Snowman Wreath

Hello All! Can you believe is only 12 days away?! Crazy! Well, I'm still trying to get some handmade Christmas gifts finished before we see our family next weekend. A friend of mine came over last week to have a little crafting night and get some gifts done. Before I started I decided to make a little Christmas decor for myself, since I've been working on so many gifts lately.

 Last year after Christmas I got these three mini wreaths from Hobby Lobby for like $0.50 a piece. I wanted to make something to replace my fall wreath, so I decided to make a snowman out of the wreaths.

I started by connecting all the wreaths with white ribbon, by looping it around both and hot gluing the over lapping ends together. One of the mini wreaths is a little bigger than the other two so I used that as the bottom "snow ball." I had some Christmasy fabric left over from last year (old placemats), so I cut a strip of it off the long side and glued it around the "neck" of the snowman for a scarf.

Then I cut a rectangle of fabric and sewed the edges together, then gathered the top and tied it to make the hat. I made a pom out of yarn and hot glued it on top.

I kind of love my little snowman - he's cute and looks cozy in his hat and scarf! Plus he was simple to make - you know I love that kind of project!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good week!

Pom Ornaments & Ornament Swap

Hello All! I hope your week is going well! I'm still busy getting things done for my handmade Christmas gifts. I have several projects lined up to show you AND a great giveaway coming up soon so come back and visit!

A few weeks ago I signed up for an Ornament swap over at Tutus & Tea Parties - such a fun idea!

 While I was trying to decide what kind of ornament I wanted to make, my friend (who I made this Christmas decor for last year) sent me this picture she found on Pinterest:

Source

My friend is a big fan of poms, and she really loved this. This is the same friend I made the tissue paper poms and pom cake toppers for, for her wedding. So I decided to try these out for her and for the ornament swap - since they are so cute. 

The method is very similar to the cake topper tutorial. Start with some regular glass or plastic ball ornaments. Cut small squares or circles of fabric, fold it in half, and then half again. Place a dot of hot glue on the end and then press it on the ball ornament. Place the pieces close to each other so it covers all of the surface of the ball. A tutorial is also included at Love Stitched.

Here's the one I made for my ornament swap buddy:

I used burlap and a Christmas-y fabric.

And for my friend I used burlap and lace to match the stuff I made her last year:

These ornaments were simple to make, but time consuming. I love the way both of them turned out thought! They are so cute! 

I here's the ornament I received from my swap buddy:

SO adorable! She actually sent me two - they are so perfect! I love candy canes! (You can check our her blog here).

Have you made any ornaments this year?

Thanks for stopping by!

Shabby Chic Christmas Decor

Lately I have been working on a Christmas package to send to a friend. She really loves the shabby chic look, but doesn't have anything in that style. She also really loves Christmas. So, I decided to make her a few things so she can start her Shabby Chic Christmas collection.

First I made some ornaments:

I covered four of them with book pages or scrapbooking paper using Mod Podge, and I covered one with burlap and some lace using hot glue. I tied ribbons to all of them and then sprayed them with glitter.

 

I was inspired by Chrissy from The Taylor House to make this ornament. I used some burlap, dollar store snow flakes and scrabble tiles to make it:

I also used this tutorial as inspiration and made this little fabric and burlap Christmas tree:

 

For this, I cut strips of fabric and burlap, sewed them together (a little staggered) and then wrapped it around a styrofoam cone from the dollar store, using hot glue. After that, I wrapped a chipboard star with burlap and hot glued it to the top. Then I took some berries from a flower arrangement I had and glued them as ornaments. As a finishing touch, I sprayed it with glitter.

Finally, the project I'm most proud of -- burlap stocking. I used this tutorial, burlap I had, fabric from the thrift store (as lining and cuff), vintage buttons, and one of my Christmas stockings as a pattern.

 

I'm so proud of this stocking! Mostly because it was another successful sewing project, and it's so cute!

So there they are - my homemade shabby chic Christmas decorations. I hope my friend likes them!

What is your Christmas decorating style?

P.S. Linking up here:

Pinterest Thursday: FAIL & Christmas Decorations!

This post just goes to show that not all attempts at the Handy Andy motto are successful.

I absolutely love sweet potato fries, actually I love sweet potato anything. So, I was thrilled when I found this tutorial on Pinterest for how to make crispy sweet potato fries from The Art of Doing Stuff.

 

Don't those look amazing?! I set out to try this for dinner tonight. The tutorial recommends soaking the sweet potatoes in water for at least an hour, but I didn't have the time. Instead I put the whole sweet potatoes in a bowl with some water in the bottom and microwaved them for 5 minutes.

 

When I got them out they seemed a little softer than ideal, but I went ahead and peeled them and cut them up anyway. After that, I tossed them in a plastic bag with about a tablespoon and a half of cornstarch.

 

I drizzled olive oil on them and tossed them in my hands to make sure they were all covered. At this point I could tell they really weren't going to turn out the same because they were already too soft and the oil made it worse.

 

I spread them out on the cookie sheet and put them in the oven for 15 minutes. At about 10 minutes I tried to flip them. Tried. They stuck to the cookie sheet pretty hardcore. Oh well, I put them back in for 5 more minutes.

Epic fail. Key words from the tutorial: nonstick cookie sheet. Well, they were pretty soft, but we ate them anyway (I suggest drizzling honey over sweet potato fries). I think that putting them in the microwave was a big mistake. They would probably have been fine, even if I didn't have time to soak them, if I would have just put them in a few minutes longer. Oh, and if I had sprayed my cookie sheet first. So, there you have it. 

On a more positive note, I put out my Christmas decorations tonight! Here are some pictures:

My Precious Moments Nativity that my mom painted for me when I was younger. I put it on the hutch in the kitchen where my Thanks gourds were.

 

Our stockings on the occasional table (because we don't have a mantel), along with my Willow Tree Nativity.

I love this cute little sign I got from Hobby Lobby last year!

 

My absolute favorite Christmas ornament ever! It was my mom's and I loved putting it on the tree growing up, so when I moved out she gave it to me - along with the 20-something other ornaments she gave me (she has gotten me a new ornament every year since I was born).

 

And finally, my TREE! [and Friends on the TV]. I can't wait to wrap some presents and put them under there!

Well, I hope that made this post more interesting for you since my Pinterest Thursday attempt didn't turn out.

Have you decorated for Christmas yet?

P.S. Linking up here...