Here is a quick ornament for your Christmas tree, or a little plaque that you can hang in your child's room.

Easy Canvas Ornament Tutorial

Supplies:
Small artist's canvas--ours was 4"x4"
Paint
Scrapbooking embellishments-we used Making Memories Glitter Bling frames
Hot glue or silver thumbtack
Coordinating ribbon
Modge Podge or glue


1. Paint your canvas a coordinating color
2. Trim your photo so it will fit in the sticker frame. Next either Modge Podge it or glue it to the canvas.
3. Add the glitter frame and any other embellishments
4. Hot glue or thumbtack the ribbon in place and tie a bow so you can hang it.

This would be a sweet tree ornament, or a cute accessory for a little girls' room!

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We're guest blogging over at Make & Takes again today. Check out our revival of our holiday potpourri post!

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We enjoy making stockings. They are really easier to make than you think. This year we were inspired by Sew Cute Shop's Mary Jane stocking so we whipped our own. We just took an existing stocking pattern and sketched in a Mary Jane applique. Very feminine! If you like this look, head over to Sew Cute Shop and order one for your fireplace.


After making our girlie stocking we thought we needed to even it out with a more masculine stocking. You know, a "His and Hers" type of thing. Well, this is what we came up with--
The Cowboy Boot Stocking.

Here are some tips to help you if you decide to make your own cowboy book stocking.

We used freezer paper to sketch out the boot. You can tell here because you can see all the lines. We kept "trying" until we found a look we liked. You can use an existing pattern to help you with size. Just modify it for the boxy toe and the short boot heel in the back. We also curved the top of our stocking.

You will want to fold your fabric either right side together or wrong side together--it doesn't matter as long as you have two opposite pieces for the stocking. You will then want to cut two pieces for the lining and two pieces of batting. Now you should have a total of 6 pieces for your stocking--not including all the applique pieces.



Next, we used fusible webbing to make the applique pieces. These are the details you can see in green and the brown stars.


Following the directions of the fusible webbing, we ironed on the boot details. Then we zig-zag stitched the applique pieces down. You can also do an applique stitch. Whatever suits your fancy.

Once all our applique pieces are on, quilt the stocking piece to the batting. You can get creative here and quilt as much or as little as you want. You just want to make sure your batting is set in place and will not move around much at all.


Once you are done with the quilting take one piece of the stocking (outside piece) and one piece of the lining. Make sure the toes point the same direction. Place them right sides together and sew the top side only. This is the curved part of our stocking.


Snip it so it is easy to turn later on. Repeat this step with the other piece of lining and outside stocking piece.


Now open them up. Pin these really long two pieces together. The lining should be pinned right sides together and the stocking part should be pinned right sides together. Sew all around the stocking and liners. When the pieces are sewn together, snip any curves and trim any corners so the stocking is easy to turn right side out.


Be sure to leave yourself an opening. You will turn this inside out and will need an opening big enough to get the stocking through.



Pull your stocking right side out through your opening. Then sew the opening shut. Now, you can push the lining down into your stocking. Attach a ribbon so you can hang it in front of your fireplace.


YEE-HAW! You are done. They are now ready to be filled with holiday goodies and treats.

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19 days 'til Christmas! Yes, I am counting down the days in my house. We can't avoid it with 2 little boys who are as anxious as can be. 19 days sure isn't a lot of time, so you better get thinking about neighbor gifts. Luckily you have us to share some easy ideas with you. I have been preparing a few of mine tonight! I must apologize to all of my (Jessica's) friends who are now going to have the surprise of their gift spoiled for them since I am posting it on here.

First up is the neighbor gift I gave out last year. I realize many people get tons of treats from friends at the holidays, so when I got this gift from a friend a few years ago I was thrilled! She decided to go a different route and give out a roll of wrapping paper. Who doesn't need wrapping paper at the holidays? I passed it on last year and it was a hit. I attached a little tag that said, "Get yourself all wrapped up in the holidays!"


Instead of making cookies I thought it would be fun to do some "cookie mix in a jar" so my friends could bake up the batch of cookies whenever they wanted instead of having too many to eat at once. I found a great site that has a ton of different varieties. Razzle Dazzle Recipes has many other ideas besides cookie mixes as well. I attached the recipe of what they need to add when they make the cookies and slapped on some cute paper and a ribbon. Voila! Very cute and very easy gift.


