Mini Christmas Trees

These little trees are exactly what crafts should be: they're cheap and really satisfying to look at. How sweet for the center of a table, your buffet, or an end table. Amongst candles, lights, or ornaments, they would be especially lovely.

I used thin cardboard from a tissue box and a dryer sheet box from the recycling bin, duct tape, green floral tape, pretty tinsel-like yarn with lots of texture, scissors, and a glue gun. Depending on the items in your stash, this project is very nearly free!

First, you'll cut your cardboard into square/rectangle shapes. It doesn't really matter. And they don't have to be perfect. Because you'll be curling those pieces into a cone shape. Use the duct tape to hold that shape together. Then, cut the excess from the bottom so that your cone stands upright.

                                              

Next, use your floral tape, wrapping the entire tree. I used a dab of hot glue to hold the starting and finishing ends down. Floral tape just requires a little tugging as you work your way around the tree. The yarn that I used was not all that dense, so without this step pieces of cardboard and duct tape would be seen. Ick. The green of the floral tape is, of course, much nicer peeking through.

And now, we've got them all covered.

They're ready for the fun part now. Again, a little dab of hot glue at the beginning to hold down your yarn and you're ready to wrap them up. I didn't use glue throughout the process because it's not necessary. A dab of glue at the beginning and end holds everything together nicely.

Enjoy your beautiful, little trees!

Mini Christmas Wreaths (from Shower Rings!)

I bought a package of 12 shower rings at the thrift store for super cheap, knowing they'd make great napkin rings. See my earlier post for fall napkin rings here. But, they also make sweet little Christmas wreaths that can be made into a garland, ornaments, or another festive decoration.

My supplies for this project included textured green yarn (use whatever color/texture you like!), scrap booking poinsettia flowers (on sale at Michael's after Christmas last year, but a ribbon or any other pretty findings will work, too), a glue gun, scissors, and plastic shower rings.

I began with a dab of glue to hold the yarn in place. Then, I wound it around the ring, using the opening in the plastic to feed yarn through.

When I ended, I snapped the shower ring shut and finished winding the small amount of remaining yarn, which I had cut from the skein, using another dab of hot glue to hold the end in place.

A pretty little poinsettia is glued on at the joining space to finish it off.

And then, I made a few more.

So easy. So pretty. So inexpensive. They will make such a pretty garland for Christmas!

Poinsettia Pomanders

These are very simple. Hardly worth any sort of tutorial. But, I had to share pictures since I think they came out so pretty. I used poinsettia scrap booking flowers and a glue gun to completely cover 4" styrofoam balls, creating pretty little pomanders. Usually, these flowers would be too expensive to consider using in such a project. But, these were on sale. Of course. Because I buy off season, that's why. :)

The directions are simple. Just slap those little flowers on there and glue them down with your glue gun. You might choose to pin them on or use another type of glue. Super easy and really lovely when they're done. You can add a loop or ornament hook to hang them on your Christmas tree or perhaps from the backs of chairs. I think they look lovely in a pretty bowl. Or sitting atop these mason jars filled will little tea lights.

Enjoy!

Leafy Runner for Fall

I love this fall table runner, made from an old sheet and stamped with leaves from my yard. The colors are beautiful and it's just the thing to spruce up the dining table or the buffet this fall.

To get the effect, I collected leaves from the yard and lightly brushed them with paint. Though I chose colors traditional to fall, it would be lovely in any colors you like.

Once the leaf was painted, I placed it (paint side down) onto the sheet material I had sized for the purpose. I placed a napkin over the top of the leaf and then used my rolling pin to imprint the leaf on the fabric. Rolling over the leaf only a couple of times is enough to leave a detailed imprint.

Experiment with the amount of paint you brush on the leaves as well as the pressure with which your press your rolling pin.

As you might be able to see, my fabric was folded length wise into a long rectangle. When the paint was dry and I was ready to sew, I simply folded it length wise with right sides together and sewed up the raw edges (no pictures for these steps, sorry). I then turned it right side out and ironed it flat into its long rectangle shape. I decided to top stitch each side so that it would lay nice and flat.

In order to close the ends (which were still raw at this point), I decided to use a small piece of fabric which I folded and ironed to be the width of the runner. You can see below how I prepared the small piece and then attached it to either end of the runner.

With all the edges sealed up and hemmed, it was time to choose its home.

It's such a nice and easy way to bring your outdoor leaves inside.

Versatile Melted Fabric Flowers

I made some pretty fabric flowers. And I love them. Because I can slap them on anything.

There are so many tutorials for these on the web that I feel it's pretty silly to explain it all again here. So, here's a good tutorial. She's very exact and careful in her process. I tend to be a bit more "carefree" in my execution. For instance, no templates. Because why? It's totally unnecessary here. But however you choose to make them, it's a pretty simple project.

And I really love the results. Here are some of the projects I've put together with these flowers.

Wreath

Baby Headbands

Bouquet

Brooches

Hair Clip

Bag Clip

Napkin Holders

The possibilities are endless!