Not so Crafty

{December 2011}

Christmas Crafts + Newborn = A No Go!

So many plans and so little time. With Morgan under a month old, I got absolutely nothing accomplished this year as far as my crafting and sewing plans for Christmas.

Not only was I enjoying every last minute of sleeping, snuggling, and feeding Morgan, I was too tired to do a whole lot of anything else! 

I went to JoAnn Fabrics about 12 times starting in October to shop for the things I would need to create cute Christmas crafts for my home and for gifts this year. I didn't get very far. As a matter of fact I didn't get anywhere.

This left me a little sad BUT now I have a few great projects for next years list. And all is done but the actual sewing/crafting part. Also, I won't be eating into next years budget with twice the projects.

First Up:

Stockings

This year I wanted to make my family stockings. I had all sorts of ideas, templates, designs, and fabrics to choose from. I had help from Kale this go around. He went with me to JoAnn's to choose the fabric for these homemade stockings. At first I was determined to use felt. Then with a few extra bucks and an awesome coupon, I decided to go bigger. 

Stocking material

Stocking Cuff Material

The farthest I got with these stocking was cutting all my material out with my template. That's it. 

 Second Project:

A Wreath For The Front Door

I'm not a big wreath person. You probably won't see many wreaths on my front door now or in the near future. I just don't like wreaths all that much. But a Christmas wreath? LOVE

They can be almost any color! Any style! Any Shape! Any size! Basically, they are all gorgeous to me.

My idea was an ice colored wreath. So my girlfriend Beth and I set out on another crafting excursion for some wreath decorations. We looked and looked. A lot of the items I was seeing were pretty boring. The same ol' same ol'. Bright, cheap, cheap, did I say cheap? I wanted to take a free wreath (from Beth) and turn it into something pretty. Not cheap looking. This was getting tough. I really didn't look up pictures/examples/tutorials before we went to get some ideas. I just went.I had lots of great ideas while scoping out the store. But these ideas were expensive. Then we came across this clear box of potpourri. Beth's idea all the way. But she suggested I use the potpourri to decorate the wreath. And at 50% off, this potpourri would only cost about $4. The ribbon was also on sale big time so we scored on that too. With all the savings we decided to buy this crazy bow making kit. At first I laughed but then remembered that I am terrible at making bows! The kit came with a dvd to show you how to construct several different types of bows for different occasions. So we bought it.

Pretty silver & white potpourri

Ha our bow maker!

We spent so much time choosing our materials. Laying out towels on the dining room table. Making bows. Arranging our decorations on the wreath. And....Nothin. I never finished this project. 

But I did attach my bow and added mini lights to the wreath.

:) At least it was something

Third Project:

Christmas Pajamas

When I learned that my nephews would be coming for Christmas this year, I jumped on another idea. I decided to make all this kiddos matching pajama pants. Using applique process, I would also put each child's name on a solid color matching t-shirt to match the pants. I thought this would be an incredibly cute picture of cousins! But again, I never even started this project!

The material for all 4 boys

Morgan's material

I also started making bibs, burp cloths, and other things for Morgan. They are sitting in my sewing bin unfinished. As depressing as it was for me to walk by each of these projects every day, I now am very glad I didn't push myself over-board to get them done. This first month of Morgan's life has been incredible. I am glad I didn't miss a minute.