Finish It Friday: Clay Pot Nativity

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I finally finished this nativity the week before Christmas.  Its a project that has been waiting for me to complete for over a year.    I purchased the supplies in the fall of 2010 for my Relief Society's Fabulous Friday.   This was the sample below.  I didn't make it, but the owner didn't want to teach a class. So, I was in charge.   I ended up buying a bunch of clay pots and the wooden ball for the heads when they were on sale.  Fewer women signed-up than I expected, so I was stuck with a bunch of pots and balls.  And, since I was in charge, I was too busy to work on my own version.

The supplies have been sitting in a box in my craft room closet since that night in the fall of 2010.  This Christmas I decided I would make my own.  And, I did!  I finished it 4 days before Christmas, just in time.  These are super easy to make.  I simply painted the clay pots colors to coordinate with the fabric I had on hand for the head pieces.  Then, I painted the wooden balls skin color.  I used hot glue to attach the balls to the clay pots. I glued on fabric for the head pieces.  I added a little jute rope for a headband for Joseph and a bow for Mary.  I used pieces of rafia for the hay in the manger.  The baby Jesus is formed from a wad of white muslin with a wooden ball glued on for the head. 

I love my newest nativity.  It is definitely a little more colorful than the original, but that suits me.  I love color and this looks darling on my shelves with the rest of my nativities.

JOY

My youngest sister's birthday is in November.  Since I had already given her "HOME" for her bridal shower, I needed to come up with another word.  I knew she didn't really have any Christmas decorations, so I decided to make her the word JOY.  I saw something similar on a throw pillow once a long time ago and thought it would be look great with wooden letters.  
I love having the nativity poke through the space in the O.

I made a few more to give away as gifts to a few girls from church.
I made another version for myself.  These are 4 feet tall.

I think they add such a nice touch to my front yard!  These are so tall that I couldn't make them on my scroll saw.  I borrowed my BIL's jigsaw.  It was my first time using a jigsaw.  It cuts super fast but it makes a ton of noise, and my arm was vibrating like crazy!  I thought it might fall off!  After spray painting the letters red and the nativity and star white, Mr. Right took over.  He screwed them on.  Then, he reinforced the wood on the back of each letter to give each piece more support.  And then he created these stands for the letters, and staked the JOY into the ground.  I loved having such a statement piece in our front yard.

At night, we had a spotlight up, focused right on the nativity.  The letters were very visible at night, even from the end of the street.
I love this new Christmas decoration. In fact, I love it so much, even though its January 18th, we still have it up in the yard :)  Well, actually, we just haven't had time to take it down. Mr. Right took the Christmas lights down New Years weekend, but we ran out of time to take down the letters.  And since then, its been quite snowy.  I will get them down today, but I am excited to pull out this project next year.

Lined Patchwork Stockings Tutorial

Yup, I'm posting about a Christmas project in January.  I just got so behind in December, that I didn't get my projects posted.  I decided to go ahead and post about these stockings now, rather than wait until November.  If someone wants to make these, they will have an entire year to work on them.  I just barely finished these in time for Christmas.  I think I finished them on the 23rd, just in time to hang them above the fireplace for the big guy.   I love the bright colors: vibrant red and limey green. I also love the elfish curled toes. They really just make me smile.  I also love that they are all slightly different.  Each has the same 4 fabrics, just a different patchwork combo, and/or a different cuff fabric.  They match, and yet they don't.  Its totally me.



Want to make your own?
Supplies Needed:
3-5 different fabrics, depending on how many pieces for want.  To make 5 stockings, (plus a little extra in case I need to make another in a few years) I needed about 1/4 yard of each.
Cuff fabric- I used green satin and red sequins, but I needed about 1/2 total for all of the stockings.
Backing: I backed mine with red satin.  I used about 1 yard and it was plenty.
Fusible Fleece
Lining Fabric
Ribbon

1. First, draw your desired stocking shape.  I made mine on the smaller side, since Santa has a stocking budget at our house.  These are just big enough to fit a clementine orange, some candy and a few lego guys and matchbox cars.

2. After drawing the sock, cut it into the desired patchwork pieces.

3. Pick coordinating fabrics and cut them out with the patterns you just created.

 4. Sew them together, using a 1/4inch seam. Press flat.

5.  Next cut the fusible fleece to the shape of the sock, and iron it to the wrong side.

6. Lay the sock face onto the backing fabric and cut out the back of the stocking.  With right sides together, sew the patchwork face and the backing together with a 1/4in seam.

7. Trim the edges.

and clip the corners.  This is a crucial step if you want the fabric to lay flat after you turn it right-side out, which you should do now.  Press.

8.  Now, onto the lining. Cut out 2 sock pieces from the lining fabric.  The sides are the same, but I modified the toe shape a little on the lining since it won't be seen.

9. Sew the lining pieces together but don't turn it right side out. Leave it as is.  Now, stuff the lining with the wrong-sides out, into the stocking.  The seamed edges of the stocking should be touching the seamed edges of the lining.  This makes the inside of the sock nice and smooth with no fabric edges. You shouldn't feel any of the seamed edges when you put your hand into the stocking.

10.  For the cuff,  cut out 2 pieces of fabric.  One will be the cuff and the other will be the cuff facing.

11.  Fold each in half,  right sides together and sew together.  You should have 2  "tubes"

12.  Turn one right side out and slip it into the other piece.

13.  You should end up with the 2 pieces right sides together.  Sew the tubes on 1 side.  This will be the bottom of the cuff.

