ChRiSTmas PreSenTS

I have finished sewing my Christmas gifts. I am very excited about each and every one. I hope those that get a handmade craft enjoy it too. I also can not wait until I can blog about these projects. In fear that the recipients of the presents may read my blog, I can not risk posting now. Stay tuned...I will probably post them soon after Christmas.

the GinGer BrEaD HouSe

It has been years since I made a ginger bread house. When I was younger, every year at Thanksgiving, my Aunt Esther would gather up all the cousins (and there were a lot of us!) and we made "ginger bread"houses. I suppose I can say, I have never made an actually ginger bread house out of ginger bread. My Aunt Esther would cut graham crackers into the pieces needed to build a house. Everything else was the same, the frosting for glue and tons of candy to decorate. So this year, I went to Deanna's home to make a REAL ginger bread house with her and her 4 year old little girl.

Now, I realize that it is no Martha Stewart house, but I must say, it turned out pretty good since it has been probably 15 years since the graham cracker candy houses I use to make. I did not realize how long the process is, making the dough, cutting out the shapes, baking the dough, making icing, building the house, letting it dry, and finally decorating. I think it took Deanna and I, 6 hours (not including making the dough). Crazy! Not sure I would do it again in the near future, too much work. Maybe if I ever spend Thanksgiving with my nieces and nephews, or if I ever have kids, then I would bust out my ginger bread house - making skills :) 

ChRisTmAS WrEaTH

As I strolled around JoAnn Fabrics, I saw a free craft idea that I just had to complete. So I decided to use my 2 days off from work over Thanksgiving to complete this craft. A wreath made from felt, I figured it would be done in a jiffy, was I wrong. To begin, I had to buy the needed supplies. I bought 4 different shades of green, cutting each felt square into 4, 2" strips. Then after re-reading the directions, I was only suppose to have 3 different shades of green, so needless to say, I had more than enough strips of felt. Along with 10 strips of red felt.

I rolled 104 strips. First, folding the strips in half lengthwise, then hand stitched the bottom of each one to keep it from unraveling. 

As you can see in the background, the base of the wreath. Due to having a plethora of strips, I covered the white styrofoam craft wreath so it would not show underneath. I am very glad I did that, since the rolled pieces do not go all the way around the wreath.

In the directions it stated to use floral pins, which I ignored, only to find out that each piece of felt is held onto the wreath with the pin. However, I decided to do things a little differently. I hot glue gunned each piece to the wreath and then to each other. I think in the long run, the pieces will be less likely to fall off and it made it very sturdy. 

I am very pleased with the final project. The little dots inside the felt are dots of puff paint (that is where the floral pins would have been). It is very light and adds a little something extra to the holiday wreath. I encourage everyone to make one too. It took probably close to 4-5 hours to complete. The cutting, rolling, and hand stitching gets very tedious, but worth it :)