day 12 of the crafty days of christmas - to be continued...

ok, i don't know what i was thinking.

today has been a wonderful day filled with family time and having fun.

i thought i might have time to squeeze in typing up a tutorial, but playing strawberry shortcake with my girls and dragons with my boy (and maybe a tiny nap) has taken up my whole day.

so i'm postponing my 12th day of crafts until tomorrow. (forgive me please!)

don't worry though, it's something that you could use all year round...

merry christmas to you and your families.

i pray that you all have had the blessing of spending a joyful and fun-filled day with the ones you love.

button snowmen - day 11 of the 12 crafty days of christmas

has everyone been spending today getting ready for all of their holiday celebrations?

i have been cooking all day for a big party we are hosting at our house tomorrow,
 so today's craft is a quick and easy one.

i love searching crafting blogs and websites and somewhere i saw a craft that used buttons to make snowmen on the front of christmas cards.
i can't for the life of me remember where i saw them, but i thought i would take that idea and make something from it.

here is what you need..

white buttons in three different sizes (with 4 holes)

colorful felt

fabric fusion (fabric glue)

orange and black embroidery floss

 first, take one button of each size and glue them to your colored felt as pictured below.

next, trim around your snowman.

now, take 3 strands of the orange floss and sew across the bottom 2 holes of the top button to make the carrot nose. 

then take 3 strands of the black floss and tie knots in the holes pictured below for the 2 eyes and the 3 coal buttons. 

i had to tie several knots with the black floss to get them to stick out over the button.

cute little snowman, huh? 

i think i will be gluing mine to a barrette for my sweet little girl's hair.

it would also be a precious addition to a gift for someone special.

just one more day to go....

because of my family's get together tomorrow, i will be posting day 12 on christmas day.

so once your presents are open and you've eaten your fill of turkey and dressing, come back to check it out.

until then, i hope everyone has a very merry christmas!

"ho ho ho" t-shirt - day 10 of the 12 crafty days of christmas

so, skirts for the girls.... now a fun appliqued christmas t-shirt for my boy.

it can be really hard to find cute holiday shirts for older boys that don't look babyish.

the best way to get around this is to create one yourself.

here is what you need:

a plain t-shirt (i'm using one from target - affordable and well made)

coordinating fabric

steam a seam

thread (optional)

sewing machine (optional)

my idea was to do a shirt that said "ho ho ho" across it. i had a cricut cartridge called "robotz" that had a really cute font so i just cut an "h" and an "o" about 3 1/2 inches tall to use as my template.
you could also find a font you like online and print it or sketch the letters yourself.

when you have cut your template letters, then you are going to trace them onto a sheet of your steam-a-seam. the important thing to remember about this step is to trace your letters backwards because they are going to be ironed on to the back of your fabric.

next, cut the steam-a-seam around your letters but leave some space around them. 

this makes it easier to cut your letters out of the fabric because you can still see your tracing lines.

then, iron onto the BACK of your fabric.

(follow the instructions on the steam-a-seam packaging)

when that has cooled, cut out your letters.

and peel off the backing.

next, you will place your letters onto your shirt. the great thing about steam-a seam is that it is a little bit tacky on the back so you can place your letters, hold it up and look at it, and then replace them if you need to.

when you are happy with your letter placement, then you will iron your letters onto your shirt. 

(again, follow the instructions on the package.)

if you are not comfortable sewing, you could stop here and you would have a very cute shirt. 

the steam-a-seam will hold the letters on permanently.

i like to add the stitching around the letters because i think it gives it a nice finish.

if you are new to sewing, give it a try!

it's easier than it seems.

i promise!

here is my handsome man in his new christmas shirt!

"he had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly...."

ho ho ho! :)

christmas skirts - day 9 of the 12 crafty days of christmas

ok, this is for all of my sewing friends. 

and really, even if you think you can only sew a straight line, you can totally do this project!

because that's basically all it is. 

four straight lines of stitches with your sewing machine or serger.

This is what you will need:
about 1 to 1 1/2 yards of fabric
sewing machine or serger
coordinating thread
one package of 3/4 inch elastic
safety pin
iron and ironing board

first, decide about how long you would like your skirt to be.
i wanted my 7 year old's skirt to be around 15 inches long. so i took that number and added 4 inches to account for the hem and the amount to be turned over at the top to hold the elastic.
 then i cut two strips of fabric the entire width of the fabric (44 inches) that were 19 inches long.
i also trimmed off the selvage on each edge.
(that's the part of the fabric that has the manufacturers information printed on it)
one strip will be the front of the skirt; the other will be the back of the skirt.

can you tell i love this fabric!!!

next, place the right sides of the fabric together and match up the pattern if needed.

i used my serger for this project, but you can just as easily use your sewing machine.

the only reason i opted for the serger is that it leaves a finished edge on the inside of the skirt. 

believe me, i have made plenty of these skirts with a sewing machine and they turn out great!

so, once you have your two pieces matched up, you are going to sew two straight lines on each short side. you can really use any seam allowance. I usually go with 1/2 inch if i'm using my sewing machine.

so that's two straight stitches down...two more to go.

now, if you have a serger, go ahead and finish off the top and the bottom of the skirt like the picture below.
if you are using a sewing machine, you can just skip this step
or you can iron down about 1/4 inch of the fabric all the way around the top and the bottom of the skirt if you would like to have a finished edge inside the skirt.

next, you are going to iron your fabric down about 1 1/4 inch at the top
to make the pocket for the elastic to go in
and iron about 1 to 1 1/2 inch of fabric up from the bottom to make the hem of the skirt.

after you're done ironing, you will stitch the top and bottom of your skirt to secure your elastic pocket and your hem.

