Finished 12 days hanging.

Dad sent me pictures so I could post the finished product, have to do better about the pictures next time.

Tree Table runner...

Finished last night, a gift for my MIL.


That completes the last of the Christmas crafts for this year. Keep checking back, or follow me through Blogger, for more to come throughout next year.


Happy Christmas to everyone!

Stick Horses...

Tyler's

Cody's

The pattern for these came from the Mary Engelbreit Christmas Ideas book. I found this at the library a couple of years ago and had to buy it, so after some tracking, finally found it on the internet.

Under the felt hood that makes the horses head, is a 1 inch thick block of wood, cut into the pattern provided, and two different sized Styrofoam balls cut in half and glued to either side to shape the head.
A 1 x 36 inch dowel makes up the stick, then I covered the top portion with felt to cut down on splinters.
The felt is sewn together, inserting the ends of the cabling that makes up the main, then hand sew on the eyes, noses, ears and form the cable into loops and hand sew in place. Then the piece slipped over the wood form. (The hardest part of the whole project!) Once it's on and in places, sew the braided ribbon around the nose, then around the back to form the halter, finally adding the star buttons.
Insert the dowel into the wood, hot gluing in place and finish with a thin red ribbon.

Let me know if you want the patterns, I can probably scan and email them.

The stockings were hung.....

I'm getting things done!

Here are the stockings all finished, we've had some additions this year to the family, some are early, awaiting my brothers wedding in April.




Also getting closer to completion are the boys' stick horses. Here are the heads, sewn and almost finished.

Project list:
Finish horses
Cut and sew floor pillows for the boys
Quilt and finish tree table runner
Finish IL's scrapbook

Put together goody bags for family, friends and teachers.
Make ornaments with the boys.

Goals were met!

I don't have any pictures to post, but I finished my goal list for the week and am ready for my brother to arrive! YAY ME!

I finished the 12 days hanging, will have to get my mom to send a picture of it because I rushed and forgot before I wrapped it.

Finished my parent's scrapbook, journalling and all! The book for my IL's is in good shape as well, the remaining 5 layouts are all cut, just need to be assembled, and the journalling is finished as it's a copy of my parent's book.

All the Boise presents are wrapped, now my brother just needs to show up!

Oh so close...

The scrapbook for my parent's is almost done, just have to go back and do the journaling for each month, my least favorite part. Going to try doing it on the computer this year, should be interesting.

Aug - Oct & the cover page....

House remodel over the summer

More scrappiness....

Here's 3 more layouts for the scrapbooks, only did one of each, but cut the pictures and papers for the local G-parents. Tomorrow is a kid-free day, so hopefully I'll get the remaining 3 + cover page done. Then I have to go back and add journalling, hate that part!

A Snowman Kit

My brother text me this afternoon and asked if I had enough Christmas shopping done for them to maybe come for a visit next weekend. Ummm, well, maybe? I'm so close on my Boise stuff, so I said "Sure!" So we'll see if they are able to arrange it or not, not even sure who the "they" are, but family nonetheless!

So in a hurry to bust out some gifts needing to be finished, I whipped this up tonight for my brothers soon-to-be kids. I started on Thurs by painting the nose orange, then Friday I clear coated it, hopefully it will stand up to the winter wetness. This comes for a Mary Englebright craft book. Here's the finished kit:

The eyes, mouths and buttons are made out of craft foam, bought in single sheets per color. To attach them to the snowman, you punch a small hole into the center, then I took black pipe cleaners, twisted them (fold in half to make two sides) and put the rounded end through the hole. Secure with an adhesive meant to get wet, I used outdoor decoupage glue.

The nose is a Styrofoam cone, shaved a little to look like a carrot, paint it orange and clear coat depending on the paint used. Use a narrow screwdriver to punch a hole in the middle of the end, and feed and glue a pipe cleaner to secure it to the snowman.

The scarf was made from scrap felt, cut to a good length. For the ends, cut up about 1 inch every 1/2 inch or smaller. Then stretch them out one at a time and they will coil, giving a fun look.

I mail ordered the stovetop hat from Oriental Trading because I had a hard time finding anything not plastic. The book suggested to look at costume stores. To keep it on the snowman, I punched two holes close together on each side, then threaded a pipe cleaner through and twisted the two ends together.



I still have to finish one scrapbook (5 months & cover page), Mom's 12 days hanging and two stockings. EEEKK!

