Stick + Yarn Star Ornaments

Typically I am a person who will decorate and stay busy through the entire Christmas season until January 1st and then I want to sleep for a week. This year, I find myself looking for the blessing in simplicity.  To slow down and not make everything be about busyness and hustle.  So the cookies will be easy, the decorations are easy and of course...little projects too. 

Which is why I am sharing the easiest ornament in the entire universe. 

Simple for the kiddos and for you. 

Christmas Packaging Ideas

So are any of you like DOWN TO THE WIRE on getting all your Christmas stuff done? Whew...I still have loads to do.  But I wanted to take a quick sec to pop in and show you some fun packaging ideas for the holidays and even for the everyday. I shared some of these over at According to Kelly a few weeks back but wanted to give you a peek here too.  Some of these are archived from a few years back but the one above is new. :) Those pom poms will also be goodies that will be available in my shop if I ever get it open.

I am big time crushing on the Felt and Yarn for the colorful packaging above.  I will pretty much pom pom anything so putting a bunch of jumbo ones on a box and throwing some washi tape on there for a little something extra (and perfect for a sweet, merry message) was a must. :) I had such fun making these colorful and cozy packages using simple techniques like tying off a box with yarn and making a felt flower garland with a little flag taped on with washi tape.  

Fast and Simple Photo Advent Calendar

OK.  So I know it is the last day of November.  I am getting this in by the skin of my teeth because I am literally creating an advent calendar at the last minute. GAH! But I figured some of you are still in a turkey fog (like me) and need a quick last minute advent idea to kick off December tomorrow (again, like me). And technically...you have all day tomorrow too. See?  I enable the procrastination further. That's a true DIY friend.
Anyway.  Here is what you need to get...

25 Kraft Paper envelopes
printable number tags (I got mine here)
black and white photos from past family Christmases
clips and /or twine for hanging
washi tape or glue stick to attach numbers

Advent Calendar Kit (In a suitcase)

Hey there friends!  Just wanted to give you a heads up that I am over at I Heart Nap Time today with a quick and easy idea to make an Advent Calendar Kit to give as a gift.  It's a perfect idea for a hostess gift on Thanksgiving.  I knew I couldn't post it here for another few weeks so I wanted to be sure you saw it before December 1st.  So head on over there and let me know what you think!

xo, Jessica

Yarn Tassel Christmas Trees

Happy Holidays my awesome friends! Yep...It's official.  The Christmas boxes are down and ready to decorate for this weekend.  I am all in...Christmas is HERE.

So clearly...you will see it looking like Christmas around here for awhile.  

I am giddy with excitement. :)

I absolutely love how many variations of Christmas trees there are during the holidays.  And I have this complete love with working with yarn as many of you know.  So I came up with these pretty yarn trees that look fabulous because instead of wrapping them with the yarn, I used yarn tassels to create the look of layers of branches.  I love them so much!

Build an Ice Cream Snowman From A Jar

Hey Y'all! Did you catch the first half of  mason jar crafts yesterday by some incredible bloggers? Well today we have the second half of us revealing our projects. I decided to do a fun jar for kids to make a "Build An Ice Cream Snowman Kit."  How fun is that?

Red & Aqua Gift Wrap Ideas

Hey sweet people! I wanted to share this post of blue and red packaging ideas I did last week over at The Shabby Creek Cottage. I wanted to repost it for you before Christmas got here and you had everything wrapped already! I am for reals just getting in the door (time check: 12:21 am) from Christmas shopping.  Wow. I am the most last minute ever...I think I broke a personal record for procrastination.

So I figured, I am up...let me post those packaging ideas.  And I think this may be the last one of the season.  I am almost sad.  I still might have some gift ideas to share but wondering if I will have time to blog about them.  We shall see.  I also wanted to apologize for not visiting and writing to a lot of you!  I always like to reply to comments but I also want to see my children too. :) So know that after the holidays I should be back to my old blogging self, peeking in on you and saying hello with my emails.

I also hope to be doing some new things in the new year...like featuring some of you lovely bloggers and your projects. And maybe getting around to that Etsy shop I talk about but never get going on.  Oh the possibilities of a new year.  I think I am late night rambling...let's get on with it...

First up is one of my all time craft loves...yarn. I love working with it and you know what? I don't knit or crochet even a little bit. But I wish I did. This happy yarn flower is made just like a pom pom but you don't give it a haircut.  Just wrap the yarn around spread fingers about 30 times.  Slide the wrapped yarn off your fingers and tie a knot around the middle.  Then kind of fluff out the loops and hot glue a fabric button to the center. 

