I FELT Crafty. Part 2

I had wanted to get this post up before Christmas was over but I think I was overly ambitious in that aspiration.  I decided to go ahead and post my creation since it really could be made in any color and put up at any time of year...

About a month ago now, I made some felt flowers for some bud vases I had around the house.  I liked them so much (and they were so easy to make) that I thought I would go ahead and create a wreath with some of the same flowers.  I've always thought of wreaths as being an old lady type thing but they can totally be a fun and modern element in any house.  

By the way, I promise I have more to talk about that home decorating, it's just been on my radar a lot lately with the holidays and it's fun to share:)

Here are the supplies I used for my wreath:

• Styrofoam wreath form
• Ribbon to wrap form in (25 ft)
• Multiple pearlized pins
• Several sheets of white and red felt
• Brads for the center of felt flowers
• Embroidery floss
• Large needle
• Nice scissors
• Pipe cleaners

I simply wrapped the wreath form in ribbon (any type of ribbon will do but one that's not silky would probably stay put the best) and secured it to the back with the pearlized pins. Why use glue if you don't have to?

I created some felt flowers via this tutorial and also attached them using the pins.  

I wrapped the pipe cleaners around a pen to curl them and attached them as well.  

Here's the semi-finished product:

I thought I was done at this point but as the weeks went on, I kept staring at the wreath just thinking it needed something more.  I like clean and simple but NOT boring and I knew a few more layers would spice it up a bit and make it look more grown up.  I found this yarn and felt wreath tutorial online and went to town to up the umpf factor.

This time I needed:

Felt

Pom Poms

Pearlized Pins

A roll of tulle (a few dollars at JoAnns)

A glue gun

I started out with the rose-like flowers and was pleased with the ease that they came together.  They may look hard but trust me, you can't mess them up!  I was digging through my craft supplies and found the tulle and pom poms and decided it would make the wreath a little more exciting to add them too.  

I love using the pins to attach things because I can move them around if things aren't in the right spot.  It can be hard to commit to placement sometimes and this takes the stress out.

Here's a tip: always create a focal point when making a wreath with embellishments... either put all the weight on one point (I like it to be at 5 or 7 O'Clock) or offset it with the most visually weight-y (how's that for technical speak?) part at the bottom.

So now that the wreath project is officially done, I think I'm ready to make another one.  Possibly something green and white that I can hang on the door all year long.  Look at these for inspiration-they could easily be adapted to fit any color or holiday.

So what do you think, would you ever feel the urge to attempt a project like this?

That's a Wrap.

So the wrapping party was a success!  And by that, I mean we ate sugar cookies to our hearts content, rocked out to Winter Wonderland and wrapped *almost* all of our gifts.  A snow storm came through on Saturday but it didn't get us down and by 7:30pm we were surrounded by bows, ribbon and wrapping paper with one deliriously happy kitty snacking on it all.

The party was easy to prepare for since my house was already decorated for Christmas and I just had to haul out my wrapping supplies a few minutes before the girls got here.  I made a few snacks and decided to focus most of my "party planning efforts" into some yummy sugar cookies.

My Aunt gave me an amazing recipe in March that I had been begging her to give me for nearly 5 years.  She would cut off my fingers if I shared it on here, so I found another recipe that's almost as good (I've made these before).  The key to awesome sugar cookies is not rolling them out too thin and then making sure to not over bake them so you keep them nice and soft.  You never want them to get brown or crispy.

Here's my decorating station, it's not that exciting but ya know:

I lined up some dip-bowls with sprinkles for easy access. I'm not afraid to say I picked up a container of cream cheese frosting; it's easy to mix up but when you're striving to make things simple you have to know your boundaries.  Right?  Anyway, it glided on the cookies and was wonderfully tasty.

By the way, you gotta get the gel food coloring.  Colors have never been so vivid, so fabulous, so edible!  No more "red" frosting that looks pink instead.  You'll love it.

I like to use cookie cutters as "stencils" to decorate.  

Trader Joe's Mac N' Cheese Balls and fudge too- yum!

Now, onto the fun part, the actual party! The supply stash (probably only half of what we had/brought): 

Wrapping paper, bows, embellishments, tape scissors, bags, tissue, and my personal favorite this year: tulle.  It works great instead of ribbons and bows and a roll of it will adorn gifts-a-plenty. This is where you pretend that I took a picture of one of the gifts I used tulle on, so you could see an example. Sorry!  

 The beautiful Hannah after her wrapping was done.  I surprised her with some peppermint coffee:)

The beautiful Melissa displaying one of her gifts.  

