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”

Retro Mid-Century Ornaments Christmas Tree Skirt

Posted on November 9, 2015 by jewelsathome

I know it is only November, but I am already getting excited about the upcoming Christmas season. The last few years, I’ve changed up our decorations to have a different theme each season. This year, I decided to go with a retro mid-century Christmas theme. You may remember that I am a big fan of the TV series Mad Men, and I really wanted to have a party to mark the series finale this spring, but life is way too busy, so I decided to have some Mid-Century fun for Christmas. One of my inspirations was this Christmas tree skirt that I saw advertised on mod cloth last year.
It’s sold out now, and it was also smaller than I wanted, so of course I decided to make my own. If you are feeling inspired, here’s how I did it.

You’ll need:

White fabric for the background
Mix of colored fabrics and/or felt for the ornaments
Heat’n Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive
Thin ribbon
matching thread

Instructions:

I sewed the skirt with the same 60″ diameter as our grey and white tree skirt
I then cut out and appliqued the ornaments the way I made appliqued onesies. For the print fabrics, I just did a simple silhouette. For the more solid fabrics, I cut out some shapes, taking inspiration from the Mod Cloth original
I sewed the ornaments and ribbons in place, and ta-da!

I’m waiting a few more weeks to set up our decorations, and I am so excited to see this pretty skirt under our tree!

Update: Here are some pictures of the skirt under our tree!

“Jewels”

I’m Dreaming of a Retro Christmas

Posted on November 2, 2015 by jewelsathome

I love Christmas! and I love Mad Men! The last few years, I have changed up our Christmas decor each year.

This year, I’m really loving the look of a colorful Mid-century Christmas. I’m gathering inspiration and have a few projects to show you soon. Here are some of my favorite ideas.

I love everything about Danielle Thompson’s Candy Colored Christmas. This pom-pom wreath is adorable, and the simple white background keeps the colorful theme from being over-the-top.

Danielle Thompson

This little bottle brush forest seen at Apartment Therapy is so charming. I made Christmas trees with felt and yarn a few years ago, so I am am looking forward to adding to my collection!

And how about this beautiful Christmas tree skirt that was sold on Mod Cloth? It’s out of stock now, but I’m looking forward to making my own!

One more project I have in the works is an ornament wreath inspired by the fantastic ones by Georgia Peachez.

I’m looking forward to bringing all these fun retro Christmas ideas into reality in our house this year!

“Jewels”

Cardinals in Winter – a Red and White Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2014 by jewelsathome

How are you spending this Christmas Day? After a super-hectic December, the Bay Area has given us a clear and cool day to enjoy. We’ve opened presents and took the whole family to the park. Now, it’s time for some rest. The last few years, I’ve been inspired to try new color schemes for holiday decorating. First, there was the silver Christmas, and last year’s was all in white. This year, I was inspired by the brilliant red of cardinals on a snowy backdrop, and I added back dashes of red. The result is serene and festive at the same time.

After making new decorations for our silver-themed Christmas and white Christmas, this year was easy – all I had to do was re-use those decorations and add back a bit of red! Here’s how some of our decorations came together:

I love looking around at our red and white decorations. A bright and crisp day outside is making for a perfect Christmas!

“Jewels”

Gifts Made by the Boys

Posted on December 25, 2014 by jewelsathome

The fact that I’m writing this when it is already Christmas morning in most parts of the world tells you what kind of crazy-busy December we had this year. I’m definitely looking forward to a few days of downtime with the family.

We don’t do a lot of shopping for Christmas. The adults in my family have generally agreed to not exchange gifts, and our kids get so much from their grandparents and aunts and uncles, that at most, we pick up one or two little things for them. However, on the night of December 23, I realized that I really wanted to have something to give to my dad and brother-in-law who are both celebrating Christmas with us this year. There was absolutely no way I was going to go near a mall on Christmas eve, so I wracked my brain and scoured my craft supplies to come up with a few meaningful projects that we could make at home.

We reprised the mugs that we made for Steve’s birthday and Father’s Day last year, and the boys also made these fun picture collages. We enjoyed going through old pictures to find our favorites, and I also added some extra copies of Christmas cards from the last few years. The boys did all the cutting and gluing themselves, as evidenced by the fact that there are duplicates right next to each other and other quirky touches. I think that our family is going to love these!

And for me, being able to stay in on December 24 was the best present of all.

Merry Christmas!
“Jewels”

White Chocolate Cranberry Cake – A Modern Fruitcake

Posted on December 20, 2013 by jewelsathome

When I got married, my mom gave me a little notebook with favorite baking recipes from our home. Last year, I shared our childhood banana bread recipe from this book.

Another favorite is this recipe for a cranberry white chocolate cake. It has the perfect blend of moistness with sweet and tart flavors, and it’s always a hit at the holidays. It originally came from a Baker’s chocolate ad in an magazine, though we’ve tweaked it a bit over the years.

Ingredients:

7/8 c butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
3 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp grated orange rind
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups cranberries
6 oz white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 9″ tube or bundt pan
Beat butter and sugars with electric mixer
Beat in eggs, orange juice, and rind
Beat in flour and baking powder
Stir in cranberries and chocolate chips
Bake 1 hour
Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

I make this cake every year for our holiday party, and it has become a popular tradition!

What are some of your childhood holiday favorites?

“Jewels”