A few little projects...

Happy Tuesday!!  This time of year has me feeling crafty and somewhat cheesy. Here are a few little things I have been working on:

1.  family garland:  I wanted to start adding something personal and handmade to our tree every year.  This year, I busted out my cookie cutters, glitter card stock, and pencil and started tracing:

I liked the trees, but decided to go with a gingerbread family:

2.  gift tags:   Last week I saw on How About Orange that West Elm was offering free printables on their site for cards, tags, menus, etc..  Since I adore wrapping gifts, I thought these would be the perfect tags.  I was a little disappointed when I printed them on regular paper, so I thought they needed glitter.  :)  I haven't glued them on yet, but I like how they look so far.  You will also see how I plan to wrap gifts this year....just plain white paper with the sequin garland.  While I love the look of some of the really beautiful, earthy wrapping designs I saw linked from this post, I wanted something that represented us.  ...so bright and crazy and cheery it is!  :)

3.  advent calendar:  This is more of a confession than anything.  Remember when I said I wanted to do an advent calendar?  I am still working on that project.  I ended up going in a different direction from what I posted originally and it is taking forever and is stressful!  I do know how ridiculous that sounds, but it has been the most time-consuming thing ever and if I am lucky, it will be done in time for next December.  Did I mention it is the tackiest thing ever?  I am clearly obsessed with that sequin garland and was kind of going with that theme for the calendar. Each day would add another piece  to the garland and the last day would be a Santa...maybe...honestly, I haven't gotten that far yet.  Here is some of what has been going on with this project:

4.  recipe for Christmas:  This is the cheesy part I mentioned.  :)  Using parts from some of the West Elm gift tags, I put together a "recipe for Christmas" to help me calm down when I get crazy thinking about gifts and traveling and baking and random projects like the ones above.  I have this on the island in our kitchen:

Mix peace with joy with love.  :)

Feeling crafty...

Can you guess how these were used?

As much as I wanted to hold off thinking about Christmas until at least after Thanksgiving, I am suddenly feeling crafty and want to do a few fun projects!  I have to think about them now because I need to have them finished in enough time to enjoy them for the entire month of December.  :)

I have fallen in love with the first project on my list and can't wait to organize my thoughts, gather my coupons, shop for supplies, and get started!!  Here we go:

1.  Make an Advent calendar.  We had a large one (made of felt, I think) on the inside of our front door growing up (I wonder if my parents still have it!  I may need to steal it if this project doesn't work out).  There was a large Christmas tree and a calendar underneath with tiny felt ornaments in each day's pocket.  Each day the ornament was placed on the tree.  I remember the ornament for December 24th was Santa Claus and that was my favorite one.  I remember being so excited each day as we got closer and closer to that Santa!  Since I am crazy about traditions, I want to start something similar for my son and any possible future children.

I have had this tutorial from The Purl Bee bookmarked for nearly two years and think I finally have the courage to attempt it!  Since I already have one sewing project under my belt, I think I am ready to at least give it a shot!  I can only hope mine will look even remotely as good as this one from The Purl Bee :

the finished product

the materials

a close-up

Looking at the finished product, I feel confident that I can do it, but I have to admit that the step-by-step instructions are a tad intimidating.  I am hoping I can do it...or at least an acceptable version of it!!  This one is filled with sewing, quilting, and knitting supplies to be given to someone crafty.  I would obviously adapt this for our family...not quite sure how yet, but I will figure something out...some sort of small gift for each day.  We'll see.  Wish me luck!  Ha ha.

As soon as I get moving with this project, I will show more of my list!  :)