handmade holidays: doll quilt and pillow

I am making the most of my burst of energy before this sweet girl arrives and tackling a list of sewing "to dos". One of my friends asked me to make a doll blanket for her grand-daughter and I came across this tutorial from Being Brook.

Brook used minky and cotton for her blanket, but I had a yard of this sweet flannel and it worked out great. You can often find flannel on sale for less than $3 a yard, so it's a quick and inexpensive gift for a little girl on your Christmas list!

Tiny Prints Holiday Cards {Giveaway}

If your friends are anything like mine, my Facebook feed has been filled with sneak peeks of family photo sessions...getting just the perfect photo for this year's Christmas card! We are going to wait until Mollie makes her arrival, so our cards may be sent out a little closer to Christmas this year! I ordered our Christmas Cards from Tiny Prints last year and could not get over the quality of their cards. I have peeked around on the Tiny Prints website and found a few of my favorites for this year. Once again, they are up with the trends of the year... We all love good chalkboard art!

How about combining the ever-popular chalkboard and washi tape trends?

 

Ikat print fabric has been all over the decorating blogs this season...

 

Have you seen the gingham-painted wall in the Southern Living Design House?  This sweet card (that also serves as an ornament) reminded me of that!

 And another chalkboard art look using a fantastic font...

Tiny Prints has offered one lucky 517 Creations reader $50 towards your Christmas card order! This does not include shipping and cannot be combined with other promo codes and expires 12.14.2012.  Simply enter via the easy Rafflecopter form below.  Winner will be selected on November 17th (assuming I'm not having a baby that day!  If I'm having a baby, stay tuned for the giveaway winner!).  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
If you'd rather not wait to see if you won the giveaway, check out Tiny Print's Special Offers page for coupons and deals!

Disclosure: In exchange for this post, I will be receiving a gift code from Tiny Prints to use toward my photo card order.  I received no further compensation.  Opinions, as always, are 100% mine.

pinspiration: yarn-wrapped trees

I wanted to pop in this morning and share a quick tutorial for an idea that I found on Pinterest!


While browsing Pinterest one day, I came across these adorable yarn-wrapped Christmas trees. I loved the look but there was no tutorial!

Source: suziebeezie.tumblr.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

I happened upon these paper mache trees at Michael's craft store - you can find them in the Christmas craft aisle. They were available in 2 sizes, so I picked up 1 large one (it measures 13 inches) and 2 smaller ones (they measure 10.5 inches), a skein of mossy green yarn, and a bag of white pom poms.  I loved the look of the felted wool balls in bright colors, but they were no where to be found around town, so I settled for white pom poms!

Here is the cone as you find it at Michaels...

I started by hot gluing the end of the yarn on the inside of the cone to secure it.

From there, I started wrapping the yarn around the bottom of the cone.  I hot glued a few rows to make sure they were secure. Once those three or four rows were secure, I started wrapping the yarn all the way up the cone.  I didn't bother with keeping perfect rows...I liked the way that the yarn overlapped in the original pin.  In fact, I thought I might need to use spots of glue all the way up the cone, but the yarn stayed wrapped pretty tightly since it wasn't in perfect, neat rows.  Bonus!

Here is the smaller cone after it was totally wrapped.  It looks time consuming, but the small trees only took about 10 minutes to wrap each one!

Once the three trees were wrapped, I simply hot glued pom poms randomly around the trees.

All three trees in a little group on our piano! I love the whimsical look it adds without being too over-the-top.  I think I might go back and add wooden stars to the tops to make them look a little more like my inspiration, but I think they look pretty sweet as they are!

Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?  I can hardly wait!

christmas in July…

I know it’s July 31, but I am already dreaming of Christmas! If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ve probably noticed. Maybe it’s the constant over 100-degree temperatures we’re experiencing, or the promise of a sweet baby girl arriving at the end of November, but all I can think about is Christmas! 

Here are some “Christmassy” things that I’ve seen that I just love and can’t wait to recreate in our home this winter…

Source: aimee-weaver.blogspot.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

 

A worn wood crate, mason jars, epsom salt, and candles...so beautiful!

Source: aimee-weaver.blogspot.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

 

I love the way Aimee Weaver uses an old card display rack to perfectly display Christmas cards! I'm on the hunt for one now!

Source: etsy.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

 

What a cute, easy mantle decor idea! Love the stripes and spots!

Source: fleamarketstylemag.blogspot.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

 

 

We all know how much I love book pages and sheet music...these ornaments would be perfect for our tree! I can see making them using plastic, nonbreakable ornaments for our tree!

What about you?  Are you dreaming of Christmas or thoroughly enjoying the hottest summer on record?

thankful ornaments…

***This was originally a guest post over at Cap’s Creations blog the other day.  I thought I’d post it here as well. Enjoy!***

The project I wanted to share with you today is a little something that you can do with your kids before you pack away all of your Christmas decorations.  I called it our thankful ornament.

We made this one in 2006, just after our first year of marriage, and used to it "record" things that we were thankful for from that year.



I simply typed out things that we were thankful for (on plain computer paper), cut the paper into 1/4 inch strips, rolled them into "curls" in stuck them in the ornament.  I also added some "curls" of red and green scrapbooking paper. 



To make it easier to see what we were thankful for from that year, I created a little tag to attach to the top of the ornament that listed everything. Tie a few ribbons to the top and you're done!



It's a fun tradition and a great way to look back on the great things from the past years!

The girls over at Shanty2Chic just posted a variation on this project a few days ago.  Check it out here.

Wouldn't this be great to do with your kids before New Years?  Especially since you can find all of the Christmas stuff for more than 50% off!

a late christmas craft…

Do you still have your Christmas decorations up, trying to make the most of the Christmas season? Or do you put everything away on December 26th, ready for a fresh, clean start?  We definitely keep our decorations up until January 1 to extend the Christmas season a little at our cozy, little house.

If you still have ornaments out and are looking for a great, quick craft to do with your kids, I have one for you…a Rudolph handprint ornament. 



It will take you more time to gather your supplies for this ornament than it will to complete it, but it’s cute and simple! You’ll need white cardstock, green cardstock (if you wish), brown paint, red paint, and a black marker.

Paint your child’s hand with the brown paint and “stamp” it.  When the paint dries, add Rudolph’s nose using your child’s pinky fingertip (or the end of a paint brush), add eyes and antlers, and write your child’s name and the year on the side.  You can also cut the ornament out and back it with a different color cardstock.  Laminate it for durability, add a ribbon hanger, and you’re done!


This is Grayson’s Rudolph from two years ago.  Rudolph’s legs are a little blurry due to getting wet when our pipe burst last year, but I refuse to throw it away.  Memories, right??  Looking back I wish I had used the same hand for the ornaments, so I could have a true progression of Grayson’s growth on the Christmas tree, but there’s always next year! 

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If you’re looking for some Christmas books to add to your collection before you put them away, I have 2 excellent recommendations that we read and love at our house:

A Star so Bright by M. Christina Butler

This is a sweet story, very well written, with beautiful illustrations.  The excerpt from the back reads:

“The bear cubs awake from their deep winter slumber. 
 ‘What can it be?’ they cry, breathless with wonder.

Where has the mysterious star come from? What can it be? The animals follow the star through the pages of this magical story to find a very special surprise at the end.

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

A sweet, sweet story of a crippled lamb that feels left out.  The continual reminder for the lamb (and for all of us) is that “God always has a special place for those who feel left out.”  The lamb ends up being present at Jesus’ birth, using his wool to keep the baby warm…being able to be in the exact place in the exact time he was needed only because of his handicap.

I’ve included the Amazon links for you, but I’m sure you’ll be able to find these at your local bookstore – I even found The Crippled Lamb half off at a Lifeway book store yesterday!
Happy reading!

merry christmas from our family to yours…

*LOVED my 50 free cards from Tiny Prints!  They turned out beautifully and I loved sending them to family and friends.  I wish I could send one to all of you!*

 When I came across this card on the TinyPrints website, I knew it was the perfect card for us this year.  I feel so incredibly blessed this year - blessed that I have a wonderful husband, a sweet and enthusiastic 4-year-old, and a cozy home to spend the Christmas holidays in this year.

