Christmas Words

I just love when people decorate with Christmas words like Noel, Joy, Merry...etc. And i love that people are now using lyrics from Christmas songs. So i thought today i would blog about all the pics i have fun with words or Christmas music.

My Latest Time Consuming Project

A couple weeks ago i was looking to make a tshirt scarf. I have only seen them on the blog world so it was something i wanted to learn more about. Along my search i found braided tshirt scarves and then i found yarn braided scarves which of course i fell in love with. I came across the blog BE PRETTY CHEAP. http://beprettycheap.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/diy-how-to-make-a-braided-yarn-scarf/ and she posted how she made this killer braided scarf which i love but its too chunky for my liking.

Then i came across more scarves on Etsy like this:

Beautifully Braided Variegated yarn. Stunning and its versatile you can wear it more than just one way.
Sooo i combined the two scarves and made my own

 So this is the colour of variegated yarn i choose to use. Its pink, purple and green. I choose to make 3 different sizes of braids. The small is made up of 3 sections of 4. The medium is made up of 3 sections of 6 and the largest is made up of 3 sections of 10. I still did everything the BE PRETTY CHEAP did, except i didn't tie my sections individually. I found when they were sooo long they stuck together anyways. So follow her DIY tutorial like i did but change it the way you want.

I also forgot to mention that i made 2 long braids of each size so i had 6 long braids. I made them long enough that i can triple wrap my scarf for more volume. I think i might just adorn this beauty for Christmas.

Tree Skirts

This year i wanted to try something different to conceal the bottom of the Christmas tree. But since i purchased a new tree this year the base is sooo large i cant conceal it the way i wanted too. Here is some pics of ideas i would have loved to use for my tree base.

This planter box is made with old tin ceiling tiles, this would be gorgeous in my parents house

I love this wooden pail

a garden urn

a jumbo woven basket

an older style mop bucket on casters, perfect idea for cleaning

 I really wanted to use one of my crocks i have around the house but sadly my tree is too large for my largest crock. Honestly the sky is the limit to finding and alternative base for your tree.

I also found this great tree skirt made from a recycled plaid skirt. What a great way to up cycle something. You could even use other great skirts i think a shimmer sequined one would be amazing.
Well i didn't know what to do this year so i chose to use a big piece of fabric i had purchased to make pillows. It black on black zebra print. I chose this because my tree is decorated in silver, black and chartreuse green. I was gonna use this piece of chartreuse fabric but then i found the black fabric grounded my tree and added a little but of sparkle down below.

Hopefully next year i will make my own tree skirt or get to use a planter style base for my tree.

Mittens Advent Calender

 This is a little late so i apologize. This is my version of a mittens advent calender i made. I have been wanting to make my own just didn't have any good ideas until now. But i think she still might need some improvements.

 I made my mittens out of green, black and white felt, to keep my house theme.
First i started by cutting my sheet of felt in half, Then i folded each one in half and started to cut mittens, this way i would get 2 identical mittens cut at one time. Then i hot glued around the inside of the mitten edge sandwiching the 2 identical mittens together to form miniature mittens that have an opening to place candies in. You could make these mittens as large as you want and use anything you'd like to fill them. I also cut small ribbon and hot glued each one into the corner of each mitten.

 For my Numbers i used plain white craft glue that has a fine squeeze tip on the bottle to draw the numbers on each mitten. I did this because i couldn't find foam numbers to buy and i didn't feel like cutting them all out.

 Then while the glue was still wet i used green glitter to cover the glue. I used the same glitter on each mitten but you can use whatever colour your heart desires.

 Make sure to lay them out to dry completely. I also hot glued a button on the 25th day for Christmas.

Then i simply tied each mitten down this section of ribbon to create one long chain. I also made sure to leave enough space after every seven mittens, to symbolize a week. You don't have to do this i just hot other ideas in mind for my mittens.

 At first i thought i would hang it across my mirror

 Or swag it down my banister before i put my garland up.

 But then i remembered i had these blank canvases in my craft room just sitting there. Its Perfect. So i simply cut the strand of ribbon to fit around the canvas and hot glued it there.

And There you go my simple and cute mittens advent calender. I also used a little dab of hot glue to keep each mitten facing forward. But you don't have too especially if you want to turn one over when another day is done. I didn't place any candies in mine because we bought Kane the chocolate advent calender from walmart, to keep the tradition going because Craig and i both got them growing up.

Christmas Birds

Sorry about the tiny picture but its all i could find

I don't know if everyone has seen these great German Bird Vase Fillers from Pottery Barn but boy do i think they are awesome. So it left me Inspired to create a similar version of my own since these birds are no longer available for purchase. These birds at pottery barn are covered in German glitter that develops a natural rich patina over time. They sound amazing but i don't know where you'd by German glitter here in muskoka. SO I went to Dollarama instead.

I made silver ones

I made Chartreuse ones

I made Gold ones and i could make some of every colour

I bought 2 different types of birds from Dollarama they were $1 for 2 birds, I bought 10 packs so i have 20 birds to do

I like the little red birds the best, they are pretty cute, i could use them for something else. But in this case i completely covered them in normal white craft glue. I went around the eyes and beak though. Then i picked out what colour glitter i wanted and dosed them. I also did this one top of news paper so i could funnel the extra glitter back into the bottle or packet. Be prepared to have glitter everywhere when you do this project i know I'm still cleaning up glitter.

Here's the glue and colours of glitter i choose to do my birds in. I went with more earth gold tones and of coarse chartreuse. I think you can be creative and they would look good in any colour.

 

 

 

Now what am i gonna do with these birds?

A Wreath Replacement

I found this amazing swag picture online while i was looking for Christmas inspiration. I fell in love but i wasn't quiet sure if id ever make a swag because boy do i love wreaths id make a new one for every week if i could, but then i might be a little decor crazy.  Usually my wreath on the front door is the first thing i put up this year, but i just couldn't decide this year so i decided lets try the swag.

 

I love the fresh cedar with the Christmas balls and the great Chartreuse ribbon on this swag. So i tried to re-create this swag in my own way.

First i started out by picking the ornaments i wanted to use on my swag. Then i added this simple green ribbon by hot gluing it on

My next step was to lay out the cedar branches in the desired shape i was looking for. Then i fastened all the branches together with thick twin i had purchased at the Dollarama for $2 a roll. Then i started to hang my ornaments in a alternating order so they hung nice, Then on top of that i added smaller cedar branches. Then i tied them together with twine and continued to wrap the twin to cover all the branch ends for a cleaner look. Then my sister suggested using brown ribbon for my front door as it is already chartreuse. So i found some ribbon that was kicking around and added it to the top completing my swag

I think it turned out to be a nice alternative to a wreath this year.