Simple Red Burlap Bubble Christmas Wreath

I just love that simple and natural look of burlap wreaths, and I saw some on Easy that have tight, packed bubbles instead of full swooping loops.   I knew a tight, red burlap wreath would look perfect for Christmas on our stone fireplace.  So I studied up on several tutorials, and gave it a try.  Here is what I came up with:

This took a little longer then the other wreaths that I have made, but so far it is my favorite one.  I used a styrofoam wreath for the base and about 2 yards of red burlap that I cut into 5"x5" squares.  In order to make it look nice a full I really packed the burlap bubbles onto the wreath.  I wanted to keep it simple so I added just a white burlap bow.

Here are a couple of the tutorials that I used to learn how to make this style of wreath:

• Burlap Poinsettia Wreath from See Vanessa Craft
• Burlap Bubble Wreath Tutorial from The DIY Playbook
• Burlap Bubble Wreath Tutorial from A Glimpse Inside

It really was not hard at all to make, it just took patience to cut the squares of burlap.  And then each square of burlap had to be folded into burlap and pinned in place.

Jingle All the Way Shadow Box -- Take 2

A few years ago I made these inexpensive and awesome gifts for my boys' daycare teachers.  Remember these?  (Click here to see the original post with instructions).

Well I needed to make a few more as teacher gifts again this year, but when I meant to Michael's they were out of the black shadow boxes but I came across some awesome white ones.  This time I used multiple sizes of bells, and added an extra sparkly red bow with silver trim.

Red Ribbon Christmas Tree

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is time to finally focus on Christmas -- my favorite time of year.  And most importantly -- decorating my Christmas tree.

I decided to try something new for me this year, and instead of using metallic garland beads, I decided to give ribbon a try.  I had some glittery shear ribbon and some shiny red ribbon that I had bought several years ago and never used.  So I layered the silver ribbon on top of the red ribbon and laid it onto the tree.  It did not quite look complete, so we added a bow to the star to top the tree off.

And in our house it is just not quiet Christmas until you get the Christmas Mickeys and the Christmas Snoopy's in front of the fire place.

And the view gets even more magical at night.  I so love the ambiance of a lit Christmas tree in the quite of the night!

Still got lots of work to do -- outdoor decorations are not up yet, the entry way is not decorated, and I haven't even started on our kitchen and basement. 

Bright Red Deco Mesh Christmas Wreath

Thanks to an impromptu craft day by two of my mommy friends, I actually got started on my Christmas crafts a little ahead of time.  Here's my first Christmas craft of the season -- a deco mesh Christmas wreath.

If you haven't made a deco mesh wreath, you should try.  They are easier then they look.   I started with a 16" wire wreath form and 12" wide sparkly red deco mesh roll, which I attached with pipe cleaners.  (You could also use floral wire but pipe cleaners are much easier on your fingers).  Then I added the red & white stripped 5" wide deco mesh.  I made loops out of green and white deco mesh before attaching them and then embellished the wreath with Christmas ornaments.  Lastly, I added fancy jingle bells hanging in the center to give that nice Christmas jingle every time the front opens up.

I'll be making another wreath for above my mantel -- I haven't decided if it's going to be deco mesh, burlap, or traditional ever greens.  Check back later in the season to see what I decided!


In case you are interested in making a deco mesh wreath -- here's some links to some great tutorials and videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JdTD9Vge60
http://www.clumsycrafter.com/2012/03/deco-mesh-wreath-tutorial/
http://www.bigbearswife.com/2013/09/halloween-deco-mesh-wreath-tutorial.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY2uHv0AxFM

Jingle All The Way Shadow Box

Here is a really easy hand made Christmas present that takes only a few minutes to put together and can easily done for under $10 -- a jingle bells shadow box.

Here are the supplies I used:

• 5" x 7" shadow box -- I bought these at Michaels on sale for $4.99.  If they are not on sale, you can always use the 40% off coupon.
• 1 package of jingle bells.  I got mine for under $2 at Joanne's.
• Vinyl stickers that say "Jingle All the Way"
• Scrapbook paper or wrapping paper for the background in the shadow box
• Ribbon for the outside of the shadow box.

On the shadow boxes that I made for last year's teacher gifts, I just used fancy scrapbook lettering to spell out the words "Jingle all the way", but for this year's teacher gifts I decided to be a little more creative and used my Cricut cutter, so I played around in the Cricut Craft Room design software to see what I could come up with.  Here's the cartridges that I used:

• Cutting Up cartirdge for the words "jingle" and "way".
• Plantin School book cartridge for the words "all the"
• Christmas Joy cartridge for the bell
• Christmas Cheer cartridge for the bow.  

Here's a peak at what I came up with in Cricut Craft Room.  If you would like to download the actual Cricut Craft Room file, click here.  

