back to get more just to use for holiday arrangements around the house now that I know I can fix them easily :)

advent calendar

I totally went in a different direction than little boxes like I was planning on doing for my advent calendar when I saw these pictures!

I found a hanging basket hidden in the lawn and garden section that I hung from my kitchen light, took some gold floral wire and wove little swirls around it, hung some fillable ornaments from ribbon with number tags on them, and loaded it down with candy, cookies and some other surprises for Matt and Leo :)

I ran out of time (I was still working on it last night!) so I just pinned the ribbon with some decorative straight pins I made a while back.

it's not quite what I had in mind, but I still like it. maybe next year I'll decorate the ornaments so they looks prettier, find better ribbon and put Velcro or some other closure on them, and have a better design of how they hang. they look sorta jumbled to me, but I was trying to make them look random... I dunno. it was fun to make and it'll be fun to eat on all month long!

not even December yet...

and the tree is up - but I'm only a few days early, so it's all good ;)

really, my nutcrackers are what I like to get out asap :)

I tried to make my own version of that ornament I got a little while back. I think it came out looking like cheese :P but it's getting more and more difficult to make tiny things anymore - this is only 1½" - I think I'll try again.

I have plenty of time since it's not even December yet ;)