Crafty-Madness!

You’ve been checking out the crafts that we made for our families “Christmas Craft Challenge” and I’m super excited to share all the crafts that I received! 

You may want to check out my Christmas Craft Challenge board via Pinterest

So many fun ideas!  So I had no idea what to expect on Christmas morning.  I was under the impression that we were making ONE craft per person, but I should have known with my family there’s no such thing as just ONE present!  They out did themselves with the amount of work they did!

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

Yes – I know!!  Crazy awesome cool, huh?!?!  I was blown away!  We all really enjoyed this idea of making something for each other but next year we’ve made a couple more “rules” for the challenge. 

•  Must have more options on our boards •  Now we’ll have all year to work on the crafts and find “deals” •  And I say a limit on the amount we do!!  We’ll see if they’ll agree to that!

Overall I would HIGHLY recommend this!  It would be a great way to exchange gifts with friends as well.  A homemade gift just means so much!!  What were your favorite gifts this year?  Did anyone make something for you?  I have to say I did enjoy getting my craft on – it had been a while!!

Tile Coasters & Pendant

For the last 2 crafts we made for the Christmas Craft Challenge, we had these 2 crafts left to make:

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First up is the necklace.

SUPPLIES:  2” washer – natural leather cording – magnetic closure – scrapbook paper – modge podge – foam brush (all purchased @ Michael’s Craft Store)

I had already purchased the cording (I used it for our Merry Christmas sign)

Step 1:  Cut out your scrapbook paper using the washer for a guide.  You want to cut a smidge smaller than the actual washer.  Modge podge paper to washer 3-4 coats.  Letting it each coat dry 20-30 minutes before adding the next.  Let cure overnight.

Step 2:  Using your cording cut to desired length.  Tie a slip knot around the washer.  Then tie a square knot at the top to make sure it’s secure and not going to loosen.

Step 3:  Attach the magnetic closure by threading cording through eye holes and tying square knots to secure.  Trim ends.

And done!

Tile Coasters – these are great because you can do a holiday theme, a monogram, or even just a pretty pattern.  If you choose to a monogram – print them out from your computer and cut your paper to fit.  Same concept as using a napkin or scrapbook paper.

Supplies:  4x4 white tiles – cute napkins – modge podge – foam brush – cork – liquid nails – exacto knife – clear acrylic sealer

Step 1:  Separate front of napkin from back – making the paper less bulky.  Apply modge podge to tile the place napkin on tile.  Applying a layer of modge podge to the top of the napkin.  Repeat 3-4 times allowing each coat to dry between.

   

Step 2:  Once you have your desired finish.  Apply sealer in a well ventilated area – i.e. outside!  Let dry. 

Step 3:  Cut cork to fit the tiles.  Apply LiquidNails generously and attach to tile.  Allow to dry – and done!

Pretty easy and super sweet presents!  Let me know if you try any of these – would love to see your finished products!

Now that I’ve shared what we made, next up I will be sharing ALL the many crafts I received!  They out did themselves!! 

Yarn Wreath

So for the next craft we made for the Christmas Craft Challenge… a super cute black & white wreath.  Remember the inspiration?

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When I first saw this, I thought it was just yarn so that’s how we accomplished it but upon further investigation of the inspiration it is a t-shirt that was cut and sewn.  I’m not so handy with a sewing machine so the yarn was a much easier option for us!

SUPPLIES:  Wreath form – Yarn (black and white) – felt for flowers – hot glue gun and glue sticks

Step 1:  Start with one of the yarns and place a dab of hot glue to hold your starting point on the wreath form.  Wrap 4 times around.  Start the next color the same way.  Hide the opposite color underneath the 4 wraps of the new color.  Occasionally add another dab of glue to keep things attached.  Go all the way around the wreath (this took about an hour)

Step 2:  make your flowers – same tutorial I used for Welcome sign from Jones Design Company.  Hot glued onto lapel pins.  Attach pins. 

And voila!  Gorgeous fun wreath!!

   

This turned out so cute – I would really like to make one for myself as well!  I love the idea of changing out the flowers with the seasons.  And since they’re made on lapel pins you can steal borrow from your wreath for your outfit!  Did you make a wreath during the Holiday season?  Do tell!

“Welcome” E-Z breezy!

If you didn’t read about our Christmas Craft Challenge we did this year, hop over and catch up!  So the first craft I want to share is the “Welcome” sign I made for my Aunt.

This is the picture she pinned on her Christmas Craft Board

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I looked around to see if I could find a good deal on a frame to use for this craft but just couldn’t find one that was quite right.  And then I was at Michael’s picking up some crafty supplies and came upon a plaque for $1 and said – YES Ma’am!

    

So I found a font that I liked and printed it off in size 100.  I used a transfer method of using a pencil.  First I flipped the paper over and traced the wording with my pencil.  Then I flipped the paper back over and taped it to my plaque.  And used my pencil to transfer the graphite from the back onto to the plaque.  You just apply a nice amount of pressure going over the letters.

    

And this is what you end up with:

Then I took my fine tip Sharpie and just filled in the pencil.

I made a couple felt flowers using Emily’s http://jonesdesigncompany.com/tutorial/flower-pin-tutorial/.  Which was super easy by the way!  I made a few more for another project, we’ll talk about soon!  They turned out super cute and need to make some more for pins.

So I just hot glued some flowers and TA DA – A uber sweet “WELCOME” sign! 

Whatcha think??  Pretty E-Z breezy, huh?!?

Christmas Craft Challenge

This year with our new family interest in Pinterest, we decided to do a Christmas Craft Challenge. So between my Mom, aunt, cousin and myself, we each worked on a craft for each other.  Our first step was to compile a board of “crafty-goodness” for ideas that people could make us.

These are the crafts I found on my family’s boards that I decided to attempt:

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So once I had narrowed down the crafts, it was time to get to work!  I actually recruited Joe to help out as well!  He’s really good at crafts – much more patient than me. Come back this week to see how the crafts turned out AND all the goodies that I received!  So up first will be my version of the “Welcome” sign.  Swing back by later this week to see how easy breezy this first craft was!

Did you do any DIY crafts for Christmas presents??  Would love to hear all about it!