14.  Turn it right side out.  You should still have a tube, but the outsides and the insides should be the right side of the fabric now.  For me, this means that the sequins are now showing.  What will be the bottom of the cuff now has a nice finished edge.

15.  Its almost time to sew the cuff to the stocking, but first cut a small length of ribbon, form a loop and pin it to the edge of the stocking, loop side down.

16. Now, slip the cuff into the stocking, with the finished edges on the bottom and the raw edges matching the raw edges of the sock.

17.  Pin in place and carefully sew the cuff to the sock.

18. When you pull of the cuff, it should look like this.

19. Fold down the cuff, and you are done!!!

You now have your very own elf shaped, lined, patchwork stockings.


I will be linking up to THESE Fabulous Parties. 

Ruffle Christmas Trees

One of my ward's RS Fabulous Friday crafts this year were these Ruffled Christmas Trees.  I made them back in October, but I didn't feel like posting about a Christmas craft when i was still in the midst of creating Thanksgiving stuff.
Theses were super easy to make.  We had the option of using taupe ticking that the instructor would purchase and ruffle for us, or we could bring our own fabric.  I naturally picked my own fabric.  I love the bright greens and reds.
The trees are made with styrofoam cones glued to wooden candlesticks that I painted cream.  Then you attach the ruffles. Most people hotglued their ruffles.   However, I decided to use small push pins.  I thought it might be easier and I wouldn't accidentally melt my styrofoam cone.  I was done in a snap!
I love these little whimsical trees.

Gingerbread

I know it has been a while.  Blogging has a way of sucking me in and I start to feel totally obsessed with posting and linking, and reading everyone elses posts.  I think maybe I have a problem with time management? :)
So, in an attempt to really focus on the kiddos and sewing projects (the kiddos Halloween costumes), I put posting on the back burner for a few days the end of October.  Well, after a few days, the amount of posting I needed to accomplish built up to a slightly overwhelming time amount, so I continued to put it off. (I just didn't have 2 hours to spare that week!) And put it off, and put it off.  And really, all I have done is just postpone a task that will continue to become larger and larger.  I now have 6+ weeks of projects to write up.  So instead of 2 HOURS, I'm looking at a solid 2 DAYS of photo editing and writing to catch.  But who can spend that much time on a blog during December?  I can't.  I have too many Christmas projects to work on. Plus, with many of my completed, postless projects revolving around Halloween or Thanksgiving, I'm not feeling super enthusiastic at the moment.  I am completely in Christmas mode right now.  Maybe if I tackle one post a day I can get caught up?  Maybe...  But, I am going to post what I am working on now first.  On days that I have nothing, I can tackle items on my backlog.  Maybe...
In December 2010, I decided that I wanted to decorate my kitchen for Christmas with a gingerbread theme.  I really love to eat all things gingerbread/gingerspice/gingersnap and the season just wouldn't be the same without them. So, a gingerbread kitchen is perfect for me.  My mom happily passed down her old gingerbread decorations.  I love them!  And, I will slowly add to the collection so that I can fill every little nook and cranny! 

I keep a slim tree tucked into the corner of the breakfast nook. 

Last year, I fixed some of her ornaments to match my more obnoxious Christmas color scheme of lime green and bright red.   I love the way it looks.  I wouldn't change a thing...

except to add a tree skirt.  I have a brilliant idea, now I just need time.  I may or may not get to it this year.
My kitchen is triangular shaped, and I have cabinets on all three walls.  They are the short cabinets, so I am left with space above them before hitting the ceiling.   This is a perfect place for me to stuff decorations, thus leaving my countertops cleaner. I don't have quite enough gingerbread stuff to fill all 3 of the spaces right now, so I will gradually add gingerbread pieces every year until I do. 

The first wall you face as you enter from the dining room,  and thus can be seen from our front door. 

The second wall is to the left, and you face it as you enter the kitchen from the family room, but you can also see it when you are looking at the first wall. 

The third wall can only be seen when you are in the kitchen facing the fridge. 

Consequently, the first 2 walls have decorations at the moment and the 3rd has had nothing (finish the places that are most easily seen first!)
Above the cabinets on this first wall, I put our gingerbread train. 

We made a gingerbread train last year, and the kids had so much fun!  So, we decided to make another one this year.  I made an engine, caboose and 3 cars (something for everyone in the family!)   The train might not be perfect; it might look as if a kid frosted it (he did!) but maybe that is part of the charm.  I really had to put my Type A personality away and let the kids go to town.  They had a great time, and really that is all that matters.





The "before" display on wall #2 holds all of my permanent gingerbread decorations, thus leaving nothing for wall #3. However, what if I add these darling letters?

These are just some more of my wooden letters that I cut out with my scroll saw, stained and modpodged fun papers. 

















For the gingerbread letters, I used snow tex to create the look of frosting.  I piped it onto the letters just like I would have piped real frosting onto a gingerbread man.

 I found candy ornaments at Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Tree that I used for decorations.  I simply removed the ribbons and hooks and glued them on. I think that these figures look almost like real gingerbread creations. 

Now, with such a long word, I had to switch around my gingerbread displays.  I wanted Gingerbread to be on wall #2 since it can be seen so easily from both entrances into the kitchen. 



So, all of the things that were on wall #2 are now displayed on wall #3!

I'm happy to say my kitchen feels decidedly more decorated for Christmas now!

I will be linking up to these parties as well as to a Gingerbread Party at Cozy Home Scene!