You’ve spent all that time shopping for (or making, I hope) that perfect gift. Then you carefully wrapped it so that it was beautiful. Don’ ruin it by putting on a store-bought gift tag, when you can made one that is lovely and a keepsake in it’s own right in just a few minutes. It’s really inexpensive to make them, too! The Christmas Themed button packs are only a $1 and you get 10 buttons- so each tag cost me […]
Holiday Gift Tags featuring Aleene’s Tacky Line Roll Tape
Last week I shared my overview of the new dry adhesives from Aleene’s (ILoveToCreate) and one of my faves was Tacky Line Roll– fun on a roll, my friends! I was smitten with using it for glitter and foils..and you know how I am with Homemade Washi tape…so I designed these holiday tags using both of my favorite things! To make them, you’ll need: Tacky Line Roll by Aleene’s Manilla folders OR cardstock Tag die and machine OR template OR […]
Holiday Ornament featuring Martha Stewart Paints
Well, friends- it’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving is on it’s way and then we’ll be in the mad rush towards the holiday season. This year, I’m giving lots of handmade gifties- especially jewelry- and that’s a pretty small box. So I got to thinking that I should make the box a gift in and of itself. And what if that gift box could double as an ornament? I found these cool paper-mache “wedge” boxes at my local craft […]
How-To: Make Coffee Filter Snowflakes
My kids have been out of school for a week and already they are going a little stir crazy. Here’s a fun, snow day/ sick day/school break craft that will keep them occupied for a while: coffee filter snowflakes! This is an oldie-but-a-goodie craft; they are lovely, but so fragile! We take our version up a notch by adding some sparkle with glitter and then preserving them with laminating so you can treasure them year after year! You”ll need: […]
Crafty Snacks to Give
Another last-minute gift idea folks, from the gal who is becoming the QUEEN of “Last-Minute!” We’ve been making these little tempting treats for our holiday parties for years now…but they don’t seem to have a name! Our family just calls them “those little chocolate nummies” and we all know exactly what they are- and what they are is GOOD! They are so easy to make and wonderful to package up for little hostess gifts, too! Or you can make up […]
A Modern Take on Sequin Ornaments
As I shared yesterday, I have a fascination with sequinned ornaments because my great-grandmother left some beautiful examples behind. This year I decided to try a few myself, with a modern twist. Since I’m working with what I love and have available, I decided to skip the cheap-o seed & plastic beads and use…wait for it…. Swarovski crystal beads. I also decided to use the glass ball-head pins because I think they are so pretty. AND you skip the step […]
Crafty Christmas Legacy: Sequinned Ornaments
I have a legacy of craftiness. On both sides of my family, I had amazing grand- and great-grandparents who made functional and decorative items. Even better, those items survive as a living reminder of who they were and their sense of artistry. Today, in honor of the Christmas holiday, I want to share some ornaments that I have that were made by my paternal great-grandmother, Ethel Wiles Barnett.I don’t know much about Ethel, other than she was a hardy housewife […]
How to Make a Holiday Countdown Calendar
In our family, we still have kids who await Christmas day with absolute wonder and breathlessness. This year, instead of marking the days with (more) (unhealthy) candy, or (more) (unnecessary) trinkets, we are using a holiday countdown calendar to keep us on track! You can make one of these in a few hours and then re-use it for years to come. I used some products that were left over from last year, and you can use what you have on […]
Snowflake Cookies Using the Cricut Cake!
This is a post I wrote for CraftsUnleashed.com for their “Christmas in July” series- so I thought it was about time I shared it here, too! Here’s a fun and edible craft for your Christmas parties! This time, we’re going to use the Cricut Cake to cut frosting sheets to make amazing holiday cookies you’ll be so proud to serve, you won’t want to eat! You’ll need: Cricut Cake Machine Frosting Sheets Canned Frosting & blue food coloring Drop and […]
How-To: Loom Knitted Santa Hats
While I’ve tried traditional knitting in the past, it’s only left me frustrated. I’ve had problems with tension, wrist fatigue, and dropped stitches- but all of these issues have been erased with the knitting loom. It’s easy, fun, and success-oriented. You can make your first baby hat in under 2 hours! So here’s my project. SANTA HATS! How cute are they?? And the fun is that you can knit up a bunch and give them as gifts,or make […]
Snow and Craft and Crafting with Snow!
