Necklaces and Not-Wreaths

I made some necklaces for Christmas presents...

And, for my mom, I made some chair-back wreaths for her dining room chairs.  Except they're not really wreaths.  I guess they're more chair-back flowers.  I glued a hydrangea head to some hydrangea leaves, then added a pin back.

These are pinned to dark burgundy ribbons knotted around the chair backs.  It looks pretty nice, and it will be good for any time of year!  I'm adding some ribbon loops of different colors for each different season as a finishing touch.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of them at my parents' house!

UFO To the Rescue!

My dad's side of the family always gets together on Christmas Eve for dinner and an ornament exchange, done White Elephant/Yankee Swap/Dirty Santa style. I'd gotten two beautiful little bird ornaments from World Market, only to drop one on a tile floor the day before Christmas Eve. Well, I'm not crazy enough to want to go shopping at that point in the season, but I did want to have more than just one tiny ornament.

UnFinished Object stash to the rescue! I had a few ornaments I'd started a few years ago but never finished, so I just finished one, and had a very nice replacement ornament at the last minute. I know it's now after Christmas, but in case any of you are ever in a similar situation, here's what you do.

1) Make yo-yos out of gold (or whatever color) lame' (foil) fabric. I did all these the hard way, but they now have yo-yo makers that make this part a lot easier.
2) Glue the yo-yos to a styrofoam ball. You may have to squish some of them to make them all fit nicely, but that's pretty easy to do.
3) Glue pearl beads to the center of each yo-yo, as well as to any spots where the styrofoam shows, such as the intersectionswhere three yo-yos come together.
4) Glue a ribbon hanger to the top.

That's it! I used hot glue for everything, so it was pretty quick to put together.

I'll post more about what I did over the Christmas holidays as I have the chance.

Christmas Prep

First off, I learned last night that candles and ceiling fans don't mix. The votive candle was fine, but the red candle burned out, and the white candle leaked wax all over the plate. Looks like the plate will be spending some time in the freezer...but I think I won't worry about it until time to take down the Christmas decorations.






I have a friend spending Christmas with us, so I made her a quick stocking from some scrap fabric I had. I traced around one of the stockings I already had, sewed the black part together, then added the cuff, then topstitched it to secure the inside, and turned the cuff over. Only then did I realize I had no way of hanging the stocking!









No worries, though--I used a bit of ribbon stuck on with a safety pin. Yes, this is probably the most rapidly-put-together stocking in the history of stockings, but it will do the job!










It's finished! I don't love the shape, but it pretty much matches the stockings I already had, so I guess that's okay.



But now that it has a hanging loop, I still have no stocking holder for it. That's why I love Command hooks. I laid one on the shelf and hooked the stocking to it. Nice invisible stocking hanger!



Just so you know, glass ornaments and tile floors don't mix. I was taking the price tags off the pair of pretty little bird ornaments I had gotten for the family ornament exchange when I dropped one. It bounced, then shattered. Sad. I was going to go and get a replacement, but I didn't really want to go shopping two days before Christmas. Then I remembered some partially-made ornaments I'd found in my projects-in-progress when I was organizing my craft room.

You take a styrofoam ball, yo-yos made from gold lame, and some pearl beads. The trusty hot glue gun is, of course, a given.

Stick the yo-yos to the ball, then put a pearl in the center of each one, as well as the intersections where 3 yo-yos come together.











Add a ribbon hanger, and you have a pretty, sparkly ornament!












Here's the Christmas tree corner the way it looks now--three stockings and lots of presents!

I didn't have labels, so I made some out of stamped cardstock.  Some are tag-shaped, and some are diamonds.  I hung some on with ribbon, and just taped others.  I'm really pleased with how they came out!  That said, I'll be sure to get some tags at the after-Christmas sales.  I don't always have time enough to make something creative for every single gift I'm giving!

Finally Decorating!

Yes, I know I'm really behind on things, but I have just in the last couple days gotten all my Christmas decorating done. The outside stuff was, for once, the first thing that actually happened. I put lights on my roof for the first time ever!


 


I also hung wreaths in all four front windows (the wreaths now have bows on them, but I forgot to take a picture after adding the bows) and put candles on the windowsills.














I put the manger scene on my console table in the living room. I think I should do something about those lamp cords, but I'm not sure what. Use zip ties to attach them to the table legs?

Here's the coffee table. It has an amaryllis wreath underneath, and on top is a red charger (plate), three candles, some miniature green ball ornaments, and a garland. I did the same thing last year, and learned that the candles should not be touching each other, especially the glass ones. I had gotten some candles misshapen from touching glass votive candles that got hot over the course of a few hours.









It took forever to put the arrangements together for these shelves, and even now I'm not 100% sure I like everything.











Here's the Christmas tree! It stands on top of a tall box behind an armchair, which makes my little 4-foot tree look a bit more substantial.










I used a few extra ornaments on the garland over the doorway. These ornaments are all silver and white, and are angels, stars, snowflakes, and a few balls.






Another brand-new decorating element--I hung plastic (not glass--that's just asking for disaster) ornaments on ribbons, then used thumbtacks to stick the ribbons to the archway leading from the foyer into the living room. I like the way it came out!