Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Finished 2010 Christmas Tree

I figured out months ago that I never posted a picture of our completed 2010 Christmas tree. Then life happened. Oh well, only 9 months late. Below is the final tree in all it's homemade glory. Scroll down for more individual ornament photos:

Deer Ornaments
Felt deer ornament with button eyes and nose from the old button stash.


Felt Snowman Ornaments
Hand stitched face, buttons and scrap fabric for scarf.

Perishable Ornaments / Decor
The only ornaments and decorations we will have to choose to make each year would be the gingerbread cookie ornaments (above) and the popcorn and cranberry garland (below). 
For 2011, I might make felt gingerbread instead of the cookies - but nothing compares to the popcorn/cranberry garland with the little pops of color.  That just might have to be an annual creation!
 

Now, it's already time to start more ornaments for 2011!  I've already got a few new ideas I've started to play with... I just hope I have enough time to make a few more this year to add to the collection.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Tree Topper finished

Our tree finally has a topper!  We originally wanted some sort of star on top, but I decided on a poinsettia, which is still "star like."











































Felt Poinsettia Tree Topper
I made this from mainly felt and wire.  Each of the petals are two layers of felt hand-sewn together, and the larger petals have a loop of wire pushed up to the tip so they can be arranged for a more three-dimensional look. The middle is made from a couple of layers of different colored felt along with small jingle bells on wire and pushed through a small piece of felt.

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Tree is Up!

(warning, long post....)

The Christmas tree is up!...but there's still ornaments to make... 
Below a quite a few pictures of ornaments, and the decorated tree full of homemade ornaments. There is still work to be done, though!  I plan on making a popcorn/cranberry garland and decorated gingerbread men - along with other things.  I will take more pictures of ornaments I didn't photograph this time and post them soon.  On to the ornaments!


























Pine Cone Ornaments
Pine cone ornaments are glittered and hung! These two didn't want to come out of the tree separately, so I cut the branch and kept them together. It worked out well, these two ended up being my favorite of all the pine cones.



Retro Felt Ornaments
I cut some shapes that seemed retro and old fashioned, then decorated each differently.  I ran across the felt "ribbon" at World Market a few weeks ago. I thought it seems really similar to the old ric-rac ornaments, but with a newer modern twist.


Round Felt Ornaments
I sewed quite a few round felt ornaments.  On most, i used the same felt "ribbon" as the one above, but I thought we needed a bit of holly on the tree, too - made of felt and sequins.


Felt Scrap Wreath
After cutting so many shapes, I realized how many scraps were left over, so I cut some of them down to reasonable sizes, ran some thread through them, tied, and boom! done!  So quick and easy, it wanted me to cut all of my remaining felt into tiny pieces and make scrap wreaths instead of other shapes.


Vaccine Vial Wreaths
All are finished and hung!  The description of these are in an older post.


Felt Stockings
I didn't get as many of these done as I wanted - 7 total, I believe.  Oh well ...
The description for these are in an older post.


Pipe Cleaner Santa Hats
These were actually a variation on the ornament below. I cut triangle shapes from cardboard, wrapped the pipe cleaners around it, glued on a sparkly ball for the top, and those were complete!  These were pretty easy to make and came together quickly.


Pipe Cleaner Christmas Trees
Same as above - I wrapped pipe cleaners around a piece of cardboard cut into a triangle, then glued on sequins for ornaments.
























Woven Paper Ornaments
These seemed simple enough, but are a bit harder than it seems.  I had to follow directions I found online very carefully to get the correct woven look.  They are made from cardstock.



Paper Candy Cane
I say candy "cane" because, so far, this is the only one, so these are still on the list to make.  They are super, super easy to make - simply from paper and marker - so I'll probably make about 20 total.  I found the tutorial here.
 

Fancy Round Paper Ornament
I have a few of these made, and I have many more small paper circles cut, ready to be glued - there's just not enough hours in the day.  Hopefully I can get a few more of these made as well.  I described them in an earlier post.



Glittered Snowflakes and Paper Chain
These snowflakes took a lot of time.  I had to cut each one out with an exacto knife ... no way ... who am I kidding?  I would have lost my mind.  I found these gorgeous laser cut wooden snowflakes at the local craft store, and I bought all they had (10) at 40% off. We painted them white and covered them in sparkly glitter.

The paper chain is pretty simple - I used cardstock instead of construction paper for 2 reasons -- first, it would be sturdier and hold up better, and second, it would not fade from the sun or lights.  I used a paper cutter to get the strips even and to make the cutting go much quicker.



















"Merry Christmas" Letter Ornaments
Yay! I love these!  I ran across the letters at the craft store and I thought they were so cute, I could not pass them up. They looked like little cookies with candy on them.  They came as a set, so I didn't have to buy individual letters.  I made small felt ornaments and glued them on after the ornament was completely sewn together.



The Tree
Here's a wider shot of the tree.  There's a few ornaments I haven't "featured" yet - I'll try to get them all on the blog.  I don't have a picture of the entire tree .... for one reason.  No topper.  YET.   I have a plan for the topper, so hopefully I can get it done this weekend... maybe... if I'm lucky....



Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Handsewn Felt Stockings


Stocking Ornaments
I started these by creating my own stocking template on my computer. Then I cut them out and hand stitched a snowflake and finished it with a basic blanket stitch all the way around. I've only created about 6 of these so far... I hope to get 15-20 finished for the tree. The pictured ornaments are only waiting on a ribbon to be stitched into the corner and they will be ready for the tree.

Pinecone Ornaments


Pine cone Ornaments
These pine cones are from a pine tree in our front yard. They are all pretty small - only about 2-3 inches each (some even smaller), which makes them super cute. They have all been glued and glittered -- Ready for ribbons! "Finished" photos to come soon...

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Wreath Ornaments Complete!

I bought tons of ribbon yesterday - thank goodness it was 40% off!
So, with my new enormous ribbon stash, I finished all of the wreath ornaments. They are now ready for the tree!



Vaccine Vial Lid Wreaths
Made from wire and the same vial lids as the Snowman. I made almost 10 of these with the vial lids my husband brought home.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Weekend Ornaments

More homemade ornaments created this weekend. Nothing like making Christmas ornaments to get you in the mood for... Halloween...? Oh well, we did the Halloween thing on Sunday, too - full of the holiday spirit, I suppose!


Vaccine Vial Lid Wreaths
Made from wire and the same vial lids as the snowman. These wreaths still need the final touch... a ribbon bow at the top. I made almost 10 of these with the vial lids Chris brought home.



Fancy Round Paper Ornament
Made with scrapbook paper cut into circles, folded and glued together. Ribbon will be used to hang it, and possibly a bow at the top.
I figured out I need to invent a fast paper folding machine..... this is SLOW going....



Fancy Round Paper Ornament (view #2)
Made with scrapbook paper cut into circles, folded and glued together. Ribbon will be used to hang it, and possibly a bow at the top.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Snowman Ornament


Snowman Ornament
Made of plastic vaccine vial tops (large and small) of various colors (saved by my husband at his clinic), all with a small hole punched in the center, held with wire, wire "stick" arms.