DIY Christmas Toques 

While in Canada, it's a must to have something warm with you at all times. Although I am pretty lucky right now with this amazing weather during a Canadian Christmas, it still can reach cooler temperatures. Here is the most amazing contraption I have ever laid my eyes on....as soon as I saw how easy it was to whip up a handmade toque (or beanie to my American friends), I knew I had to have one! 

My mom discovered these fantastic knitting looms. Basically, you find some fabulous yarn you love and care to sport around. Wrap your yarn around each peg and continue to work your way inside of the ring. Luckily, there are instructions that come along with this amazing device. It will explain a lot better than I did, believe me! Not only would this make an amazing gift, but you will be able to whip something up in a few short hours!  Everyone will be getting something handmade with love from you for Christmas! You can buy these knitting loom sets at most craft and fabric stores. So, if you are in the mood to knit something easy and quick, this is for you!!  

I am going to be having a lot of fun with this over the holidays. I've got a hot cup of tea, a Christmas classic to watch and my knitting looms ready to go! 

xoxo

DIY

Christmas Tag DIY

During the craziness of this season I am grateful I can squeeze some time in for my little blog! Thank you for being patient with me...it's been a BUSY week! Not to mention, I leave in 7 days for Canada to see family and friends. I'm super excited, but have a lot to do yet. I find myself doing my Christmas shopping last minute and quickly as possible! Eeks! Well that's my tidbit for the day, back to my post!!! 

Today I decided to share with you an easy DIY tag you can use on your gifts, cards or anything you can think of! It's all about handmade goodies and having fun in the process! 

What you will need:

Yarn or twine

Martha Stewart doily lace coaster and/or 

doily adhesives (or good card stock you can cut snowflake shapes from)

Hole puncher

Scissors

What to do:

Simply cut a piece of yarn or twine long enough to wrap around your gift or card a few times. Put aside for later use. 

Take your coaster or card stock and punch a whole at the top, not too close to the edge.

Wrap the yarn around your item a few times until you have enough to tie a knot in the back. 

Slide yarn or twine through the hole on your coaster or card stock and bring to the front of your gift or card. Secure the back by tying a knot. 

Write a festive message and presto: you are finished! Did I mention it's really easy?! I hope you find this helpful and have fun doing your own little twist on your Christmas cards or wrapping this year! 

xoxo

I decided to share this fun little DIY with you today! It has two parts to it, but it's super straight forward and practically free. Yes, free! 

Part one: You will need

- an empty clean glass jar (it can be an old jam jar, any jar will do!)

- cut out snowflakes (I bought Martha Stewart adhesive doily die-cuts)

- water-resistant glue, sealer and finish (I use Collage Pauge in glossy) 

Part two:  You will need

-twigs (from your back yard or if you really want you can buy them from a craft store)

- yarn (in any color, but I chose cream) 

- hot glue gun

Part one instructions:

Make sure your jar is nice and clean so your snowflake will stick nicely to the glass. If you want to get super creative you can make your own cut out snowflakes. For easy instructions to cut out a five-point star snowflake, click here. I bought the Martha Stewart doily die-cuts a few months ago on sale, so I am dying to use them! Note: if you use these doilies they have a sticky back, but still use the water-resistant glue to ensure your snowflake sticks real good! Take your snowflake and rub the glue on the back until it is covered well. Place it on the jar wherever you please and rub a little more glue on the front until the snowflake is secure. Dip your finger in water and rub off access glue so you don't end up with streaks. You can also use several jars and place tea-light candles in them! They make great shadows on the wall! You're done part one! 

Part two instructions:

Break your twigs so they are the height you desire. Start rolling your yarn around your finger until you have a good start. Slowly slide the yarn off your finger and continue wrapping the yarn in different directions so you end up with a circular shape. The yarn pom pom ( I am calling them this because they are mini yarn balls, perhaps there is a more technical word but I'm ok with that!), can be as big or little as you desire. Make sure it is not too heavy to stick on the twig. Once you have the size you like, make several more for each twig you have. I had 6 twigs, so I made 6 pom poms. Take your hot glue gun and put some glue at the end of your stick  and glue the pom pom to the top. Tip: before hand, create a tiny hole in the yarn by poking the twig in the pom pom so you have a little indentation. This will help the pom pom sit more steadily on the twig. 

Now place the twigs in your jar and enjoy this cute little pom pom bouquet! I love this look, especially with my new yarn wrapped Christmas tree! It feels very homey and cozy! 

Hope you enjoy! 

xoxo

I am super excited to show you this fabulous DIY project! As soon as I spotted it on Pinterest, I went straight to play! A few months ago I bought a bag full of retro yarn at a garage sale. I wasn't too sure at the time why I was buying it, I just loved the colors and for 25 cents you can't go wrong! Now, I can finally put it to some good use. This is a super inexpensive and easy project! It doesn't take much time to complete, so you can accomplish lots in a short period of time! 