For an even simpler idea I put some Hershey kisses in a whisk with a tag that reads, "We whisk you a Merry Kissmas!" I am all about the pun on words. So cute and it can't get much easier than this idea.


Although...this one might do it...
The tag reads, "Have a sparkling Christmas."


Don't forget we have a label in our sidebar that says "Christmas Neighbor Gifts" if you want to go back through ideas from throughout the year and from last year.

See, aren't you happy? We've practically crossed one thing off your list for you!

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Here is a quick holiday decoration.

Supplies:

One wood block
Red paint
Two white buttons
Hot glue gun
Santa belt (found at craft stores) or you can use a metal ribbon slide found in the scrapbooking section at the craft store and black ribbon.

1. Sand and paint your block
2. Make and attach the belt
3. Hot glue the buttons on

Ta-daaah! One simple and quick santa block. We made this in a very short time today so they go pretty quickly.

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It's the holiday season! Although this recipe has nothing to do with the holidays, I still wanted to share it. Why? It is very easy to make and with all the busyness of the holidays, we all need a little help getting quick, tasty meals on the table. I pretty much just whip this up however I see fit, so I hope these directions can work for you.



Dijon Chicken
1 bottle Ranch Dressing
Dijon Mustard, to taste
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 package angel hair pasta (you can use spaghetti if you prefer a thicker noodle)
parsely, optional

Brown chicken in some butter in a skillet until mostly cooked. Remove chicken from pan and boil drippings, scraping the pan to loosen bits. Add the bottle of ranch dressing and then start adding Dijon mustard by the teaspoonful until desired taste. Keep in mind that the flavor gets stronger after it has sat for a few minutes. Add chicken back into the sauce and simmer while preparing the pasta according to package directions. When pasta is cooked serve the chicken and sauce atop the pasta. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.

Enjoy!

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In the ten years I've had my own tree to decorate, I've never really had a tree skirt. I usually try to hurry up and get the gifts under it so no one notices. But this year I finally got around to making a tree skirt, and it was such a fun project! The best part is how much money I saved. Have you noticed how expensive cute tree skirts can be? This felt skirt can be as simple or elaborate as you want, but doesn't have to cost more than a few dollars.

Felt Tree Skirt

I started out with this tutorial from The Paper Pony. She shows you how to take a piece of wool felt (I got mine at JoAnn with a 50% off coupon) and cut it into a pretty scalloped tree skirt. I wanted to dress mine up a bit with some green vines, holly leaves, and white berries. So I gathered some green wool felt, matching embroidery floss, buttons, a needle, scissors, ribbon, and chalk and went to work!

After cutting my scalloped tree skirt, I free-hand cut some holly leaves out of green felt. If you're not comfortable free-hand cutting, try die-cutting your image at your local scrapbook store, or find some clip art that you can print out, cut out, and trace on your felt.

Next I used a piece of chalk to lightly outline my vines around the edge of the skirt, laying the leaves and buttons along it to make sure it looked even.



The next step was the fun part. I put on the 5-hour BBC production of Pride and Prejudice and started stitching. Yes, it took me about 5 hours to stitch all the vines, leaves, and buttons on. I guess that's why tree skirts are so expensive! I did use long stitches to make it go a little faster, and only used three stitches to sew on the leaves (rather than stitching around the edges like I had planned).


My next step is only for all you other crazy crafter out there who love to add tiny details that probably don't need to be added. I am the Queen of over doing it. But I really thought the scallops needed a little white french knot in the middle of each one. This added another 2 hours to my skirt (yikes!), but I LOVE the way it turned out!



My last step was another unnecessary one. I added ribbon ties to keep the skirt in place. I think it would have stayed put without them, but I couldn't help the cuteness factor once again! I cut six pieces of ribbon, each about 2 feet long. Then I doubled-folded the ends over and sewed them down to keep them from fraying. You could also use Fray-Check. Then I sewed two pieces across from each other and tied them in a bow. Repeat with the other two sets of ribbon, spaced out evenly. I really just eye-balled the whole thing since the ribbons are going to be in the back and hardly seen at all!



And voila! Two days later it's finally finished! I'm going to have to use this for at least 10 years to make all that work worth it, but I do love it!



If you want more ideas for easy felt tree skirts, just do a Google search using their "images" tab and you'll find lots of cute ones out there--like these!