VERY IMPORTANT: remember to not go all the way around the top. leave yourself a little space to pull your elastic through. 

(see the picture below.)

ok, we're almost done!

measure your little girl's waist and cut a piece of elastic about 1- 1/2 inch larger. 

then, attach a large safety pin to one end.

thread your elastic through the pocket at the top of your skirt.

now we need to sew the elastic together. change your stitch type from straight to zig zag.

then sew your elastic together. 

i like to go back and forth a couple of times in an "n" shape just to make sure it doesn't come undone.

it doesn't have to be pretty! it will be hidden by your fabric!

once that's done, just place your elastic in the pocket and close up the opening for the elastic with your sewing machine.

when that is finished, even out your fabric around the elastic and you're done!!!

here are the ones i made for my girls. 

and here are my models!

and i couldn't leave my boy out so tomorrow i'll sew up a  little something for him!

ornament gift tags - day 8 of the 12 crafty days of christmas

i'll let you in on a little secret....i'm a procrastinator.

a life long procrastinator...

so that usually means i'm wrapping presents for christmas on christmas eve. lots of them.

i've always loved beautifully wrapped presents with gigantic bows and pretty gift tags, but when you're in a frenzy wrapping presents the night before, little sticker tags are about all you can pull off. 

this year, i thought it would be nice to make some gift tags BEFORE my last minute wrapping session so at least i'd have that element on the gifts. 

maybe i'll work on adding the bows next year... :)

here is what i used.

my cricut (this is what i used to cut my shapes because it is faster, 

but you could use a paper punch or hand cut them too)

pretty paper

glue

twine
and a thin sharpie.

i cut 1 1/2 inch squares with some curved edges out of tan cardstock to make the top of the ornaments and 3 inch circles out of different colorful paper for the ornaments.

then i folded the squares in half and drew some thin black lines on the front to look like the top of the ornament.

i then cut a small slit in the fold of the ornament top.

i cut a piece of twine about 8-10 inches long and thread both ends through the hole.

after that i glued the inside of the ornament top.

i placed the circle inside and then press closed.

pretty simple once you get all the pieces cut.

and really cute!

i think these will look great on my presents this year!!!

ribbon candy ornaments - day 7 of the 12 crafty days of christmas

if you guys haven't read this about me already, i'm kind of obsessed with fabric.

particularly quilting fabric and the people who design these beautiful, colorful textiles.

one of the first designers whose fabrics i fell in love with is Sandi Henderson.

her fabrics are unquestionably beautiful, but she also has a wonderfully inspirational blog.

this next craft is one i saw on her blog last year and was determined to try this year.

(the funny thing is, it doesn't use any fabric!)

ok, so today we are going to make ornaments that look like the ribbon candy you so often see around the holidays.

here is what you will need:

ribbon (any kind of striped colorful ribbon), felt (in coordinating colors), embroidery six-strand floss, spray adhesive, glass or plastic beads in coordinating colors, fray block or a lighter, and needle

first, cut a length of ribbon about 12 inches long. use the fray block or a lighter to finish off the edges of your ribbon to keep them from fraying. then trim a piece of the coordinating felt to the same size as your ribbon. 

i just cut down the side of the ribbon to get a matching piece of felt

Once you have your ribbon and felt cut, spray one side of your felt with your spray adhesive and then attach your felt to your ribbon. Use your fingers to smooth out any bumps.

next, take your six strand floss and cut a piece about 14" long. then separate three strands out. we're only going to use three of the six strands. thread them onto your needle and tie a knot in the end.

now, start on the ribbon side about 1/2" from the end. pull your needle through and then thread on one bead. the beads act as spacers between the folds.

then measure down about 1" from where your thread came through the felt side and pull your thread through from the felt side to the ribbon side. thread on another bead then measure down another 1".

continue doing this until you've gotten to the end of your ribbon.

 the important part of this step is to try to keep all of your folds as even as possible.

if you have any straggling ribbon left over, you can trim it off and finish the ribbon off again.

(i confess, i had to do that on one of mine...)

after you've sewn through your ribbon, you're going to push your ribbon down the thread so it looks like a piece of ribbon candy.

then tie a knot to secure your ribbon and use the extra thread to make a loop to hang it from the tree.

i also added a smaller piece of ribbon at the top to make a bow.

so sweet! (ha ha! pun intended!)

please visit sandi henderson's blog if you get a chance.

she has a very beautiful free tutorial over on the sidebar for this project plus many other projects you might like to try.