Christmas Elf 2011

I know it's crazy late to be posting Christmas pictures but I do have a full-time job, people. I had photoshop hidden and forgot to save these.

So this is my bean as a Christmas elf. We have been doing this every year since she was born. Check them out here.

I wanted to start a tradition of buying a hat on Etsy for each year but I bit the bullet and made one myself. I found a quick tutorial online and lined it with fleece. I made the pattern a bit smaller after making a test and I shouldn't have. With the lining, it was too small. It would have been perfect.

Mantelscape

For the first time ever, I styled my mantel for the holidays. I've had most of this stuff for years but I usually just toss it all up there. This year, I wanted to do something special. I pulled out all the white and silver.

Z and I made the trees. It took me about 45 minutes to wind and hot glue the yarn around the tall tree. I might add another layer or some color next year. We glittered the other cone with super chunky glitter.

The deer is my favorite. I got it last year at Crate and Barrel I think. I was with my mom in Manhattan and after seeing the Rockettes. We walked all the way up 5th Avenue (?) looking at the lights. On our way back down the next street (Madison?), we shopped for a long time. The jingle bell garland is from there too.

Last year I found the perfect cylinder vase for the jingle bells. The plate with the birch trees and single cardinal is from TJMaxx. They have the best holiday stuff.

This is a bit of the top. My vintage favorites mixed with the Martha Stewart Santa tree topper from back when she was just out of prison and wasn't too good for Kmart. Oh why doesn't she love us poor people anymore? I liked buying Martha stuff at Kmart. There is no Macy's near here.

Oh, and just so you know, I think I'm using the word Mantelscape somewhat ironically. I really don't take myself that seriously.   Edit: just realized the typo in the original post. Mantle is actually a correct spelling but not the more common one. Oops.

More holiday crafting

I'm pretty sure this is the last of our Christmas craft extravaganza. We're going to take it easy from now on. This is just a felt ornament that we got at the dollar store (where everything is $1). We just glued all these sparkly bits to it with tacky glue. It took about 45 minutes. If you have a toddler, you know how precious that 45 minutes can be. That's a lifetime of being occupied.

We hung one in each of our front windows using those Command hangers. I can't get a good picture at all but you get the idea.

I've been hoarding these tins for years and got the idea to make these little scenario ornaments out of them. It was super simple. Just drill a tiny hole in the top of the tin and thread the baker's twine through it to hang. Everything inside is just tacked in with glue. I think they turned out well and I like them in this little cluster in front of the window.

Finally, a word about Pinterest. I am loving Pinterest and having such a blast with it -- so many great ideas. Please, pin away! But I do ask that you pin directly from my post and not the jpeg image so it will link back here. I spend a lot of time writing and coming up with ideas.  I'm obviously not in this for the money; I just really enjoy doing it. So give me a little cred, okay? Thanks so much!

Holiday crafting continues

We got about 5 minutes of sunlight today so I took some photos of the other Christmas crafts we've been working on. First was a white yarn tree. I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest (here is a link to the original tutorial, per pinterest etiquette). I just used a paper cone from the craft store and hot glued the yarn at random increments as I wound up and up. I'm still trying to decide if I should do another row inbetween the rows -- maybe it's not full enough. It's soft and lovely though. It makes me happy. I like the little berries in the inspiration. Maybe next year we'll embellish but for now I like the simplicity of this.

Last year I bought the styrofoam wreath I saw on a happy nest (my friend Nikole's blog). I just thought it was so pretty. I cut my Christmas fabric into strips and hot glued just at the beginning and end of each piece. She used string too which is very nice.

I made the little cluster of bells with wire and added some ric rac because I have compulsions to do so while crafting.

This tree fabric from Boosterseat is amazing. My friend Anda (genius of boosterseat) designed it. I don't think she meant it to be Christmasy but it is. I got it from Spoonflower directly when they were having a crazy sale last year. Oh how I long for that one again...

We also doused a styrofoam tree with glitter. That was very fun. I'll show a picture of that later. There are a million different ones on Pinterest so I can't say it was just one pin that reeled me in. I hope your house smells as good as mine does right now. I love being married to a baker!

Holiday crafting commences

We are like little elves these days. The most fun for Z to help out with was this button tree. At first I was afraid to let her handle the pins but then I couldn't stop her. She was grabbing and sticking those buttons into the foam like a crafter possessed. It was awesome. She even forced her daddy to join in.

We got the idea from this pin on Pinterest (if you know the source, please let me know so I can link back). I found the cone at Goodwill and using it was a huge mistake. It's florist foam and already disintegrating and getting everywhere. I cut a circle of felt to set it on but when the holidays are over, we are going to have to pull all of these out and save them to do again next year. We'll use a styrofoam cone from Michaels. We used an entire box of floral pins from JoAnn's and that seemed just about right for this 12" cone. I have no idea how many buttons we used.

This garland was inspired from something I saw on Flickr (she used fabric). We have this little nook that is usually piled with books and a box of tissues but I cleared it out to make a space for our Playmobil advent calendar. I just cut a piece of fleece I had in the bin to look snowy.

We just cut scrapbook paper and glued the trunks on. I let Z pick out the order of the trees and dots. She glued the stuff onto the dots but otherwise I had to do the crafting. We used hot glue to get the dots to stick to the ric rac. It was pretty quick and fun to do. I think it fills out the space nicely.

We've been making lots of holiday decorations. There are crafts all over the house in various stages of completion. I love it.

