Heart Ornaments from Sweaters

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to make things from old sweaters!  There are bins of used sweaters all over my house.  This year I made more of the heart sweater ornaments.  I mean, like a LOT more.  Probably over 100 of them.  

They are fun and easy to make.  Part of the joy of making them is going on the "hunt" to find the used sweaters that you can use to cut up.  I like to go to some second-hand shops and rummage sales to find just the right colors and textures for my crafting.  I'm always on the look-out for that special find.  

My favorite sweaters are the ones that have a pattern on them, but they are hard to find unless you are willing to pay a lot for them.  And I like using ones that have wool in them so that they shrink a bit and don't unravel as easily.  

To make them, wash your sweater in hot water and dry on a hot heat setting so that the fibers meld together.  I use a heart cut out shape and sew them right sides together leaving a one-inch space to turn them inside out.  The best thing about working with the sweaters is that the fabric is very forgiving.  You can stretch it back into shape.  Stuff with fiber fill and sew closed the opening.  I used a thick gold strand for the hanger.  They can be used as ornaments or as bowl fillers for your table display (just cut off the hanging loop).

I like to give them in groups of three or four so that the colors coordinate well together.  They make beautiful hand-made gifts around the holidays.  :)

What sort of things have you made from used sweaters?  

 

Buffalo Checked Deer Ornaments

Every year, I make some handmade ornaments to give out to my family and friends.  This week I made these Buffalo-checked deer ornaments using Peaceful Prints designer papers that were in the summer's Sale-a-Bration catalog.  I bought the punch that coordinates with the deer and put these together.  I got the idea from one of my stampers, Melissa McClellan.

To give to my daughter, I made a set of three of these ornaments.  I used coasters for the base, trimmed them and rounded the corners and then added the designer papers.  They measure approximately 4 x 2 3/4 inches.  

Here is the third one.  I cut out the snowflakes from the designer paper by hand.  Then I added some red twine and rhinestones for embellishments.  The tree is from In the Pines set and the sayings are from various Christmas stamp sets.  I also added some washi tape on the edges and a tag topper from the Tailer Made Tag die cuts.  

I decorated the backs of each of the ornaments, as well, using some more sayings and snowflakes.  

I love how they came out.  I originally wanted to make more of these, but they were a bit more labor intense that I thought they would be when I got started!  

My daughter will love them and perhaps when I have a bit more time, I will make more of these.  I can imagine them in different colored papers with snowmen,, Santa or other holiday images.  

I love them as a set - kind of like a Trio of Tags for the tree.  :)

 

Tree Ornaments Using Fig Tree Fabrics

Every year I host an Ornament Exchange with some of my crafty friends.  For this year's ornament, I made some quilted trees from my Fig Tree Christmas fabrics.  I've made some things before using these fabrics, and I love them because they are bright and cheery.

To make them, I cut 1 3/4" strips from 4 different fabrics.  After I sewed them together, I cut them out into triangles using some of my triangle rulers.  I started with a 60 degree angle, but then kept trimming them into smaller triangles. 

I folded and sewed a brown strip for the trunks and then trimmed it into 2" pieces to make the trunks.  After I sewed them together, I added some little buttons to make them look decorated.  I used thick gold twine for the hangers.

I made extra trees to give away and packaged them up into homemade bags with a tag and some chocolates.  I put together an assortment of trees in different colors and sizes for the gifts.

I love having homemade ornaments to take out each Christmas to decorate my tree(s).  It's fun to remember our Ornament Exchanges and who gave each of them to me.  

Which ones do you like the best?  Strangely, my friends all chose the red tree ornaments for their ornament in the exchange.  I wasn't sure if the red tree idea was going to over well, but I guess I was wrong!  

I'm off to make some more.  They're fun to make and kind of cute.  What do you think?

 

On Stage at Home

Every year Stampin' Up has an annual conference to encourage the demonstrators and to welcome new items coming out in the catalogs.  I love attending these events.  There are always lots of various demonstrations that showcase the new products and you can get ideas on how to use the new things.  

This year my downline, Tracy and I met at her house to attend the virtual conferfence.  We really wanted to go in person to the event, but because of Covid, they held it online again this year.

We had a great time using some new stamps and papers and getting a sneak peak of what's to come.  We're excited for another year of stamping fun!  A few times a month, we gather together in my home with my stamping friends and make cards and other projects.

It keeps me in the creative mode and allows me to be with friends that share my interests.

   

Here are a couple of cards that I  made using one of the new sets.  