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There's this talented woman in the area that makes her children a unique ornament every year. She does this so when they are grown and leave the house, they will have a good size collection of Christmas tree ornaments to take with them. Lucky for us, she shared her talent with others and now we have our very own ornaments for our tree. We had so much fun making them we decided to make some more to give as teachers gifts. Here's a quick recap of how we made our s'more tree ornaments in case you want one, too.

S'more Snowman Christmas Tree Ornament Tutorial

Supplies needed:
Polymer clay (white, brown, orange, and black)
Wire and wire cutters
Blocks (optional)
Butter knife or clay tools



1. First, make two "marshmallows" by rolling clay in balls and then flattening out the top and bottom. You may want to roll the sides on a flat surface to straighten them out a bit.



2. Next, whip up a cute carrot nose.


3. Now, work on the "coal" eyes and mouth. A good way to ensure that your pieces are all uniform is to roll it out into a "snake" and then cut them. Shape them after you cut them off and they should all be pretty close in size.


4. Using your wire cutters, cut three pieces of wire per s'more snowman. One will be bent and used as the ribbon holder. The next two will be folded in half and twisted. These are the arms.

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We are excited to be the guest blogger over at Or so she says. Here's a sneak peek at our vintage inspired tutorial. Go check it out!

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Eee! A guest post! My favorite kind of post. Especially when the project is as cool as this one. I LOVE Miss London, and I adore all her amazing art. I wear my Starry Collage ring almost every day. Check out her Etsy shop for rings featuring her original paintings, plus tons of cool chipboard buttons. You'll be seeing her Deck the Halls buttons on an upcoming project from me--I love them! She also sells her paintings in her other Etsy shop, and she has a fun blog. Busy girl! Okay, enough from me. Here's London!

Hi! London here, from Such Sweet Tierney, Mandy was kind enough to ask me to guest post a fun tutorial! Today I’m going to show you how to make an easy, economic and totally unique piece of jewelry. These resin rings are a snap to make and would make the perfect handmade holiday gift.

Resin Ring Tutorial


Supplies:

1. Blank Ring trays (I buy mine on Etsy, but also eBay is another good source) The ones I use are adjustable and sterling silver coated brass, which means safe for sensitive skin…like mine!!
2. A resin or epoxy sealer. I recommend Sakura’s 3-D Crystal Laquer because it’s thick and totally clear, Diamond glaze can be substituted.
3. Heavyweight Gloss photo paper, I prefer HP.
4. Inkjet Printer
5. Photos, patterned paper, or other desired images
6. Display tray for rings or something to hold them level
7. Mod podge or other decoupage sealant
8. Paint brush
9. Scissors
10. Krylon Matte clear spray (optional)


Instructions:

1. Select images, photos or create mini collages for your base. I use photographic images of my own artwork and print them right off a word document. If using a printed image I suggest lightening it more than the desired effect as printing tends to darken such a small image. The square ring images are .87” X .87” but will vary by ring manufacturer. Set your printer to the best photo setting, print images and let dry. If using collage or patterned paper skip ahead to next step!


2. I prefer to use a krylon clear spray on both sides of the photo paper.


If you don’t have this, Mod Podge works great. Make sure your image is dry, and apply a thin coating of Mod Podge to both sides of the photo paper. Let dry 5-10 min.



3. Cut out your image and prepare ring tray by applying thin layer of Mod Podge inside. Working quickly, press image inside ring blank and evenly smooth. I use this handy little rubber tool to press down the corners and edges. I allow the image to crease up into the sides of the ring tray wall to ensure that there will be a tighter seal. A tight seal means less bubbling!



4. Allow ring to dry for 15-20 minutes.

5. Once dry, arrange in display tray or surface where the ring tops can sit level. You don’t want them to be lop-sided!


6. To fill the rings, tip bottle of epoxy all the way up and try to let the epoxy come out naturally instead of squeezing. This will reduce the bubbling. If your epoxy does not come out try cutting the tip wider. Fill each tray until the epoxy creates a dimensional “dome” on top of your ring.




7. Watch over your rings for about an hour as they start to harden. Use a toothpick, needle or bobby pin to pop bubbles that form in the epoxy. Epoxy will be hard to touch in 24 hours. Let harden for 5-7 days before wearing.

8. If you discover a large bubble or other imperfection after the initial 24 hours, the epoxy is still soft enough inside to easily remove/peel from the tray so that you may re-use the ring base.



Thanks for joining me in this fun project! Don’t forget to show and tell!

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