Snowman coming up...

Everybody gather your old socks for the next craft coming up....your husbands old white crews and your little ones colorful socks....I love this one!!

Socks, Buttons and black fabric paint or sharpies and some scraps of material

Handmade Ornaments

 A Little Christmas Nostalgia

So, doesn't everybody want a little nostalgia at Christmas time.  I love looking at the the ornaments that either people have made or bought for me.  But the best ones of all are the ornaments that I have that I had from when I was a kid.  The one above was made out of a Jet Dry dishwasher detergent cup from the early 70's.  This just goes to show you that you can make an ornament out of just about anything.  All my brother had me do is wrap it in aluminum foil and put some metallic snowflake stickers on it.  Another one has a picture from an old Christmas card in it.

Sorry for the blur

So, this is another ornament that I made with my kids when they were smaller and it's a great way to keep them busy.  You could have them give them away to grandparents or aunts and uncles or maybe even have them decorate their own small tree.

All you need is some pipe cleaners...White usually works the best but you can use whatever color
you want.  You also need some of these beads...they are called "tri-beads"  I use the transparent ones..I think they looks nicer and they nest together...All you do is have them thread them onto a pipe cleaner and then shape it into whatever shape you want.  Either a wreath or candy cane or whatever.

Be Creative and have fun!!  :-)

Dressed Up Air Freshener

Just a little something I thought of today. 




I decided to do this one instead for my bathroom...I really need to get more Christmasy paper... :-)

Mr. Tom Turkey

This little gobbler was made by my daughter when she was about 9 or 10 years old.  

He has become one of my favorite Thanksgiving Decorations.

His body is made out of four sections.  Three tail piece sections and one body piece.

Each section needs two pieces of felt cut the same size that are sewn together leaving a small opening to stuff it and then finish sewing it up...it is a simple whip stitch with embroidery floss of a complimentary color.  

The back feather piece is 9 1/2 inches wide.  The middle feather section is 7 1/2 inches wide and the front section is 6 1/2 inches wide.  Also the front section does not get stuffed.

This next picture is to show you how they all line up when you hot glue the pieces together.

And just to give you an idea of what the shapes are....here are some examples on 81/2 x 11 paper.   

The first one is the back tail feather.

9 1/2 in. wide and 7 1/2 in high

Next is the middle piece. 

7 1/2 in. wide and 6 in high

And the front feather

6 in. wide and 3 inches. high

And lastly the body

you can free hand a little beak and wobbly thingy... and glue on some googly eyes and tie a little ribbon around his neck.  Give him some buttons for his front and you're all set.

getting back on track

well it has been a looonngg time and I'm sorry.

We decided to take a very much needed, but very last minute vacation to my hometown in New York State and we enjoyed our visit with the family we hadn't seen in many years.  Then as we were home and trying to get back into the old routine again...we had two very good friends pass away on the same day.  The last week has been spent going to visitations and funerals.

I have some ideas I want to share with you and will try to squeeze in before November is over with.

Hang in there...I'm trying to get back on track...I hope you have a lovely weekend...

Valerie