Christmas Ornaments

 
I bought clear glass ornaments at Hobby Lobby.  I squirted floor cleaner inside the ornament and then dumped out the excess.  Then, I put a bunch of extra fine glitter inside the ornament and shook it up.  The floor cleaner causes the glitter to stick to the inside of the glass ball.  Once that was completed, I used my silhouette to cut out the vinyl and I stuck in on the ornament.  I had plans to make a whole bunch of these this year, but somehow I only got this one vinyled.  Perhaps next year, I can make one for each of the boys.

Wordy Thirty Birthday Party

Karen and I decided to throw our Middle Sister a Surprise Party for her upcoming 30th Birthday.  We decided a "Wordy Thirty Party" would be a great theme after we searched the internet/Pinterest for ideas. Val really enjoys a good read and is going to school to be a "Book Doctor." Here are some of the decorations that we did.  It turned out great and it was a lot of fun to put together.  We spent a fun night of playing games, eating and lots of laughing! (P.S. The only book harmed in the production of crafts was an old Encyclopedia for the letter A - the only one of the set that we found at my Grandparents house.)

Here is our version of a book wreath after seeing this one.  I cut 2 -  8 inch circles out of card stock to be more durable, glued them together, then I rolled and glued/taped pages down.  On top of that I cut 2 - 6 inches pieces of card stock, glued them together, then again rolled and glued/taped pages down.  Then I cut a 4 inch piece of card stock out, lettered it with stickers, inked the edges with black ink to make it stand out a bit.  Then I laminated it and taped it down onto the other rings with double sided tape.  Used masking tape on the back to attach a ribbon to hang the whole thing.

We made two of these hanging garlands.  The hearts were made out of the encyclopedia pages after seeing this tutorial.  (BTW, these were super easy to put together and I totally plan on doing this as a Valentine's Day Garland in Red Tones:)).  Then flowers were added to the ends to hide where we taped it up.  Found the tutorial for the flowers here.

Here is a closer look at the Garland.

Here we made several items.  Karen pre-made the poofs, so all that needed to be done party day was the "poofing" - Mike and Zoe took care of that:)  Here is how to make those.  We also had two vases that we  decoupaged encyclopedia pages onto and placed tea lights in them.  In the center is a mini sign with a quote: "Don't Drink to Get Drunk. Drink to Enjoy Life." - Jack Kerouac.  Instead of making Jack Kerouac's favorite drink we made Mojitos, a favorite drink of Hemingway.

Here is the "corsage" we made Val to wear.  We just took one of the flowers, cut out circles, on the Silhouette and attached them with double sided tape.  Then used a big safety pin to attach it to her!

The dinner table!  Made a table runner out of torn out book pages.  Embellished the ends with a fancy daisy punch.  Then cut the sides of the runner with decorative scissors.  Some light dinner reading - haha!  We used books Val had as a center piece, then took a bowl, filled it with cut and rolled encyclopedia pages.  On top of that was a sucker ball (Styrofoam ball with dum dums stuck in it).  Then we made a party sign with book worms and stuck that in there as well.  Beside the center piece was a "book" I made with the silhouette and then it was filled with book marks that we had all made.  Everyone that came to the party made a book mark with a special message, book quote, or drawing for Val.  Then I laminated them and tied ribbon to them.

Close up of our center piece.

Close up of the "book" that held our handmade bookmarks.

Glow in the Dark Shirt

I still had some glow in the dark heat transfer left over from other projects so when I saw this shirt, I thought - ooooh I can totally make the moon out of that!  So that is exactly what I did:)  I made the moon out of glow in the dark heat transfer and then I did the wording out of silver heat transfer.  I gave it to my book doctor sister as a birthday present and then made one for myself as well as I seem to stay up way to late - often stuck in a book.

Photo Props

 Since we were hosting several Christmas Parties we decided to have some fun.  I cut out a bunch of photo props on my Silhouette and put them together and placed them on sticks.   I also covered a big piece of cardboard with wrapping paper and lined it with tinsel to use as a backdrop.  Everyone had fun dressing up.

