Bird Ornament

This past Thanksgiving, my Aunt had a great idea for a craft that the family could do to remember my Grandma. She gave each of us a bird ornament (the kind that clips on to the tree).

We removed the old tail feathers of the bird by gently pulling them out. Then we replaced them with feathers from an old hat my Grandma used to wear. We used glue to make them stick where the old feathers had been. I love how it turned out and it is an extra special way to remember Grandma at Christmas time this year.

Merry Christmas Banner

I have been eyeing this garland from a certain (over-priced) store with the initials P.B.

(Source)

Here is a zoomed out version. So pretty. So expensive.

(Source)

I knew I didn't have enough room (because of this) to make a whole garland, so I just made a banner instead. Besides, it's easier to make and doesn't take as long.

I also switched mine up a bit and used some old music I found at Goodwill for .49 cents. I used my Cricut Schoolbook cartridge to cut out the letters in black.

Cut a sheet of music in half (hot dog way) and glue together at the seam.

Use the same Cricut cartridge to cut the scalloped edges. If you don't have a Cricut, use those fancy-schmancy scrapbooking scissors instead! Glue it all together.

Set up your Christmas tree and place the banner on it. (Never leave paper on the Christmas tree with the tree lit unattended, I would hate to have your craft (among other things) go up in flames. Yikes!)

So pretty. So NOT expensive.

Just wait till you hear what happened when I started hanging the ornaments on the Christmas tree... At least my banner is pretty! I am going to link to these parties this week.

PS: I am linking this to the Christmas Craft Contest at Poppies at Play. If you like my banner, head over there and vote. Thanks!

XO,

Paper Ornaments

Sometimes I like to embellish my presents. This year I decided to put paper ornaments on the outside of my presents. I have seen these before and decided to give them a try.

I started out with six 4 inch circles of three different patterned paper. Could I type that any more confusing? That equals three 4 inch circles in one color, three in another and three more in another color or pattern. (For a grand total of 6!) I also found that a bone to help fold the paper worked well too.



Fold each paper circle in half.



Glue half of the back of one paper circle to another back's half. As you get down to the last circle, you will need to put the ribbon in. I like to tie a loop onto the top.





Then glue the last circle on.

After it dries for a bit, I tie a bead to the bottom where the ribbon dangles. Here is how my first attempt turned out.

Notice anything? Yeah, I put the ribbon loop on the wrong end- it is hanging upside-down. Perfect for Christmas in Dr. Seuss' Whoville!! If I had noticed it earlier, while the glue was still wet, I could have switched it.

Here are some other attempts.

And, sometimes the ends of the circles don't match up perfectly. You might want to trim them or just distress them a bit with distress ink to cover the white.

Cute as a Button Ornament

Need another ornament on the tree? Don't we all! Here is one that is cute as a button:

To start, I bought an unfinished ornament half price at Hobby Lobby. You will also need some buttons!



I then ripped up some tissue paper and used Modge Podge to glue it onto the ornament.



You might need to use a couple layers of tissue so that the brown from the ornament doesn't show through. Then choose some buttons.



Begin to glue buttons on the ornament after the tissue is dry. I also switched out the string hanger from gold to jute.









Made it Mondays



Get Your Craft On

Ornaments Aren't Just for the Tree

A little while ago I found this adorable glass jar at TJ Maxx. I knew I wanted (scratch that-- I knew I needed) it, so it became mine! I brought it home and it sat empty...



...Until I put the Christmas Tree up, and then I realized that I could put some of my favorite ornaments in it and make it look festive for the holidays!



I might even tie a cute ribbon around it at the top. How versatile this cutie will be for every season, not just the holidays!

Holiday Ornament Tree

The holidays are coming fast, which does not leave us a lot of time to decorate! I love to decorate my house for ALL holidays, but there is something so special and magical about the Christmas Season. Last year, my mom and I decided to make Christmas Trees with Ornaments. My ornament tree is so special to me (and delicate), that it has its very own shelf in the basement so that nothing happens to it. Every year I can't wait to pull it out!

We started with one of those styrofoam cones that you can get at any craft store. You can choose the size to fit your needs. We also picked out a cute base that would fit the cone. Mine was a candle holder that I got half price at Hobby Lobby. I have also seen them at Ikea. (Love that place!)

We used TONS of hot glue for this project. We started out by hot gluing the styrofoam cone to the candle holder. Then it was time to work from the bottom to the top and put on TONS of glass ornaments. Unfortunately, we did not take pictures along the way, but you can imagine it. As we glued the ornaments on we would gently push the top of them into the styrofoam, to secure them a little better. My mom has a hot glue skillet that made things a whole lot easier, so that we could dip the ornaments instead of having to hold the glue gun each time. We used tiny ornaments to fill in any gaps along the way.





The end product is gorgeous and you can obviously choose your colors to match your decor. It was a time consuming craft, but there is nothing better I would have wished I was doing than spending time with my mom. Throw on some good holiday jingles and bake some cookies and craft away!