silhouette tea towels gift

For Christmas this year Grandma and Papa are getting a silhouette tea towel of our son's profile. Silhouettes are all the rage and I've been meaning to create something with a silhouette, but I didn't know what. Then I figured a tea towel would be a good way to display it without it being in a frame.

You can get flour sack tea towels at Target, WalMart, fancier places like Crate and Barrel or cheaper places like the Dollar Tree. I noticed they are all pretty thin and pretty comparable in weight.

I took a photo that I already had of my son's profile (think of all those photos where you tried to get a face shot, but the kid turned their head!). Since I can never figure out my wireless printer connection and my husband was not around to fix it, I held up a piece of white paper up to my computer screen and traced by son's profile. Then I transferred that on to freezer paper and cut it out. Then I simply followed the same directions for freezer paper stenciling.  I favor dark grey over black, but bright colors like orange would look pretty cool too.

I added a band of bias tape on the bottom of one and for the other I added large black ric-rac. I'm pleased with the way they turned out.

I've made 2 more silhouettes on a blue fabric that I was going to make into pillows, now I am reconsidering. I am thinking of adding one to an apron for my mom and dad. Still not sure yet. Ideas?

I love how his little hairs stick out in the back! So stinkin' cute, that boy!

update to play nativity

update to play nativity 

My mom brought over some walnut shells so Baby Jesus finally has a manger to rest his sweet head.

The "blanket" is a cotton ball cut in half over a little piece of knit (a stained t-shirt of my son's) hot glued (a lot) into the walnut shell. I decided against a top blanket so that Baby Jesus could still be seen and recognized as such. Baby Jesus was then hot glued on top of the blanket.

 I added little (shortened) painted toothpicks to the bottoms so the walnut shell would be stable. I used a lot of hot glue to (hopefully) ensure they would stay on through rough-ish play.  

I plan on using this walnut shell technique (if you can call it that) for a future project, so stay tuned.

ornament wreath & nativity

These ornament wreaths are all over blogland. I told myself I did not have time to make one this year, but when I saw these silver ornaments 8/$1 at Target, I could not pass it up! Plus I did need something to layer over our family room mirror, so I said heck with it! I'll do it! To add to that, the ornaments are shatter resistant! Awesome!

So while my husband hung shelves in the living room for my nativity, I put this together. SO SIMPLE! It took all over half an hour--including vacuuming up all the glitter that fell off the ornaments!

The hardest part was untwisting the hanger at the top near the hook--that took needle nose pliers. The rest was just stringing them on. On one website it suggested gluing the tops on the ornaments. I did not do that (pure laziness), but it would have been a good idea since the balls kept popping off when I was maneuvering them around the wire hanger. Now that it's hanging up, it seems a-okay!

at night time

What it takes:

39-55 ornaments (I used 38 since one was broken in the pk and I made the hanger a little smaller)

1 wire hanger

1 ribbon

That's it!!!

Here is our nativity (I received it as a Christmas gift from my aunt and uncle about 15 years ago.  It's from Costco, can you believe it?). I love it!

I've never had a proper place to display it- especially now with a child who is very curious. I really wanted some Ikea shelves and I finally talked my husband into it. He even put them up for me! We bought 3 of them, but 3 looked a little heavy for the first room you see when you walk in our front door.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HE IS BORN!

nativity

I wanted a nativity my son who is 2 years old could play with, so I set out in search of something I could make. I found these peg people at the I used to be a Tree shop on Esty. I bought all "Grandmas" (for the robed effect) and a baby.

The Wisemen

 Sheppard and sheep (got to use my sheepie again!)

 Joseph, Angel, Mary and JESUS!   I still need to get 1/2 a walnut shell to glue Baby Jesus in because he is very small and could be swallowed by a 2 year old!

Hence the reason the nativity is way up on a shelf right now, waiting for that walnut shell manger.

After I painted them with acrylic paint I Mod Podged about 3 coats to protect them from little hands. I did this instead of spray painted clear enamel because Mod Modge is non-toxic.

I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. Our son is napping,so when he gets up we'll see what he thinks!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Update: Baby Jesus now has a place to lay his sweet head!

white Christmas village

Dollar Store Crafts had this fantastic idea to paint little dollar store villages in one single color-awesome, right? So I did.

 I used the trees I've collected over the years. The silver one is new this year-from guess where? - Dollar Tree! It was the last one, sadly, as I would have bought more.

 I cut out a snowy little table runner from white felt.

 It took almost a whole can of white glossy Krylon spray paint to cover these 5 houses and about 5-6 coats!  Totally worth it!

above photo from Dollar Store Crafts

family mugs

Disclaimer!

Hopefully no family member are reading this or your gift surprise will be spoiled!

This year our family members are getting personalized mugs. I bought inexpensive white mugs and used this pen to write on them.  It was only about $4.00. The pen is dishwasher resistant and microwave safe. I first bought this pen and it sucked, so I took it back to Michael's and traded it in for the Vitrea 160 and it worked MUCH better. I tried it in the store just to make sure.

To get the font I wanted ( I used Gungsuh) transferred to the mug, I simply took a lead pencil and scribbled all over a scratch piece of paper and used blue painters tape over to tape it on the mug. I then put the printed out font paper on top of the "transfer paper." I had to adjust some of the longer names because of the shape of the mug-otherwise it would have been slanted.

Next I filled in the transferred-on letters with the paint pen. I followed the directions on the label (let sit for 24 hours and then put in the oven at 325F for 40 minutes and DONE!) I will fill them with hot chocolate mix and marshmallows, coffee beans or tea, depending on the recipient.

I even made one for myself and one for our son- he gets the one with a fox on it :) I love the way they turned out.

felted owl mobile

Oh how I love mobiles!  I love hanging things (except plants) for some reason. I love hooks to hang key, coats and hats and I love towel hangers--anything like that.

I had so much fun with my first attempts at felting I decided to branch out from sheep and make something else. whoooo whoooo should I use as a model?...a snowy white owl!

  I added some felt leaves with embroidered veins (is that what they are called)?

 It's a long way down!

Now I need more ideas of what to felt next!

turkey from a nature walk

My son and  I went on a walk and collected all we needed to make a turkey for the Thanksgiving table.

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little girl gifts

My friend is having her third baby-a girl after two boys! She is very excited and so am I. She came to visit this past weekend so I had the opportunity to make a few baby girl gifts.

My friend's last name is Dillard so I made this little freezer paper stenciled onesie with....

...what else? A dill pickle.

And what little girl is complete nowadays without a huge flower perched upon her sweet tiny head?

My mom made my friend's bridesmaid's dresses when she got married several years back so she had some scraps left over. How exciting! I used the same technique as here for the flower headband.

I think it is my favorite burnt edge flower yet!

owl pin

Our neighbor gave us some tree stumps for our backyard renovation (more on that later) so to thank him, I made some banana nut muffins. The only problem is I only have little flimsy white paper plates. Not a very nice presentation. Then I remembered the felt bags that I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar made that I used for "boo bags" this year. Perfect!

I made one without the handle. Then of course, it needed decoration. Since owls have been all the rage and I can't seem to shake them either, that's what got made for the bag. When I was thinking about if I wanted to sew it or hot glue it, I thought "Why not make it functional?" So I made the little owl into a pin. Now our neighbor's wife can pin it on her bag, or her coat or a wreath or wherever she chooses.