Showing posts with label ornaments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ornaments. Show all posts
 

When Kiddo was in elementary school, I started the tradition of making a yearly ornament. At first it was a solution to the What do I give the teachers and staff? conundrum, but ended up being so much more: It has allowed me to reconnect with Christmas.

We work very hard to focus on quality over quantity this time of year, and try to keep that in mind when purchasing for others. Giving a handmade ornament allows me to express myself creatively, meanwhile creating a keepsake that will get unwrapped and placed on the tree year after year.

I like the idea that I am gifting memories as opposed to something destined for the donation box.

If I had my druthers, every ornament I make would be some sort of diorama. I love peeking through a window into a miniature world. And while I try to mix things up, a theme has certainly emerged: globes. Last year were the Harry Potter ornaments, and the year before that were the bell jar dioramas. (Can I get a hear, hear! for improved photography skills?)

This year I present to you mini jar globes. I had a lot of supplies left over from the bell jar ornaments, so all I had to buy were the jars and a few more bottle brush trees. Mario punched holes in the lids and used a Dremel tool to eliminate any sharp edges on the inside of the lid that could snag the baker's twine loop. I finished them off by punching out a 1" circle of Christmas cardstock, writing our names and the year, and adhering it to the bottom of the jar with a dot of glue. Note: I used E6000 as opposed to hot glue since I was adhering the items to glass and wanted the bond to withstand temperature fluctuations. (Supply list below.)

The end result was simple yet sweet:


DIY Mini Jar Ornaments

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Each year Kiddo and I (well, me mostly) scour the internet and magazines for ornament ideas, settle on one, and put our own twist on it. Last year I made vintage-inspired snow globe ornaments; this year's idea came courtesy of Pinterest (shocking, I know). 

I love this tradition. I look at each ornament and think back to where I was and what life was like over the six years we've been doing this. Close friends and relatives each get one, and I like to think these handmade treasures mean so much more than a store bought gift. (And hang around longer.)











The first step was finding the right book. And because the thought of cutting up a readable book was rather unbearable, we started at our local Salvation Army. As luck would have it, they had a tattered paperback copy of The Sorcerer's Stone. The yellowed, torn pages called out for reinvention. The Christmas holiday is prominent in the book and one of my favorite Dumbledore quotes was perfect for the tag... it was all so serendipitous. I printed the quote on card stock and used a tag-shaped paper punch to cut them out. We even used the illustrations from the chapter headings on the reverse (Kiddo's idea). I tucked away the remainder of the book for future craft projects.

It took a little finagling to get them into the globe and opened up again, but with the aid of two chopsticks I developed a fairly good system. I'm really happy with how they turned out!



Frosty meets Potter in a fit of craftiness.

Monday, December 23, 2013

I'm definitely high-fiving this Friday. Getting back into the swing of things is rough after 10 days spent lying around in my "house clothes" and sleeping in until 8-9a every morning. Thank goodness it has only been a three day week. The weekend gives me just enough time to undo the semblance of normalcy I've built up to these last few days.


1. Boy have I resented my alarm the last three days. If only Kiddo's school schedule was synced with the college's, we could all stay in our bubble just a bit longer. But, alas. One benefit of a 6a wake up call, however, is experiencing the sunrise along our morning commute. Mario drove Jared to school yesterday, so I took the opportunity to take some photos with my new camera. Sleeping until 8a would mean missing out on all that loveliness...so perhaps I could warm up to the idea of being a morning person after all. 2. I caught a kitty yawn! After days of stalking my photo subjects, I caught this moment in time. Every time I see it I hear the theme song to The Lion King. 3. Jared took his very first ski lesson on Wednesday. He's a natural, of course, and I can't wait until next week when they try out some hills. 4. Is there anything as simple and delicious as warm biscuits and jam? And a cup of hot coffee or tea? I thought not. I made them twice in the past week because they were really hitting the spot. I find making biscuits by hand to be very meditative. I may have been a British nanny in a past life. 5. The last glimmer of Christmas. We took down our tree and decorations on Tuesday, so these ornaments hanging from a restaurant ceiling were both whimsical and a little sad. The holidays are officially over. On the bright side, only eleven more months until the tree goes back up! It's the ciiiiircle, the circle of life.

High Five for Friday: Lions, Sunrise and a Spot of Tea

Friday, January 4, 2013

it's often prettiest after it's been turned upside-down.

LCD

My ornaments are done. Made. For the most part, handed out. I was a little late getting gifts in the mail this year, so I'm hoping my family and friends have lots of Christmas spirit and aren't all "I'm taking this fire-hazard down December 26". I love when I pay more in shipping than I did on the actual gift. Maybe that's a sign I'm cheap and shouldn't have shared that little tidbit. Oh, well. 