What you will need:

- a cereal box

- yarn in fabulous colors

- scissors

- a hot glue gun

- clear-drying craft glue

Directions: can also be found at this blog

Step 1: cut your box along all of the folds, so that you end up with two large flat pieces of cardboard and several smaller pieces. Keep the large pieces; stick the smaller ones back into your recycling bin.

Step 2: imagine one corner of your box as a triangle. You want to make the triangle by cutting the corner off the box, *but* with a rounded edge. Use this template from Nestle family as a guide for the shape that you want. Don't worry about being perfect here - it's not even a little bit necessary! 

Step 3: Roll the flat edges of your "triangle" together to make a cone. Secure them together with hot glue.   

  
Step 4: Using craft glue, draw a ring of glue around the very bottom of your cone. Press a single strand of yarn onto the glue. Begin wrapping up the cone, gluing down each ring of yarn. Don't worry about placing each ring perfectly next to the one under it - you can fill in holes later. Work your way up to the top of the cone. Place a dab of glue and a small loop of yarn right on the top to hide the cardboard.

Step 5: Begin winding back down, filling in any holes. Now you can be more sparing with the glue - you only need to glue down a few spots. If you still have holes when you reach the bottom, wind the yarn back up again. 


Step 6: Once you have all of your holes filled in, take one more trip around the cone with your yarn, this time leaving a few inches between each round to give the tree some depth. Try not to leave perfectly even spaces between your rounds - a little bit of sloppiness will give your trees character!

And you are done! These make great Christmas decorations! Adds the perfect crafty and handmade flare to your home! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think! I would love to hear from you.

xoxo

Let the countdown begin...

First of all, I need to apologize! I have been so busy the last few days with the Thanksgiving festivities, homework and house renovations. I underestimated what that would entail, let me tell you! I am happy to announce that we are nearly done all our little house touch ups and will post some pictures real soon. 

Today I decided to start off the Christmas treats, tricks and tips with an easy Christmas jar DIY. It literally took me a couple minutes to put this together! How amazing does that sound?! All you will need is an old mason jar (lid optional), salt and an assortment of bottle brush trees. 

What you will need (plus trees)

Step 1.) Simply poor some of the salt in the jar,
this will be your fake snow. 

Step 2.) Carefully put the trees inside the
mason jar however you desire.

Step 3.) Display your project in
your room for all to see! 

 You may want to do a few mason jars grouped together or keep it simple by just having one. Bottle brush trees can also be substituted with anything else you feel would suit your style, Christmasy of course!! 

Told you it was easy! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this simple DIY project.

xoxo

Fabric Feathers D.I.Y

Do you have a lot of extra fabric hanging around from previous projects? If not, you should just come over to my house and take some of mine! I even took a trip to the fabric store anyway to see what they had on discount and sure enough, I came home with a few more scraps to add to the rest. But they were so cute! Here is a great way to use all that spare fabric laying around the craft room!  Grab a friend or two, because this is a great craft to do with someone! It's fun and so easy! 

(1) First you will need an assortment of fabric, whatever you choose! You will also be needing a hot glue gun (you can also use Avery permanent glue stick) and floral wire. You will be using regular sewing scissors to cut strips of fabric, as well as fine tipped fabric scissors for all the details. These supplies are easy to find at any craft/fabric store. 

(2) Once you have all you need the instructions are quite simple. Cut out a piece of fabric big enough for your feather to be cut from. (3) Lay out your fabric so you have a bottom and top piece (size of fabric depends on how big or small you would like your feathers to be). Lay the bottom piece down and hot glue the floral wire in the center of the fabric, making sure to  leave some room at the top so your wire isn't going to be poking out at the top. (4) Place the top piece of fabric over the bottom and floral wire. Make sure to press hard so that it's nice and even and there are no bubbles or bumps. If your fabric is too flimsy, you may want to hot glue the rest of the fabric together, otherwise stiff fabric will be fine just being hot glued in the center. (5) Next, you will take your fine tipped fabric scissors and cut the shape of your feather (you can draw one out ahead of time on a piece of paper and use it as a guide). Cut slits along the side to your liking to create a feathery look. (6) Once you are done putting them together, you can even twist them together if you desire or leave them on their own. I did a bit of both. It's as simple as that! If you need further instructions, click here. 

Step 1

Step 1 continued

Step 2

Step 2 continued 

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6 (optional)

I love mine and hope to do some more in the future for other occasions! It's addictive, so be careful! 

Thanks so much for taking a peek, hope you enjoy!! 

xoxo