How much do I adore this Rudolph-esqe Bag?

I guess it depicts Rudolph all grown up after the bullying and problem years. 

I found some clip art I liked and using image editing software, I made the image a silhouette, played with the color balance and saturation (I liked this color blue), and added tiny little polka dots. I then sized, printed and cut it out and glued it to a simple white bag. Since I don't have a fancy schmancy cutting machine (I hope, I hope, I hope it will be under the tree), I went old school. 

Scissors.  I am talking scissors, friends.

You can even print out the image on your bag.  Just set your printer to the bags dimensions and print.  My cheapo printer won't let me.  Boo.

To embellish, I used a red button for the nose and tied the top closed with some red ribbon. The doily is used as a filler and when punching a hole in the bag, I punched the bag and doily together and threaded the ribbon through both to keep the doily from sliding inside the bag. Perfect for reindeer feed or fun little snacks.

I think this one is my favorite. I covered this one with red and white cupcake liners using a glue stick. EASY PEASY! To flatten them, I used a warm iron and spritzed them with water to prevent burning them.  I love how they are randomly placed to look like big, fancy polka dots! The tie is a blue, felt ribbon.

I love the whimsy of this white spray painted cookie tin.  Here, I used a cupcake liner again in the center. It is wrapped with a pom pom tie using blue baker's twine that was needle threaded with mini pom poms. The lollipop is made from the blue twine as well. To make the lollipop,  I cut a 2 inch circle from card stock with a paper punch and spiraled the twine from the center while securing it with glue. After it dried, I glued the circle to an actual lollipop stick.

This cutie topper is made from shredded paper filler! Again, I used a 2 inch circle of card stock as the base.  I attached double sided tape and in a sunburst formation, began attaching the strips of paper to form a circle. Once full, I trimmed it, glued it to a 4 inch doily and topped it off with a button.

This cracker style wrapped package is actually a paper towel roll! A great way to wrap smaller items and keep 'em guessing!  Think candy, small toys, kitchen utensils, scarves, ties, jewelry, and CRAFT SUPPLIES! I just wrapped the tube with tissue paper and tied off each end with yarn filling the ends with the shredded filler.  Three little pom poms sit happily on top. :)

I have a thing for pockets and putting them on a gift is a little unexpected but oh so fun!  It is perfect for shirt boxes.  I wrapped an extra piece of wrapping paper around the box while folding it in half to strengthen it. Using double sided tape, I attached a ribbon to the top of the pocket. The pocket is great for cards or other embellishments like this sparkly snowflake.

The festive, mini bunting  wrapped around the top is made from baker's twine, red felt, craft lace, and tissue paper. I showed this to you before but not on an actual package. A perfect finish!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hugs my friends!

♥

Mini Mason Jar Hot Chocolate

Hey there wonderful friends!

I wanted to share a quick and easy holiday cutie project perfect for the kids, parties, neighbor gifts, teachers, or just some family fun!

If you did not already know, I happen to have this "thing" for mason jars...even before they became trendy. :) So when I happened upon these 1/2 pint cuties (at Wal Mart) with red and white gingham lids, I snatched them up to use for Christmas or Valentine's Day! Just adorable.

This Christmas, I thought it would be so cute to make them into ready to serve hot chocolate drinks. I know this is not a new concept by any means but I really like the idea of them being all ready to go!  Just add hot water or milk and you are ready to enjoy your yummy drinkable treat!

All you need is a cute tray or cookie tin, 1/2 pint mason jars, hot chocolate (from a packet or homemade), mini marshmallows, and peppermints. I will get to the spoons in a sec. :)

 Just layer your goodies in your jar for a pretty presentation. 

♥ (Seriously, I can't get over their itty bitty cuteness) ♥

 I love the red and white. :)

Now for the chocolate dipped spoons as an added treat.
I bought these cute coffee spoons at Marshall's which are a perfect size because they are mini. I am really rocking the mini thing and loving it. You can use plastic spoons (the red ones would look festive) or even hit thrift stores to find pretty vintage ones.

I piped in the chocolate rather then dipping the spoons. Much neater!  I melted the chocolate in a pyrex cup in the microwave. Using a baggie, I snipped the corner and piped the chocolate into each spoon. I used sprinkles, a red m & m, a mini marshmallow cut in half, and crushed candy cane to embellish these. I popped them in the fridge until set.

To package them, I used candy bags and cut them to size and tied them off with baker's twine.

