For unto us a child is born-Christmas Vinyl

Next time you're at IKEA don't forget to check out their scratch & dent area. At the Burbank,CA location it's just before the registers to the right. In the section you are sometime lucky enough to find a diamond in the rough. Many months ago I found a large, black cabinet door for $3!! The front side was in perfect condition and the backside has some white scuff marks around the outside. It took me a while to decide what to do, but I finally decided on some "subway" style vinyl with one of my favorite scriptures Proverbs 3:5-6

I knew I still needed to do something with the backside so I could get double use out of this wonderful find. I decided on Isaiah 9:6 and am very happy with how it turned out. It's hard to tell, but I did paint the outside with a greenish black and the vinyl is silver. It almost gives it a chalkboard feeling.

Here's the mantel ready to go for Christmas!

 

Christmas Pompom wreath

A while ago I came across a tutorial for making pompoms using a fork on pinterest.

Source: vividplease.blogspot.com via

Holiday Sayings on Wood

A while back I made a double sided 2x8 with  a Christmas/Halloween theme. Well this week I was back at working with 2x8's only this time they had Thanksgiving or Christmas sayings. Locally there is a Facebook group where people can list items for sale (kind of like Craigslist, but on Facebook). I posted these two images and got lots of positive feedback (and sales!).


A few people requested different sayings and I made these:


It was fun to make and sell completed projects rather than just the vinyl and it will help us with our upcoming trip to Disneyland!

Simple Vinyl Nativity on Wood

I know it's the middle of October but I'm always in the mood for Christmas crafts and I have a pile of wood calling my name. Every time I go to Home Depot I check out their cull wood section to see what's there. A few weeks ago I went and hit the jackpot! There was a stack of end cuts from 2x6's that weren't marked. I went and asked an employee and he said they were free for the taking. So I took them away!

I was pinned my inspiration a while ago, but it was still in my mind. I knew I wanted to make my own (and maybe make a few as gifts for Christmas!).

Source: classyclutter.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Mine is a smaller version, but I love how the 2 I made turned out.

I did one with a red/maroon paint and one with a creamy paint:

I love that since it's on thicker wood it will stand on it's own. Perfect for a mantel or bookcase this Christmastime!

Double sided 2x8

I have high hopes that Fall will be hitting my part of the country soon. We're still hitting triple digits each day, but our evenings are just barely making it to bearable.

So on the thoughts of Fall I decided to make a new Halloween craft. I had some scrap 2x8 that I white washed with watered down craft paint and made a festive Halloween design. Who doesn't like a cute skeleton!

But there is a backside to the wood that is just a great as the front. Why leave it blank when I can just as easily make it a Christmas decoration? I love the Hymn "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and decided to put part of that hymn on the back.

Happy Fall decorating!

Simple Easter Egg Garland

We seem to have an excess of plastic Easter eggs at our house. So I decided to try making a garland out of them. I had the pompoms from another project and they were purchased at the DollarTree. It is all strung on ribbon. Super simple, super cheap!
You need a long needle with a decent sized eye (so you can easily thread the ribbon through it). I started with a pompom:

Then an egg. All of my eggs had 2 holes in each end making it easy to put the needle through:

If you have a cat I recommend doing this craft out of their reach!

It took me about 10 minutes to complete and now we have some Easter decor up!

You're Dino-mite Valentine...

A cute "boy" Valentine. The pictures were printed at Walmart and the Dinosaurs were found in a package of 8 at the Dollar Store. The dinosaurs are adhered with a small dot of hot glue.

You're just "write" for me Valentine...

A simple Valentine I made for my daughter to hand out in her class.I uploaded the image to our local Walmart and found the pencils at our Dollar Store.

Here's the final product:

And the image:

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: 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: