feeling a little Christmas-y?

Although I haven't done any Christmas crafting or sewing yet, I thought I'd share my Christmas type tutorials here again if you're getting in that Christmas groove.  Who knows, maybe you're already done with your Christmas crafting?  After all, there's only 18 days before Christmas...

[Snowflake Pillow Tutorial]

[Christmas Stocking Tutorial]

[Pocket Advent Calendar Tutorial]

And just for fun, a little Christmas pinterest inspiration never hurt anyone...

                                                                     Source: nanacompany.typepad.com via Gail on Pinterest

                                                               

Source: sometimescrafter.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

                                                                       Source: creaturecomfortsblog.com via Gretel on Pinterest

                                                                            Source: weheartit.com via Kari on Pinterest

Thanks for reading everyone, I will be making something new soon, I've taken a long break, longer that I ever though I would or could. So it'll be nice to get back into the swing of making. Your comments, support, and friendships mean so much to me.  Thank you.

Pocket Advent Calendar Tutorial

{Just re-posting this in case you missed this one too.  Shared during Gwen's Haul out the Holly.}

I've always wanted to make an advent calendar for my girls, so when Gwen asked me for a Christmas project, this was my chance.

While this isn't the quickest project to make, it's easily constructed with just some basic sewing skills and will make great memories for you and your family.  For my pockets, I included little activity cards.  So each day of the calendar we have a fun activity planned. 

Of course I couldn't resist throwing some candy in here and there.  Here's a free printable of all the cards with the activities I have planned so if you'd like, you can print them out, too.

Materials needed:

1/4 yard cuts of preferably 5 different prints, or you could definitely do this with scraps
1 yard of muslin (to line the pockets and back the base fabric)
1 yard linen or base fabric for your calendar
1 yard fusible interfacing (I used an extra heavy drapery interfacing that was extra wide, but if you're using other fusible interfacing you can just cut and fuse pieces into place since most interfacing is 22" wide)
bias tape or ribbon for hanging
1/4" wooden dowel
number stamps (can be found at Michael's or Hobby Lobby)
ink pad
1/2" wide twill tape
(2) 3/8" grommets

{1/4" seam allowances unless otherwise stated}

Cut your pieces:

For the individual pockets, cut one front and one lining piece both 4.5" wide by 3.5" tall.  Cut 25 of each.  Next cut 25 twill tape pieces to a little over 4.5" wide.  Cut the calendar base and backing fabrics to 30" by 30".  And for the dowel pocket cut one piece 27" wide by 3.5" tall.

Sew the pockets:

Place the twill tape on the front pocket piece lining the bottom of the tape about 2" from the bottom of the pocket. 

Sew down both sides of the twill tape to secure. 

Next, place the front pocket and pocket lining pieces RIGHT sides together.  Sew around perimeter leaving a 2" opening in bottom of pocket.  Clip corners, turn right side out through opening.  Press.  Repeat for all 25 pockets.  Set aside.

Sew the calendar base:

Fuse interfacing to WRONG side of calendar base.  Place calendar base and backing RIGHT sides together, pin, and sew using a 5/8" seam allowance, but leave a 6" opening in one side for turning.  Clip corners and turn right side out.  Press.  Be sure to tuck in raw edges left from the opening you left for turning and topstitch around entire perimeter of the calendar base. 

Sew the dowel pocket:

{This can more easily be done using twill tape or ribbon, but I used fabric, if you choose to use ribbon or twill tape just remember to tuck in the raw edges of the ends of the tape or ribbon and sew down each long side}

Press the short edges towards the WRONG side by 1/2".  Fold the fabric in half the long way RIGHT sides together and sew entire length.  With a safety pin, turn right side out and press. 

Pin at top of calendar base backing and stitch both the top and bottom long edges.  You'll wait until the end to slip in the dowel, it's just there to give everything more stability for hanging.

Sew on pockets:

Arrange all pockets into a 5x5 grid and pin in place. Sew all 25 pockets into place, stitching down the right side of each pocket, across the bottom and up the left side.  Be sure to back stitch at the top of each side of each pocket.  I found the best way to sew the pockets on was to roll the calendar up so it tucked into the arm of my machine, sort of like how you might do it for quilting a quilt.

After you have sewn on all your pockets, it's time to stamp the numbers on them. Using your rubber number stamps and black ink stamp the numbers 1 through 25 on the middle of each pocket's twill tape strip.

Attach grommets in both top corners of the advent calendar, slip the dowel into place, and it's ready for filling and hanging!  This would also be a really fun project to use some colorful felt for the pockets, too!

christmas and real life

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you enjoy it happily and safely with your friends and families.

Please know that everyone who reads this blog is greatly appreciated.  Thanks for stopping by, leaving comments, and just hanging out. 

I also want to say that for anyone out there who's struggling in their life, may you be blessed with friendship and love and know that you are not alone. 