Sorry I didn't get any "in progress shots", I was busy;) And of course there's no Before and Afters 'cause a lot of you cute people reading are on the receiving end of the gifts and we wouldn't want you to see what you're gettin'.  Plus, we forgot to group all the wrapped gifts together and take a shot- whoops!  Still tryin' to get this blog thing down, he he.

I invited 5-6 people but a lot couldn't make it because they hadn't done shopping yet.  Maybe next year:)  It is best when the party is small because each person takes up so much space.  Unless you have a HUGE house or don't mind having people in your bedroom, on average, about 4 people is good to have over.  

So, we chatted, we wrapped, we laughed and we made one of the biggest tasks of the holiday season as easy as that.

i need me some NOG

egg nog is one of those things that you either love or you despise. i happen to LOVE it. i blame this on my dad. growing up, he would always be the first to buy a carton and we would find it in the fridge usually around late october (no kidding!). it's never too early to start anticipating the christmas season, especially with a little heaping glass of this good stuff. as a kid, it was always a treat, which is why i love it so much now.

those of you who are egg nog lovers, such as myself, you gotta start looking beyond just drinking it out of a glass. this morning, along with some milk, i added a splash to my cinnamon pecan special K and it was amazing! how could i have not thought of this before?! not the most healthy breakfast, but way more exciting and unexpected than plain, old milk and cereal.

i also concocted a drink that's worthy of serving at starbucks (actually, they probably do serve it, i just never go there). i was in the mood for something cold and refreshing, so i poured some milk, tazo chai tea mix and some egg nog all over ice and voila...deliciousness.

ingredients

my little helper...she approved of my new beverage!

final product...delish!

and lastly, for thanksgiving this year, i was given the task to bring the pumpkin pies to brandon's family thanksgiving. along with my pumpkin cream cheese pie, i found an egg nog pumpkin pie recipe, and decided to give it a whirl. and it was a success! it was still the traditional pumpkin pie that everyone loves, but with a hint of spice from the egg nog. so much of a success, in fact, that my father in law had a piece for breakfast(!) every morning! we're talkin', straight outta the pie pan and without a plate. his rationalization? pumpkin is a vegetable! why not?

so, what have we concluded? hannah's vice for this season is peppermint and mine is egg nog. rach....you're up!

take the grinch out of your life

this past weekend, hannah and i attended an event at valley e-free church called The Basket Bash. This event is put on every year by the women's ministries and draws hundreds and hundreds of women together to shop, eat, drink, mingle and enjoy a truly inspirational speaker. my mom and i have made it a tradition every year to go together, as well as hannah and her mom and sister. it's a great chance for moms and daughters to do something special together. and what woman doesn't like to shop, eat or chitchat?

you may be wondering why it's called "the basket bash"....no, nobody is taking a sledge hammer to any wicker storage devices (although that really sounds invigorating!). after purchasing a ticket to the event, you come with some cash in hand in exchange for some tickets. one ticket = one dollar. the tickets serve as your money as you "shop" the halls of valley church. here's where the basket part comes into play: the first step is to purchase your basket. one ticket for a small, two for a medium and three for a large. there is an assortment of holiday themed baskets, all ready to be filled with gifts for a special lady (or man!) on your christmas list.

tables line the foyer of the church and each has a different theme. there was a "hot drink" themed table with various coffee mugs for sale and beverages to fill it with such as chai, gourmet coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate. next was a "candy table" with festive cellophane bags and a variety of candy to give to that friend with a sweet tooth. and my personal favorite - the bath and body table. this is usually the table that's buried behind a crowd of women on a mad hunt for another bottle of frosted orange spice hand foam. the products are actually from Bath and Body Works and are sold at a steal of a price...three tickets! three bucks is an awesome deal, since things like soap and lotion are usually sold in the store for five or more dollars. and with this economy, a couple dollars go a long way:)
these are just a sample of the different types of table themes. there were also things like stationary, note cards, sticky note pads, candles, picture frames, hand-dipped pretzels, caramel apples...and so on. basically a smorgasbord of stocking stuffer type gifts. each gift ranges from one to three tickets in which there is a friendly, valley church volunteer, who is manning the table and will exchange your tickets for a gift.

once your basket is filled to the brim, you can head on over to the chapel, to top your basket off with some sweet treats. inside the chapel there are more tables waiting for some serious cookie decorating. sugar cookies, sprinkles and loads of frosting are spread out on each of the tables, ready for some creative cookie embellishing.

