Smile Like You Mean it

Ornament #3 Felt Mitten Ornaments

2011-11-23T06:00:00.002-07:00

Day 3 brings us to another really cute one I saw on BHG.com

I just had to make some for our tree! Felt mittens!

This ornament tutorial uses a blanket stitch, which is pretty easy and makes your edges look super cute. I found a tutorial for hand sewing felt using a blanket stitch on Future Girl’s blog, which makes it easy to learn how to do it. So pop over there when you are ready to sew up your edges!

Supplies:

* Felt sheets in the colors you want your mittens (hobby lobby has some cute patterns and sparkly felt that you can use too!) *Sheet of white sparkly felt or white fur trim *contrasting thread/embroidery floss * needle *glue gun *stuffing (polyester fiberfill if you want the technical term!) *ribbon/yarn (for the loop)

1. print out the mitten template on BHG or draw your own. I used their template, but I made it a bit bigger, so my mittens are about 3x4”

2. cut out two layers

3. Use your contrasting thread to sew a blanket stitch (go here to learn how) around your mitten. Leave the top open for stuffing.

4. Stuff your mitten

4. Then continue your blanket stitch to close it up.

5. Cut a piece of your sparkly felt, or your white fur trim and attach it onto your mitten

6. Attach your ribbon or yarn on the back for the loop and you are DONE.

I love these!

I’m now addicted to the blanket stitch too! My sewing machine has this stitch as an option, but it’s a lot cuter if you do it by hand!

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Christmas Ornament Shape PDF—click to download

Ornament #2: 3D Paper Stars and other paper ornaments

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

It’s day 2! Today we’re using up some of that cute Christmas Scrapbook paper you may have lying around (I had tons!)

I’ve also included this PDF that has templates for all the shapes I’m using for this weeks ornaments—star, hearts, birds, gingerbread man and a stocking template. This PDF is for Personal Use Only, as are all the patterns and templates given throughout this week! Print it out on cardstock and use them as patterns for your ornaments.

First,

Supplies:
*Patterned papers *Plain White Cardstock *Scoring tool (scoring board, bone folder, or stylus) *Hot glue gun *ribbon or twine (loop for the ornament) *glitter (optional)

1. Cut stars however big or small you want them—mine are about 4" to 6" –using a template, die cutting machine, or electronic cutter. (I used my Cricut and Sure-Cuts-A-Lot program)

2. Score a line from the top of each point straight down to the inside point. Do this for each of the five points.

3. Fold on each line. First, fold each line with wrong-sides of the paper together.

4. Then fold the short lines between points in the opposite direction to give your star dimension.

5. Trace your folded star onto a piece of cardstock and cut it out.

6. Glue the star to the white cardstock

*Tip- you may find that it’s easier to glue the star to the cardstock and then cut it out. After my first star, that is what I started doing.

7. glue on your ribbon or twine or whatever you are using for your loop

That’s it!

I inked the edges to give them a little more dimension.

Now you can experiment with other paper ornaments like stockings or birds.

Fun, yes? These are pretty quick, so it’s a good one if you need to make some filler ornaments for your tree.

Ornament #1: Mini Wreath Tutorial

2011-11-21T06:00:00.005-07:00

Yay! The first day of the Handmade Ornament Party is here! And I have been dying to show off this cute little ornament for weeks!!

Ornament #1: Mini Wreath Tutorial

What you Need:

Shower curtain rings ($1.16 for 12 @ Walmart), Yarn, ribbon or other embellishments, glue gun, scissors

First, cut your length of yarn. About 4 nose-to-hand lengths is enough yarn for the wreath. If you think you will wrap tight, then do an extra arm length to see. After the first wreath you’ll get a better idea of how much yarn you may need. If you use thicker yarn you will also need less than if you are using thinner yarn.

Secure your end with a drop of hot glue

Then start wrapping!

It’s easiest to bunch up all the yarn in your wrapping hand then it is to slowly pull it around and through each time.

Be sure to twist & tighten, push back, and fix your yarn the way you want as you go, but it doesn’t have to be perfect unless you want it to be.

When you get to the end, just layer the yarn until the skinny part of the ring matches the rest of the ring.

glue down the end.

Then tie a loop and a knot the best you can.

Glue down the knot onto the back. *keep all your glued down parts on one side of the wreath—dedicate that side as the back of the wreath.

Then the fun part! Embellish to your heart’s desire! Most of mine I just did ribbon (be sure to singe the edges of your ribbon or will fray!)

Now play around and experiment with yarn & embellishments to create different looks!

For stripes, it may take some practice…

Now a little bit about thickness…

Your wreaths will take on different looks depending on the thickness of the yarn you use, and also how many times you decide to wrap the wreath.

