My Post-Christmas Craftings

Happy 2011!

I really hope everyone of you 3 great blog readers had a wonderful Christmas and New Year holiday!  Our family spent a quiet Christmas together--very lovely. I've almost righted my house back in order...almost, but not quite. The new Christmas toys are still strewn about the house and the after-Christmas sale stuff is everywhere else. But I'm getting it done...

One of the quickest projects I've had (and to help me clear some space on my floor) are the two new wreaths for my front doors. I'm so on top of Christmas for 2011. And I owe it all to the wonderful sales at Target and Wal-Mart! ♥

So, let me show you my new pretty-ness....let me tell you, I had a blast at the after-Christmas sales at our Target and Wal-Mart!! Oh, I did!  I purchased the wreath, the bulbs and the glittery bow all for less than $10. AND I have enough extra glittery awesome-ness to make 4 more wreaths! As my theater friends say:  Simply Ah-maz-ing!!

Here's the how-to: Decide on the colors you want to use. Pick 3. Pick your favorites!  Plug in your glue gun and grab a diet Coke--promise, you'll need it.

  Watch your fingers and the glue--now  just have a happy time gluing the bulbs--totally at random. It makes it better to have no rhyme or reason.  I glued my bulbs to the bottom half the wreath because my bow had long tails (I did not know this until I got started!) Glue away!

Yeah, keep going, its fun....think about all the glitter on your face, clothes and floor later.....much later.

   

Here's the finished products!  Oh! They are happy wreaths, you betcha! I ♥ them! (which is all the better for me!) I showed my neighbor--hehe! she's so ticked that I'm ahead for next year. In fact, she's out at the stores looking for stuff to make her own wreaths RIGHT NOW! How funny is that? She cracks me up!!

I hope you had a nice moment reading today! I've got another super adork-able craft coming soon--maybe tomorrow if the kids leave me alone :) I'll give you a hint:  he's snowy....talk to ya soon ☺

xoxo

Merry Chris'Mouse'!

Merry Chris'Mouse'!!

Just like my spiders during Halloween, I've been making these cute little Chris'Mice'---for a long time now. And I thought I'd share the crafty love with you!! They make an adorable gift for a teacher or classmates...you could attach it as a gift...they can even sit on your Christmas tree branches. yeah! I know.

So, how to get started, you wonder?  Take a trip to your favorite crafty place and pick up some white, red and green felt squares. Also get some teeny tiny red pom-poms for the noses.  You can either use the google eyes or dots of black paint--just depends on how crafty you feel. Oh! And you need some candy canes, of course. And some hot glue. And a diet Coke too...really you do. Oh, and grab some scissors.

Now, here comes the very un-tricky part. The patterns to trace the ears and the body. Listen to this--for the ears: use one of those wooden spoony sticks.  The kind you get from a second-hand store--no, wait, sorry about that. That was my crazy radio in my head playing Prince. Nevermind him.  Okay, the sticks--they're the kind that you get with single serving ice creams--kind of looks like a flat hourglass-ish shape (about 2 1/2 inch long). I know, I'm very technical with the terms. Stay with me. For the body: use an enlarged pattern of a tear/rain drop from your scrapbook cache. Enlarge the drop to be as long as your index finger.

I know what you're thinking. Is she serious? Is that how she measures things? The answer: Yep! I am and do.

So, trace the body on the white felt and the ears on red/green felt. Cut them out. Now, a slight bump in the road: fold the tip of the white body (where the nose would go) in on itself about 1 inch. Did you make a triangle? Excellent. Cut 2 small (1/4in) slits on the fold of the triangle. That's where you are going to stick in the ears.

 Now, fold the ears in half lengthwise and pull them up through the slits in the white felt.

Oh, you're almost there. Isn't he a clever little fellow. So merry and bright!

Look at my mad camera skills!  There's the loop at the bottom and the ears on the top.  At this point, you can dot the eyes and glue the nose.  All you have left to do is put a candy cane through the loop and presto! Oh so cute little mouse!! ♥

These are just a few (alright, maybe 100) of the mice. I know, I tend to get carried away with my cute-ness. I made them for the teachers at the kids school for a December Teacher Appreciation gift. Can you see the little blue mouse? He's a Hanakuh mouse for a great teacher!!  I attached a small tag to the cane that read "Merry Chris'Mouse from your little elves in the PTSO"  I love the kids school and feel really blessed to have my kids be a part of something special everyday--so my making of the gifts is my way of saying thanks to all the great people and teachers.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Another Little Decoration

Looky! Looky!

I can't even tell you how much I love this little Soldier Man!  I found him laying upside down on a shelf in the outside at a local thrift store. I know...SAD! Sometimes I feel like I'm rescusing misforgotten extras from the set of Toy Story or something. Why would anyone want to give away a sweet little soldier is beyond me. Yeah! So, I snapped him right up, re-crafted him and gave him a home.  I did a little touch-up painting, added some spiffy bling to his uniform and gave him a puff of spoof on his face. (I also gave him a funny moustache--which was my son's, but he gave it to me for the greater good of Christmas decorations. Such a good boy!!)

And now he sits Oh So Pretty at my front door with my re-crafted lamp post. I put him out last night. This morning when hubby and I got back from running errands, he looked over and started howling!! Laughing like a Loon, he was. Because even I have to admit, my little Soldier is a funny little character. I think he is adorkable! and I love him to pieces!!

Putting Out the Christmas....

Ba-nee-ner! I'm done waiting for an appropriate time to put out my Christmas stuff. Just done.  I've been patient through Halloween and even Fall/Thanksgiving. But I'm finished waiting. So tomorrow I'm going to recruit the family for some good old fashioned Christmas decorating.  I know the kids will be eager to dig into everything, but the hubby? eh, probably not so eager. But he follows directions ♥ and will grumble and moan and eventually get it done. :) Yeah!!  I re-crafted (not so sure that's a valid word, but it fits my meaning well) a Fall/Thanksgiving decoration into a Christmas decoration. I'm so absolutely tickled happy about it, I'm going to take pictures tomorrow morning and post it. :o) I know, I'm very sharing of the crafts this week.  I love my new re-crafted deco. And I'll have to tell you why I love it even more than normal tickle-love tomorrow--it has to do with my two neighbors and a little unofficial contest we have going....hehe!! I'll tell you about tomorrow.