Merry Christmas!

                We had a fantastic holiday weekend and I really hope that everyone else did too. Ella actually stayed awake for the festivities this year. I have never seen a child get more excited about a Peppa Pig toothbrush. The favorites this year were definitely Elmo and Peppa. She has had so much fun playing and visiting with family. Bedtime was really easy tonight. She was so worn out.

I am really looking forward to a nice calm week. We have been so busy running around and getting things ready. We will start the new year with new projects. I am planning on continuing to work on my fabric collection. Once I get the tree and things down, I want to get things organized around the house. After finishing all my Christmas projects, my Sewing room could really use some love. It will be great but for now, I am going to relax a bit. 

Have a wonderful week, everyone. Happy crafting!

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Making a Felt Holly Wreath

                We have been busy busy busy around here. So many fun crafts and gifts to make. I was digging through my fabric collection and found a ton of leftover felt. My normal wreath is missing so I decided to make a new one with the felt. It was really simple to make and here is what I did.

                I started out by making a pattern. I cut the wreath form on the fold so the pattern piece is a half-circle made from a 10-inch inner circle and a 25-inch outer circle. If I make another one, I will be making the outer circle larger because I wish it was a little bit fuller for my front door. This size makes a really cute indoor wreath. To assemble the wreath form, match up 2 full circle pattern pieces with right sides out and stitch around the inner circle and outer circle. Leave a 3-inch gap in the outside to stuff. I used small fabric scraps and stuffed the form as fully as possible. The wreath will keep its shape much better with more stuffing.

                For the holly leaves, I drew them out on the felt and cut them out. To add some contrast, I used a light green and a dark green. I started out with 30 of each color. You can always add more if you need to fill in spots. To attach them, I used hot glue but I do recommend using a popsicle stick or something like it instead of pressing the leaves down by hand. I burned myself with the glue more times making this wreath than I have in all of my years of crafting.

                Once the leaves were on, I made a bow and attached it to the top. I had little red bells left over from another Christmas project. They made perfect little berries. I glued them to the wreath between the leaves. I really like how it turned out even though it is a bit small for the front door. It looks cute with the indoor decorations. Happy crafting! 

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Making New Stockings!

I’m still working through my fabric collection and going through old projects. Last year I got fabric for a new set of stockings for everyone but never got around to making them. A year later, they are done and look so cute! Making your own stocking is easy. This is what I did to make ours.

I used McCall’s pattern 2991 for reference. To get the size and styles that everyone wanted, I tweaked the process a bit. Once I picked the style, I cut out 2 pieces for the stocking body and a single piece for the cuff. The pointed cuff was a bit different. I cut 4 cuff pieces instead of the 1 large piece.

With the right sides together, I pinned the stocking body pieces together and stitched ½ inch from the edge leaving the top open. For the hanger, I pressed the seams and attached a loop of ¾ inch ribbon. I cut about 5 inches of ribbon and folded it over. Matching the raw edges, I stitched the loop to the wrong side of the back seam.

To make the cuff I stitched the piece into a circle with the right side facing in and pressed the seam. I rolled the cuff so that the raw edges were matched up and the right side was facing out. With the cuff folded in half, I pressed the edge making sure to only crease the bottom edge.

             I pinned the loop down out of the way and placed the cuff around the top of the stocking body. Pinning the raw edges together, I stitched the cuff to the body with a half inch seam allowance. To make sure that the cuff laid nicely, I turned the stocking right side out and pressed the seam toward the inside of the stocking body. The pointed cuff required a few more steps but was just as simple. I took the 4 cuff pieces and pinned them together in sets of 2 with right sides together then stitched down the curved edges. Pressing the seams, I pinned the cuff pieces together with the right sides facing inward. Once I sewed along the bottom edge, I clipped the curves in the seam allowances and turned the cuff right side out. From there, I put the cuff on just like the other style. 

The stocking was done once I flipped down the cuff. At this point, you can add bells, buttons, or whatever you would like to embellish your stocking. I sewed bells on the little elf toes, buttons on the pointed cuff, and rick rack around the cuff of the peppermint. They turned out really cute and we can use them for years to come. 

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Holiday Prep

     Ella really liked her little prep kit.The little pants I made last week were super cute on her and she had a blast decorating the trees. Last year she was so little and she mostly slept through the whole process. She did enjoy the lights. This year we watched Christmas movies, wore our PJs, and had a great time decorating. Next year, I was thinking about doing the same thing but tossing an elf on the shelf in the basket too. It would be a great way for Santa's little scout to arrive.

     She was such a good little helper elf that we got to go to my parents' and her cousin, Cheyanne, help with their tree on Sunday. It was a great weekend and the girls had a ton of fun. Now all I need to get my shopping done and wrap packages. Have a great week everyone. Happy crafting!