Now just put it all on your tray and wrap them with a festive tag and you have yourself an amazing gift or party favor.  I had hoped to have a printable tag for you but there were some kinks in the process and then time got away from me. But if I end up making one I will let you know and post it back on this post for you to download.  But I can't make a promise! It's a crazy time of year!

So do you like the little spin on this fun little giftable treat?  What are you all making for your neighbors or teachers?  I can't believe this is the last week of school before Christmas break...I need to get moving so I would love to hear your ideas.  I have an idea that I will share hopefully later this week.

xoxo

♥
this post sponsored by Miss Andrea at

Gift Wrap Inspiration: Ties & Tags

Hello again lovelies!  How I have missed you!  I've been behind the scenes crafting but have had zero time to photograph or do a lot of tutorials. I sure do miss it!  Good lighting during the day is hard to come by so my chances for quality photography are pretty limited. But I put together some more packaging ideas here and there and did little mini shoots for you with some gift wrap inspiration.

Today I am focusing on tying up those packages.  What is it about embellishing that makes wrapping so fun?  The delicious anticipation of what hides inside a package is glorious enough! Yet the extra prettiness of ribbons and bows make it even more delightful. So I  fiddled around with some ideas to see what I could come up with.

Top Left: Oh yes...you knew I would have pom poms.  Their whimsy and playful cutness are too wonderful to pass up. I loved making those pretty teal-ish, aqua-ish (what color is that?) for this tie that could also be a garland. The little white ones are store bought by the package and simply threaded with a needle onto baker's twine.

Top Right:  Red and white bakers twine and some jingle bells.  Simple. Perfect.

Bottom Left: This is simple grey thread and sequins.  Add a little sparkle goodness with a pinch of simplicity.

Bottom Right: How about using paddle wire with some pretty beads and pearls?  I simply slid some wire through the bead and twisted it to stay put.  Pretty, pretty.

Some cute but earthy tags made of clay and wood.  I am a total novice with polymer clay but experimented with food coloring to dye it (too lazy to go out and buy the different colors) and alpha stamps. I made some mistakes but I like the imperfect feel of them. Clockwise from left: Fruit of the Spirit tags (love, joy, peace patience...from Galatians 5:22-23), wood circle tags and twine, scallop and circle tags with stamped words, clay hearts and twine with lace imprint, and clay leaves in cool blues and greens with bakers twine.

That's all I have at the moment.  I have other packaging in the works but the crickets on this blog were getting LOUD! So I had to post something for fear of worrying you! :)

Tonight I am decorating a table at church for a Women's Ministry Christmas Tea Saturday morning!  Oh y'all know how I like a good tablescape!  But I confess to winging this one and kind of pulling something together last minute.  It is definitely not my usual (it's all about the details) approach but I hope to pull it off.  I have spray painted, cut, tied, and glued stuff.  And shopped my house once again. All in the last 2 days and throughout the process wondering when my procrastinating self will become proactive. I have no idea what it will look like but  I promise to share it with you.  Success or fail!

And I have more Christmas goodies up my sleeve too. 

Honest to goodness. 

Hugs and Christmas love!

Our Advent Calendar ♥

You know, there is something to be said for creative inspiration born of necessity. And I have wanted to make an advent calendar but I was unsure how or where to put it.  But my criteria was to make it, find a place for it, and use what I have but still try to make an impact.

So this is what I came up with. I love that it ended up looking like diorama but instead of a shoe box...I use an entire bookcase. To be more specific, I used a Billy Bookcase from IKEA. And the fact that I use the word "DIORAMA" further proves the geek girl that I am. At first,  I felt a little crazy starting this project but now...

I am IN COMPLETE LOVE WITH IT!

Each numbered box is a take out box leftover from my Fortune Cookie Thanksgiving Favors.

To decorate the shelves I basically "shopped my house."  I chose a red and white theme as my only criteria and just kind of threw things together from all over the house to make a sort of "scene" on each shelf to create the diorama look for the advent calendar.

The boxes contain an assortment of Christmas goodies like little chocolates, ornaments, stickers, or activities which I coordinated with my calendar.  Those activities could be baking cookies, doing a Christmas craft, or our family tradition of getting in our pj's, and driving in our car to look at Christmas lights while drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn.  The girls literally talk about that one all year long. :o)

Within each box is also a little paper circle with an attribute of Jesus with a coordinating verse to read after we open each one. I got that amazing idea from  Milk and Cookies and you can find a printable included with it which is what I used inside my boxes. I am really excited to do this with the girls!

