Category: diy

welcome to the second week of A Pinterest Christmas! see the first week’s post here & the other years’ crafts here.

in celebration of a baby’s first Christmas there are always lots of ornaments to choose from. aaron & i have our own bets on how many Eloise may get this year, but i thought i would also add to the mix by making two of my own. one is with her birth announcement & the other with her footprint.

keepsake ornament

{original Pinterest link – wedding invitation ornament}

supplies:

• clear plastic ornament (or you could use glass)
• invitation or announcement
• paper cutter or scissors
• ruler
• ribbon
• charm
• pencil

i made a version of this ornament for my first Pinterest Christmas project with our wedding invitation so i pretty much knew what i was doing.

first, i decided which parts of Eloise’s announcement i wanted to use – i focused on her stats. then i measured & marked a 1/4 inch section around each part i wanted to include in the paper strips. i used a paper cutter & scissors to make the paper strips & wrapped the strips around a pencil to curl. once i had all of the strips cut & curled, i took off the top of the ornament & placed them inside. then i cut a length of ribbon, strung on the Eiffel Tower charm, & tied it in a bow on the top of the ornament.

footprint ornament

{original Pinterest link – handprint ornament}

supplies:

• clear plastic ornament (or you could use glass)
• craft paint
• ribbon
• sponge paintbrush
• ribbon – wired ribbon makes the best bows!

i modified this project in a few ways: i chose to do Eloise’s footprint instead of her hand (mostly because a footprint is so much easier!), & i used craft paint instead of embossing. the result wasn’t exactly what i was hoping since the footprints didn’t turn out that well. none-the-less, it is still a good representation of her feet on her first Christmas {which was the point, right?} & i have been doing ink prints of her footprints every month, so it isn’t like i won’t have her footprints in another form.

this was a really simple project. i sponged paint onto the bottoms of Eloise’s feet & then pressed them onto the plastic ornament. then i tied on a bow.

For more projects and inspiration, check out the other blogs in the Pinterest Christmas series [Emerald City Diaries | Greg & Maggi |  The Gilbertson Family | The Pena Family | This Grey House | Without A Doubt]. Share your Pinterest Christmas projects with us! Comment on one of our blogs, link back to a post, or use #PinterestChristmas2014 on Instagram!

M

welcome to the first week of A Pinterest Christmas! i started this series as a fun way to share the Pinterest-inspired projects & crafts that i created for Christmas – my very favorite season of the year! check out the other years’ crafts here.

the year i started A Pinterest Christmas, i attempted to make stockings for our family at the time: me, Aaron, & Sadie. Sadie’s stocking turned out really well, but ours, not so much. ever since then i have been wanting to make us a new set of Christmas stockings. when Eloise joined our family this year i knew it would be the perfect opportunity! [& i went ahead & made four knowing that we would likely have another child at some point – no i am not pregnant! – & then i wouldn’t have to make a third set at that point!]

i followed two Pinterest pins – one for the stockings & linings & the other for the hangers.

{original Pinterest link – lined Christmas stockings}

{original Pinterest link – Christmas stocking hanger}

supplies:

• Christmas-themed fat quarters
• thread – i used white for the entire project
• lining fabric – i used this fabric from our Christmas tree skirt project
• ribbon
• buttons
• scissors
• stocking pattern – i used a free one here
• needle

i started by ironing all of my fabric {nope, i didn’t pre-wash it – worst seamstress ever!} & cut out the stocking pattern – two stocking sides, 2 lining sides, & one cuff. i learned the hard way that you have to flip the pattern to make the cut out stocking side, or else you will have the back of the fabric on the backside of the stocking…

next i sewed all of the pieces. i made the cuff from a single piece of fabric – sewing one seam, flipping the fabric right-side-out, & then folding the fabric in half (as shown in the linked instructions). for the linings, i sewed around with a 1/2 inch seam, leaving a few inches on the long side of the stocking to flip everything right-side-out later on. for the stockings, i sewed the two pieces right sides together with a 1/2 inch seam & then flipped them right-side-out.

then i attached all the pieces. first, i sewed the cuffs to the stocking bodies, and then stuffed each stocking into the lining & attached. if you leave a small hole in the seam of the lining – just a few inches – then you can flip the entire stocking inside out & have a nicely finished stocking with a lining & no raw edges.

i then switched tutorials for the stocking hangers. i liked the look of a real cuff, & a ribbon hanger with a button so i combined the tutorials for the perfect stockings! i was able to round up four white buttons from my button box & use some Christmas-y ribbon that i picked up for another project (which you will see next week!). the nice part about adding a real cuff is that i could attach the ribbon & button, & hide the stitches underneath the cuff.

{also Fa La La sign & mason jar snowglobes}

For more projects and inspiration, check out the other blogs in the A Pinterest Christmas series [Emerald City Diaries | Greg & Maggi |  The Gilbertson Family | The Pena Family | This Grey House | Without A Doubt]. Share your Pinterest Christmas projects with us! Comment on one of our blogs, link back to a post, or use #PinterestChristmas2014 on Instagram!

M