I planned to get this post up BEFORE Christmas, but obviously didn't. Can you say blog fail?? I was just too busy with holiday stuff- decorating, shopping, wrapping, and lots of family gatherings.
I did manage to work in some crafting during all of this, in the form of gifts and Christmas decorations. I think most, if not all, of these ideas were found on Pinterest . I just read several blogs from pins I pinned, and put my own spin on them. I made some ornaments, a wreath, some pin cushions, and LOTS of coasters. All of these projects were easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. I did not, however get many "during" pictures- mostly just "afters".
First up- Glitter Ornies. Yes, I know. These are EVERYWHERE, but they are super-easy and I just love them. All you need is the Pledge floor wax with the blue lid (at least, that is what it said in the tutorial I read here), glitter, clear christmas balls, and something to use for a funnel (I cut envelopes in half and then trimmes off the bottom corner-worked great!)
I won't go into the step-by-step since I have the link for a great tutorial above. I do think I will add some ribbon to them though. I just love how they look on the tree! (And no, I did not leave them this close together- just hung them close for good photo! )
The red, green, and gold looked the best. The white glitter didn't cover as well. I wound up using sharpies to draw snowman faces on them.
Not great, but cute.
Next up- deco mesh wreath. I couldn't find the site where I originally read about this idea, but if you search pinterest (or google for that matter), you can find a ton of great tutorials. This was easy (of course- I don't do difficult!) and I love how it turned out. I wound up hanging it on the inside of my front door, since no one uses that door and would never see it on the outside. It makes my entry way much more festive!
For this project, I bought a pain wire floral wreath frame (12 inch) at Hobby Lobby, some deco mesh, pipe cleaners, ribbon, a sign, and some picks. (Sign from Hob Lob and picks from Walmart).
First, I wrapped pipe cleaners around the little cross bars of the wreath. They were a good distance apart, and I thought they would make for good-sized loops for my mesh. In hindsight, I think I would use floral wire instead of pipe cleaners because I think they would be easier to disguise beneath the mesh.
Next I attached the end of the mesh to the wreath with a pipe cleaner.
Next, I made a loop, or hump, whatever you want to call it, and secured it with the next pipe cleaner. I just played around with it until I got the size I wanted.
I continued this all the way around the wreath, using every pipe cleaner. When I got back around to the starting place, I could see that there was too much open space between the loops, and it wasn't nearly as full as I wanted it to be. I then continued with loops around the wreath just like I did for the first round, going to sides of the first set of loops (not on top). I alternated sides so that one loop went to the right of the first loop, and the next loop went to left of the second loop, and so on. Is that clear as mud?? Basically, I just snaked the second row of mesh around the first row. It turned out great, or at least I think it did.
I then took some wide, wired ribbon and made double loop faux bows. I wired the ends and then hot glued them into the wreath. I also clipped the picks in here and there. They had nifty little alligator clips on them, so no need for hot glue there. I made a bow with the same ribbon, attached it to wreath with wire, and then wired on a cute little sign I found on sale (holla!) at Hob Lob. They look pretty without the sign too, or you can put a Santa, snowman, or anything. I think a fake present would look really cute too!
More ornies!! For these, I used the bigger round balls (from Hob Lob of course). I put some fake shimmery snow in them (what a PAIN!) using the envelope funnel method I used for the glitter ornies. I used my Cameo to cut out initials for the Hubs, the kiddos, and myself. Then I added some cute ribbon. Bows for us girls, and a more manly tie for the Hubs.
If you are still with me, thanks for hanging in there! I know that is A LOT of Christmas crafting to cram into one post, but I though I should get it all in or some of it might not make the blog until next year. I also made some craft gifts (coasters and pin cushions) but I will save them for a post in the new year!
I hope you and your families had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all the best for the New Year! Thanks for reading!