I know it's hard to understand in blog land, everything always seems so perfect, even if people try not to be perceived in such a way.  I for one know that my blog is filled with things I love.  My favorite pictures, my favorite projects, and on and on, but in real life we do have real struggles.  A real house with really big messes.  Real children who test and demand.  A real husband who is in need of a real wife. 

But I love it, I love it all, without any of it, I would feel incomplete.  So this is my happy place where everything is neat and orderly and beautiful because we all know that real life really sometimes isn't.

christmas star table runner

{Be sure to enter my giveaway, too}

Glad I was able to get this little project out of my head, maybe now I can move on to making some Christmas presents!  Do you ever get like that?  One track mind - must get this project done type of thing?  Okay, maybe it's just me, but sometimes I just get fixated on a certain project on my to-do list and everything else gets put aside.

So I actually had almost an entire day to myself this weekend, all by myself in my own house.  YES!!!! That never happens - ever. I'm usually lucky for an hour or so here and there.  Each year my husband's family gets together to do a cookie bake and decorating sessions with all the cousins, so I shipped them off for the day.  It was really nice. Got to wrap presents, clear out about 6 bags full of goodies for goodwill, and even decided to do a little sewing.

I'm still using up my fabric from my other Christmas projects from this year and last.  So far I've made a tree skirt, 4 stockings, one advent calendar, and now this table runner.  Not too shabby, plus there's a bit leftover that I might force myself into making into a pillow (okay, I probably won't have to force myself into making a pillow, hahaha).

I had to throw in some hand quilting in there, not really because I planned it, but because once I had the top all sewn up it looked like it need some extra contrast to make the stars really punch.  And finished it off with some shot cotton for the binding. 

All in all I'm happy with the way it turned out, I even machine stitched on the binding again, extra speedy!

half eaten ornaments

Here's our half eaten gingerbread men!  I love projects that have a bit of humor in them.  Sometimes you just need a good laugh.  And the girls love these. 

| Half Eaten Gingerbread Man Ornament Tutorial by Elsie Marley |

I made a couple extra to attach to some Christmas presents.  They were so fun, I even officially learned how to tie a french knot. 

I used my Grandma's baby ric rac and some vintage red buttons I had scored at an estate sale last year. I also used the ric rac as the hanger, just sewed it in when I was stitching the gingerbread man's head together.  This was a super cheap project, I only had to buy the felt which I think was about $1.  Niiiice.

I think that'll be all my handmade ornaments this year.  There are so many cute tutorials and patterns and kits out there it's hard to choose.

snowflakes (and a mini-tutorial)

What's more Christmasy than snowflakes?  I was strolling through target the other day and saw some cute snowflake pillows - simple and modern looking.  So I was all excited to write up a little tutorial for this quick project, and then I saw Amy's post the other day with her snowflake pillow tutorial from last year.   Darn, she beat me to it.  Anyway, it's about the same concept as the pillow I was going to make.  I'll just give you a rundown of what I did and give you a snowflake template for you to make your own!

{makes two 18" pillow covers}

3/4 yard red felt
2 sheets cream or off-white felt, or 1/2 yard (you'll have a lot leftover if you buy yardage)
snowflake template

Cut your snowflake using the template:

I printed the snow flake on my printer, then laid the paper on top of my felt.  Using and exacto knife I cut on top of the lines of the snowflake.  Lift the paper off the felt and re-cut any lines as necessary if you missed any spots.  I used my 28mm rotary cutter and it worked well to trim off the excess. 

Cut your pillow cover pieces:

Cut two pillow top pieces 18" by 18", cut 4 backing pieces (for an envelope style closure) 12" by 18".

Sew the snowflake onto the pillow top, it'll stick nicely since it's felt on felt. Yes, it's a lot of small stitches and turning, but it really isn't too bad. Just take your time and stitch about 1/8" away from all raw edges.

You wouldn't have to finish the edges of the felt if you didn't want to since felt doesn't fray, but for the envelope back pieces I just turned mine over by 1/2"  on one of the long edges and sewed it down, do this for each of the four backing pieces.

Sew pillow together.  Place pillow top piece RIGHT side up on your work surface.  Place both backing pieces RIGHT side down on top of the pillow top piece.  Pin and sew along entire perimeter using a 3/8" seam allowance. Clip corners.  Turn right side out, stuff in your pillow form and go find a spot to cozy in with it at your couch.

Advent Calendar Activity Printable

Hope you got a chance to check out my Pocket Advent Calendar tutorial yesterday.  We've been having fun trying to keep the candy I did put in the pockets in place (some little sneaky girls like to steal it out of there). 

Even though I did add in a little candy to our advent Calendar, I also came up with activities for each day until Christmas and wanted to share those cards with you!