Thank you so much for reading this little ol’ blog of mine this year!  I love all of the sweet comments and “blog love” that show up in my inbox.  2011 has been a wonderful year, but I’m so looking forward to
2012!

o christmas tree…

Our Christmas tree resides in Grayson’s playroom.  It has the perfect picture window at the front of the room, so you get a great view of our tree from the street.  Don’t you love to drive by and see Christmas trees lit up in the windows?

We definitely have a “hodge podge” of a Christmas tree – all ornaments that we made when we were little, were gifted to us, or are part of our yearly tradition.  Scott and I buy each other (or make each other) an ornament each year that sums up the year.  It’s such a great way to look back and see what we were up to in years past!  When Grayson was born, we started buying him an ornament for each year, too.  This year he’s getting a Rudolph ornament as he calls all deer “reindeers”.

Here are  a few of my favorite ornaments:



I made these ornaments for our families when Gray was just 3 weeks old.  Can you believe how tiny that footprint was?  He measured his 4-year-old foot against this newborn footprint this year and couldn’t believe how much he’d grown.  Me too, Gray!



A pillow ornament with a vinyl window that I made last year. I love that sweet little Santa picture in it – from Grayson’s first Christmas in 2007.



Grayson made this sweet clothespin reindeer in preschool this year.  I love it!



Our Potterybarn glittered tree topper that we bought our first year disappeared in our move from Austin to Missouri.  It has been officially replaced by this sweet angel that Grayson made at church this year.  He drew the face and colored the angel and glued on “cut outs” of his traced hands.  Love this!

What about you?  Do you have a beautifully decorated “theme” tree?  Or a beautifully decorated tree filled with ornaments made by your kiddos?

the halls are decked…

Our entry, completed with a little update to my book page wreath…I added another “ring” of sheet music and one of my favorite verses to the middle, along with a little glitter.  My antique little black dresser was also the perfect spot for my Jim Shore nativity (a wedding present from my aunt – love that idea!).  Although, you’ll often find the Little People Nativity pieces mixed in, thanks to Gray.



Our mantle is pretty understated this year.  I saw this sign on Pinterest and knew I wanted to recreate it for our mantle.  I used more of my trusty hymnal to decoupage music sheet onto some thin canvas boards, printed the letters out on my printer, cut them out, and mod podged them on.  I love how it looks and will definitely be keeping it up through the spring!  Maybe a Silhouette Cameo will be under our tree and I can recreate projects like that in half the time!



I have yet to show my trio of sheet music trees.  They make a great centerpiece for our kitchen table!  You’ve seen the Sheet Music Tree, but the other two were just variations that I came up with.


Only 4 more days until Christmas…where has the time gone?!  Are you finished with your shopping or just beginning?

I’ll be back with pictures of our Christmas tree tomorrow!

PB’s silver bell swag…my version

I originally saw this Silver Bell Swag in a PB catalog in November…be still my Christmas-decoration-loving-heart.  We hung wreaths on our front windows this year, so I knew I wanted something a little different for our front door.  Enter this beautiful Silver Bell Swag inspiration!

The Christmas decorations in Joplin are a little slim these days – as we have almost an entire town of people that had to replace everything – so the closest I could come to the silver bells were these giant silver jingle bells from the Dollar Tree.

To start making my own Silver Bell Swag, I collected a bunch of sticks from a tree in our backyard that I bundled together with a zip tie…

This poor pup of ours thought that Christmas had come early for him when I brought all of the sticks in the house!  He kept a very close watch to make sure I didn’t drop any sticks in the swag-making process.

To the bundle of sticks, I added 3 faux evergreen picks that I bought at Michael’s – they were 60% off of the $3.99 price!  I was originally going to hot glue them in place, but I just stuck them here and there.  The sticks were bundled together tightly enough that they held the picks in without needing any glue or wire.

I added a burlap bow to the top, tied the jingle bell on, and my knock off version was done!  I originally bought 2 jingle bells, but the sound of the bells suddenly multiplied to sound like a mini version of the heavenly host as I was working on this during nap time!  Ha!  I was so afraid that I would wake Grayson up with my ridiculously loud jingle bells, so I just added one bell.

