DIY Fall Decorations: Falling Leaves

I have a confession to make: I JUST took down the very last of my Valentine’s Day decorations. Yes, I had my hanging hearts up for seven months!  I thought about just leaving them up but with Christmas coming and the way I love to decorate, I knew it wouldn’t happen.  So I decided to use the tension rod for some fall decor before Christmas gets here and I put the ornaments up again.  

Since I’m a New England girl at my core, Fall for me means gorgeous, vibrant leaves on the trees.  I love the reds, oranges and yellows in the fall foliage.  It one of the things I miss most about living in the PNW (and the lack of close apple picking, but that’s another post!)  I decided that having some fake falling leaves in the random empty space would be a perfect way to get a foliage fix, even if they are fakes!  Being fake means I don’t have to worry about them crumbling and making a mess, right?!?

Hanging Heart Decor

At Christmas time I hung ornaments from tension rod in an empty space I have in my living room.  I loved having something there so much that I didn’t want to take them down.  So I decided to use the tension rod to decorate the “wasted” space every month (or close to it.)   I was going to do snowflakes in January but never got around to it.  I was determined to do something for Valentine’s Day.

I’m cheap, so I headed to the Dollar Store to get items to use.  The Dollar Stores here are so much better than the ones in MA.  Or at least how they used to be as I haven’t been in one is a long time because they weren’t very good.  I was able to get two different garlands to use.  I also picked up a few other decorations even though I don’t normally decorate for Valentine’s Day.  I got Munchkin a couple of things too, for the big day.  We’re not big on Valentine’s Day around here but I wanted to get her a little something.

Once I got home, I got to work.  Munchkin wanted to see what I was doing so I let her color next to me.  I took the heart garland apart and made varying lengths of hanging hearts.  I put them in random order and hung them from the tension rod.  Then I wound the other garland around the tension rod.  I hung it up and VOILA! I have hanging hearts!  It’s simple but I like it.

Do you decorate for Valentine’s Day?

Linking up with:

DIY Hanging Ornaments

Two years ago I pinned this pin and haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I really wanted to try it last year but with Munchkin being 5 months old, I didn’t get to it.   So this year I mentioned it to The Man and he bought me a tension rod.  

We have this weird open space in our living room.  It’s between a doorway post and a post at the corner of a counter in our living/dining room.  It BEGS for something but is usually just open space.  So instead of hanging ornaments from a tension rod in a window, I did it in this space instead. 

You’ll need:

A tension rod

Curling ribbon or elastic (I used sparkly elastic made for presents)

approx. 20 ornaments but it depends on how wide the space is and how close you place them.

To make it:

1. Put the rod in place

2. tie one end of the elastic around the rod and then cut it a the desired length. 

3.  Tie an ornament to the hanging end of the ornament.

4. Repeat steps 1-3, varying the lengths of the elastic and the order of the ornaments, following a pattern if you want to.

I had the ornaments and elastic on hand, so the only cost was the tension rod.  You can find inexpensive ornaments and ribbon, so this project doesn’t have to cost a lot.  I’m considering leaving the rod up and hanging different items for different holidays from it.  It could be cute!

DIY Felt Christmas Tree

Last year I saw several felt Christmas trees on pinterest and thought it was a great idea.  It’s a small miracle that I didn’t forget about it and a bigger miracle that I got it made this early in December.  It was really easy and fun to make. 

The great thing about felt is that it sticks to itself. You can take the ornaments on and off again and again and the stickiness never goes away.  It’s also nice that when you cut it you don’t have to worry about it unraveling.  These two things make it nice to work with for this project.  An added bonus is that felt is cheap!

Materials:

Felt in various colors such as:

Green for the tree. I used a 1/2 yard. You can find felt on the bolt at JoAnn’s or Walmart.

Blue/white for a background (optional) (I was going to do white on the bottom for snow and blue on top for sky but realized with the dogs walking by it all the time the white would be a bad idea.  So all blue was my choice.)  You don’t have to have a background at all. I chose to have one because it gives Munchkin more room to place the ornaments.

Your favorite colors for ornaments

Freezer paper

Sewing Machine & thread matching your felt

Scissors

Sharpie

To Make It:

1.  I started by making the ornaments.  I’m not good at drawing so I Googled Christmas ornament templates and printed several off.  Then I took the freezer paper, placed it on top of the printed templates and traced them.  I did manage to draw a few, such as holly, Christmas lights and candles.