A while back I pondered the DIY Christmas ornament ideas I'd found this year. My first pick went bust when I couldn't find a single one of the supplies at my local stores. As a result, I found the Vintage Inspired Bell Jar Ornaments Ashlee came up with over at My So Called Crafty Life. She's a genius. It was all very serendipitous...these were the ornaments I was meant to make. They were the perfect project to take on after a rough semester. Idle hands and all.


I picked up some vintage-y doodads from a couple of great shops: Hey Yo Yo, Tiny Things are Cute, and an Etsy shop called UglyDuckling1962. I got the darling bottle brush trees from Love it Shabby on Etsy. They all have the cutest stuff and I got my supplies super fast...this girl has mail OCD. The Loft has taken 8 days just to process my order and I'm losing my mind. I want it noooow. For the rest of this post you shall refer to me as Veruca Salt.

Anywho. I bought a 3.5" scalloped circle punch from Michael's (hello 40% off coupons!) and some cute scrapbook paper. Mario had just made his beloved Chex Mix, so I had a bunch of fun throwback boxes to use. I tried to cut out recipes and fun phrases. I used the same cutout for the scrapbook paper and rubber-cemented them together to form the bases. For the record, I think eating the box is probably a lot like eating the actual Chex. Not enough Worcestershire sauce in the world to cover up the uckyness of those little cubes.

I loaded up on plastic wine glasses from my new BFF The Dollar Store and Husband sawed off the nubs on the end, exposing the hollow stem.

Let the fun begin.


I spread my supplies out on the table and got to work, mixing and matching bases, doodads and trees. So. Fun. Except for the OCD-like perfectionism. I really should seek treatment. I had to trim a couple of the tree "trunks" so they would fit under the dome. I used a hot glue gun to secure the pieces to the base. Easy peasy.

Once I had them all how I wanted them and had ensured the domes would fit, I went about gluing them on. I am not very proficient with a hot glue gun. I'm slow, awkward, and my glue gun is SO tiny, not-hot and cheap-o. I couldn't get the glue around the rim fast or neatly enough and it wasn't working. OCD reared its ugly head. Mario came up with the idea of using my beloved Aleene's Tacky Glue. He's so wise.

I dipped the rims into the glue and centered it over my creation. They dried totally clear and the edges had a good seal so the glitter wouldn't escape. I didn't have to fret about precision or having too much glue...it just worked.


Once they were dry, I used a sheet of paper to create a funnel and poured in some white glitter I had laying around from last year's snowball ornaments. I used just enough to cover the bottom, but not so much that it obscured the little bunny and mice doodads. 

I found some multi-faceted plastic beads from Joann's that covered the stem really well and used some pink jewelry-making cotton cord I also had laying around to create a loop. Then I simply secured them with hot glue.

I tried experimenting with bows and ribbon around the stem, but in the end decided to let them be. The bead was a nice decorative touch, and because we only sawed off the nub there wasn't anything unsightly to cover. Everything I tried detracted from the cuteness going on inside the dome.

We gifted them to the staff at Jared's school yesterday and they raved. I loved, loved, loved this idea, but it's always nice when others share your vision and love for something. They were relatively easy once I got the hang of it (and my glue gun), and turned out so great. These will go down in history as one of my all-time favorites. 

Happy Saturday! May it be full of rest and relaxation!

P.S. If you decide to try these, show me! I'd love to see your spin on this adorable and oh-so creative idea. I was even thinking that non-Christmas themed ones would be fun. Thanks again Ashlee!

Life is like a snow globe...

Saturday, December 22, 2012


I'm alive. And mostly unscathed. Yesterday sucked, but today is a new day and this week will be behind me soon enough. Now it's time to enjoy my family, friends, and the free time that will allow me to do the things that fall by the wayside during the semester. 

It has been an arduous semester, and too many days were stress-filled and overwhelming. But I am so grateful to be where I'm at. It has all been worth it, because now a single semester is all that stands between me and a college degree. I have a lot to be grateful for:

  • Gone Girl has been tempting me since my husband got it for me as a birthday gift back in October. I'm picking it up today.
  • Husband comes home tomorrow and will be home for several weeks. Mine. All mine.
  • All the cute little doodads necessary to make the globe ornaments I love have arrived and are awaiting my imagination. 
  • Gifts are overflowing out of my closet, so I am going to catch up on my DVR and wrap away. 
  • I got to wake up and have a relaxed school morning with Kiddo for the first time in months. It was awesome.
  • I can breathe out of my nose for the first time in a week! Yahoo!
  • I saw my house for the mess it is this morning, and I actually look forward to tidying up! Well, not the actual cleaning part, but de-cluttered surroundings are a beautiful thing.
  • I have never shopped at Loft before. Is that weird? While looking for a gift for my mother-in-law, I decided to peruse their website. As luck would have it, they are having a flash sale today: an additional 60% off sale prices. Yes, please! I scored these cuties for less than I would have paid for comparable pieces at Target.  