And here is one of the shadow boxes that I made last year using scrapbook stickers for the letters and a little bigger sized jingle bells.  I definitely liked the smaller, shiner jingle bells better from the picture above.

Mini Muffin Pan Advent Calendar

Here's an easy advent calendar that I made at a work shop with my Stampin' Up consultant back in Peoria.  It started with an mini muffin pan, which has 24 slots.  Then we used a scalloped punches and two circle punches to make the numbers 1 through 24.

All the paper I used here was from Stampin' Up, but you could also find printables online to get the numbers.  We added magnets to the back of the scalloped circles so they would stick to cookie pan.

Now each day Landon gets a little candy surprise behind each number!

Paint-Your-Own-Pottery Christmas Tray

Today I am sharing with you my favorite paint-your-own-pottery project that I have ever done.  I got this idea from my friend Thuong.  We made this at Fired Up, a paint-your-own-pottery studio back in Peoria, Illinois.

We used the Speaking of Winter cricut cartridge to make stencils spelling out my last name (Michels).  Notice how this cartride uses traditional winter themes such as snowmen, mittens, and scarves to form the lettering.

This project was really a labor of love.  Each color required at least 3 coats of paint, but the yellow and white paint required 5 coats of paint to make sure the colors underneath did not show through.  I think I spent over 30 hours on this project, but it was worth it in the end.

And if you've never seen the Speaking of Fall Cricut cartridge, here are the shapes that it comes with.  It's really a neat cartridge.

Well that is all for today.  I hope you are enjoying the holiday season.  Until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day.

Easy But Elegant Glass Bulb Ornaments Made with Cricut

Here are some easy and inexpensive home made Christmas ornaments made using glass bulbs, ribbon/cording, and vinyl stickers.   These make great tags on the outside of Christmas presents or great gifts when packaged in sets.  I even made a bunch for teacher gifts.

I bought the glass bulbs from Hobby Lobby on sale for under $5 for a 6 pack.  I bought the vinyl on line and cut it with my Cricut using the Stone Script cartridge for the lettering and Joys of the Season for the snowflake.  If you don't have a Cricut you could easily do this with scrapbook stickers too.

For my family, I used white vinyl with blue bulbs.  I thought the silver cording added an elegant touch.

I made some red bulbs with gold stickers and cording for my parents labeles "Gramma" and "Grampa" but I didn't get a good picture.

Here's part of the set I made for my brother and sister-in-law.  For them I used red vinyl and red ribbon on white bulbs.  These were my favorites.

And here is something I tried using clear bulbs that I filled with metal beads.

I hope you enjoyed today's posts, and until next time have a Sew Scrappy Day!

Stamped & Sewn Christmas Cards - Mittens, Stocking, and Hat

Need some inspiration for your holiday cards?  Well here is one of my favorite Christmas cards designs from a few years back.

I used the Stitch a Card stamps from Art Impressions.  The stamps include the outline of the object plus the stitching pattern, so piercing the holes and adding the floss is easy.  After I stamped the images, I cut the images out, pierced the stitching holes, and added the stitching using embroidery floss.  I stamped white snowflakes onto blue paper to give a nice contrasting background.

For the mittens, I added a white ribbon to connect the pair.

I embellished the hat with white ribbon and blue beads.

For the stocking, I used metallic floss to add extra pizazz to the holly leaves, and used a red button for the holly.

Be sure to keep checking back for more holiday projects.  I'll be posting more Christmas card ideas, decorations, ornament projects over the next several weeks.  

Baby Food Jar Christmas Trees

It's finally Christmas season -- my favorite time of year for crafting.  For weeks I've anxiously been anticipating getting through Thanksgiving so I can get my Christmas tree up and my decorations out!  So to start out my month of holiday crafting, here is one of my favorite home made Christmas decorations -- a frosted Christmas tree made out of baby food jars.

I remember having a one of these that my aunt Kim made for my mom, and it would sit on our mantel every Christmas.  So when Landon started eating baby food, I saved all his jars so I could make one of these frosted trees.

This was a really easy project.  I thoroughly cleaned all the jars, including the label and glue on the outside of the jars.  Then I used hot glue to permanently adhere the jars together.  Once the glue dried, I sprayed the jars with a frosted glass finish.  Next, I wrapped a sparkly red ribbon around the outside and secured it with hot glue.  And finally, I added the string of Christmas lights, making sure each jar had a couple of bulbs. 

The baby food jar trees fit in perfectly with the decorations I keep above the kitchen cupboards.

Well I need to get back to getting more decorations up and more Christmas craft projects completed.  Be sure to keep checking back.  I will be posting lots of holiday craft projects between now and Christmas.  So until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day!