the last step is to complete the look of your basket. holiday tissue paper, basket filler (little strips of paper to place in the bottom to keep things in place...is there a name for this?), embellishments, ribbon and a cellophane sack are all provided to make one killer looking gift. so pretty, in fact, that you don't even have to put it in a gift bag....just wait until december 24th to place it under the tree, unless you want sneaky, peeking eyes to wander:)

after grabbing a complementary hot beverage, it's time to head into the sanctuary for brunch, door prizes and a speaker.my group scrambled (yes, scrambled! there were 350 women there!) to get a table together and once we were all inside the doors, we had a chance to marvel at the decor. the ladies that put this together didn't miss a beat. from floor to ceiling, there was fancy, holiday cheer. this year's theme was "how the grinch stole christmas", so there were bright pinks, blues and greens that filled the sanctuary. everything was adorned down to the toothpick that was holding the pickle on our plates. the menu was delicious! we dined on chicken
salad croissants, cranberry white cheddar cheese slices, grapes and pistachio salad. and homemade cake balls for dessert...still dreaming of those:)


while we ate, the folks of "who-ville" announced the winners of the door prizes. yep, the grinch, the mayor of who-ville and his wife were all there! they were all in character and quite realistic, i might add.

on to the door prizes. let me just say that these are not just your typical, measly door prizes. we're talkin' stuff like a pottery barn serving tray, a $50 gift card to Wellspring and tickets to the Women of Faith Conference! No winners at my table though:(

the last portion of the basket bash, is the main event. this year, the speaker was Thelma Wells, also affectionately known as, mama T. Thelma is an international speaker, author, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. she was the first african american woman to be a core speaker for the Women of Faith Tour and has quite the background. learn more about thelma here.

to go along with the grinch theme, thelma soulfully spoke about how to "get the grinch out" of our lives. she gave us a glimpse of the abusive childhood that she endured and how she clung to God's promise, even as a child. thelma's grandmother used to lock her in a dark, rat infested closet for hours. she would sing hymns to herself and to this day, she feels no bitterness toward the abusive people in her life. she also spoke of her wayward son, who pushed God out of his life and for 30 years, thelma prayed that he would learn to love God again. she excitedly told us, that her prayers had been answered and her son had given his life back to God.

she challenged us to get the "grinch" out of our lives. anything negative or harmful that may be getting in between a relationship with our Savior must be put to rest. whether that be resentment, addiction, doubt or any other sin of this world. we all have it and we all struggle with it. give it up to God. and though that may sound easier said, than done, releasing those battles to God will give you peace and contentment in your life.

overall, the basket bash was a morning well spent:) i shopped, i ate, i learned and i prayed. and i betcha the women's ministry of valley church is already planning for next year's basket bash...maybe i'll see you there!

something to think about: what is the "grinch" in your life? God wants you to lay these burdens on Him. are you ready to give them up?


here are a few pics..enjoy!

fancy center piece

just a couple of wonder women

some of the madness

basket bashers

the chapel - where the cookie making was happening.

the beautiful table!

the stage

some tasty eats

homemade cake balls with a sweet, little ornament to take home.

me and my mama!

they thought of everything...even the toothpick in the pickle!:)

I FELT Crafty. Part 1

If nothing else in the world mattered, I could probably spend every waking moment working on décor projects for around my home.  I love sprucing up our environment and I especially love doing it at next to no cost.  We busted out our Christmas decorations this year and I was slightly underwhelmed.  We’ve never really bought much for decorations and on top of that, much of what we have was given to us the first year we were married.  Since Santa cookie jars aren’t necessarily my style, I planned on accruing some new decorations this year but still wanted to be mindful of our budget.  I like to try and challenge myself to make projects where I have most of the materials already on hand. 

After putting up the Christmas tree, I decided I wanted some red and white décor on the other side of the room. I ran to the store to get a few items and then set to work on some DIY projects for around the house.  I broke out the best set of scissors I own and created some felt poinsettias for three little vases I love.  It added the perfect touch to the area and since I can tend to go overboard with decorations sometimes, I left it simple and sweet.

It’s hardly rocket science, but I thought I would detail my work here in case you are looking for an inexpensive, fun and fool-proof project.  I like that it leans toward a modern aesthetic when so often, Christmas décor can be ornate and over-the-top.  I like clean lines with a hint of sparkle every so often. 

• Start by drawing a petal on felt with a pen
• Trace at least 5 for each flower 
• Cut them out- sharp scissors make all the difference
• Stitch around edges for emphasis- you could do a simple stitch or an embroidery stitch
• I sewed mine together but you could probably use a glue gun if you wanted
• Attach or glue a button to the middle
• Attach a pipe cleaner for the stem 
• Don't water and enjoy:)

I'll be posting another felt post soon. Let me know if you decide to make some, I would love to see pictures!