Oh Christmas Tree

Jaron and I looked for about two weeks for a live Christmas tree that we liked.  We found a few, but the biggest concern was that each time we found one Bruce made it a point to try and pee on it at the lot.  That made me apprehensive about getting a real tree, so we went with a 7.5 foot fake one.  Not ideal, but it turned out to be really full, taking over 1,200 lights and 150 ornaments!

It really turned out great!

But something was still missing … Aha!  We needed a tree skirt!

I found these two great fabrics that I thought went really well with the color scheme of our apartment.  One was gold reindeer on a cream background, and the other cream and gold poinsettias.  The colors really complemented each other quite well.

To construct it I used this great tutorial from Sew4Home.  You can find it here: Christmas Tree Skirt.  The only modification I made was that I didn’t use binding.

I think the reason I love Christmas trees so much is because every year my parents choose the most beautiful tree and decorate it to max.  Theirs was so tall this year, that I couldn’t even get the whole thing into the picture frame!

But as Christmas got closer and closer, I was disappointed to see that no one had put up our LGB Christmas train set.  So one day after work I took it upon myself to set it up.

I never realized there were so many pieces!

It was a good thing I had Bruce, Karson, and Kalvin there to help me!

After pulling all of the pieces out, I decided that I was going to use all of the track (I’m sure that’s never been done before!) and I had to get really creative with the track layout.

I may have gotten a little carried away…

But the end result was worth it!

And the stockings were hung …

The next items on my list of Christmas Crafts were the stockings for our apartment.  Not to toot my own horn, but these turned out to be sooooo cute!

I also found this tutorial at Sew4Home.  Click here for the link:  Elf Stockings.

To add a bit of flair, I used felt to applique an elf face to the crown of the stocking as well as embroidered each of our names on them.

To construct the elf faces, I used this template from Tangarang.  Find the PDF here: Elf Embroidery.

Adding a Bit of Christmas Flair

I decided that there weren’t enough Christmas decorations in our apartment.  So with some leftover fabric I created some Christmas throw pillows!

These turned out so much better than I had anticipated!

To construct them I used this great pillow slipcover tutorial from Cottage Magpie.  Get the tutorial here: How to Sew a Throw Pillow Cover.

I think the snowmen are my favorite!

OK, so I said that I was gonna do one big post on all of my Christmas crafts … but this is starting to get ridiculous.  Stay turned for Part 2 (and probably 3!) of the Christmas Rundown!

Before the first snowfall I got a request for a medium size dog coat for this lovable pup, Oscar. I just love plaid fashion coats so I applied that look to Oscar’s new winter coat.

I used a pattern featured at Craftzine, Country Gent Tweed Coat, and less than a yard for each of the fabrics. The top fabric is simple cotton quilted to a layer of batting. And the interior is a thicker cotton blend. A cozy combination to keep my four legged friend warm! And to keep his belly full I sent him home with a box of homemade treats! You can find this recipe and others at this great site: Organic Pet Digest.

Check back soon for Christmas posts!

One Sunday Evening …

As I was watching the Steelers win a Sunday night football game several weeks ago (yes, this was many weeks ago as we have all seen the Steelers take a winning season and turn it into a 5 game losing streak, *sigh*), I decided to pull out the old wire and beads I had laying around and attempt my first wire ring.  And to my surprise, it turned out great!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a ring mandrel (hint, hint, Santa!), so I am only capable of making rings that fit my own fingers (not that that’s a bad thing!).

Then a week or two later…

My friend Jaron and I moved into our glorious new apartment.  And by glorious I mean hardwood floors, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, two decks, and two master bedrooms with walk in closets and private baths.  Ahhh the glory.

To celebrate, we threw a housewarming party.  We got all of our furniture moved in and the apartment mostly decorated for the party, bought some yummy food, and got all dressed up, but something didn’t seem right … what could it be?  Oh!  It seems we forgot Bruce!  He needed to feel special too, so I whipped up a party accessory of his own …

Cute right!?  Just a little bit of ribbon for the bow tie and some cording for the collar.  It was a hit (I mean common, when isn’t he the center of attention!?).

Gobble Gobble!

Then it was time for Thanksgiving!  Jaron and I decided to have Thanksgiving dinner at our new place, inviting our closest friends.  The week prior, I needed something to keep me busy, so my best friend in the whole world, Sarah, and I decided to sew up some aprons for the big day!  Using leftover material from Crystal’s napkins and place mats and this awesome Hostess Apron with Dreamy Bow tutorial from Sew4Home, I came up with a beautiful new apron!  Sarah also crafted one up from this beautiful country garden-like material, and we made one more from a festive fall fabric for our friend Monica and a little one from scraps for Sarah’s beautiful daughter, Grace.  We were the queens of the kitchen that day!

Since then, I’ve been like a elf in Santa’s Workshop, slaving over Christmas gifts and decorations!  It has been consuming most of my time, but the payoff will be well worth it!

Until next time,

PS – I purchased a new camera since my last post, and I LOVE IT!  The quality of pictures are so much better!  Can you tell?

And since I can no longer pass up the opportunity to craft up a gift for someone, I spent weeks prior to the wedding looking for the perfect wedding gift tutorial for the happy couple.  After lots of pondering I decided to sew up a set of place mats and matching napkins for Crystal and Chris’ new home!  And I found the perfect tutorial at Sew4Home.com – Place Mats – Napkins.  It took quite awhile to finish these, but the end result was amazing!

To package them up, I used scraps from the green fabric to make ribbon (you can find a great how-to from Mairuru here: Patchwork String).

I also bought these fabulous glass napkin rings to go with the set, and used scraps to make a drawstring bag to package them.

The pouch was simple to make, click here for a tutorial From BunnyBum: Drawstring Bag.

And to finish the gift off, I put two matching personal notes inside that I whipped up in Photoshop.

This project was so much fun!  And I think this acted as the inspiration for the many ‘Home Accessories’ projects that I have been working on the past couple of weeks.

My next post will feature my second in command, Bruce Wayne! (Doesn’t he look so cute here!)

See you soon!