new fabrics and Christmas

Now that all the holiday rush is over, I thought I'd share some of the things I got for Christmas.  Kinsey gave me this wonderful fox necklace from boygirlparty.

I've loved this store for quite some time and have various prints and cards from her.  I've been wearing this necklace everyday it seems.

He also gave me fabric.  Lots of fabric, which I love.  A few are from illustrator,  Julia Rothman, whose work we both admire much.  I can't wait to start using some of these!  The green hill one on the far right, I'm planning a octopus or squid plush with it.  I can see it now.

So great!

Also, on the subject of Julia Rothman, he got me this wonderfully illustrated book she did.  

We saw a review on designsponge a while ago, but I completely forgot about the book.  The illustrations inside are beautiful!

You may be wondering what I got Kinsey since he got me all these and more awesome things? 

Here's one more thing he can cross off his list for his new business.... an iMac!  (I must admit though, I've been using this a little bit and LOVE it.  It's so much easier to use for photo editing and updating than our rather old laptop.)

In addition to my Christmas fabrics, I stopped by our local fabric outlet and picked up some great finds.  First, this rocket ship fabric.

It caught my eye across the room and I fell in love.  Not completely sure what I'll do with it, but it DID inspire a new plush design.  Any ideas?  (Coming soon!)

On the $1.98 a yard table, I found this crazy circus fabric.  Once again, I have no idea what my plan for it is, but I couldn't resist getting half a yard.  

And finally, from the .99 cents table:

I've actually seen this before there, but for some reason never purchased any.  It's a pretty thin cotton, but such a lovely print.  

Obviously, I'll be keeping busy!

handmade Christmas ornaments for 2011

It should be no surprise that we like to make things.  Christmas theme things are no exception.  Our tree (Dougie Wonderfir) this year looked like this:

Project #1:  Garland

This year, I was set on making some sort of garland.  I had thought about going the paper circles looped together route, but then I looked at my scalloped circle hole punch.  And my massive world atlas I came across for free.  And my garland was born.

I started by punching out hundreds (really!) of circles from different maps.  Then I simply starting sewing a long line without cutting the thread.  I was left with a really long chain of garland.  I ended up making 2 different chains for my tree.

It really couldn't have been easier and faster.  This project reminded me of how much I love garlands.  This could also be a year round decoration.  

Total cost: $0

Project #2: Felt Circle Trees

I found these circle felt trees at Target a few weeks before Christmas.

I loved them.  I wanted them for my tree.  $3 was pretty cheap, but I knew I could make them without much effort.  

I did not have the thicker felt the store bought trees had, but I do have just about every color of felt under the sun.  The end result:

My trees ended up having a bit more movement and I opted to not included the rolled up felt for the trunk.  Or the circle topper.  I used plastic beads I've had forever and spaced two beads between each layer of felt.

Simple, colorful, and fun.  

Total cost: $0.

O Christmas wreath, o Christmas wreath....how little did you cost me to make

We put the tree up, decorated our house so me, have been opening our advent calendar everyday, and making ornaments.  But I had yet to make a season appropriate wreath for our front door.  We've had this everyday wreath up since the summer.  I love it, but it doesn't say Christmas and winter goodness.  So this past weekend I made one that does.  Oh and it cost nothing.

All that's needed is:

* wreath form (I used an extra flat one I had leftover from last Christmas for this recycled milk cap wreath)

*yarn

*felt

*ribbon

*hot glue

*scissors

First, I started out by tying a knot with the yarn through one of the wreath form holes.

  

Then, I just kept wrapping the yarn around and around and around until it was completely covered.  This is really easy and the yarn stays in place without any glue.  This would've been even more easier if I wouldn't have chosen yarn that was in one huge tangle.  But the color was just right and was worth the extra effort of untangling.  

Green!

I only went around once, but you could do multiple layers with the yarn if you wanted.  I don't mind a faint bit of the brown form peeking through in certain areas.

