Sparkly Star Yo-Yo Ornament

I tried to replicate the yo-yo ornaments using a star leftover from my ribbon tree instead of a rhinestone. The yo-yo is made from the sparkly fabric I used for the pink star quilt. While I love the sparkly star, I don't think the non-round shape in the center works quite as well. I probably should have tried to make a star-shaped yo-yo, but that did not occur to me. Or maybe it's the odd number of ribbon loops that throws it off.


Yo-Yo Ornament Tutorial

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

This is the most amazing creation Amanda and Chris have come up with yet: a Christmas book cart made out of foam! One strand of bulbs even lights up! They went to a Christmas parade where one of the floats for the library had book carts. When Amanda told me about the book carts in the parade, I mentioned Unshelved's Pimp My Bookcart contest. Little did I know, this would inspire them to pimp a book cart for me for Christmas.

Tiny books on one shelf:

Tiny magazines on the other shelf:

It's going to work with me to join my rowdy librarian glasses.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

In addition to ribbon, Amanda really likes buttons. (Hmm, perhaps inspiration for next year's ornaments?) This little felt tree reminded me of the sequin tree ornaments I made last year, so I really should have thought of it myself and made one for her, but I'm sure I don't have quite the collection of buttons Amanda does.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

The tag on this ornament said "Merry Christmas...from your favorite article of clothing." I think it's so adorable that I want to keep it out all year even though it says "Merry Christmas."

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

This year Amanda decided to re-read my letters to her for ornament inspiration. The tag on this ornament said "Because you mentioned it in ALMOST every letter." For awhile I was going to Joann's every weekend, so of course I had to relay my fabulous fabric finds! I love my mini bolt of fabric, and I think I'll keep it out all year.

Snowman Gift Tags

These snowman scraps were too small for the cathedral window ornaments, so I glued them to little cardboard circles for gift tags.

Ornaments for Julie

I made these ornaments for my sister in 2008. Two years later she finally sent me pictures, since these were pre-blog ornaments.

She had two Christmas trees and one had a red and gold theme. The orange and blue ornament is for the other tree. She loves the Tigers, so she really likes orange and blue.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Christmas Stars

I've made felt versions of these stars, but this is the actual method suggested in the tutorial. I used fabric leftover from my tree skirt, which I also used for ornaments in 2008.

Felt Christmas Stars

More felt stars! These are just so cute and easy! I modified this tutorial. I am sending a couple to a friend for her son and daughter and I embellished them further by adding their names in gold glitter glue.

3D Ribbon Tree

This is by far my favorite ornament this year. It doesn't hang though, so I suppose it's more of a decoration than an ornament, but it's still adorable. I am very pleased with how it turned out. My original plan was to use a styrofoam cone as the base, and just pin the ribbons on. However, when I went to the store to buy one, I discovered that the styrofoam cones were flat on top instead of pointy. I could have worked with this if the cones were smaller, but they weren't narrow enough. So on to plan B. The base of this tree is felt. I stitched a little tree form and stuffed it. Then I took folded 2" lengths of ribbon and stitched them around the base of the tree, working my way up. I used a soda can to create the base of the tree topper.  It is 4.75" with the star.

Woven Ribbon Tree

Oddly enough, I got the idea for this ornament from a belt. The back is felt. I sewed the vertical green ribbons to the felt at the base of the tree and then sewed up the sides once I'd woven the horizontal ribbons through. The ribbon along the edge is hot glued down.

Cathedral Window Snowmen

I made six of these little cathedral window snowmen.

Make some for your tree with the Cathedral Window Ornament Tutorial.

Ribbon Wreath

A slight variation on the ribbon and rhinestone ornaments.

Learn how to bunch ribbon with this tutorial.

Ribbon Bunching Tutorial

To bunch ribbon like I did for the ribbon and rhinestone ornaments, you will need a ribbon, needle, thread, and scissors. Use your preferred method to keep the ends of the ribbon from fraying. I melted the ends of my ribbon instead of using Fray Check or nail polish and really liked the results.

Tie your thread to the edge of the ribbon to stop the knot from being pulled through the ribbon when bunching, then use a running stitch to sew from one edge of the ribbon to the other on an angle. This creates a zig zag down the ribbon as seen here:

The above picture is just for the big picture. Don't wait till the end of the ribbon to start bunching. Start bunching after you've sewn a few zig zags. This makes it easier to bunch.

When you get to the end, pull it tight and again tie your thread to the edge of the ribbon. If you are creating a circle, stitch the two ends together. Once you have a circle, you can glue on your embellishments, similar to the construction of the yo-yo ornaments.

This was 11" of ribbon that was 1.5" wide and it produced a 2.5" bunch.

To create a rhinestone ornament, you will need:

• 24" of 1" wide ribbon
• 3 4" pieces of 1/4" wide ribbon
• 1 6" of 1/8" wide ribbon
• 1 20mm rhinestone 
• Needle and thread
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun

Yo-Yo Ornament Tutorial

Here's the ornament we'll be making today:

It's so easy it barely requires instructions, but it's always nice to have measurements instead of messing around figuring them out yourself.

Materials:

• 1 yo-yo (yo-yo making instructions) - I started with a 5" circle to end up with a 2.5" yo-yo
• 3 5.25" lengths of 3/8" wide ribbon
• 6" of 1/8" ribbon
• 1 20mm rhinestone
• Needle and thread
• Scissors and pen
• Hot glue gun

Ribbon Snowflakes

I decided to make some Carolina blue ornaments for Amanda and myself. Conveniently, Carolina blue has a nice snowy feel about it when combined with silver. I added mirrors to the backs of these ornaments to stabilize them and used sparkly puffy paint to add a snowflake.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Similar ornaments:
Ribbon and Rhinstone
Yo-Yo Ornament

Ribbons and Rhinestones

It quickly became apparent that this year my theme for Amanda's ornaments would be ribbon.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Similar ornaments:
Ribbon Snowflakes
Yo-Yo Ornament

Thanksgiving Cards

Happy Thanksgiving! I was thrilled when I found these stickers back in October. They have foam backings so they are slightly raised. The top two cards are my favorites. I like these a lot, but my leaf design from 2008 is still my favorite.