1a. Cut around the traced ornaments but not on the line.  Iron them on to the felt.

1b. Cut the ornaments out.  Once you’ve finished cutting it out, you can remove the freezer paper and use it again.  When you iron it will stick again and again and again.  Just like that, you have felt ornaments for your felt Christmas tree.

2. Cut out the tree.  I did this by folding the 1/2 yard of felt in half.  Than I drew the tree.  I didn’t like it so I turned it over and had The Man draw it.  His was much better so we went with his.  Then I cut it out.  When you unfold it you have a tree.

2a. For the background, I measured the wall where I wanted to hand the tree.  Then I cut the felt to cover the wall.  Then I placed the tree in the middle and pinned it down, just on the spikes of the tree to keep it in place as I sewed.  I also put a small piece of brown on the bottom as the trunk. (Sorry about the funky sunlight in the photos!)

2b.  Using the blanket stitch, sew the tree to the background.  It’s an easy sewing job, as the lines are pretty straight.  It shouldn’t take too long, unless you have a kiddo who wants your attention. It might be best to wait for nap time.

YAY, you’re almost done!  See how easy it is?  To hang it up I used Command strips, the ones for pictures and posters.  They look like Velcro. I figured the side that stays on the felt can be used year after year and I can just buy replacements for the ones for the wall.  I used 6 large ones.  So far it’s working great.

While I don’t think the felt tree will completely keep Munchkin from being fascinated with the real tree and the plush ornaments we put on the bottom, I think it will be helpful in redirecting her attention.  I was able to tell her no about playing with the plush Eeyore and bring her over to her tree.  She played with it for about 5 minutes which for me was a win.  Right now her favorite part is pulling all the ornaments off so I keep putting them up.  I figure we’ll get a few years out of it. 

Easy Origami Gift Boxes

On the cruise my mom & I learned how to make easy origami gift boxes.  These really are easy make and are adorable.  They would make great gift boxes for small items.  Munchkin really likes them and uses them as blocks.   If you already have scrapbook paper at home, they’ll be cheap to make, as you won’t have to go out and buy any materials! 

Materials:

A square piece of paper.  I use 12x12.  To make a cover, trim 1/8 of an inch off two sides.

Directions

1.  Fold the paper in half, white sides together.  Unfold.

2.  Fold the paper in half in the other direction, white sides together.  Unfold.

 

2.5The inside of the paper should look like this:

3.  Fold the paper corner to corner, white sides together.  Unfold.

4.  Fold the other corners together, white sides together.  Unfold.

4.5  Your paper should look like this:

5. Next, fold each corner into the center.  You’ll end up with a smaller square.

6. Keep the smaller square.  Take one side and fold it in towards the middle.

Then do the other side.  Unfold back to the small square.

7.  Fold the opposite sides into the middle (you will have folded all 4 sides into the middle.)  Unfold.

 

8.  Turn the small square so the bottom point is pointing towards you. Unfold the top and bottom corners.

9. Using the line from previous folds, fold up the sides.

 

10.  Starting with the corner furthest away from you,  fold the corner towards you.  Because of the folds you made, you should be able to fold the side up with no problem.

11.  Take the triangle piece and fold it down to hold the paper on place.

12. Repeat steps 9-11 on the opposite side. 

13. Now you have a cute little box!  You can make another one to be a cover for it.  If you don’t trim the sides, you can still get the boxes to fit inside each other though one might bend just a little.

Munchkin really likes playing with them.  They are made out of scrapbook paper though so they aren’t the sturdiest blocks ever made.  Don’t be surprised if they crumple after some rough play!

 

Nesting

I’ve been doing a little bit of nesting lately.  Not the cleaning kind (cleaning is not my cup of tea…there wasn’t enough of the gene left for me by the time I showed up!)  I’ve been sewing and making things for munchkin.  I had wanted to sew things for her but didn’t have the energy until now.  I’ve been a little busy.  I’ve made:

 

Changing Pad

This was originally going to be my travel one but I made it a little big, so it’s going to live on top of The Man’s dresser while it doubles as a changing table.  I used PUL (a waterproof material used in cloth diapers) on the bottom and minky material on top so it will be soft against Munchkin’s skin.  I did use some batting in between for a little cushion.

