Christmas: Stained Wooden Nativity

I posted my original nativity puzzle back at the end of September. I have since done a LOT of cutting and am happy with the results. These nativities were cut with a scroll saw out of 1/2 pine purchased off the scrap bin for $.50 at Home Depot. The stain was borrowed from my cousin. All in all I'm very happy with the results! While cutting the puzzles out of MDF is easier the end result with wood makes the effort more worth it in the end.

Here they are. I had my kids put them all back together after they finished drying!

Be sure to check out where the idea came from over at La Paz Home Learning.

Christmas: Tree Skirt

After I made my stockings I knew I needed to make a matching tree skirt! Unfortunately I didn't have quite enough of the same fabric so I found some other fabric that coordinated that I fell in love with! To make the tree skirt I used a pattern found on Cloud 9 Fabrics. Rather than making the wedges 2 different fabrics, I chose to piece the pattern together and use a single fabric per wedge

Here are the fabrics I started with:

And here's what the pattern looks like printed out and pieced together:

Then I went to work cutting and sewing, ending up with this:

For a backing I used a cream flannel.
For putting it together, I put right sides together and sewed around leaving a few inches open. Then I flipped it right side out and ironed out the seams. Then I pinned some ball fringe around the back  and top stitched around the entire thing.

I love how it turned out! Now if my kitties would just stop destroying my tree!

Christmas: Small Wooden Nativity Puzzle

I feel like I have been living and breathing cutting, sanding and painting the last few days. I really should have started all of this earlier!


But here is a small version of a wooden Nativity puzzle. This puzzle has only 4 pieces and is about 6 inches tall and 4 inches wide. It was cut on a scroll saw out of 1/2 inch MDF (check the scrap bin at your local Home Depot, I have spent no more that $1 on the wood for about 20 nativities).

I used the same paint be Martha Stewart as I used for my stocking hangers.

Here's is an image of the basic pattern. The pattern does not have the star. I "eye-balled" each star as I cut them.

 

Enjoy!

Christmas: Stockings

Here is the tutorial for the stockings I made this year. All of my fabric was purchased from JoAnn Fabrics from the red tag fabrics. I used the pattern and tutorial found on My Dyeing Day.

First you need to print and tape together your pattern.

Then start cutting out your stockings. You need to cut 2 stocking pieces and 2 liner pieces:

Sew around both the stocking & liner leaving the top open.

Turn your liner right side out and slide your stocking inside:

Now you need to start the cuff. Cut a 12x18 pieces of coordinating fabric and follow the steps below:

Now flip the whole thing right side out and turn down the cuff:

And I embellished them with fringe or fabric covered buttons:

Christmas: Stocking Hangers

This year I made our family new Christmas stockings.  I love how they turned out (and am working on a post about them) but I didn't know how to personalize them. I don't have access to an embroidery machine and wasn't happy with other ideas I saw for personalization. That was until I saw personalized stocking holders on Pinterest!

Source: crapivemade.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I knew this was how I could personalize!

I followed the tutorial from Crap I've Made pretty closely for the assembly. I purchased a 2x4 from Home Depot and had them cut it into 6 inch blocks. I pre-drilled  through the bottoms and used 2 inch wood screws to attach the tops. Here mine are waiting for paint!

I used Martha Stewart sample paints. A few months ago I ordered a random box of samples for a couple of bucks. One of the colors was Barn, the other (the green) was not marked.

For both the redish holders and greenish holders, I added some of the opposite color to tone it down.

Once painted, I added hooks. I found the hooks at Walmart in a pack of 8 for a little over $3 and hand screwed them in.

Then I started embellishing. I used ribbon, buttons & ornaments. I attached everything using glue dot!

The for personalization I cut the first initial for each of us from black vinyl. The font is called "before the rain".




I am super happy with how they turned out and now need to finish decorating the rest of my mantel!