My version definitely isn’t as full as the PB version – it could use a few more sticks added to the base – but it works for me!  Especially when it cost me around $6 instead of the $69 PB price!

the christmas story...

as told by the children of St. Paul's Church, New Zealand. Such an endearing way to tell the Christmas story.

Enjoy!

fun, friends, and duncan hines

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.



No one wants to talk about the fact that Christmas is only 17 days away (YIKES!!), so let’s talk about one of my favorite topics…holiday desserts!  When asked to bring something for a Christmas party or holiday get-together, I almost always sign up for a dessert.  I love to bake and have accumulated some great recipes.  But, sometimes there isn’t time to spend making a dessert from scratch…so I always keep a box of Duncan Hines cake mix and frosting in my pantry!

In fact, we just celebrated Grayson’s fourth birthday last week and had Duncan Hines cupcakes for his “friend” birthday party.  I was going to make homemade butter cream frosting, but what child really cares about frosting?  I used a Duncan Hines yellow cake mix, piped canned chocolate frosting on, and stuck in a cupcake topper that I designed.  The cupcakes looked great and tasted great!

While checking out the Duncan Hines website, I came across LOTS of yummy sounding recipes.  In fact, I’m going to try this one this weekend to bring to a playdate with Grayson’s friends on Monday.  I’m thinking of having the kiddos decorate their own Gingerbread Men!

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Duncan Hines Recipe Gingerbread Men


 

• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Spice Cake Mix
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup dark molasses
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• non-pareils

1. Preheat oven to 375 ºF.
2. Combine cake mix, flour, eggs, oil, molasses and ginger in large bowl (mixture will be soft). Refrigerate 2 hours.
3. Place dough on lightly floured surface, cover with waxed paper. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with gingerbread man cookie cutter. Place 3 inches apart on non-pareils ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with non pareils.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges start to brown. Remove immediately to cooling rack.
5. Makes 12 to 14 six-inch gingerbread men.

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Don’t those sound delicious?  I’ll let you know next week after I test them!

What are your favorite desserts to make for the holidays?  Does your family have any “traditional” desserts that are always made around this time of year?

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

cookie exchange wrapping & recipe…

We had our annual cookie exchange at my MOPS group this morning and I knew just what cookie I was going to bake…my double chocolate peanut butter cookies!

I whipped up a batch last night but realized that I didn’t have any paper plates (or disposable trays) to wrap my cookies up.  I racked my brain and remembered a “good thing” from Martha Stewart Living years ago…wrap the cookies in a wax paper tube and tie some ribbon (or tulle) on the ends!

We were also encouraged to bring the recipe along, so I designed a cute “Christmassy” recipe card in Photoshop, typed out my recipe, printed it on cardstock, and attached it to the tulle.

Need a good cookie exchange recipe?  Here’s a copy of my recipe card.  Just save it on your computer and print it out!

Want to make your own recipe card for a cookie exchange?  Here’s a blank one you can print out and write your recipe on!  These would also make cute note cards to use during the Christmas season.

Do you have a favorite “go to” cookie recipe?  Or are you more of a “slice and baker”?

Chevron wrap around labels…

Have you ordered your Christmas cards yet?  We should have ours in the mail any day – just waiting on the order to arrive from TinyPrints!  In the mean time I designed the wrap around label for our Christmas cards.  I always print my own labels as soon as I order the cards and then by the time my cards arrive, I have the addresses done!  I simply wrap the labels around, sign the cards, stuff the envelopes, and mail them!



I’ve created a .pdf version for you if you’d like to download it!

Can you guess what color scheme we used for our Christmas cards?  Do you stick with the traditional red/green colors or branch out a little?

another GREAT tinyprints deal...

Two posts in one day, I know...but I just got an e-mail about another great deal that Tinyprints is offering!  It's an exclusive offer made to bloggers (who in turn tell their friends about it) so you won't find it on their website. 

If you buy a $25 Tiny Prints gift certificate and spend $100 on your holiday cards, and we’ll take $30 off your holiday cards order—plus, ship it for free. Use code 30OFFHOLGCERT at checkout until 11/27/11 at 11:59 pm (PT).

If you have a big Christmas card list, this is a great offer!  Here are a few more cards to choose from...