Funky Paper Angels

Ok now for a project that does work and that is sooo easy that anyone can do it and would be fun to have people make for themselves at a party even.

I ended up making them for a friend to take to her tree trimming party.  And everyone liked them so much I thought the kids in my family would get a kick out of them, but then they were just so funny I mad one for every family member.  And then they were so easy I made them for all of my friends and passed them out at a party I had this weekend.

Huge Hit!

My cousin and brother Are kind of towards the top and theirs are hysterical cause my cousin looks like he has a mullet and has a weird face and my brothers got his big ole tongue hangin out!

I also like how my grand parent's turned out using old black and white pics!  I might have to redo my other grandparents angels, I have a great picture of my grandfather in the army with a cig in his mouth that would probably turn out pretty funny!

So here is what you do.  I got the pictures and cropped it down to everyone's faces, then in publisher I laid them all out onto a page and tried to make everyone's head size about the same.  Then I just printed it out on a piece of card stock and cut them out.  The goofier the picture the funnier the angel.

Then I took a ton of scraps of scrapbook paper and free hand cut triangles for the body and then I used a contrasting paper for the wings and free hand cut them as well.  Using scrap book glue I glued them all together.

I cut silver tinsel piper cleaners into threes and hot glued them to the backs of the heads and when they were dry I curled the pipe cleaners down into halos.

If I had thought of making these earlier and had some more time I could have decorated them a bit and the possibilities are endless!  I tried to match up paper patterns to fit personalities.  

I plan on using these instead of gift tags to Identify everyone's presents.

Some tips:  It would be great to laminate them before adding the halos or use sturdier paper for the bodies and wings.

Enjoy!

Christmas Carol Art

I fell in love with this pic on Pinterest and decided to make an attempt on a smaller scale for my home.

http://pinterest.com/pin/196821446184586110/

And this is how it turned out.  Not too bad, although I like the white on charcoal better, but it was easier to do the black on white to try for the first time.

 I added some gold and silver glitter to accent the letters and give it a twinkling effect.

I have 2 ornaments that I will be sharing with y'all this weekend.  Nothin like some last minute crafting:)

Birdie Goodie Bags

I am making cookies to give out to my coworkers and neighbors and I was trying to figure out what to put them in without spending a fortune on containers.  So I picked up some brown paper bags and figured something would come to me.  I was thinking about using book pages to make birds to glue to the bags and one of the bajillion Pottery Barn catalogs that I got this holiday was sitting on the coffee table so I decided to recycle instead:)

I freehand cut a bird from a page in the catalog and also a wing

Bird

 Wing

 I made a small fold at the top of the wing so that it was 3 dimensional 

I glued the bird to the bag and then the flap on the wing

This is what it looks like

Then I decided to stamp Peace under the birdie

I start with the middle letter so it is centered

Then you stamp the letters out from the center letter

Stamping all done!

Here are a few others

Fold over the bag and cut off some of the excess

I punched 2 holes at the top of the folded bag

Then strung ribbon through the holes and finish with a bow

And here is the final product:)

I did 12 or so in about 30 minutes or so sitting in front of the tv and they cost almost nothing to make!

I will probably print labels to stick to the backs to let them know what cookies are in the bag and who its from.

Tips... I plan on putting the cookies in ziplock bags before putting them in the paper bag so they don't go stale.

Also when cutting out the birds I tried to place the template over prettier pages and traced the shape and then I tried to choose a wing in a contrasting color.  

Deck the Halls!

Here Are My Christmas Decorations this Year!

I wnet with burlap, leopard and Gilver (mix or silver and gold) with some curly twigs,  There are small pops of red too, of course!

I ran out of Extension cords!  I have since fixed this problem but I am sure the mailman gave it funny looks for a couple days:) 

 Please excuse the mess

 This is how I ended up finishing the tree skirt I started in this tutorial HERE

After posting these pics I realized that I haven't taken a full shot of the tree completely decorated...

More to come and Part 2 of the tree skirt tutorial will be posted soon too.

5 years of Christmas

This year will be 5 years that Chris and I have known each other.  We were good friends before we fell in love:) I though I would share some pics at Christmas time over the past four years.

2007 at a Law School Holiday Party

2008 On our porch on Drew St.

2009 at Chris' parents house 

2010 at Chris' Alumni Holiday Party

Next week we will be going to a Holiday party so I can add this year's pic, and I have a great craft that I am doing using these pics too!  I'll have a tutorial for that soon.

Coal Gift Boxes

Love this tutorial for boxes that look like coal from Martha Stewart!

http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/lump-of-coal-gift-box-with-a-secret#slide_0

Super Easy Tree Skirt Tutorial Part 1

I am not great at sewing.  I am sure that if I applied myself and really concentrated, I would get better, but I just don't have a lot of time for that.

Last few years I have been using some fabric wrapped loosely around the bottom of my tree.  So I did some research and realized making a tree skirt isn't so hard and so I decided to give it a shot.

If you are capable of sewing well, then choose whatever fabric you please.  If you are like me I recommend fleece or burlap, and to expect a shabby chic look!

I chose burlap.  Here we go!

1.  Spread fabric out on the floor and find the spot you would like for your middle,  I measured the width and divided it by half and used that as my middle.

2. Tie a marker to a string and tape the other end to your center spot.

3.  Draw a circle with your marker

 4.  Cut your fabric along the marked line.  I cut along the inside of the maker line so that it was cut off.  Although you can see where I messed u a little.  You can flip over the fabric if that happens.  If you are using Fleece you will have a nice clean line that wont fray.

5.  I decided to add a ruffle using burlap ribbon.  Making ruffles with burlap is sooo easy.  At the edge of your strip you can just pull a string of the burlap the runs along the top and it gathers right away.

6.  I did run a loose stitch through the ruffle to sew it to the skirt.  It was nice and sloppy because I plan on covering it up.  It could look cool to use red embroidery floss to run a thick craft stitch along the top.

7.  This will be in part 2 of the tutorial which I will post in a couple of weeks.  I plan on bordering the entire ruffle with these rosettes made from Muslin.  I will show a tutorial for the rosettes this week!

I hope this was informative and inspires you to make one for yourself!!