DIY Felt and Pom Pom Mistletoe

Posted on December 8, 2015 by jewelsathome

Mistletoe is a classic Christmas item. I haven’t hung mistletoe before, but I was playing around with felt (for our monogrammed ornaments and retro ornament Christmas tree skirt) and pompoms (for our pom pom wreath), and I realized I had all the supplies to make a cute felt mistletoe decoration.

I had some regular craft felt, but it was too thin to really give a good three-dimensional feel, so I got the idea to fuse two layers together using Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive. This turned out really well and looks and feels like a heavy art felt.

DIY Felt and Pom Pom Mistletoe. You can make regular craft felt look thick and chunky by fusing two layers together! | Jewels at Home

I added some pom poms and ribbon I had in the house already to make this simple and pretty decoration, which I look forward to using for many years to come.

And to finish, a gratuitous picture of our Christmas tree, because it makes me happy!

Felt Retro Monogram Christmas Ornaments

Posted on December 6, 2015 by jewelsathome

For the last few years, I have had a different theme for Christmas decorating each year. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I need to change all my decorations! I’ve gotten creative about re-purposing and adapting our ornaments and other decor to fit each theme. When I did my white Christmas two years ago, I bought lovely white felt stockings from West Elm. They worked just as well for last year’s white and red Christmas. For this year’s nostalgic retro Christmas, all I had to do was change out the initials on the stockings.

I used felt in our Christmas colors of red, pink, and blue and added white felt monograms. I attached them to the stockings with safety pins, so it will be easy to change them again, when needed! It’s amazing how this small project completely transforms the look of our stockings and mantel!

Here’s a look at last year:

And this year:

While we’re enjoying this year’s cheerful nostalgic Christmas, I’m already thinking about themes for the future – Scandinavian Christmas or a metallic Christmas – and it’s good to know I’ll be able to re-use these stockings again!

“Jewels”

Paper and Washi Tape Globe Ornaments

Posted on December 5, 2015 by jewelsathome

My passion for pretty papers goes way back, but I confess that when washi tape first became popular, I didn’t immediately fall in love – it’s not too late, though! I had so much fun combining patterns and colors to make these pretty ornaments. These lovely decorations are quick to make, and I will be bringing this project to work for our holiday party. I also made a personalized version of these ornaments with kids’ names inside.

To make these ornaments, I used

Clear Plastic Ball Ornaments
2.25-Inch Circle Paper Punch
Scrapbook paper. This is a great project for using small leftover pieces of paper
Washi tape and other embellishments
Glue stick
Ribbon for hanging

The process is very simple:

I then cut out two circles in matching paper and glued then back-to-back
I then added washi tape or other paper scraps to decorate the ornament
These circles fit perfectly into the ornaments, which snap together
Add a ribbon for hanging and you’re done!

Go crazy with the paper (I did!) and have fun!!

“Jewels”

Scrapbook Paper Christmas Ornaments

Posted on December 4, 2015 by jewelsathome

Every year, I make personalized Christmas ornaments for our family and friends. This is usually a simple project with store-bought ornaments. This year, I’m doing a little DIY, because I didn’t find anything quite right for our retro mid-century Christmas.

I’m making some clear globe ornaments to give to our local friends. For those that live further away, I wanted something easy to mail, so I was excited to find this inspiration for ornaments covered in scrapbook paper. Besides being pretty, these ornaments are lightweight, flat, and sturdy, so they’re perfect for sending to friends!

Here’s how to do this cute project:

Paint the edges of the Unfinished Wood Ornaments with silver craft paint. The center will be covered in paper.
Print out names and the year on Clear Shipping Labels and then stick them in craft paper and cut them out. I cut matching circles for the back.
Use regular hole punch to cut the paper around the hole in the ornament.
Use Yes All-Purpose Stik Flat Glueto glue the paper to the ornaments
I used some very fine sandpaper to clean up the ornaments after the glue dried.

To finish off, I added ribbons for hanging.

What fun to be able to send a bit of holiday cheer!

“Jewels”

Desktop Magnet Board Frames Part Two

Posted on December 2, 2015 by jewelsathome

This year’s holiday gifts for our teachers and friends are these desktop magnet boards with coordinating glass cabochon magnets. I love seeing all the colors and patterns come together with the inspirational quotes. You can find the supply list and instructions in the first post. There are so many ways to combine the papers and quotes that I wanted to show you some more in this post!

Hope you are settling into a lovely holiday season!

“Jewels”

Easy Custom Fleece Christmas Stockings

Posted on December 1, 2015 by jewelsathome

I made the first of these stockings more than a decade ago, and how our little collection of stockings has grown over the years! I made the first ones when our oldest was born, and back then, it was just Steve, me, baby K, and our old dog Cooper. Over the years, I added extended family for the Christmases we hosted, two more babies, and now, I am very excited to add the stockings for my twin nieces!

Materials:

fleece fabric (less than 1/2 a yard per stocking)
cuff fabric (only about 7″ long x about 20″ wide – I find scraps for this)
ribbon for hanging (5″ long; I also used scraps)
iron-on applique letters for name

Instructions:

Make a template for your stocking. I’ve included a half inch seam allowance on my pattern

Use the template to cut out two pieces of fleece.

