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Merrymaking Part II - Santa Came!

Merrymaking Part I Christmas Eve

Birthdays All Around

This is an exciting, bustling time for most of us and in our family the joy is tripled.  In this week alone we have three birthdays to celebrate: Jason's, Jesus', and Jude's.  This means lots of extra cooking, baking, making and wrapping ... but it also means lots more fun.  I'll be back next week with a recap of all our merrymaking.  In the meantime, I'm wishing you and yours a bright and shining holiday.  

All my love, Carla. 

(Classic first Santa visit, hopefully next year he'll have more fun!)

The Tree Skirt

So here it is, the only Christmas decor craft I've actually managed to complete this year.  Overall, I'm actually quite proud.  It was easy, looks pretty, and best of all reminds me of my great-grandma, Reenie. (The buttons all came from her fabulous collection.)  Most of all, we really needed a new skirt.  I made our old tree skirt years ago out of white fleece and glued on sequins and jewels.  It was actually really cute but it had two big problems: 1.  White + falling pine needles = major eye twitching, and 2.  Glued on jewels + baby = chocking hazard.  So inspired by this and this I came up with my own vintagey-homemade felt tree skirt.  

Here are the DIY details:

For my 60" Buttoned Felt Tree Skirt I used:

-almost 4 yards of 36" wool blend felt (washed and dried to make softer and thicker, more info here)

-7 vintage buttons

-3 felt poinsettias - DIY can be found here

1.  Using pinking shears, cut 2 semi-circles with a 30" radius.  Cut a smaller (3" radius) semi circle from each piece to form the hole in the center of the skirt.

2.  Sew one side of the semi-circles together.  On the other side, you will do your row of buttons. 

3.  For the button closure: sew your buttons down one edge of the open side.  Pull the other side over to cover the buttons and mark where each one is.  Using a seam ripper or scissors cut your button holes.

4.  Tack on felt poinsettias and you're done!

The only thing left to do is cover it in pretty packages. (And in my case, convince Jude that I didn't put it around the tree for his pulling, stomping, and fort building pleasure.)  Happy Skirting!   

Oh Christmas Tree

It just doesn't feel like Christmas without the tree.  I am painfully aware that curious (almost) one-year-olds and big glittering objects don't really mix, but I couldn't imagine Jude's First Christmas without a tree, where would Santa put the presents?  So we went to our favorite cut-your-own-tree-farm Davis Christmas Tree Farm (3700 Vine Hill Rd Sebastopol) in search of the perfect evergreen.

(You know you are hunting for Christmas trees in Sonoma County when you stumble upon a vineyard.)

It took a bit of searching ... we all took turns carrying the not-so-little one ... but we found it!

And Jude "helped" cut it down.

We got it home and our little elf got very busy exploring ...

and tasting ...

Once he was snug in his bed, Jason and I trimmed that beautiful tree (nothing fragile on the bottom half).  And with the finishing touch, a sparking star, our family's First Christmas officially began.

 Wishing you and yours a beautiful holiday season!  

DIY Felt Poinsettias

I made a few felt poinsettias to embellish a new tree skirt (coming soon to a post near you) and I thought I'd share the DIY.  It was super easy and they would make really cute ornaments, stocking flair, present toppers, holiday pins ... you get the idea.

Felt Poinsettias

Supplies

Wool-blend felt (I thickened mine following these instructions - optional)

Scissors

Embroidery floss and needle (doubled regular thread would work) 

Decorative buttons (mine are vintage from my great-grandma's collection)

Disappearing fabric marker is helpful but not necessary

1.  Draw a pointed oval about the length you want the overall diameter of your flower to be.  (Freehand gives the petals a little character.)  Cut that shape out and use it as a template for two more.  You will now have something that looks like this:

2.  Pinch the oval in the middle to form two petals like this:

3. Sew the pinch tightly closed with embroidery floss (divided into 3 strands) or doubled thread.  Repeat with other 2 shapes.   

4.  Stack the finished petals on top of each other, stagger them so that all the petals show and sew all three together.  Your flower now looks like this:

5.  Finish by sewing a cute button to the center.

I hope this little holiday craft finds you in good cheer! 

Another Project Complete

And reason number one million and five why I love my husband.

I realized that I forgot to share one of my projects.  I painted the door in our kitchen with chalkboard paint.  I know this is not exactly the most creative idea, but it's popular for a reason: it rocks!  You can ...

make to do lists:

decorate for holidays:

play with magnets (the door is metal) and draw with/taste chalk:

And my favorite thing you can do, write messages that turn someones day from grim to great:

Thank you Jason, your note + Jude's scribbles make this one of the most rewarding projects I've ever completed.  I love you!

Crafts of Christmas Past

I can't remember a Christmas season when I didn't make at least one gift.  I thought I'd share a few of my past projects.  One year I got really into hair flair.  

Feathers + glue gun = great gift in about 5 minutes!  I made this one for my sister Mia:

And this one for myself:

I also got crafty with some felt to create a cool Anthropologie inspired flower.  I attached a pin to the back so that it could go on a headband or be worn as a broach.  Here's a pretty awesome picture of my dad modeling it:

Last year I was about to pop (Jude was due 12/25).  So I only managed one homemade gift, but it was a cool one.  Using Martha Stewart's glitter painting technique I made this glitter portrait of my mom's beloved pug, Jovi.

Pretty cool huh?  Will you be making anything this holiday season?  Do you like receiving homemade gifts?  (I sure hope so!)  This year the elves are crafting all kinds of new gifts.  Speaking of which, I better get off the computer and back to the sewing table, 22 days and counting!