Loft Feather Print Bow Neck Blouse
Loft Bow Print Tie Neck Blouse
Loft Kitten Print Cardigan

My wardrobe has been feeling a little tired this fall/winter, so I'm thinking cute yet sophisticated prints are in order. 

Also, the days of wearing jeans and t-shirts during the week will be over soon. I have a year between graduation and grad school, so I hope to be working as close to full time as possible. More hands-on experience means a better chance of admittance into the program(s) of my choice. This means interview and work clothes. I'm not going crazy and buying a whole new wardrobe, but it is definitely in the back of my mind when look at clothes these days.


I ran across this craft on Pinterest the other day. Last year I made string snowball ornaments, so I have the technique mastered and the supplies on hand to pull this off. It would be so fun to do with Kiddo! I will use the white string I have left over, and find a way to color it so we are left with a rainbow of pastel trees. Retro and cute like the bottle brush trees I'm infatuated with right now.

Happy Thursday!

Free as a Bird...

Thursday, December 13, 2012

It is a state of mind.

Mary Ellen Chase

Needle-felted snowmen, 2009

For the past 6 years or so, I have made ornaments for teachers, family and friends. It makes them feel special and loved, and serves as a little something to remind them of us every year when they decorate their tree. I've had several moments of greatness, and trying outdoing myself year after year can become a little anxiety-inducing. My OCD kicks in at the weirdest times.

String "snowballs", 2011

This year, I was feeling a little uninspired. Martha's usual ideas felt a little "been there, done that." Thank goodness for bloggers. There are some amazing crafters out there who are kind enough to share their ideas with us mere mortals.

My first inspiration came in the form of this Waterless Snow Globe tutorial:


How simple and lovely is this little ornament?! I was so excited to get started. Unfortunately, my local craft stores were sorely lacking in terms of supplies. After an evening spent scouring stores and the internet for bottles and the correct size trees, I had to admit defeat. But this beauty is getting reserved for another year, as I'm far from ready to give up on it.

While looking at trees for the above project, I kept encountering whimsically-colored bottle brush varieties:


But I resisted the urge to use them, as I wasn't sure how they'd look in an otherwise elegant ornament. But boy did I love them! A bit defeated, but undeterred, I enlisted the help of Google in my search for the perfect project. Lo and behold, I found my dream ornament! It's unlike anything I've done to date. And better yet, my new friend, the bottle brush tree, is a key player. Yay!


How cute are these little vintage-inspired bell jar globes? Swoon. I have always been infatuated with Candy Land and other retro whimsy, so these are right up my alley.

Since it's already December and I need to get moving, I ordered all the supplies online. They were super affordable and SO fun to shop for. I can't wait to get started and put my own spin on these cuties. I even found a great tutorial for the trees, should I decide to make them for myself in the future.

I am looking forward to flexing my crafting muscles! It's been so long since I've read a good (fictional) book or done something crafty. I always feel like a slacker student if I do. But with finals next week, I have Gone Girl and these ornaments to prevent that weird hangover that occurs between finals and Kiddo's Christmas break. I don't know what to do with myself after months of intense studying. 

A post chronicling my ornament-making adventures will be coming soon...the good, the bad, and the ugly. Hopefully it's all rainbows and butterflies like I imagine it will be.

Any great ideas this year? Share!

Christmas, children, is not a date.

Monday, December 3, 2012

maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more...

Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas


I have a hard and fast rule: no Christmas until December 1st. Except for the holiday section at Target that went up in August. Because that store is my crack, my eyes have been accosted by that display several times. 

So now that Mr. D has graced me with his presence, the dam has opened. I have my yearly handmade ornaments to plan, decorations to put up, gift ideas to ponder...and you, my friends, are going to hear all about it. Well, maybe. 

Don't worry.  This isn't like the Love Channel on Sirius/XM. I'm not going to flip a switch and turn this into all Christmas all the time. I still have a child to push my buttons and a husband who conveniently has to travel for work during finals week (read: hang out enjoying the cinnamon rolls at a Holiday Inn Express). There will be non-Christmas merriment. But this girl has been freed of the constraints set by no one but herself. Well, now I'm confused. 

What I meant to say is...Happy December. Put up your tree. Shop. Drink eggnog and other sugary-sweet drinks. We can work off the diabetes in January. After we make a resolution we won't keep. Wow, that took an ugly turn. Sorry.


Happy Weekend in December!

Christmas doesn't come from a store,

Saturday, December 1, 2012

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