You probably recognize some things I have done on the blog already this season.  It gets kind of challenging incorporating a red and white theme so I literally pulled things out of nowhere if it fit the color scheme. Thread, buttons, doilies, little pots, yarn, etc.

Those little snowflakes back there are popped in a random bottle with sugar.

I am all for an "anything goes" mentality with free decor. :)

 BOX #17 DOWN!  BOX #17 DOWN!!!!!!

Whew.  Box #17 made it back up. ;)

Some takeout boxes and ornaments bravely lost their lives during this project.

I think I love the randomness of it best of all. Like using ordinary objects such as spools of twine or a mitten gift card holder to make the color scheme work.

 I'm also rather smitten with how some boxes are hung high, attached to the back of the bookcase or elevated by a candlestick or something.  The varying heights make it look interesting and fun although I think I should have backed the bookcase with a red fabric or wrapping paper or something. It looks too washed out up close but as a whole I do think it looks very pretty.  It is simple and fresh with the red and white.

I was going to do a separate post on these white trees but I wondered if y'all might be "treed" out by now.  But if you are interested, I used felt, yarn, and paper flowers for those and used straight pins for all of them so I could reuse the cones at the end of the season.

 Oooh...the final box.  Are you supposed to do Christmas Day on an advent?  

I see it both ways so I just went for it.

Are any of you weird like me and can actually SPARE a bookshelf for a project like this? I think it is a fun idea but I am sure I will do something new and different next year. And as we use each box, I will just decorate each shelf until we are done.  Yippee!  I get to keep decorating a little each week!

Merry, Merry & Fa La La 

my sweet friends!


linking to: 
clean and scentsible:  the creative spark
the 36th avenue
southern lovely: show and share
tatertots and jello: weekend wrap up
what you want wednesday
crafty soiree
just something i whipped up: the girl creative
a sassy christmas: advent calendar link up

Wreath Chandelier + Ball Garland: TUTORIAL

I guest posted a few weeks ago over at Stephanie Lynn's blog...Under the Table and Dreaming for her Handmade Holiday series.  It was loads of fun and all the Christmas projects were so inspiring.  I am posting this Wreath Chandy Tutorial here on my blog in case any of you missed it!

Let's dive into the tute! :)

1.  In my eagerness to get started, I began wrapping my 16 inch wreath form of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam with floral tape prior to taking a "before" photo.  Sorry!  But here is what you need:

1 16 inch (or larger) wreath form of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam

2 packages (16 count ea.) 1 inch balls of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam

fishing line

textured white spray paint

4 faux pine garlands

2. Begin wrapping your wreath form of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam with one of your pine garlands.

3. Push each wrap tightly together to make it thick. Tuck ends under the wrapped pieces.
4.  Here's your wreath wrapped with all 4 garlands.

5. To make the wreath look snowy, I used a textured spray paint that produces a flecked effect.
6.  Lightly spray it with a sweeping motion but don't saturate it in one area or it will become too white.
7.  When one side is dry, flip it over and do the other side.
8.  It takes at least 3 hours to become completely dry and will be stiff to the touch.

After it was dry, my husband helped me tie 4 strands of silver cording I bought at Joann Fabrics (99¢ per yard) equidistantly around the wreath in between the wrapped layers of garland.

Push the garland back around the tied cording to hide the part that is tied.

We attached the ends to an O ring (or in my case...a key ring I had on hand) and hung it from a hook on our ceiling after measuring the distance from the ceiling to above the dining room table. 

(I have cathedral ceilings which is why the hook is on an angle)

I ended up making 2 small garlands to crisscross underneath the chandelier using a 16 count package of 1 inch balls of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam for each garland. You will also need Mod Podge, metallic crochet thread, scissors, the fishing line, and a yarn needle.

1. Begin by wrapping the 1 inch balls of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam with silver crochet thread.
2. Wrap completely but don't worry if some of the white still shows.
3. Glue the ends with a bit of Mod Podge and let dry.
4. Thread each one onto fishing line using a thicker needle used for yarn.

I also strung silver bells to make this pretty garland. I tied a loop at either end of the fishing line to hang it up using ornament hooks.

Now for the fun part...decorate your chandelier! I used all silver ornaments to give it some sparkle.

Here's a shot underneath.
Yes, I totally laid on my back on the dining table to take it. Cool shot though, right? :)

It's so pretty hanging over the table and I love how festive it looks.

This does not even have to hang over a dining table.  What about a front entry hall table or even  in the kitchen?  Lots of possibilities!

Hope you are inspired to add some sparkle over your table too!

I will be back this week for some more Christmas inspiration!