Charming St. Nick

Today's finished project: Charming St Nick Clay Ornaments.
From the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Ornaments to Make book. They were not hard at all, just the kneading of the clay was the worst for me.
These are for the Grandparents & Great G-ma.

Holy Crap, did you see what my ticker says, only 1 month til' Christmas. Wish me luck!

12 Days Hanging continued...

Here is the 12 Days wall hanging all pieced together. Same as the other, still have to put the back on and quilt.
I was also able to cut out the pieces for stocking last night and did the first round of sewing on those. Won't have time to work on those again until tomorrow.

Then I've also added two more projects to the list! 2 more stockings for my brother's, fiance's kids, they are getting married in April. My mom just finished getting a set of stocking bought, then I made her 2 for the boys, so I'll make 2 more for the new kids!

Tree Table Runner

Today I was able to piece together the top for a quilted table runner for my MIL. Still have to put find backing and edge/binding fabric, put the large pieces together and quilt them.


On the agenda for tonight:
Cut out pieces for 2 stocking for SIL.
Cut out pieces for floor pillows for the boys.

Tomorrow:
Shop for backing for tree runner
Assemble top of 12 days wall hanging (embroidered pieces I posted before)

April Layout

Six more to go and our year books for Grandparents are complete!

A hit and a miss.....

Well, I worked hard over the last couple of days and finished the first of 4 fleece jackets. It went together well and turned out great, with one minor issue. It's too short. This was intended to be for my dad, so I had Keith try it on and it was just not right. So I tried it on and length wise it's great, but too big all around. Hmmmm.
Off to call my mom and asked her to measure a jacket of dad's and we are talking needing to add like 6" to the damn thing!

Solution: Cut out a panel from the back and sew a straight seam back together, shorten the sleeves and an extra gift for my mom.
Buy a couple more yard of fabric and start over for dad.
I will also have to re-cut the front & back pieces for the one I'm making for my brother as I'm sure it will be too short.
It went together without any real issue, the pattern is great, and meant for men, so I'm not sure where their models came from!
But here it is:
At least I'm not scared of the pattern and sewing process anymore. It's a new endeavor, clothing/wearables.

Crafty Victories for the week so far.....

So at this point, anything I accomplish is a small victory! The scrapbook pages got me rolling for the week. Since then I've spent time cutting out 2 of the 4 sets of pieces, including the pattern itself, for fleece jackets I'm making for my dad, brother and both BIL's. This is a major milestone because I hate the cutting part!

I also finished up the embroidery stitching on a wall hanging I'm making for my mom based on the 12 days of Christmas.

Next is to cut them into pear shapes, fuse and sew them onto backing fabric and finish the rest of the piece. Lots of cutting to do here still, so I'm headed there next!

Feb & Mar Scrapbook pages

Yay two more down and seven more to go!

February

March

Baby Snuggle Blanket...

So not a Christmas craft, but a quick one! Made for a friend at Keith's work, a 24" square snuggle blanket with ribbon tags. These are a quick project, as long as your sewing machine is cooperating!

They are fun to make and give, but don't try to sell them because they are patented by Taggies. Boo!

A robe for Cody....

Aarrr, a pirate's robe for me!

Yay, another project to mark off the list! I just have to hem the sleeves, on both robes.

Go Big Blue....

A scarf for my brother's Cody....

They are big BSU fans, so here's something fun for game day!

Robes and Neck warmers...

Here is Tyler's robe, again. (This is me having to have everything in one place)

Yesterday also produced neck warmers for my Mom (light blue), my brother's fiance' (pink), and here daughter Ashley (dark blue, BIG BSU fans). My favorite part are the buttons on my moms, love the flowers!
How they fit....

The book that both of these projects came from is called Sew What! Fleece by Carol Jessop & Chaila Sekora. These are very easy projects, great for learning with, especially when you are new to pattern work, like me!

Grandparent's Scrapbooks....

Two years ago I started giving Scrapbooks to both sets of Grandparents for Christmas, they start in Nov and run through Oct of the current year. The first one I did was through Snapfish and it turned out great. Last year I tried my hand at actual scrapbooking and I'm hooked!

So here are the first three 2-page layouts for this years books, they are the same for both sides:

Nov:

Dec:
Jan:
Nov was done free form, just putting some things together. Starting with Dec (and using this the rest of the year) I'm using the book Cherish by Jeanette R Lynton. It's fabulous! It maps the pages out for you, then tells you how to cut the different papers to minimize waste and little hints for embellishments. There are more books like it and I can't wait to get them!

Testing...

Testing... 1,2,3