When one of my loyal readers asked me to reflect back on Christmas decor around the Mull house, I was thankful since Christmas came and went on this old blog and I didn't get around to posting anything (and let's be honest, I still have a lot of posts to do this month so to have suggestions from readers is awesome). I don't know about y'all, but I always have the best intent mid-Novemeber to take in the holiday season and pace myself--seems it never happens. I had plans to make way more Christmas decorations this year than I actually did, but here's what I did make and here's hoping for more projects next year.
It started out with this Christmas boxwood wreath pillow that I came across on another blog. You see, I've never made a pillow before, but I've been dying to try one and I thought this one was so sweet but not overly, cheesily Christmas-y. Looked like a good project to me. Going into this project all I really knew about making pillows was that it was similar to sewing curtains--in that you take two same-size pieces of fabric and pin them together inside out, leaving a small opening to bring the fabric right side out once the edges are sewn and then you finish by sewing up the hole. So with that knowledge and the boxwood wreath tutorial, I decided to just wing it. I cut two squares for either side of my pillow from some fabric I already had. Then I took one of those squares and, with a bowl from our kitchen, traced a circle in the middle of it to guide me as I sewed on my boxwood leaves.
To make my boxwood leaves, I cut (many, tiny) felt circles and then just picked a place to start on the circle I had traced. The tutorial I was following hot glued the leaves on, but I sewed mine on because I felt that would last longer over the years since this baby is going to be in and out of storage a good bit. To sew the leaves on, I just scrunched them on the bottom and sewed them down. The width of the wreath is 2-3 leaves all the way around the circle.
Once all the leaves were on, it was really starting to look like my inspiration pillow!
At least it was from the front. Kind of messy in the back...thank goodness noone will ever see that part. With my wreath complete I pinned the fabric squares to one another inside out and sewed with a 1/4"-ish seam allowance on each side and remembered to leave a small whole to pull the fabric right side out.
Tah-dah! Here she is right side out and stuffed with batting, just before I sewed her up completely.
After I stuffed and sewed her, I added a cheerful little red bow to finish things off.
I did use hot glue on the bow, since I wasn't sure how I'd hide my thread ends if I were to sew it on.
Not too shabby for my first pillow, right? And PS, the background of the finished pillow is a little sneak peak of a major project that will soon be revealed on the blog, so stick around!
Another little craft I did (last year, and am just now blogging about it) was this snow globe--you have probably seen these on Pinterest and other places by now, but it's an Anthropologie knock-off that was so simple to make! All you need is:
-a mason jar
-tiny trees (can be purchased at craft stores, and even Wal-Mart sometimes)
-bath salts
-and a ribbon, if you really want to get fancy
Literally all I did was take the lid off and glue the two trees to the inside top of the lid, then fill the jar with a little bit of bath salts (my salts specifically are Dr. Teal's and they smell goooood), screw the lid on and turn the jar upside down. And then I added my bow and I had a snow globe! I love pretty much anything involving mason jars and this is such an easy project, even for the most elementary of DIYers. And they make great gifts for friends and family--you should try it!
I've already got big plans for Christmas crafts next year, including:
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Sewing a tree skirt using this picture as my inspiration, and
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making our little family some burlap stockings.
Did you make anything for Christmas this year? Did the season sneak past you like it did me? I figure I'll have to start working on these mid-summer if I know myself (I think I do) and hope to get them finished by next year's holidays!
making our little family some burlap stockings.
Did you make anything for Christmas this year? Did the season sneak past you like it did me? I figure I'll have to start working on these mid-summer if I know myself (I think I do) and hope to get them finished by next year's holidays!
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