Travel Changing Pad

After looking online at the sizes other people are making and what I wanted, I went back and made my own.  I used the same PUL and minky fabric and added some ribbon that I had on hand to tie it.  I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

Rolled up:

Unrolled:

Cloth Wipes

Since we are cloth diapering I thought it would be nice to have some cloth wipes to go with them.  I’ve read that 2-3 dozen is a good place to start so I made 2 dozen cloth wipes.  There are several ways to make some and I did the slightly more involved method of T&T (turn and topstitched.)

Wash Cloths

We had some wash cloths but I wanted just a few more.  So I made some!  I used flannel on one side and some terry cloth I had on hand on the other side.  I also added just a little bit of ribbon so we could hang it to dry if we wanted too.

Tabby Blanket

I already had 2 tabby blankets but have been wanting to make one for Munchkin since I found out I was pregnant.  So I did.  I love the elephant flannel and the back is super soft with the brown minky.

Panel Quilt

I feel like this on e is a little bit of a cheat since all I did was add batting and backing to the panel and then quilt around the elephant.  We didn’t buy a crib set so this is it.

Burp Cloths

I had some fabric that I thought would be perfect for burp cloths so I made some of those too!  I have several already but I figure you can’t have too many, right?  I backed the animals ones (which is also the material I used to back the panel quilt) with flannel and the other one is backed with minky.  I hate working with minky but love how soft it is!

Travel Wipe Case

I had seen these in some shops costing between $15-20.  I knew I could make them much cheaper than that!  I looked for tutorials online and found this one.  There are others but this is the one I liked best.  It was very easy to make.  Mine isn’t perfect but I know I’ll be better as I make more.

I had a great time making all of this for Munchkin.  I can’t wait for her to get here and we get to use all of it!

Not A Perfectionist

I am not a perfectionist.  I don't have the patience to be one!  My lack of perfectionism was clear to me when I went to the Dancing Brush with a friend.  What is the Dancing Brush you ask?  It's one of those fun studios where you can paint your own pottery.  We had been wanting to go for months and since her hubby is under the ocean and mine had duty, it worked out perfectly.

We started the evening with dinner at The Loft.  If you live in Kitsap County and you've never eaten there, you are missing out.  They have delicious food and a deck over looking Liberty Bay.  It's a great place to eat dinner.  Anywho, after dinner we headed to the studio.  By the time we got there, we only had an hour and half.  After perusing the options, I decided on this plate that I will use as a platter:

I'm really not that crafty.  I can sew just fine but when it comes to painting....I am lacking in skills.  Art was not a favorite class of mine.  My painting ability is as bad as my singing ability...if you've ever heard me sing, then you know it's bad.

Thankfully they have stencils.  I love Asian influences (10 points if you know why!) so I picked a Chinese character.  I traced it onto my plate/platter and I was ready to go.  I decided to paint the character in red (my favorite color) and do the background in blue (The Man's favorite color)

 So far so good.  Until I decided that I should do a rim of red around the bottom.  Since I'm not a perfectionist the line around the plate isn't the same all the way around.  Oops!  The next hard part was painting in between the parts of the Chinese Character.  Hopefully it will look ok!  Painting it once would have been ok, but the more coats you put on the darker it comes out so...I needed to do at least two coats.

Then I started on the outside.  I got two coats on no problem.  Time was running out and I was going to put our last name along the top and Est. 2009 along the bottom cause I'm sentimental like that.  Well, I tried writing in on in pencil first, messed up and decided against it.  Even though the pencil burns off while it's in the kiln I decided to paint over it so the outside got a third layer.  I didn't have time to give the inside another layer of paint so it's going to be a little lighter than the outside.

 I'm hoping it will look ok.  I figure:

It's my first time

No one ever has to see it

It's a unique piece.

It took me about two months to get the finished piece.  My friend picked them up and then I never got it from her and then I was in MA for a month and it was the last thing on my mind.  I just got it this past Sunday from her.  Here's how it came out:

I don't love the inside and the fact that you can see all the brush strokes.  I wish I had had time for 1 more layer on the inside. Oh well..now I know!

Have you ever painted your own pottery?

How did your creation turn out?

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