Crafty Christmas

Here are some crafty projects that I've made this year for Christmas. A few of these are repeats, but good enough to show again in case you missed them the first time.

Burlap Trees

This year I made several things out of burlap. I love it. I know it is incredibly popular right now and I am not immune to all of the great ideas using burlap floating out there in cyber space. This idea was one that I came up with on my own. I love how they turned out. I used tan burlap & red burlap for the trees and decorated them with vintage buttons and laces. The trunk of each tree is a wooden thread spool.

I also experimented with making these out of vintage fabric. Of course I made one in chenille - my favorite! But I also made some out of green tapestry fabric that I bought at a yard sale for 50 cents.

I didn't take any pictures showing these being made but I can give you some simple directions if you want to try making these on your own.

You will need:
Fabric of choice
12" piece of 20 gauge wire
1 wooden thread spool
small piece of felt
Hot Glue
Laces, buttons & trims for decorating

To begin I drew a triange/tree shape - on a piece of paper and used that as my pattern. Make it as small/large as you like. I traced the pattern onto the material. Cut two pieces of material for each tree. Sew the two pieces together - leaving an opening for stuffing the tree later. For the burlap I sewed the pieces together WRONG sides together and just trimmed the material close to the seem when finished - leaving a raw edge. For the other materials I sewed the trees RIGHT sides together and then turned them right side out when sewn. Stuff the trees with fiber fill. I then inserted a wire into the center of each tree - sort of like a trunk. The wire should stick out about an inch from the bottom of the tree. Sew material closed - keep the wire sticking out.

Now, take your wooden spool and cut a piece of felt to cover the bottom of the spool. Attach with glue. Now fill the hole in the spool with hot glue. Insert the wire from the tree into the hot glue - this keeps the tree stable enough to stand on it's own. Let dry. You can now decorate the tree with trims, ribbons & buttons as you wish. I also decorated my wooden spools with paper, twine & ribbons.

These will be given as Christmas gifts this year. I also kept 4 for myself in the tan burlap. I absolutely love these and will enjoy them year after year as part of my Christmas decorations.

Candy Cane Pin

This is a repeat from a very early blog post I did right after I began my blog. Click HERE to see instructions for making this easy craft.

Holly Pins

I made these Holly Pins out of the same material that I used on the trees. To make these just trace the shape of a holly leaf onto your fabric. (The fabric I used is very thick and sturdy - thick enough to be pinned to something and stay firm.) Cut your material. Attach vintage buttons for the holly berries with hot glue. I also attached petite white rick rack around the edge of the holly shape using fabric glue. Attach a pin to the back using hot glue. I stuck this onto a vintage playing card to give as a gift.

Cookie Cutter Garland

This is another repeat. I showed this project last Christmas. I don't know about you but I have collected so many great vintage cookie cutters over the years but could never figure out a good way to display them. I came up with this idea a few years back and I still love looking at it. Instructions are shown HERE if you want to make your own!

Christmas Hair Bows

I whipped up a few fun hair bows for my daughters this year. I was able to buy several spools of Christmas ribbon on sale at Michaels after Thanksgiving for a great price. Here is what I came up with. I then hot glued the ribbons onto a hair clip. The finished bow looks cute hanging from a vintage flash card. These make great gifts for little girls (or big girls too). Use bells or small Christmas balls to add some pizazz.

Bingo Card Birds

I made these ornaments using vintage bingo/game cards. I was lucky to find a large box of vintage bingo cards at a yard sale this summer for $1.00. A very lucky find indeed. The tails are made of a book page.

I feel that I have been blessed with so many creative ideas this year. I have had great fun making the projects I have shown this year on the blog  - many using vintage or recycled materials that I have bought at yard sales and flea markets. If you want to see some of my craft projects that were done earlier this year, check out my Pinterest album "My Crafts" by clicking HERE. Follow it to keep up with all of my projects.

KayteeJane