It’s a chilly, snowy day here in my neck of the woods, and my kids are home for a snow day. I’m content to stay inside and quilt, sew, and bead- but if you have a yen to craft with snow, here are a few ideas for you! Snow Tie-Dyeing. Visit Bunk’s Blog for the step-by-step, but the idea is to place your fabric in a bin, heap snow on top of it, then squirt the fabric dye onto the […]
Craft Your Own Hostess Gifts- Crystal Snowflake Ornaments
‘Tis the season to go to parties! And it’s a big no-no to go empty handed. What better way to show your host/hostess some LOVE than to make your own seasonal Snowflake Ornaments? They can be hung on a tree or in window to add some seasonal sparkle and shine. I made mine using Swarovski Crystal beads, because, let’s face it- they offer the most amazing sparkle, and I’m willing to spend a little coin on my benevolent hosts. However, […]
Gift Card Ornament Photo Tutorial
I like to give gift cards for the holidays- but as we know presentation is everything! Make this cute gift card ornament- a craft that says “handmade.” (But the perk of being a little more “generic”, so to speak.) Great for teacher’s gifts, treats for the mailman, hair stylist, etc. Have fun! Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. NOTES: I used a Cricut to cut my shapes as follows: “Christmas/Noel Cartridge: Ornament and Filigree ornament, 5.64 ” each using the Gypsy.If you […]
Jingle Bell Craft for Kids (and Seniors)
Need a quick and easy craft for a kid’s (or senior citizen’s) winter holiday party? You are not alone! This is one of those totally random things- I was in the craft store yesterday and I overheard a woman asking the sales clerk about crafts for a pre-kindergarten party. Well, the clerk had nothing to offer, and I’m a “class-A” busybody SO… This is the craft I’m doing with my daughter’s Pre-K class- but it would be good for 2 […]
Crafting an Advent Calendar- Inspiriation
Thinking about crafting an Advent Calendar? Yeah, me too, and so I thought I’d find a few projects to share. My critierion for this round-up is that they have to be SIMPLE…because the first of December is right around the corner! This is a super-cute and RECYCLED craft, using styrofoam. The is a full tutorial on Craftster, but the idea is that you cut holes in the styrofoam, decoupage the face, and then cut the cardboard circles and attach them […]
Recycled Wallpaper Ornament- Recycling My Memories!
This is an article I published at my Craft Therapy blog…but since I cover re-using stripped wallpaper, I felt it was good enough to share here. {I’m also going to shut down that blog at the end of the year, and don’t want to lose this content!} Anyway, enjoy the story, steal the idea, make cool stuff out of trash! So here’s the story: Once upon a time, when I was a young girl, I lived in a house. And […]
When Good Crafts Go Bad- Salt Dough Ornaments
You have to check out this video from Ana Arujo… it’s a hoot. She’s trying to convince her daughter that dough ornaments are a good thing… and her daughter is not enjoying the mess. That being said, bread dough ornaments ARE fun, easy, and cheap!!!! They would be fun to make on a snow day, or to minimize the wait, you could always make up the “blanks”- baked circles- and then just have the kids decorate them. Wouldn’t this be […]
Christmas Craft Book Give-away
I wasn’t going to do another give-away so soon, but I ran across this book in my collection and figured I’d better pass it along before the season is over. The book is called Spirit of Christmas by Leisure Arts and is CHOCK-full of all kinds of Christmas crafts in different styles: Southwest, Romanic, folk-art, etc. And there are projects that incorporate sewing, needlepoint, cross stitch, paper crafting, tin works, painting, stencilling, clay, raffia…. and even some recipes! WOW! There’s […]
Craft Ideas Using Recycled Cards
So I wasn’t sure if I should share this now, or wait until after the holidays. I figured that if you’re like me, you still have last year’s holiday cards, or if not, make sure you don’t toss them on December 31st! Here’s the deal: Aileen from Aileen’s Musings came up with the idea of recycling your old Christmas/ Holiday cards into gift tags. She has a little tutorial there, but you can probably take the idea and run with […]
