Ornament Exchange

This morning I have a mom's brunch and ornament exchange to attend. I'm looking forward to some adult conversation, some yummy food... and some ornaments!

I wasn't sure what to make for my ornament. Of course, I wasn't going to go and buy one since I have so many things on hand to make one. I decided to go with a miniature version of my tshirt tree. These little tree ornaments have a jingle bell inside them, they are just a cone shape. I've glued colorful buttons for ornaments (yes, normally I don't feel that fabric and glue should be used together, but I made an exception here).

I'm really not sure what to expect for this exchange since it isn't with my normal crowd of crafty people. I wonder how many will be handmade and how many store bought.

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EtsyRAIN Ornament Exchange

Finally, I've finished all the ornaments for the two ornament exchanges we participated in this year. The EtsyRAIN one took the most thought, consideration and procrastination. I started with the idea of making a snowman - he was too ordinary. Then I decided I'd make a monster - they were too time intensive (I'll post pictures of the two I did complete later) and last night I tried to crochet a sushi roll. It came out super cute - but I'm not very good at changing colors and it just took too long... and it was a little boring for me to do.

In the end, I decided to do the sushi roll with the same idea of the tshirt ones I made, but using fleece. Then I strung them on some thin wire (not easy to do) and used some beads for decoration. I like the end result, but I do need to say that I'm not a beader... and I have no idea what I was doing. So - to those recipients of these little sushi rolls - beware - they could come apart with too much pulling on them.

Making these really made me crave sushi. And my son, watching me, must have had the same problem because just a few minutes ago he said "I have a great idea! Let's go have sushi!".

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Puzzle Tree Ornament Tutorial

I finally sent these ornaments out yesterday for our ornament exchange through the Crafty Crow (sorry that they were a little late!). But Robbie had fun making them... and then letting me finish them once he lost interest. He was good for the first few - then got tired of doing it over and over.
Anyhow, I thought I'd share a tutorial on these as they came out really cute. I also made a few for our tree in the shape of a wreath - using the same method, just a circle instead of a triangle.

Materials needed:

• Puzzle (I went to the local thrift store and found a 1000 piece puzzle that had lots of green in it -.99! The 1000 piece puzzles have nice small puzzle pieces)
• Glue (we used a glitter glue)
• Waxed paper
• Permanent marker
• Sequins (optional)
• Twine (string or yarn - something to hang it with)
• Green paint
• Sponges

1. Pull out all the green puzzle pieces. You don't have to use green - you are welcome to make your tree any color you want.

2. Draw the shape of the tree (or whatever shape you want) onto the waxed paper with the permanent marker as a guide.

3. Lay your first layer of puzzle pieces out using your drawing as the guide. Try to get the pieces as close together as you can.

4. Run a line of glue from one pieces to the other in the places you plan to put the second layer. Keep in mind, the second layer pieces will be covering the gaps of the first layer so you will want to keep your glue toward the inside part of your tree and the edge of the pieces. Excess glue is okay if you plan on decorating your tree later with sequins.

5. Place your second layer of puzzle pieces on top of the glue. Be sure to overlap your pieces and cover as many gaps as you can (rather than placing on puzzle piece right on top of the other). Overlapping the pieces will give you a fuller tree - and will keep the tree together.

6. Repeat step 4&5 for a third row.

7. Decorate with sequins if desired. I put sequins on the glue that was left after placing the puzzle pieces - then added a few dots of glue on the to layer. If your tree is a bit "off", you can adjust it now, while the glue is wet, by pushing the pieces together.

8. Allow to dry (I waited about 5 hours) and peel from the waxed paper.

9. Turn it over and paint the back. We used two different color paints and sponged them on to give a more textured look.

** I recommend spraying the finished ornament with a sealant of some sort. I didn't have time before I had to put them in the mail. **

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Tshirt Tree Tutorial

I love this tree - it has so many possibilities. It can be decorated with buttons and jewels, it can stand alone or in a grove of others, it can be made from tshirt scraps, cotton scraps, fleece scraps - I could go on and on. Also, this same concept can be adapted to make ornaments - it can be flat or it can be stuffed to stand - my head swirls with ideas!

But first, for the basic tree.

Materials:

Tshirt scraps - any color, I used shades of green
Muslin or another tshirt scrap
Polyfil (or fabric scraps for stuffing the inside)
Scissors
Sewing Machine

1 - Cut a pattern from the Muslin (or another tshirt scrap like I did). This will be used as the base to which you will stitch the scraps to. The first tree I made I not use a base which made for a bumpier tree (see first picture - tree on the cedar block). It is easier, however, to stitch to a base. The shape of the tree is a quarter of a circle - size will depend on what size you want your tree to be (final size will end up being approximately the height and a third of the width if that makes sense). Round the bottom.

2. Place scraps across the base pattern you just cut - making sure to cover the entire shape (it doesn't matter if the pieces are hanging over). Pin the scraps in place against the base shape. Do not trim.

I did this in strips. I'm sure it would also work with small pieces - I went for simplicity (I also have a lot of scraps that are in strips). I also started from the bottom and worked my way to the top so that the tshirt fabric was hanging down as the branches of the tree would.



3. Stitch across pieces from one side of the shape to the other. I begin by stitching to the areas I have pinned so that I can remove all the pins, then I start filling in areas the seem to need more stitching. You can stitch as much or as little as you want. I used white thread on this one and green thread on the first one. I like having the contrasting thread color.

It might also be nice to do decorative stitches - again, I went for simplicity.

4. Trim off excess edges from the back following the pattern shape. Fold in half along the side edges with the scrap side on the inside. Pin in place.

5. Stitch along the side of the tree to form a cone shape. Trim the top point so it will be less bulky when you turn it inside out.

6. Cut a circle to fit the bottom of the cone from another scrap. I do this by eyeballing it and guessing. You can also open your cone, place it on a piece of paper and trace around it to make a pattern.

(If you want to make this into an ornament, you can always sew up the bottom at this point, leaving a space to turn it. Turn the tree and sew up the bottom by hand. This would give you a flattened tree shape that you can attach a hanger to the top (or sew the hanger in on step 5.)

7. Pin the circle to the bottom of the cone. Stitch around the bottom leaving an opening large enough to turn it (pull the tip of the tree through so you can turn it inside out). I left the opening in the back so that the stitching wouldn't show as much.

For the first tree I made, I hand stitched the bottom of the tree leaving the edges exposed. This does help it stand a little bit flatter and gives it a different appearance. If you choose to do this, I recommend stuffing it 80% of the way before sewing the bottom on - then stuffing it the rest of the way once you have stitched most of the bottom.

8. Turn the tree inside out exposing the green side of the tree. Stuff it and hand sew it closed.

This tree would be great with a bean bag stitching inside to weight the bottom, maybe even filled with a little pine potpourri.


These would be great on a mantle, hung on the Christmas tree, used as a pin cushion or set out for a center piece. Possibilities are endless... and they are so much fun to make! Make one for your kids so they can decorate it for their teacher! Have fun! And, please, let me know if I've missed any steps. For more pictures on the process, you can check out my Flickr pictures here.

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