Christmas Crafting (part 2)

I got this awesome frame at an estate auction I went to a long time ago.  Well, I thought it was really cool, but I only got 3 sides of the frame instead of 4 so I couldn't use it for it's created purpose.  Since it was green I thought it would look great for Christmas to display the Christmas Cards we received.  I tried a few different ideas before I decided on putting magnets on it and sticking it to a piece of metal I had left over from another project.  I sawed one of the pieces into a few more to make a tree shape.  Then I hot glued magnets to the back.  I like the finished product even without the cards, but love what they add to it!

Christmas Crafting (part 1)

I realize I'm a little behind for a Christmas post, but it's better late than never, right?  And, yes (part 1) means there's at least a part 2 and maybe even a 3... I'm just going with it.  We've been a little busy around here (more posts on that coming soon).  For now, I'm going to share our Christmas stockings and their holders I made.

I'll start with the stocking holders.  I'd seen several wreaths wrapped with yarn and really liked them, so I thought it'd be neat to try that.  I found these letters, made of cardboard, at a super discounted price at Hudson's.  It pays to have Q start your last name... Q and Z were the only letters left that weren't damaged.  Anyway, I decided to wrap them in yarn and here is the final product:

 
I wrapped Justins Q in red and mine in green (of course).  I really like the way they turned out.  All of our Christmas decorations turned out a little Old World and we both liked it.  After wrapping the letters in yarn I hot glued them to simple stocking holders I bought at Walmart.  I think the whole project cost about $11.  

On to the stockings, I ended up making them twice.  I thought I had some process pictures, but if I do, I can't find them now.  I first made them without batting between the outside layer and the lining.  (I had made some before with it and I thought they were too think.)  However, these were too flimsy and did not look good hung without the batting and quilting.  So, I took them apart and added it in then quilted them and sewed them back together at the top with the white cuff in between the outside layer and lining.  I didn't use a pattern, I just sketched the shape I wanted onto the fabric and copied it over to the rest so they would match.  They look a little different than traditional stockings because of the curled toe.  We like the whimsy of the finished product.

 I also wrapped yarn around a wooden letter and attached it to the stocking by tying it to the loop used to hang it.  The J was a little difficult to wrap, I had to undo the first attempt, but got it on the second!











We really enjoyed our mantle decorations this Christmas.  I'm looking forward to decorating it again... Christmas will be here again in no time!

Is it too early to start decorating for Christmas?

I haven't decided my answer to that question yet.  But it surely isn't too early to start sewing for Christmas! I made this pillow cover a few days ago and I wanted to share.  I think I'm going to cover all my sofa throw pillows for Christmas this year.  Pictures to come when I finish that.

As for my exciting announcement from the last post... well, it fell through.  But I am using the Christmas fabric from this post to make lots of Christmas goodies, which is lots of fun.  More projects to come, I just want to share my first since I have been a little "blog quiet" for a while.   


Here's a closer photo of the pillow:

So, what do you think?  When do you start decorating?