Crafty Christmas

I don't know what it is with this time of year but my crafty side comes out.  I always get these grand ideas with no time to fulfill them yet that inner crafter inside me that my mom honed all those years ago tries her best to push her way out and I can't help but do a few crafts.

my nativity

for my neighbor

It all started with some nativity pictures I got last year at Swiss Days with the intent of cutting them out of wood.  I finally accomplished it and it looks so cute.  I just used some 4x8 pine that I got at Home Depot for $5.  I cut out all the pictures then traced them on the wood.  I used the scroll saw to cut out what I traced and modge podged them on.  I thought it would be a great idea to give them out as gifts to me neighbors so I found some nativity pictures at DI and cut those out for them. I love to have nativities that kids can play with.



Next project was an old Christmas dress I had for my daughter that no longer fits her.  I thought I could simply turn it into a cute skirt because she is always so hard to shop for.  That project turned out to be really easy.  I put it off until she said she needed something for her choir Christmas concert the next day.  So even though it was late I headed down to the craft room to whip out this skirt so she could wear it in the morning. (what a good mom she has. Your welcome Ellie.) All I needed was some extra large elastic.  I cut the top off the dress plus a few inches off the left over skirt and sewed the elastic around.  So simple it took me 10 minutes.  Now she wants me to do that to all her other dresses that are too short.  Some day Ellie I'll get to that.






After doing Ellie's skirt I finally got around to making my lace skirt that I got fabric for when I was in New York.  It was a relatively easy pencil skirt pattern I bought at . . . you guessed it DI. The only change I made was omitting the zipper.  I don't have a zipper presser foot for my machine so I just turned it into a pull on pencil skirt.

The fourth project was idea stolen from pinterest.  I saw these cute mittens and thought they would be a great gift for my nieces.  I didn't have any sweaters so I went to my trusty DI and found 2 that fit my needs.  This project was also pretty easy.  Just lay your hand down trace around it as a mitten and cut it out.  Sew all around.  The only tricky part was the thumb.  My first one was way too skinny for the thumb so make sure you leave enough seam allowance. I got 2 to 3 pairs of mittens from 1 sweater.



The other projects I will have to post after Christmas because they are presents for some people who read this blog.  Lets just say they are super cool and I have now honed my leather crafting skills.