With the right sides together, sew around the sides and bottom of the stocking, leaving about 7″ open at the back top. Clip the seam allowance around the curves.

Pattern for Easy Custom Fleece Christmas Stockings | Jewels at Home

Cut a cuff that is about 6.5″ tall and 10″ wide. Hem the cuff.

Sew the cuff to the top of the stocking, with the right side of the cuff facing the wrong side of the stocking, as shown.

Pattern for Easy Custom Fleece Christmas Stockings | Jewels at Home

Flip the cuff over as shown. I found it helped to pin it in place for the next step.

Line up the edge of the cuff and the stocking and slip your ribbon in, too, with the ends tucked into where you’ll see. Now sew up the last 7″ of the back of the stocking, sewing through the stocking, cuff, and ribbon.

Flip your stocking right side out and iron on the letters!

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

“Jewels”

Personalized Globe Christmas Ornaments 2015

Posted on November 29, 2015 by jewelsathome

Every year, I create personalized ornaments for our family and friends. Usually, I keep it simple with some store-bought ornaments that I personalize with markets or fabric paint. Tip: the felt ornaments are great for mailing!

This year, I wanted to make globe ornaments that would fit with our retro mid-century theme and colors of red, pink, and turquoise.

To make these ornaments, I used

Clear Plastic Ball Ornaments
Clear 2 x 4 Inch shipping labels. I fit two names on each label.
2.25-Inch Circle Paper Punch
Scrapbook paper. This is a great project for using small leftover pieces of paper. You can add washi tape and other embellishments.
glue stick
ribbon for hanging

The process is very simple:

I started by printing labels with the kids’ names and the year on them. I was able to fit two names on each label and then cut the labels into 2″x 2″ squares.
I then cut out and stuck each label onto scrapbook paper and punched out a circle around it. I punched a second blank circle in matching paper and glued them two pieces together.
These circles fit perfectly into the ornaments!
Add a ribbon for hanging and you’re done!

Since these ornaments would have been hard to mail, I also made some similar ones that are flat, for our friends who live out-of-town.

“Jewels”

Vintage Photo Garland

Posted on November 22, 2015 by jewelsathome

As you know, this year’s Christmas has a vintage theme, and I thought it would be great fun to share some old Christmas pictures with this simple and pretty photo garland.

To start, I collected old pictures, including some of from my childhood and from my parents before I was born! Once I got into the project, I added some more recent pictures of our kids. I edited all of the pictures using an iPhone app called Instants, which makes them look like vintage Polaroids.

I used ric rac ribbon from my mom’s stash to make the garland, so this is authentic vintage! I hung the photos from the ric rac using clothes pins decorated with scrapbook paper in this year’s colors of pink, turquoise, and red.

This was an easy project, and it’s simple enough that I’m going to leave it up, even though I won’t be decorating the rest of the house until after Thanksgiving.

Whimsical and Festive DIY Pom Pom Wreath

Posted on November 16, 2015 by jewelsathome

So, I made a list of projects I wanted to do before Christmas, and they ranged from more practical (updating our mailing list for Christmas cards, sewing the living room curtains in time for our Christmas party) to the more … Continue reading →

Retro Mid-Century Ornament Wreath

Posted on November 13, 2015 by jewelsathome

So, if you have been following along, you will know that I have a colorful Mid-Century Christmas planned for this year. So far, my preparations have included a new Christmas tree skirt, and next up was this pretty ornament wreath!

I found a lot of beautiful inspirations for this type of wreath, including some beautiful and whimsical examples from Georgia Peachez.

There are a lot of different methods out there for making ornament wreaths, and I read through several examples before starting my own.

I used a piece of foam leftover from another project as my wreath base. It was flexible, but once the ornaments were glued in place, it held its shape. I used a piece of heavy beading wire to create a hanger on the back, before I started attaching the ornaments.

To attach the ornaments, I hot-glued a ring of the large balls in this year’s colors of pink, turquoise, and red around the entire outside and inside of the wreath base. I then added a few large ornaments to the top and filled in with medium and smaller ornaments. I included a few pine cone ornaments to change up the look. Also, I kept the hangers visible on a handful of the ornaments for more visual interest.

Some methods include tinsel on the base or painting the base. Since I didn’t do either, I needed to make sure I filled all the gaps, so I finished off the wreath with some vase filler and large beads. This is definitely one of those projects, like L’s birthday quilt, where it takes a long time and a lot of planning to make it look “random.” By the time I went to bed, I was seeing ornaments float before my eyes…

But it was all worth it! I am not decorating quite yet, so for now, the wreath is adding some cheer to my craft room window, and as Nicola said when she came over for our recent Creativity Circle, it looks pretty good there!

With the new tree skirt and this wreath, I think I am well on my way to creating this year’s theme, but I do still have a few projects I’d like to add, if time allows! Looking forward to seeing it all come together!

“Jewels”