More Christmas Craftyness

I hope I don't bore you all with my endless little crafty projects. I know I go to different blogs I frequent for inspiration; so I post my crafty projects in the hope that someone somewhere will be inspired to make their own little crafty things in the spirit of re-using, re-cycling, up-cycling, and general thriftiness and cuteness at the same time. Whoa. That was all one sentence...... so much for using my home school alumni grammar knowledge. Heh, heh.

In this case, I found a tiny wooden embroidery hoop. About 3 inches in diameter, I think it was a part of an American Girl Doll sewing kit my mom bought for one of my sister's American Girl dolls. I found a scrap of even weave linen left over from a antique reproduction sampler I did, and cut it to size. No, I never throw away my fabric scraps. I keep even teeny ones, for a crazy quilt one day.

 

Next, I tea-dyed the linen. Tea dying is a great way to age any textile. I do it all the time. You can use coffee,also.

 

A little sticharoo and I have a mini Christmas tree on there....

 

And crammed it into the little frame with a loop of ribbon and a bow......

 

There you have it. A little off center folk art tree decoration. I did have to secure the frame to the fabric with a little wood glue, as it was threatening to come out! You can find little frames like this on Etsy, or at your craft store. Although, usually, they are 4 inches not 3; like this one.

Well we went to Lowe's last night and bought a Christmas tree. We plan on putting it up tonight after my 8 year old niece gets here. She's staying with us for a week or so and I am so excited to have a kid in the house for Christmas time this year! I plan on grabbing my other nieces and doing a cookie baking day; and tea party; and hike in the woods to collect berries and twigs and evergreen boughs and moss; string popcorn, and all that fun stuff! This is going to be such a fun Christmas. What's so cool is, all of my family is somewhat strapped for cash this Christmas; what with moves, starting businesses; job loss; etc. We all agreed to go easy on the gifts this year. And you know what? It is actually cool! I am having so much fun just on the fun times, memories, and food part! And that, I believe, is what Christmas should be all about. I think many people will discover that this Christmas. Phooey on expensive gifts. It's the togetherness that matters. That, and the food........