12 months of Christmas...Coming soon!

In an effort to be better prepared for Christmas 2012, I have decided to work on ornaments and gifts throughout the year.  The reason I have decided to announce this goal to the world is to keep myself on track.  If I have readers following my progress - I'm hoping - that it will prompt me to stay on task throughout the year.  I haven't got all the details nailed down, but I think I have a few ideas settled already.   I found the ideas for some of these ornaments on Pinterest.com.

The best part of this 12 months of Christmas?  12 lucky readers will win a collection of the ornaments made throughout the year - one winner each month!  And at the end of the year readers will have a chance to win one of everything I made throughout the year!  Details on this fun giveaway to be posted in a future article.

ORNAMENTS


January: The Christmas family; Mary, Joseph, and Jesus   These Christmas ornaments are made using old-fashioned clothespins from Crafts Re-Designed, this Popsicle-stick Nativity from What to Expect, and one other one I'm designing myself are all planned for January.

February: Angels  This hilarious angel ornament made from a tampon comes from Fave Crafts, possibly the cutest pasta angel I've ever seen from Craftily Ever After, and again, one I'm working on designing.

March: Stars  This simple paper star comes from Good Housekeeping, this German paper star (we made these in my 7th grade class and I'm German, so these are a must) is from With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart, and a variation of this glittery star from The Robin and the Sparrow.

So stay tuned in and make sure you check back tomorrow for more on the ornaments I will be working on in April, May, and June!

Initially Yours

I recently shared my love of monograms with you and some of the finds I made at Etsy and Artfire.  I decided this year's Christmas ornament would be the first letter of each person's name.  For those outside the family, I would  make one ornament for the entire family using the first letter of their last name. My family tree will include the letters M- Molly, C- Callie, L - Levi, S- Sam, N - Natalia, K - Ken, C - Cindi, A - Arlene, J - John, A- Ammi,  E - Ethan, A - Aaron, T - Tami, T - Tory, E, Emily, and  T - Tanner.  I know it's a lot of letters, but they go very quickly.

My materials were easy to come by as well.  Our $ Tree had these gigantic stockings made of felt so I picked up 2 of those.  I free-handed each letter onto the felt using a Sharpie.  I used my sharp sewing scissors to cut out a double thickness of each letter.  I sewed random buttons and other bits of bling onto the "front" of a single thickness of the letter using embroidery floss or thread.  I followed that up with a blanket stitch all the way around to attach both pieces of each letter to each other.  I finished each letter with a piece of narrow ribbon at the top for hanging.

Total time (for 1 letter) from beginning to end: approx. 45 minutes.  I completed several while watching Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas and White Christmas, 2 Christmas classics.  You could easily get some of these made for your tree or to give a Christmas gift that personal touch in just a few hours.  If you have any to spare!  I'd love to see what you come up with if you do give this a try.

Merry Christmas!

Felt Bird Ornament Tutorial

I think I have finally figured out this little guy so here is the tutorial I promised.  I hope you like it.  If you use any of the pictures here, please link back to me.  Thanks.

1.  I free-handed the basic shape of a bird.  I have never claimed to be a great artist, but I think it turned out well.  Then I drew in the features I wanted to include.  Basically, beak definition, tail feathers, a wing, and an eye.  I should not have done this with pencil though, as it didn't show up well in the picture.

2.  I placed my cut-out of the bird on a piece of felted wool skirt.  If you don't know how to felt wool, it isn't really that difficult.  (Click on the link for some great instructions.)  I pinned it down on a double layer so I could cut two out at the same

3.  After both pieces were cut out,I began stitching the features from the sketch onto the bird using 3 strands of embroidery floss.  I really like DMC .  I just used a basic stitch for all the features.

4.  I cut a smaller version of the bird from cereal-box-type cardboard and then used Aleene's Craft Glue to adhere the cardboard to one of the felt pieces.  I just waited for it to dry before sewing button eyes on. 

5.  I used six strands of embroidery floss to make the hanging loop and attach the jingle bell.  I used a blanket stitch to put the two felt pieces together.

And....that is my little felt bird ornament.  I actually like how they are all turning out and I may post later on when I have a whole flock to show you.

If you make some of your own, let me know. I would love to see how they turn out.