Geranium Dress

I made a few handmade Christmas presents for my friends and family, this is the only one I remembered to take pictures of. I made the Geranium Dress for my friends baby. It's made of super soft corduroy. The dress was very easy to make, It's very similar to the Washi Dress, but smaller.   

This turned out much better than the other dress I sewed for Baby H, it actually fit. I still can't get over how small some pattern pieces are for baby clothes.

Now that Christmas is over I have a stack of fabric (purchased with Christmas money) ready to sew items for myself. First up is the Staple Dress.

Lauren

Safe Ornaments + Holiday Decorating

Since Blaze is a bit of a terror in terms of destroying things left out, we figured a whole Christmas tree full of handmade (priceless) ornaments would be too irresistible for him to stay away from. It really made me sad to think about having Christmas without seeing all of our (my) favorite ornaments. In order to see them, but keep them safe we came up with a solution.

I bought a few yards of velvet cording, tied knots every few inches, strung the ornaments on the cord and hung it up from the ceiling. 

Now I can see all of our ornaments and they are safe from destructo dog. And in case you were wondering there are 34 ornaments and I made 19 of them. 

Don't let his pretending to be calm in this picture fool you. He chewed a hole in my mitten moments later. Since I wouldn't be Christmas without a tree we do have a small potted Norfolk Pine tree. It has small white lights which is huge for me since I've always had big colored bulbs. The branches on this tree would not hold the big bulbs though, so small lights it is. Please don't call me a traitor Mum. We use my cookie cutter ornaments to decorate the little tree.  Those are not appealing to a dog apparently because he has not messed with the tree once.

Blaze also seems to be afraid of the pellet stove because he has stayed away from the stockings we have hanging up. 

That's pretty much all of our holiday decor. It's been really fun to decorate (although minimally) our first home for the holidays.

What's your favorite holiday decoration?

Lauren

I Made A Wreath!

If you don't know that I am obsessed with milkweed pods then you don't know me very well. Last years project HERE and two years ago's project HERE. This year I went with the same idea as last year and then attached them to a plain wreath we bought at a craft fair.

I really like it.

To make one you'd need milkweed pods, spray paint, a hot glue gun, red berries, a wreath, and wire. Dried flowers optional. I glued the pods together into stars then spray painted both sides gold. Next I glued berries and dried flowers inside. Then we added tons of glue to the back and stuck the middle of a long piece of wire into the glob of glue to dry. After the glob has dried, wrap the sides of the wire around the wreath and tie them off. Then, stick red berries sporadically into the wreath. Lastly, hang and enjoy. Easy. I didn't even burn myself with the hot glue gun, which has never happened to me ever.

And just because I think it's really pretty, here is a kissing ball we bought the other day and hung at the bottom of the driveway.

It has snowed twice since we got it so it has a pretty layer of snow on top.

Lauren

Wooden Log Slice Christmas Sign

That's not a very inventive name. Oh well. I saw this idea on Pinterest and sent the picture to Charlie asking him to cut me some log slices. It was not a problem given all the trees he's been cutting down. It also gave him a chance to use his vice grip and hand saw, and spend more time in the garage with his tools. I don't think this project bent him out of shape like some of my other projects do.

He cut me a bunch of log slices and drilled holes through the slice near the tops. I painted them and left them to dry. In the morning some of the pieces had cracked from drying out so quickly in the kitchen near the pellet stove. I brought the bag of left over log slices inside to dry out. Blaze brought it upon himself to inspect the bag and drag all the wood around the house while we were working. He just wanted to see which ones would withstand his test. The ones that did not crack due to drying or Blaze's gnawing were then used to replace the ones that had cracked.  

After drying for a few days I used lace and some red embroidery floss to hang the slices. Thumb tacks secured them to the window casing in the dining room, and voila!

Not even 4:30pm and it's dark!

Log slice Christmas decor! I am not sure how these will stand the test of time due to all the drying/cracking, but it was a fun project and I like how it looks for now. A co-worker recommended letting the slices dry a little, then putting them in water, then drying again. Since I have little patience I obviously didn't do that. But maybe if you want to make something like this you should do those steps too.

Lauren

Thanksgiving Crafts: Gingerbread Houses

 For the last few years I have been organizing a craft for my cousin to do. I enjoy these activities as much as my cousins do. Last year we made the Cardboard Villages. This year my mom and I decided to decorate gingerbread houses. My mom was nice enough to make three houses before Thanksgiving, we put them together after the Thanksgiving rush was over. I bought all this candy before we went to Maine. Then we went to the movies, and all the candy there inspired me to buy even more. We used each kind of candy I bought, but we did not even come close to using all of the candy, even with all of the eating we all did.

The whole activity took 3+ hours. Speaking for myself, I had a blast and I think my cousins and aunts did too. Here is Macy and Mabel's house. Mabel had to leave before the activity was over.

She made a hot tub with a little guy inside. 

And a pretzel stick bon fire. 

Here is Mia's. She wouldn't let me see the front of the house because she didn't want me to copy her ideas. 

She did such a good job, I was so proud. She even made a window box outside the windows on the sides. 

My aunt Janet said she was just going to watch, then she decided to decorate this little house to look like an outhouse.

This one is mine.

The key is that when you think you're done, keep adding candy.

They looked so good all lined up. Then they all got taken home. I left the one I made with my Mom since I figured Blaze would destroy it in a matter of hours. Speaking of Blaze being naughty he ate three muffins off of the counter today and then pooped all over the house. Good thing he didn't eat three muffins and a whole gingerbread house.

This was a really fun activity. We already know what we're going to do for the craft next year.

Lauren