When I started making these wreaths, I used pretty thin yarn {look at the loop to see how thick the yarn was when I started}. The more you wrap around the fatter it gets.

Then I started using some pretty thick yarn, which goes faster than the thin yarn and it gets nice and fat pretty quickly! You also use less yarn when its thicker and do the 2nd, 3rd, etc layers a bit looser too.

That’s it! Cute project, yes? A great way to start the week! If you can keep a glue gun near you on the couch, you can get quite a few wrapped while watching TV or a movie! I hope you’ll try these, they really are cute and pretty easy.

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Late Night Notes

2011-11-20T22:00:00.003-07:00

I almost missed blogging today! But here I am at 10pm wishing i was sleeping instead, but I can't miss another post this month! So now you get to hear my late-night ramblings as I scribble down this post!

Tomorrow starts my little Handmade Ornament Party! I have a bunch of ornaments that are pretty simple to make and that won't break the bank either! I was already planning on making a bunch of ornaments for my tree this year; I'm happy to let you join in the fun too. In fact, making all these ornaments has inspired me to make a bunch of my Christmas gifts too. My little 3 year old {and my hubby too for that matter} will be getting some fun handmade gifts from mom along side his gifts from Santa. My Christmas Board on Pinterest is filling up with so many cute ideas! I LOVE Christmastime!!

Anyway, I could go on and on about not much, or I could just go to bed...So to bed I go! See you bright and early with my first ornament tutorial of the week!!

20 Minute Turkey on a stick for Kids

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

For a preschool activity, we met up with the other moms & kids for a special Thanksgiving Story time on Thursday at the library. They had this fun Turkey Dance song and gave all the kids a little turkey on a popsicle stick to hold during the song. I took a few minutes trying to figure out if it was made with felt or foam (it was hard with all the kiddos waving them around!). I determined, finally, that they were foam sheets. I had lots of foam sheets in all the colors at home, I also had googly eyes and popsicles sticks too. So I came home and made one for Luke!

What you need: Craft foam sheets-brown, orange, {and any other colors you want for feathers}, 2 googly eyes, a popsicle stick (a fat one works the best)

*I was thinking, you could also use construction paper or cardstock, but the foam sheets will hold up better to the intense waving around and possible turkey-fights that may occur between the little kids who play with them.

The assembly is pretty easy. I drew my shapes on cardstock and then used it to cut out the foam pieces. Then I hot glued them all on.

The Front

I cut one more brown circle to cover up the ends and the popsicle stick on the back. That’s it!

The Back

The hardest thing about this project??

Getting the 3 year old to cooperate for the pictures!

Happy Turkey-ing!!

Tissue Holder Tutorial

2011-11-18T06:00:00.004-07:00

In case you missed it, Wednesday I guest posted at Destination Craft with my Tissue Holder Tutorial. I'm re-posting it here today!

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With Autumn comes colder weather, and in my case, that means more runny noses! I like to keep tissues in my bag anyway, but I use them a lot more when it’s chilly!! This little holder is super cute and really easy, It holds a travel pack of Kleenex perfectly. AND, it is also a great little gift idea!

This tutorial is super easy! Especially if you use something like felt or fleece! I’m going to show you the easy felt way first and then give you a few tips if you want to use fabric instead.

1. First, cut out your pieces. You need a piece of felt that is about 7 inches long and 5 1/2 inches wide

2. Next, if you’d like to embellish your edges like I did in the finished picture, this is the time. On this one I sewed on a piece of ribbon along one edge. You could do ribbon on one edge,both edges, you could use ric-rac, or even just use pinking shears to give the edges a little something extra. Important: If you choose to add some ribbon, be sure to singe the edge where you cut it with a lighter so that it won’t fray!

3. Then fold the short edges to the center. Pin it to help keep it in place as you sew. You want the two edges that will create the opening to be as close as possible.

4. Sew the side edges

That’s it!! Take the tissues out of the plastic and stuff them inside your holder!

5. You can reinforce the opening if you are worried about it coming apart over time.

If you want to make one out of fabric, there a just a few adjustments you need to make and do differently.

First, you have to cut out your piece of fabric a bit bigger to allow for sewing finished seams. I added about an inch to each side making it about 8 x 6 1/2. It doesn’t have to be perfect, your tissues will still fit in your little holder if you make it smaller than it should be.

Fold the raw edge and then fold it again so the raw edge is inside. Sew the long edges first and then do the same for the short edges. When you are done sewing the finished piece should be pretty close to the original measurements of 7 x 5 1/2 inches. Something like this:

Then add embellishments to your short edges

Then just repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 above to finish it off!

If you have any questions, please email me at kdb.smilelikeyoumeanit {at} gmail.com.

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Starting Monday I will be posting five days worth of handmade Christmas Tree ornament tutorials! I'm really excited and most of them are super easy too!

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