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Making PJ Pants With Cuffs

                For these little PJ pants, I started out with making a pattern, using a pair of 18-month pants. I followed the same steps as in my post last July, Making Pants from Your Own Pattern. Of course, I am still using fabric from my collection. I bought this Rudolf fabric last year with the intention of making a stocking for Ella. After the stocking, I had about a half yard left. The print is one way and it was a bit short for the full pant, with half inch seam allowances, so I used a complementary fabric to make a contrasting cuff. Here I how I adjusted the pattern.

             Once I had the pattern. I shortened the legs by 2 inches and cut my main piece out of the Rudolf fabric. For the cuff, I cut a 5-inch strip as wide as the bottom of the pant leg. I folded the strip in half, pressed, and pinned it to the right side of one leg with raw edges together. After stitching them together, I laid the full leg out flat, pressed the seam, and topstitched above the cuff. I repeated the steps with the second leg.

                To assemble the pants, I laid the pieces with right sides together and pinned the curves and stitched each one. I wanted to reinforce the seat so I stitched into each allowance of each curve 1/8 inch from the seam. To prevent fraying and finish the seams, I trimmed the seam allowance with pinking shears. Laying the pants out flat, I pinned the inseams together and stitched up one leg and down the other. I reinforced the crotch and trimmed the allowances.

                I trimmed the raw edge at the top with the pinking shears before making the elastic casing. To make the casing, I folded the top 1 ¼ inch down with the wrong sides together. Stitching ¼ inch from the edge, I left 1 ½ gap to insert elastic. The bodkin is the easiest way I know to insert the elastic. If you don’t have one, you can use a safety pin instead. Once I had pulled the elastic through and the ends stitched together, I closed up the gap and turned the pants right side out.

                As a cute little detail, I added a little bow to the front. I made the bow out of decorative satin ribbon and stitched it over the casing at the center seam. They turned out so cute and I really hope Ella likes them. We will be decorating the tree tonight and these are going to go in her little holiday prep kit. Have fun everyone and happy crafting!

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Time to start counting down again!

              December 1st is almost here and the holiday countdown has begun. Last year I posted this little Christmas countdown and everyone really seemed to like it. I figured I would bring it back this year. Advent calendars are a fun way to keep track of the days you have left until Christmas. I remember, as a kid, moving the little star from day to day and getting more and more excited as it got closer to the big day.

 

                The one that I have created here takes the form of the Nordic Christmas Calendar and starts counting on December 1^st and ends with Christmas day. The materials used will depend on how you want your calendar to look. They can be made of painted wood, fabric, paper, and more. As always there is no wrong answer. Here I have chosen to go the fabric route and make good use out of my random scraps of trim and batting. If you are not comfortable with a sewing machine, you can use a fabric glue. I do not recommend letting the little ones construct this one. They will enjoy supervising and decorating the little tree though, I am sure.

You will need:

• ¾ yard green felt
• ¼ yard white felt cut into 2’’ by 2’’ squares
• Various colored felt scraps
• decorative trim
• Puffy fabric paint
• Ribbon
• Pipe cleaners in red and white

What to do:

1.       Draw your tree pattern and cut it out of your green felt. I folded my felt in half to make sure both sides are the same when cutting. Sewing them together around the edge with extra batting left over from a quilt I’m working on giving it some stability as well as a little depth with some simple quilting.

2. You will want to write the numbers from 1 to 25 on the 2’’ squares with the puffy paint and allow to dry completely.

3. Cutting ornament shapes from smaller scraps of felt, we placed them on the tree and topstitched them down. Again, you can glue them in place if you do not want to sew.  Less is more at this point since you will be adding the date pockets on top of these guys. once the numbers are dry, you can place them on the tree to test your layout.

4.  Attach your trim. I used hot glue for this since I used sequins and wanted them to lay on top and not press into the tree.

5.  Finalize position of the date pocket and attach them to the tree at the sides and bottom. I top stitched them but glue can be used here as well.

6. Twist together red and white pipe cleaners, fold in half and twist again. Bend into candy cane shape.

7. Attach ribbon to the top of the tree and to the candy cane. The ribbon needs to be long enough to reach all pockets easily. Add a loop of ribbon to top as a hanger.

8. Tuck candy cane into the pocket to mark the days and enjoy for years to come.

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Salt Dough Hand Turkeys

We did this last year with Ella and it was so cute. I figured that I would bring it back. It would be fun to do a new one this year since she has grown so much. We may get to play in dough again soon.

What you will need:

•          Salt dough
•          Your little one’s hand
•          Paint
•          Clay tools (these can vary depending on what embellishments you want to do)
•          Oven

Start out with mixing up your salt dough. Combine 1 cup salt with 2 cups all-purpose flour. Knead in a cup of warm water and work until dough is smooth.

Flatten dough to be about half an inch thick and help your little one press their hand into the desired spot. You can also use tools that would normally be used with polymer or air dry clay to embellish your piece. Here I have used letter stamps to add the wording. Anything you decorate with at this point must be able to go into the oven.  

      Bake your piece for 45 minutes at 325F. For thicker pieces, you may need to let it bake a little longer. You will want to check your turkey every little bit to make sure that it is not warping. Let it cool completely.  Decorate your turkey and enjoy.

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