Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

May next year be filled with blessings.

Birch Tree Gift Tags & Ornaments

Hi All,

I almost feel guilty about posting this to my blog as it is a repeat craft from literally over 15 years ago. So to my family, you will be seeing these again on your presents this year, but to some of you, it hope it is new & you enjoy!

Start out in the fall on a nice walk & look for a fallen birch tree with a branch about the size of your forearm and peeling birch bark. Collect the bark & branch & save it in a nice place until you need it for adorning presents.

GIFT TAGS:
Take your peeled birch bark & tear or cut it into smaller pieces about (no smaller that 2"x x3")

Then use what ever you have laying around the house to start decorating. On sturdier pieces of bark you can use them with out additional support like here ... just start hot gluing your trims to the bark & glue it on to your package. (Side note the first time I made these I collected the cutest little pine cones & hot glued then to the birch bark... it was just not possible to find pine cones this year in Minnesota with 30+" of snow).

On thinner pieces of birch bark, I first glued the bark to a piece of scrap card stock, then added ribbons, scrap fabric, buttons, stickers to decorate.

Not all have to be "Christmasy" they can be for any occasion

Make a bunch...GIFT TAGS/ORNAMENTS:

Start out with a birch branch about 2" in diameter & saw then into 3/8" discs.

Drill a small hole thru the disc.
These go really fast & are pretty easy, so make a bunch.

Then start decorating... ribbons, raffia (hello 1980's... I told you this craft was an oldie but a goodie) stickers, charms, markers or Mod Podge a photo on one side.
It is an ornament on one side
And a gift tag on the other side.
On this gift tag, I double stick taped a gift card to the back.

Here I just hot glued it right to the wrapping paper.
My presents are all wrapped up & ready for Christmas Eve.

Thank you, Karla

Wooly tree in my red forest

Hi all,

I saw this tree made up here & thought - I need one of those. I made mine a little different that their instructions. I found this nifty blazer this summer at GW (Good Will) and thought the classic red plaid was perfect.Out of the back panel of the blazer I cut out a cone shaped tree. I wanted this tree to be super tall so I made it 28" long... make sure it is the same length on the sides of the cone as it is down the center (this will give you the curve edge along the bottom).
Sew the sides of the cone & stuff it with batting.
This next step is probably the hardest step... I sewed a circle of matching fabric
on to the bottom of the cone so the batting wouldn't fall out. I left the raw edges on the outside, since it is just for decoration & shouldn't get too manhandled, it should not fray too bad.

I have a few other red trees that I have collected over the years + this one I just made. They are now on display on top of our entertainment center with some other holiday decorations.
I have plenty of more ideas for red trees, but won't probably get to them all this year.

Thanks, Karla

One red wool sweater

I love working with Felted wool... I've had these projects on paper since last Christmas & thought "You've got months to work on them!" Well, here it is December (it totally snuck up on me) & I'm just working thru my "TO DO list".

I started with one red wool sweater & washed it in HOT water & dried it in HI. The One Sweater will easily give you the following 3 projects:

TREE: Out of card stock, I cut 14, yes 14, circles (the largest circle was 6" diameter, the smallest circle was 1.5" diameter). Each one is about 1/4" smaller ... Don't worry if they are not perfect.
So I'm anal (if you did not know that already) & I punched a hole in them & put them on this handy little ring for safe keeping.
I then started cutting circles from the felted sweater. I cut 2 of every size & 4 of the smaller circles for a taller tree... 38 circles total.
Everyone loves to help with this project - Also save your scraps - we use every little bit.
I used some craft wire & a button for the base & started threading the largest circles on to the wire.

Just keep stacking them up & topped it off with a bell ~ This tree ended up being about 10" tall.

Peepers thougtht this was a fun little tree for him to play with.

WREATH: Cut up your scraps pieces into squares roughly 3/4" x 3/4"
Thread 10 squares on to a 12" piece of craft wire. The add a bell.
Continue with 10 more squares and a bell until you have used 40 squares & 4 bells. Twist the ends of the wire to create a hook

MITTENS: You probably want to do these before you do the wreath. I found this pattern in the latest FAMILY FUN magazine. Download the template from there & cut out your mittens.

I used an 11" ribbon & strung them together

And hung them on the tree.

From this one (Size Small) red wool sweater I made 1 tree, 4 wreathes & 7 pairs of mittens.

I have a bunch of felted sweaters just waiting to be made into something beautiful!
Hope you are inspired to make some Holiday crafts ~ Karla

Musical Garland

This year I thought about having a musical themed Christmas tree - I look at every thrift store in my neighborhood to find an old music book (with nice yellowed pages). But alas, could not find one, so I resorted to printing off music sheets from on-line.

I printed them double sided for this project & cut them in 1.5" x 1.5" squared with an old school paper cutter. I then took 2 squares & sewed them together from point to point - stitch length set to as long as it can go (basically a basting stitch).

*** make sure change back to a new needle after this project - sewing on paper is just like cutting paper with your fabric scissors... they will never be the same again.

I sewed 25 squares together in a chain about 3" apart. Then pinch open the squares to form a little star like shape.

I then wrapped this musical garland around the stairs in our front entry.

Super simple craft & it was basically free.

I made a few strands of 3, 4 & 5 squares and hung them from the chandelier over our dining room table... here I intermixed some red paper squares with the musical paper.

Fun for Any Holiday, not just Christmas!

Oh... I made a JOY banner just like I did a BOO banner.

Thanks, Karla

Tina's 3

These photos were taken back in October... I just can't believe how big N,L & J are getting.
All 3 were very cooperative & photogenic ( I think their Mom bribed them).

Thanks, Karla