Christmas Decorations

First Day of Christmas

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I have legitimately lost track of how many years I have been crafting through the holidays. I remember making Christmas presents and decorations when I was still in the single digits, so it’s been a very long time. I started blogging about it at some point in the last 10 years, and today marks the First Day of Christmas crafts for 2020. What a year it has been!

Who else thinks the winter will be long and many days will be spent indoors? I certainly do and I am planning to spend the time becoming an expert with the new crafting toy I bought myself. Any other Cricut users out there? I tested it out my new cutter making this “Oh Quaran-Tree”ornament.

Twelve days of Christmas – Day Eleven

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Today I dug our a few supplies to make wine cork trees. I sat on the living room floor and it was like I was magnetic. One kid came in and asked to make a tree, then the next one asked if he could make one.

I love that the boys want to craft with me. I’m so impressed with their making ability. I bet you can’t tell which trees they made.

Materials:

  • Wine corks
  • Washi tape
  • Glue gun
  • Scissors

Instructions

Tape the ends of the cork with washi tape and trim off excess. Arrange and hot glue together. Cut a cork in half and glue to bottom for the trunk.

Twelve days of Christmas – Day Eight

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Eight years ago my youngest son was 4 months old I decided that I would learn to knit while on maternity leave because of these tiny trees. I didn’t know how to knit but I knew I had to make these.

They were the first pattern I pinned years before I knew about Ravelry. It has taken me eight years to make them so they are fitting for the eighth day of Christmas.

They tie together my 2 hobbies (wine drinking and knitting) using waste from both to make something new.

Here is the pattern in case you are inspired too.

Twelve days of Christmas – Day Six

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For the last few years we have done one family ceramic Christmas craft. Each year gets a little less chaotic as the kids get a little more independent working with clay.

This year we made gingerbread ornaments which were a piece of cake after making mugs and Christmas trees.

They are a little heavy to hang on a live Christmas tree. I might have to wire them on 😉.

Twelve days of Christmas – Day Five

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I saw this idea when I was shopping last Christmas. I took a picture with every intention of making them last year. Here we are a year later and I can finally delete the photo reminder.

These are made from a tree branch from our yard. My husband cut these up into disks years ago after drying the branch for months. My son and I drew snowflakes on the wood discs and I drilled many, many holes. We sewed the snowflakes with red twine (from the dollar store) using a large needle. Then screwed hooks and added twine to hang them on the tree.

Twelve days of Christmas – Day Four

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I make my kids at least one ornament each year with the goal of creating a tree full of decorations by the time they have their own trees. This year I made them knit stars. If you want to make your own the pattern is here.

Twelve days of Christmas – Day Three

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I’m taking a tiny break from knitting projects to show you an outside Christmas decor idea. These currently line my front porch stairs.

I assembled these from cedar boughs, tree branches, plastic ornaments, wood plant stakes and metal pails. The cedar boughs and tree branches came from my yard and the rest of the items are from the dollar store.

Twelve days of Christmas – Day Two

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I participate in a yarn sharing event called Fibre Share. I have done it a few times this year. The theme this round is Christmas ornaments so in addition to sending yarn and other goodies to your partner/stranger there is the expectation to send a Christmas ornament. Keeping in the fibre share theme I knit her an ornament.

Materials:

  • sock yarn- super fine #1
  • 2.75 mm double points
  • 7cm Styrofoam ball
  • ribbon – optional

Pattern:

  • ROW1: CO8 (on three double points, 3,3,2. Three needles are easier to manage than 4 in the beginning.
  • ROW 2: Join and K8
  • ROW 3: Increase to 16 by KFB8 (knitting front and back of every stitch)
  • ROW 4: Knit one round and divide stitches evenly to 4 needles (4 per needle)
  • ROW 5: K1, KFB2, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 6: Knit one round
  • ROW 7: K1, KFB1, Knit to second to last stitch on needle, KFB1, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 8: Knit one round
  • ROW9-16 – repeat ROW7-8
  • ROW17-28 – Knit all rounds (12 total)
  • ROW 29 – K1, K2TOG, K10, K2TOG, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 30 – Knit one round
  • ROW 31 – K1, K2TOG, K8, K2TOG, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 32 – Knit one round
  • TEST THE BALL to make sure that you can get it in, if it’s a tight fit, knit the following rounds with the ball in place. It’s easier to knit without the ball, so test after every even row until you have to force it in. Then knit the remaining rounds.
  • ROW 33 – K1, K2TOG, K6, K2TOG, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 34 – Knit one round
  • ROW 35 – K1, K2TOG, K4, K2TOG, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 36 – Knit one round
  • ROW 37 – K1, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 38 – Knit one round
  • ROW 39 – K1, K2TOG, K2TOG, K1* repeat to end of round
  • ROW 40 – Knit one round
  • ROW 41 – K2TOG, K2TOG* repeat to end of round
  • Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to close with a needle and or create a braided hanger with other yarn. Or you can tread in a ribbon.

This pattern is intended for personal use only. I offer this pattern for free but I request that you do not sell it or any product made from it.

On the Ninth day of Christmas

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On the Ninth day of Christmas my true love made for me….

Needle Felted Ornaments

I decided to try a new craft. I haven’t ever needle felted and saw the idea to make needle felted ornaments using cookie cutters as moulds. In theory it was a good idea but in reality I feel like I need a big more practice before I get the hang of it. I made three ornaments before I broke the needle and then it was game over.

Keep crafting!

Sarah

On the Seventh day of Christmas

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On the Seventh day of Christmas my true love made for me…

Paper Stars

When I moved across the country 11 years ago, we were broke. We had just moved in October and I started a new job in the middle of November. We were living in a one bedroom furnished basement apartment. We didn’t have Christmas decorations, and couldn’t afford a Christmas tree. We bought a string of lights for the tree that came with our furnished apartment, and decorated it with paper cranes. It was simple festive and inexpensive.

These stars are in line with the cost of the paper cranes from our first Christmas. I bought a book with 100 sheets of patterned paper for $7.00 and the ribbon at the dollar store for $2.50 (2 spools with 5 colours each). You also need a glue stick which I borrowed from my son, and a glue gun which I had. With many hours of binge watching labour you can make 100 ornaments for $9.50.

For instructions there is a visual tutorial here.

Happy Crafting

Sarah