While it wasn't exactly walking across the stage to get our awards, we made the best of it!  

Cheers to another year with Stampin' Up!  

 

 

Still More Christmas

We're back to the cloche!  Only this time, we're putting some sweet treats under the dome.  This set is called Sweets & Treats and cooirdinates with the Classic Cloche set.  For my card, I made a figgy pudding (or a fruitcake) to display under the dome for a fancy Christmas treat.  We colored in the images using blends and cut them out.  The pudding is raised to make it stand out.  I love the classic look of this card.  I got the idea from Stacey Marsh.

Back in the summer during Sale-a-Bration time, I bought the deer punch to go with the matching designer papers.  I took him out the other day and then remembered that I had also bought the Evergreen Border tree punch.  So I paired them together along with a Wonderful snowflake to make this card.  I found the idea from Lori Pinto 

I just love how this card came out.  I used the Peaceful Prints designer paper for the background, the trees and for the deer on this card.  I put some Wink of Stella on the trees and on the stamped snowflakes.  While I didn't get the matching stamp set, I am happy to have this deer punch.  :)

Here is the little girl from the Seasons of Fun set again!  I added her little dog to the scene and love how this card turned out.  I used the saying, Friends like you make this season special to the inside from the Christmas to Remember set.  The stars are glitter paper that I punched out using an older star punch.  The idea came from Joyce Webb.

Last, but definitely not least, is this angel card made using an older stamp set called Wonder of Christmas.  One of my stampers wanted to make a card that was more centered on Christmas story.  I realized that I didn't have a lot of nativity stamps, so I took out the angel.  She is colored with Blends and has a pink glitter star that I cut out using some star cut outs that I had.  The idea from Katrina Duffell.  

With her iridescent snowflake and some Wink of Stella to give her a glow, our little angel girl is sparkling with joy for Christmas.  

While my stamp classes are over for this year, I'm sure that I will continue to do make some fun projects and cards in my stamping room.  

 

Painted Christmas Suite

The first set that really caught my eye in the holiday catalog was the Painted Christmas suite.  It has so many possibilities!  Here is my first card for this class.

I got the idea for this card from Debra Barlow.  It has a white embossed background (hard to see in the photo) and a cut out from the light green paper in the set of products.  Then I stamped and cut out some of the images and added them to the front of my card.  It has such a soft, sweet look to it.  

In this photo, you can see the little green paper in the background a little bit better.  The embossing folder is the new Timeworn type, which is so nice.

This next card is a fancy fold that I learned to make from Wendy Cranford.  It's a step card and you can tuck images in front of or behind the layers for a great card.  

I cut and scored the cards for my class and we added the Painted Christmas papers to it, the images from Christmas season and the saying from Christmas to Remember.  

I love the font and the sayings from this word set.  I can see using this for so many Christmases to come.

Don't they look beautiful together?

The next card is also a fancy fold.  I got the idea for this from Rachel Tessman.   It uses the same designer papers and images and yet is so different.  The candy favor idea is from Wendy Smith.  I met her at her Stampin Up booth at the Big E in Massachusetts this fall.

I love how these cards all came together.  What a great suite to work with!  

Working on Christmas Cards

I have to admit, I love this card made using the Poinsettia dies and the Cinnamon Cider cardstock.  I think this is my new favorite color to work with!  I found the idea for this card from Michelle on Hello Day Cards.  I had some copper ribbon in my bin and thought that looked so nice with this color.  I embossed the saying with copper powders and love how it turned out.  The flower petals have some Wink of Stella on them to make them shine!
 

The next card is made using the Painted Christmas Suite.  There is so much that you can do with this set and the papers.  I love the pine cone look to this card.  I added a little bird from the Curvy Bird set as an accent and love how he blends in so well with this card.

For the tree card, I used the paper from the Painted Christmas to give yet another look.  The trees are cute outs from In the Pines from last year.  The darker tree is on the front panel and the lighter colored tree is on the inside.  Put together, they add some dimension to the card.  It's a simple fancy fold card.

The birds are from the Curvy birds also.

While these are Christmas cards, they have a warm, woodsy look to them.  I used the new Evening Evergreen on the cards and I like how it looks.  

Last up from this card class is the little girl from the Seasons of Fun stamp set.  She is picking out her tree for Christmas.  Because I used greens in making this card, it looks like she had to go for a walk in the forest to get her tree.  

So cute, right?  I found ideas for my cards from Michelle Quinno, Dianna Gibbs and from Wendy Smith.

Do you like the "woodsy" look to these cards?