December

For the last month of the year, December, I decided to freehand a Christmas tree with glitter glue. Then I wrote out 'December' at the bottom.  Tomorrow I'll put the finishing touches on whole calendar.  

Hope you've enjoyed!  Happy DIYing!

Pom-poms and Glitter glue!

      Today I added some glitz to the stocking I made a few days ago.  I thought a pom-pom would look fabulous on the hanger-loop.  And of course I wanted to personalize it with my nieces' name.  That way Santa know's it's her's!  I didn't want to go too overboard, so I left it at that. 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 

- Yarn

- Scissors

- Cardboard

- Pencil

- Glitter glue

Directions:

       Use a round cup that is around 3.5 inches in diameter, and trace four circles onto a piece of cardboard.  In the center of two of the circles draw a smaller circle, then draw two lines about 1/4 inch apart coming down from the inner circle to the outer circle.  Cut out all four larger circles.  Now take the two circles you drew the smaller circles on, and cut out the smaller circles including the notch you made in the outer doughnut.  Place one of the doughnuts down with the cut-out facing you.  Cut a piece of yarn about 12 inches long, place the piece of yarn on top of the doughnut going around the inner circles, with the two ends coming down where the notch is.  Then place the other doughnut on top of the first doughnut, sandwiching the yarn in-between. 

                                                                                               

               


       Now start wrapping yarn around both pieces of cardboard.  I started in the center with the end on outside edge coming down the front, then wrapping around the backing.  Continue wrapping to the right, when you reach the end go back over the right, then down the left.  When you reach the bottom of the left side come back up to the center, and end here with the tale on the outside edge.   

      Next place the whole thing down and with one hand hold the piece down, then run the scissors between the two pieces of cardboard at the top edge cutting the yarn.  Once you've cut all the way around tie the 12 in. length of yarn tight, make as many knots as you feel necessary.  Remove the cardboard doughnuts.  

     Take the two cardboard circles you haven't used yet, and sandwich the yarn between the two.  Pin the cardboard in place with your largest needle in the center.  Trim any of the strings that seem too long.  

     Remove the cardboard, and then fluff up the pom-pom.  I used the tail to tie the pom-pom onto the stocking.  

     After all that hard work I played around on a piece of scrap fabric that matched the stocking.  I used my favorite tool - glitter glue, and tested the way the different glitter looked on the fabric, and with the font I used looked.  I picked my favorite look (with some help from my husband and mom), and wrote out Annabel's name on the stocking.  

A simple Christmas tree

Lately I've been rather lazy on the DIY front, especially in the card making department (usually that's my specialty).  Thus, this year my cards are rather simple.  Though I'm of the opinion that you can never go wrong with a handmade card.  How could anyone be disappointed in all the energy and love you've put into crafting such a personalized greeting?

What you'll need:

•  Scrapbook paper (with a pattern, at least 5 in. X 10 in.)
•  Scrap card stock (at least 5 inches square)
•  Scissors 
•  Pencil
•  Gold or silver glitter glue (I used the band Stickles, works well and great applicator)
• "Merry Christmas" Sticker

Directions:

Draw a Christmas tree on a scrap piece of card stock.  This will be your template, so it doesn't matter what the paper looks like, but it does help if it's on the thicker side (makes it easier to trace).  After you're happy with the way your tree looks, cut it out. Now it's time to pick out your scrapbook paper.  Keep in mind the pattern will be the front of the card, the inside should be a solid color.  You'll want to pick a pattern that will look good as a Christmas tree.  Stripes in holiday colors work well!  Fold your scrapbook paper in half, with pattern side in; plain side out.  

With the folded side on the left, place the tree on the paper.  Keep the bottom left side of the template touching the fold.  Trace the template tree onto your scrapbook paper with the pencil.  Now you can start cutting out the card.  You'll want to start with the right side.  This side is the open side, so you can cut through both sheets of paper.  Once you reach the top of the tree and start going down the left side, you'll cut through both layers of paper for the top half of the tree.  For the bottom three tree arms you'll want to keep the fold in tack.  You may need to extend the arms more, and make them a bit thicker on this side.  Having the arms thicker on this side is really important, if they aren't thick enough you're card will tear down the middle.  When you finish cutting the tree out, you can flip the fold so the pattern side is now on the outside.  

At this point you're just adding decorations to your tree card.  I happened to have some "Merry Christmas" stickers I got on sale last year, so I used those on the front middle of my card.  Then I 'put the trim' on with the gold glitter glue.  I made a dotted zig-zag line down the tree, moving from right to left starting at the top.   Be sure to let the glitter glue dry complete before you try to write anything on the inside.