Extending the tree skirt pattern

I took a photo of my tree skirt pattern for different sizes of trees. Christmas fabric is dirt cheap right now so you may want to make a pattern that will fit your tree and head out and pick some up to hoard away for your 2011 projects. The pattern I linked to in the previous post was made from the brown craft paper pattern that I placed on top of the extended version for the photo.

My mom has a very tall tree with a large branch span at the bottom. The bigger pattern is for her. It's about 2.5 feet from the center to the edge. As you can see, the hole at the center is much larger than the one for my little tree.

I recycled used wrapping paper to make the larger pattern. I wrote instructions on it for my SIL who plans to make one for her tree next year. So if you have a big tree, haul some of your wrapping paper out of the recycle bin and flatten it out. Tape my little pattern down and extend the straight lines with a ruler. Use that same ruler to mark your bottom curve.

Thank you, Craft Gossip!

Anne over at Craft Gossip always makes me feel super awesome when she posts about my stuff. This tree skirt really is easy to make. I'm going to make a miniature one as soon as I make a miniature tree for my, I mean Zadie's dollhouse. I'll upload a pattern when I do so you don't have to resize the first one.

Reversible Christmas Tree Skirt Pattern and Tutorial

Last year I designed this easy Christmas Tree skirt. I put together a tutorial but by the time everything was finished, it was too late so I decided to save it for now.

First you'll have to print out the pattern pieces, cut them out and tape them together along the line that's marked. Here is the bottom and here is the top. Print them out in landscape mode with no scaling. They should each easily fit on the page no matter what your printer margins are.

What you'll need:
4 fat quarters (or large scraps for the top). A quarter-yard cut will not be wide enough.
2/3 yard of something weighty like corduroy or a home decor fabric for the back (more if you're dealing with a directional pattern, less if the fabric is wider than 44")
1 pack of ric rack (more if you're making a larger skirt -- my Mom has 2 foot skirt radius and we needed just over 3 packs to make it all the way around)
thread and all that

This will fit with a four-foot tree (as shown above). If you want to make it bigger, add some paper below the rounded edge of the pattern and extend that curved line as long as you want it. Use a ruler to extend the straight lines. You will need to remove some of the top to compensate for a larger trunk.

This pattern piece will work for both the top of the skirt and the back. I used 8 sections for the top as shown. The back only has 4 sections to save some time piecing. So to make the same skirt, you'll need to cut 2 pieces each of 4 different fabrics for the top. Then for the back, fold the seam allowance under on one side (or just cut if off), and use that pattern to cut 4 pieces on the fabric's fold.

Lay out your top fabrics and stitch them together at the side seams RST (right sides together). You'll have seven seams.  Do the same with your back fabrics. You'll have 3 seams. Iron your seams open (this will save bulk later).

Now, place the front on top of the back RST. Stitch the big rounded edge and the top edge and one side. You may want to leave a little section of the side open to tuck your ric rack into later. (I did not do this, I just popped the seam open with my seam ripper when I got to that point).

Clip those rounded seams. I like to make my clips about 2 inches apart. Every third clip I make v shape. This allows for easier turning.

Next, the fun part! Reach all the way inside the skirt and turn the whole thing inside-out. Beautiful! Press, press, press!

Tuck your seam allowance in on the open edge and pin that up. Then place your ric rack where you want it. Mine is about 2" from the bottom seam.

Pin about 1" of the tail of the trim into your pinned edge and stitch that seam closed. Finish placing the ric rack along the perimeter of the skirt and topstitch it into place.

When you get to the other straight edge, tuck the other tail of the trim into the opening you left and close everything up.

The last step is to topstitch your top. This will help it to lie flat.

I am happy to add more photos if anything seems confusing. Please let me know if you have any questions or problems with the pattern.

EDIT: There seemed to be some problems with the jpeg form of the pattern not printing the two pieces at the same size. I have uploaded pdfs and they seem fine.

It's never too early to think about Christmas elves

Today has been a particularly crap day at work and it's not even noon. I headed to Etsy for some retail therapy, specifically in search of Zadie's Christmas 2010 elf hat. Yes, I can make an elf hat. I know. But I think it might just be my own little tradition to buy a handmade one each year to start off the season right.

Last year I bought this cute white one from Swirly Hats. The striped one up there was a custom order from a seller who normally makes all this cute stuff for Blythe dolls. How awesome was it that she agreed to make this cute hat for Zadie? I just had to measure her hefty toddler noggin.

I did sew that fleece dress in the top photo. I think I used an existing dress as the pattern. I wish you could see the back. I set in some pearly Western snaps for the closure. The silver belt is just wide ribbon meant for wrapping packages and the fleece was some trim I had. I have a box in my basement of Christmas craft supplies. Silver shoes from BabyGap.

Last year I was way more busy so I didn't make anything she is wearing. The red velvet jumper is from Old Navy, as are the striped shirts in both photos. The black shoes are the standard MaryJanes they always have at Target.

This year I found an amazing corduroy jumper at a thrift store and at a different thrift store I found a white button-up shirt with GET THIS: red and white candy cane piping around the Peter Pan collar. Seriously! I am on the hunt for some green and white striped tights and if she is still in an 8, Zadie will wear her silver shoes and I'll make something to cover up the purple metallic flowers.

I am leaning toward asking a seller to make this hat in green. What do you think? I am sick of looking at pictures of those hats with the long skinny tails wrapped around them. Why are there so many? They are not elfin. No.

OK, if you're still reading, for Christmas I have a tutorial all ready for an easy Christmas tree skirt. I did it last year but it got too late to post it. We are avid elf book readers around here so I'll post all of our favorites with reviews. Of course, I have a few other things up my 3/4 sleeves.