Peppermint Yo-Yos

It's Thanksgiving week, so I'm kicking off the 2010 Christmas Ornament Showcase with one of my favorite designs this year! These ornaments were rather impromptu creations. I was toying with the idea of yo-yos for a different design when I was inspired to use ribbon and rhinestones instead. I love the way they turned out! I would happily mass-produce these, except I can't find packs of only red rhinestones in this size.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Similar ornaments:
Ribbon and Rhinestone
Ribbon Snowflakes

Julie's Quilt Fabric

This is the fat quarter bundle Julie picked out for the quilt she requested using the jelly roll quilt pattern.

Envelope Art

I cut these images out of a magazine, figuring I could use them for cards. I decided to put the taxi on a road when I was inspired to add the security envelope, which just happened to have arrived that day. After that inspiration, I decided to incorporate security envelope designs with the other images as well. I had the second design on hand as well, but the blue I had to wait on till later in the week.

My favorite:

Quilt Request

My sister liked the quilt I sent my dad so much, she wanted me to make one for her. Since I got the jelly roll I used on clearance, I wasn't going to be able to use the same fabrics. I told her to pick out some fabric and I make her a quilt with the same pattern. Pictured above with Tyco is the fabric she's sending.

Water Bottle Tote

I made a tote so my water bottle would be easier to carry. I decided to construct it out of a canvas bag I'd purchased before the reusable shopping bag trend but never used because its shape made it less than ideal as a shopping tote. The best part was I just cut the bag straight down the seam and I didn't even have to detach the handles - when I formed the tube they were perfectly placed. I lined it with the pink fabric left over from the bento box and pink and orange quilts.

Pen Pal Card

I write to Amanda pretty much every week. I try to send interesting cards or stationery, but they don't always end up being as cute as this:

Jelly Roll Quilt

This quilt was an experiment in washing. I always pre-wash my fabric. However, in this case, I ran into a problem. Some of the fabric had already been pre-washed, but I wasn't about to wash the jelly roll strips. I also don't wash quilts before giving them away, but I thought it would be wise in this case since I wasn't sure how the final product would come out of the wash. Overall, I am pleased with the results.

Before Washing

After Washing

Before Washing

After Washing

This quilt went to my dad. It's not really dad-sized, but it's a nice guy color theme. Plus, I sent one to my mom and made one for her cat, so I figured he deserved one too!

The pattern is a Moda's Avignon Picnic.

The quilt top
Jelly roll post #2
Jelly roll post #1

Finished size: 39"x58"

Owl Key Chain Holder

I saw this project on Craft Passion (where I also found the turtle). Since Amanda enjoyed making the owl so much when she was here, I wanted to make one of these for her birthday. It's as close to Carolina blue as I could get.

Re-Quilting

I decided my blue and yellow star quilt needed some more quilting. When I originally quilted it, I only quilted around the stars, which is not much quilting for a twin size quilt. I don't use it much, but I decided if I ever needed to wash it or wanted to give it away, it would need a little more stability. I quilted an inch inside the stars and an inch outside the stars. I did the same thing in the columns along the sides, along with quilting around the whole edge of the quilt. It would have been nice to do some fancy star designs, but I am just not that patient.

Hello Kitty Bag

This Hello Kitty bag is made from recycled underwear. Yes, underwear. I couldn't pass it up, but it was not a style I really liked, and as a TJ Maxx purchase, there weren't many size choices - plus, I'm not the greatest at estimating the size of my butt when it comes to unknown brands of underwear - so they didn't fit very well. I had the ribbon on hand and the lining fabric was from my stash, so it ended up being a very economical project since I had a 50% off coupon for the black fabric.

I added the Sanrio tag to the lining of the bag:

Finished size: 7" x 8.5" x 3"

Tiger Paw Tote

A plain orange bag became a tiger paw tote with the help of a homemade stencil and some puffy paint. I first stenciled the tiger paw and then covered the stenciled area with a thicker layer of puffy paint. It's not exactly screen print quality, but it turned out pretty well. I was also pleased with how accurately my stencil came out since the real logo (below) has so many nooks and crannies. Zack says that's because the logo was created with an actual tiger's paw print.

Surprise Trip to Michaels

Last week I had to travel for work to a city I'd never been to before. I knew I had a busy conference schedule, so I didn't investigate what the city had to offer ahead of time. When I arrived I spotted a Michaels! Fortunately I had time to stop in. Oh, how I've missed Michaels, particularly the dollar bins! I got a few packs of note cards, along with the items pictured above. Yay for Halloween! The orange bag will be getting a Clemson tiger paw logo and the stickers will be perfect for Thanksgiving cards.

Finished Tiger Paw tote.

Pumpkin Pin Cushion

I'm on a bit of a pumpkin kick. I found the tutorial via One Pretty Thing and thought, why not add to my pumpkin collection? I don't really need another pin cushion, but it will go nicely with my yo-yo pumpkin.

Patchwork Pumpkin

Last weekend I discovered the tutorial for these stars, and, while browsing the rest of the blog, I saw a mini pumpkin quilt. I was inspired to make my own, and here is the result:

I just love cute little projects like this! Fortunately I do not lack for little orange scraps. It will go nicely with my little yo-yo pumpkin from last year. The leaf scraps are from my New Zealand bag.

Finished size: 8.5"x8.75"