I tried to make them applicable to anyone anywhere, so I made extra activities for those of you with no snow.  So print out the cards, pick which activities you like and you're good to go. 

For ours, I printed the cards on a nice recycled looking paper, punched the top with a square hole puncher and then tied a 6" piece of baker's twine through each hole.  Slipped the cards into each pocket and we're ready for a fun filled December. 

I thought it also could be fun to hang these tags on a bunch of bare tree branches in a vase, or even on your Christmas tree. 

Colored Advent Activity Cards (PDF)

Black & White Advent Activity Cards (PDF)

ps. the decorative tape at the bottom of the cards is from Michaels, it's by Martha Stewart in her Christmas collection. For the printables I added a snowflake in that spot, but you can cover it up if you wish!

pocket advent calendar tutorial

I was excited that Gwen asked me over today to share a Christmas tutorial with you all. I've always wanted to make an advent calendar for my girls, so when Gwen asked me for a Christmas project, this was my chance.

Click HERE for the full tutorial over at Gwenny Penny!

Oh, and don't forget to stop by tomorrow and I'll share a printable of the activity cards that I'm putting in our advent calendar. 

my nephew's Christmas stocking

I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted to have this present finished up so it can be used this Christmas season.  My newest nephew Grant was born in September and since his mom and dad already have stockings I made them a couple years ago, I figured it would be the perfect project.

I used my own Christmas Stocking Tutorial. It was actually perfect timing because a few people were asking me about the old file, so I updated the pdf file of the pattern pieces so that it prints on 3 sheets of letter size paper.  I should also add that I omitted the small fabric strip below the name on this version (my tutorial calls for a small piece sewn between the name and the body of the stocking - just didn't want this to mess anyone up who plans on making a stocking).

Good thing Grant's name isn't very long, it only took me a few hours to do the embroidery.  I had fun taking this not so Christmas-y fabric and making it Christmas looking.  The little lines are just long running stitches with embroidery floss and make it nice and quilted.  :)

I really love this size stocking, it's big enough to fit some really fun stocking stuffers, just looking out for ya Grant...

ps. I'd like to add that it's been terribly dreary and raining here lately, I am almost to the point where I'm wishing for snow in hopes of brightening things up around here, it's almost impossible to get a good picture when it looks like it's 5 o'clock at night all day long.  Such is life...

Last Minute Gifts

I'm pushing through these last few projects that are left on my to-do list for Christmas giving.  Eek!  I'm a little behind.  Probably a bit ambitious, but you know, why not.  I put together a kitchen gift set for my boss, she's an excellent cook and I know she'll appreciate it.  Jacquie over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio has an awesome tutorial on how to make these great potholder/dishtowel sets.  (She also has a ton of other great info and tutorials.  If you haven't visited her blog before - you'd better!) 

My other boss is a simple kind of guy, his famous quote is "if you can't carry it in a backpack you probably don't need it".  How many bosses say that?!  So I made him some Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps and put them in this cute little box.  Yum!  My husband had also made grape jam earlier this fall and we are giving them each a jar. 

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!  I've got a few more gifts to show off, so I might post some before Christmas or the day after. 

Emily's Christmas Shirt and a gift

I finally feel like I might be turning a corner with my sewing projects.  I've gotten quite a few crossed off the old list, but then again, I seem to add another one each day. 

I decided it was a good idea at eleven one night to start Emily's Christmas shirt.  It wasn't a bad idea, the whole shirt from cutting the fabric and figuring the measurements to the finished shirt only took less than an hour.  And it fits!  At least she doesn't care about what she wears like her older sister.  For now anyway...

I used the blueprints tutorial again, but left the elastic out of the sleeves.  I also added a contrast bottom to the hem.  I figured with this fabric combination she can wear it past Christmas.  How cute is it with jeans?! 

My next project had been on my list for a long time, I'm now wondering why I waited sooo long to make it?  It took all of 15 minutes and I think it's quite handsome.  What is it you ask?  It's a foot warmer for my brother for Christmas!  He spends a lot of time on the computer and always gets cold feet (it runs in the family, spending time on the computer and getting freezing cold feet that is).  I'll be making more of these for sure, hope he likes it!

Tiny Christmas Houses Ornaments

Natalie and I both saw these paper ornament houses at Michael's a while back and I couldn't stop thinking about them (crazy, I know).  Then I saw some ornaments made out of the same blank houses in a BHG magazine, although I can't find them online anywhere now, but they decorated them so cute . Anyway,  the funny thing is that the one looks almost exactly like our house!  Had to have them.  It was super fun painting and glittering them!

A tiny church, too.

I decorated them to go with the lime green/red color scheme my Christmas stuff has going on.  I'm going to have to hang them really high up on the tree so little fingers don't steal them! 

Broken ornament count as of today: 4

Anyone know why they make ornaments out of glass?!  I should probably have gotten some child proof ones a long time ago.