My Tester:)

Nativity Blocks

 This year for Christmas I made a bunch of Nativity Blocks as presents.  I bought Craft Blocks with the hole cut in the bottom so I could insert a strand of lights (100 fits).  Then I found a Nativity Scene that I liked at the Silhouette Online Store and cut out several on black vinyl.  I then adhered them to the blocks and tied a ribbon around the block.  I made 11 of these this year and people seemed to enjoy them.

This was the set I did for myself.  I have had the small block for a while and decided to expand the "scene."

Sharpie Mug

Karen also made some Sharpie Mugs for Christmas Presents and Birthday Presents.  Here is one of them "Par-Tea!"  Some of the reviews on Pinterest stated that the Sharpie will wash right off (some reviews said the same thing of the porcelain pen).   She wrote on the mugs (purchased at Target) and then baked them at the 350 for 30 minutes.  She then tried washing them when it  cooled down and yup, it came right off.  So round two she baked them for the same amount of time and then turned it up to 400 for an additional 15 minutes.  That seemed to do the trick.  Several washings later and it seems to be sticking:)

Knitted Scarves

For Christmas Vicki knitted her daughters scarves.  Hard to see from the picture, but they are a made out of a lace type of yarn.

Refurnished Footstool

 Kelly found this footstool at Collectamania in Des Moines.  It has a little storage compartment which was great, but the fabric was not.  Kelly had some fabric on hand that worked much better so she recovered the stool and used a staple gun to fasten it.

 Works much better with her chair.

 And a perfect size to be tucked under the chair, which is a great space saver in her cozy living room.

Close up of the "new" stool.

Green Bay Packers Shirt

I let Brandon open up a Christmas gift on Sunday so he could wear it while watching some football.  Since he is a very tall guy, I had him pick out a Land's End Tall shirt that would fit him well.  I used my cameo to cut out the letters.  It took a bit ti figure out how to properly weed the Swiss cheese font, but I think it turned out well.  Of course, now all the kiddos want them as well....perhaps I can get that done in time for February!

Magnet Board

I totally 'lifted' this one from Gail.  I went to Walmart, bought a really big $5. oil drip pan and screwed it into the wall right below my high bar, that we don't use for actual chairs.  The kids love it (and yes, that isn't actually my kid playing with it) and all of that stuff is now out of my kitchen.  We also found out a day or two later, that this was a necessity, as our new stainless steal refrigerator is not magnetic.

Hot Cocoa Mix

Aiden and Parker helped me make these for their teachers (all 6 of them!).  They helped measure all of the ingredients into the jars and mix up the hot chocolate.  They also helped with the hot chocolate spoons.  I dipped them in chocolate and they sprinkled on the cinnamon candy, peppermint candy, or marshmallows.  I designed the labels in my silhouette software, printed it out on adhesive backed card stock, and then ran it back through my cameo to cut out the outline.  For the gift tag, I did the same thing.  The red is an adhesive backed card stock and then the white is just plain card stock that I cut out using the cameo.  I also just cut a square of winter fabric to jazz up the lid a bit.

Christmas Gift Craftiness

A select few of the Christmas Crafts that I can preview before Christmas gifts are opened. Thank goodness for Pinterest!  Merry Christmas Everyone! : )

 This will be the first Christmas without my husbands grandma and I found this quote on pinterest and thought it would work great on an ornament and be a special keepsake for his mom to help keep her spirit alive and part of the season : )  I used sharpie to write on a ceramic bell and then mod podged on some glitter.

 For Nutcracker we did secret santas so I figured it was a great time to sneak in some crafting.  Above, I made a gag gift "Hangover Recovery Kit" complete with emergency pjs and below is another pinterest find - a loofah tree with a coffee mug to hold the bubble bath salts : )  Hope she likes them!

Christmas Card

Last digital craft for the year - our family Christmas card!  I used Photoshop Elements as usual to create the front and back our our card.