Next, I made some felt flowers.  I have loved this technique since I found a tutorial online and used it in my previous wreath.  (For felt flower how-to, see this summer wreath post.)  I made a bunch and then hot glued them in place.

I chose to go with grays, creams, and a hint of blue for the flowers.  I didn't want to make a completely literally red and green Christmas wreath that I'd have to take down in 2 weeks.  Instead I wanted something a bit more winter season than December 25th.  

After all the flowers were securely in place, I still thought it needed something else.  So I found some brown ribbon and tied a bow to the top of the wreath.  I then glued a red felt flower to the center of the ribbon.  

Perfect winter wreath for $0.

Christmas and a Recycled Wreath

Here's our Christmas tree this year.  We opted for our standard Douglas Fir that we've been getting every year since we've been married.  This was the first year that we put on ornaments that we had made as kids or actually a large collection of ornaments in general.  In the past, we've "decorated" with dried leaves, pine cones, and acorns for a "from the woods" look.  (And of course on the stair railing base is one of those great magazine trees.)

We also made a number of ornaments this year.  A number being made from leftover pistachio shells saved from our all our old biscotti baking.

 When we were going through our ornament collections, we realized we each had made an angel ornament with our photos on during the same year (1992).  So obviously, they needed to go on the tree together.
Here's my latest project in my quest to find ways to use left over milk caps from work.  A holiday wreath! (You can find other projects here and here.)
I used a wooden craft ring (12 inches) that I painted a green color.  One thing I realized after I completed the wreath was that I should've strung a ribbon or wire through two of the holes so it could be easily hung.  However, it still hangs perfectly well on a hook.  

Each cap I hot glued down to the ring form and then to create a "bow" I layered a few caps in the lower corner.  For added interest, I then attached various buttons to each cap center.  


And the finished wreath hanging.....

How to....make free (or practically free) sparkly ornaments

We've been trying to find ways to use our ever growing collection of milk caps from work, so it was only fitting to try our hand at making ornaments for our tree (Dougie Wonderfir).  Kinsey came up with this sparkling design.

For this project, you'll need: glitter (we used Martha Stewart's glitter which is superfine and was super on sale at the time), a hot glue gun, Mod Podge, milk caps, and string.

Here's the simple how-to.  Cut a small amount of string to hang the ornament with and hot glue to the inner edge of one of the milk caps.  Take another milk cap and hot glue the two together around the inner rim.  Next, brush on glue quite liberally.  Then, pour the glitter all over where you just spread glue.  (Note: only glue/glitter one side at a time or you'll end up smearing the glitter.  So try to be patient and wait for the back side to try before attempting.)  

And this is what you'll get!



Easy, sparkly, and inexpensive (free if you have glitter on hand!)  They sure beat those standard glass balls.

How to Turn All Those Magazines into Something That Looks Good

If you're anything like us, you have tons of past issues of magazines laying around. I usually go through them and rip out any recipes, stories, or inspirations that I might want to reference later. I put these in folders, which keeps it pretty organized. Then, Kinsey usually goes through them for materials for his collages. More often than not, that's the end of the journey for them. Very few get thrown out until it gets to the point where I get tired seeing them and purge a lot of them. Now I found a reason to keep them around a little longer.



These trees are made from a magazine that has been folded a certain way on each page. Actually there are three different folds on every page. I saw a how to video on Martha Stewart's website (who else would have this? Actually it's on Reader's Digest's site, too.) At first I thought it seemed great, then I watched the video and thought it seemed like a bit much...it seemed like a lot of folding and that it would take a while to finish. I decided to give one a try anyway. I don't know what it is, but it was very relaxing to do. I suppose it's because of all the repetitive motions, but I actually enjoyed the process of folding.



I used Bon Appetit for the larger tree and Everyday Food for the smaller one. Martha spray painted and then glittered her trees. I kept my plain, at least for now. I like that they look like magazines.

You can see a detailed how-to here.

They look great in small groups! Maybe even include an origami deer with them?