Star Tree Skirt

I have had the same tree skirt since 2004.  From 2002 to 2004, my husband and I taught in a small Inuit Community on an island nestled next to Baffin Island, Qikiqtarjuaq.  During the darkness of winter, a friend and fellow Newfoundlander, Sheila Lewis, would spend every Saturday afternoon sewing.   This tree skirt was one of the projects we did.   I just spent the last 1/2 hour going through my patterns because I thought I still had the instructions, but all I could find was the first page with the picture only.  It will probably show up when I am not looking for it.  If so, I will add it later.

The front.

The back. So it's reversible.

Under the tree.

Felt Tree Decorations

I have used felt to make some tree decorations.  Most of these came with a little kit that I bought at Walmart, but they are easy to make without a pattern.

Burlap Tree Decorations

Over the past couple of years, I have made some decorations for my tree.  I am going to show a few-- too many to do them all right now.  Hope you enjoy.

These are a sample from the burlap decorations.

 I  made bows out of red burlap..

 Other Burlap decorations.

Candle Re-do

I know that Christmas is practically over now, but I want to post a couple of things that I did before and didn't have the opportunity to post it.

This was the candle as it is all year round.   I wanted to make it more festive looking so I removed the cream coloured décor.

I added some twigs of berries.

Next I used the burgundy candles and used straight pins to add the rusty stars.  I stuck a pile of cones onto a piece of cardboard and laid it on the stand so that I could remove it after Christmas again. Then tied some fabric on it for bows.

Christmas Centerpiece

Wow! Christmas is almost here and I have so many plans that are nothing but plans.  I wanted to do so many crafts, but I should have done them back in October when I still had time.  However, as I decorate I am making some new decorations this year.  One is my centrepiece.  I was recently visiting my niece, Kelly, when I noticed this large bowl that she was going to get rid of.   I became the recipient of this and it became the foundation for my Christmas Centrepiece.  I am quite pleased with the results

This was what I started with.  A large bowl that I turned up side down and a wreath.  I added the red bulbs as well.

Then I added some of my large cones and some ribbon around the base and to make a bow.

Around the top I put a wreath of berries.

Then I used a candle for the centre.

Fabric Cones Hanging

Prior to going home this weekend to visit my parents and collecting many cones, I started to make some from fabric.  I made 4 and created a hanging for my door.

Keep doing this until you have the Styrofoam balls covered.

As you can see you can add different colours of fabric to the same ball.  The I wanted to add a bow.

When making the bow, I used a Christmas Lace.  I made the bow in the second frame and then made a bow without tails in the third frame to put behind the first bow.  I also added a piece of lace to the hanger to make it fuller.

I glued a gold ring to the back of the bow.  Then I used a little red lace as well for colour. 

Decorated Flower Pot

I have not started to decorate for Christmas, but I plan to begin this week.  In the meantime, I am still making some things. I went home for the weekend an discovered that a tree next to my parents' house had beautiful cones.  I brought them into the house and dried them on the wood stove so that they would open up. As you will see, I have plans to use a fair number of cones this year.  Here is the beginning of the cones for Christmas.

I began with a plain flower pot that I recently put a small tree I purchased last Christmas.  It had outgrown it's previous one.  I wanted to add a little for Christmas.  I first tied some Christmas lace around it into a bow.

Then I got two of the cones that I had prepared on the weekend.

You can see how much they opened on the stove when looking at both pictures. My hands were sticking together when handling them, but when they dried they looked like I had put a gloss on them.

I tied some green lace and jute and glued them to the cone.  I used a piece of jute to then attach the cones to the bow.

This was the arrangement that I ended with, but those cones look good anywhere on the flower pot.

Gifts Under 10.00

Today,  I have been guest posting at http://www.thegrantlife.com/.  Kelly is hosting a Christmas Party event of gifts that can be made for less than $10.00.  A while ago I posted my Scrappy Coasters and she requested me to post the project today.  Since the original post, I have added a number of samples of the coasters.  Drop by Kelly's site to have a look at all of the great ideas that have been posted so far.