Paper Christmas Lights Garland

Shout out to my friend LeDonna for this cute idea - she saw it and sent a picture to me, and I agree with her that it's a fun easy Christmas craft for young and old alike :). Thanks L!

Because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist I didn't want to just wing it if there was someone who had actually figured out exactly how to make these somewhere online, so of course I googled and found a few different ones. I followed these directions and they worked perfectly.

Supplies are few:
- cardstock in a few different colors for the lights, and gray for the tops
- hole punch
-ruler and scorer (scoring isn't necessary but it did make the tops fold easily and look neat)
-glue stick or adhesive of your choice (I used my Stampin' Up rolling glue thingy)
- thick twine to string the lights on, I used about 48"

Directions:
Cut gray cardstock into 1 1/4"x  4" strips
Cut colored cardstock into 1" x 8 1/2" strips
(note I made 15 lights, so I cut 15 gray strips and 15 assorted colors strips).

Score the gray cardstock every 1/2". You could also just fold it neatly every 1/2" and run your fingernail along the edge to give it a sharp crease if you don't have a scorer. 

Make a dot at 1 1/4" and 2 3/4" in (that turns out to be in the middle of the 3rd space and the 6th space, see my picture - I stopped making a dot after the first couple and just eyeballed it). Hole punch on the marks. Fold the paper on the score lines, glue both ends 1/2" flap to each other making a circle.

To make the bulb: fold a colored strip in half. Pinch the two ends together and push on your palm or table to get a slight bend in the sides of the bulb. Holding the ends together hole punch thru both layers about 1/4" down in the center.

To string them into garland, put the top of a colored strip into a gray circle matching up the holes. Run twine thru all 4 holes. Then continuing adding the lights until you have it as long as you want, making sure to line up the bulbs with the glued gray part all facing the same way. Spread them evenly on the twine.

One thing I did I have a second of trouble with is the twine fraying and becoming hard to fit thru the holes - I wrapped a small piece of tape around the end and that solved the problem. 

Glitter Words

Glitter and glue. Glitter and glue. I do love those words :). I also love this very simple decorating idea of tracing on some letters and glittering them up! You can obviously use whatever word you want (as long as you can fit it on your paper), choose your color, font and frame - totally up to you.

I did "NOEL", mostly because it's short and less work haha. I guess JOY might have been even easier...I also played with "MERRY" but didn't like how I traced the letters on the paper so didn't finish that one. Am using it though to show you some of the process.

Supplies needed:
- frame
- 1 piece of letter size cardstock, cut to fit in the frame
- chunky glitter, craft paint, marker (I did the same color for all of those)
- foam or small paintbrush
- craft glue (I used white glue that dries clear)

Print out the word you want to display using a bold font, size them to fit on the paper (mine is 8x10). Cut out the letters, play with them on the cardstock to see how they look best then trace around the letters with a marker. Either lightly paint in the letters (don't make it too thick or the paper will buckle) or color in with a marker. Spread glue very thinly over all of the letters, all the way to the edge trying not to leave any gaps - then sprinkle on the coarse glitter. If you do have any gaps in the glitter just dab in more glue and sprinkle some more. I sprinkled it on very thickly then tapped it off into a pie pan to catch and reuse the glitter that didn't stick.

Let it dry and place carefully in your frame, try not to move it too much before getting the frame together because the glitter will spread around on the picture - I tried for no glitter anywhere except in the letters to give it a clean look.








For "MERRY" I traced the letters with a green marker and planned to fill in with green and green glitter but then decided I didn't love my placement....

"NOEL" turned out good all silver though!

Play around with this idea - I chose words to glitter and frame but you could do a symbol (star, candle, tree...), handprints for baby's first Christmas, paw print for puppy's first Christmas haha, use your imagination!

I am working on a little Christmas arrangement on a table
placed behind our couch. I like it so far...

Hand Painted Wine Glasses

My niece Macey painted these wine glasses for me and I love them! This is a cute creative gift you can personalize for anyone one your list - she made me a set of 4 but you could make as many or few as you want.

She found stemless glasses at a dollar store, you could do it with any type of clear glass (doesn't have to be a wine glass!). Since she knows me so well she designed them with a dog theme - each one is different ("walk with a friend", "learn new tricks", "wag more bark less", and a paw). Paint your design on clean glasses using glass paint; when you are happy with how they look let the glasses air dry for 24 hours and then bake according to the directions on the paint to fully cure them.

The directions say they are dishwasher safe on the top rack but I don't want to risk it and just wash them by hand. Aren't they cute? She did good :)

Sarge and his Halloween Scarf

I saw a reversible rectangle scarf with a pin closure in a store the other day and at first thought it was meant for a dog -  the storeowner informed me no, it's for a person...oops. Well that got me thinking that Sarge "needs" a reversible Halloween scarf!

I found Halloween fabrics that I thought would look nice on him, bought 1/2 yard each and have lots left over. I bought diaper pins for the closure, the scarf in the store had a kilt pin but I didn't want to chance it opening up on Sarge and poking him - the diaper pins have a safety catch.

Cut out 2 rectangles 27"x6"  from 2 different Halloween fabrics, pin right sides together and sew - leaving a 2" opening in one end. 

Of course what should have been a very simple quick sew job turned into the bobbin messing up and my having to rip some of the seam out...if this happens to you don't get frustrated! I'm pretty sure sewing machines have temperaments and if it senses you are upset it will only mess up more!! ;)

Once sewn, pull the right sides thru the opening to invert the scarf to the correct side out - I put a knitting needle or something pointy into the corners to get them nice and crisp - then either hand sew or topstitch the 2" opening closed (I topstitched very close to the edge). Iron out the wrinkles and pin it on crossing the ends over each other.

he's comfortable enough in his new scarf to take a
nap in it - that's a good sign!