Santa Ornament

 This is just a quick little project I put together.  There is an instagrammar I follow who makes these adorable Santa's.  She sells them, I just wanted to try out some painting and hang one or two.  I found these precut, wood Santa's at Michael's.  I added some scrapbook paper to the hat, and made a white pom pom, and then painted.

There is so much potential for different designs, but....I'm just excited someone else did the wood cutting so I could create my own little guy!

Clearance Ornament Craft

 I found little snowball ornaments at Target on clearance after Christmas, and I decided to give them a make over for future years.  I bought two, so you are looking at the first finished ornament.

It was the easiest craft b/c I just bought some buttons at Hobby Lobby I hot glued around the ornament, and I used my scrap ribbons and tied it to the string that was already there.  Ornament two will be shades of gold instead of silver b/c I'm an equal opportunity kind of gal when it comes to my fake precious metals.

Dollar Store Ornament Garland

I made this last year for Good Morning, Texas.  I made a loop on each end so it can hang in a swag, but I was lazy and had it lay across the top of my buffet, which was just as pretty....maybe this year she'll make the wall.  .  

 I bought some ornaments at the Dollar Tree. They sell them in all shapes and sizes.  I took about 5 tubes per swag, and I made each swag separate so it wasn't too heavy.  These ornaments are really light, so it's not too heavy, but still.

 I took some wire and twisted the end so I had a loop for hanging.

I also twisted on the first ornament next to that loop and then I just started dropped ornaments down my wire varying the colors until I had this...

I twisted off the other end and now it's ready to hang.  Not too shabby for 5 bucks.

Ornament Adoption Agency

 I love vintage.  I've been known to buy a thing or two at a craft store (like a needle point) simply b/c I know someone spent time making it, and I'm offended by the person who dared to sell it.  Vintage ornaments have a special place in my heart.  I love that once upon a time they sat on someone else tree, (hopefully) overlooking Christmas gifts, Christmas dinners, family visits, and I feel it's my duty to give them a new home!

 I buy them individually, or, occasionally, by the box.  I found this tree topper on ebay.  I've been obsessed with these indented ornaments for YEARS now.

 In fact, last year, I went a little nuts and bought several boxes of these Santa Land ornaments on ebay.

 I love that they are hand painted (in Poland?) and each so different.

 I put them on a little tinsel tree I had (from Hobby Lobby...it has a few more years until it's considered vintage).

I feel like I'm running a rescue of sorts.  I rescue Christmas memories, and give them a few more to add to their collection of Christmas stories.  At least that's my excuse for buying too many ornaments when I already have so many!

Vintage Ornaments Thrift Store Haul

I hit up my favorite thrift store a few weeks ago and found a real treasure chest full of ornaments I have lots of plans for....few of those plans involved a tree, many involve a glue gun, but first, here's a walk through of my latest vintage ornament haul.

Vintage Ornament Wreath

I recently scored some really great bags of antique ornaments at a thrift store.  I took a video of some of the bags of goodies here.  The only thing I didn't get in a grab bag was the little elf on the top of the wreath.  I bought him at a vintage days show a few weeks back, but I knew I wanted him for this wreath to join the other grab bag elf.  

I got a foam wreath form and two strands of tinsel at the Dollar Tree.  

 The tinsel helped me get the ornaments to stay better.  I just took my glue gun and started gluing.  The nice thing is a lot of the ornaments with imperfections (like the deer with no front paws) could be covered by other ornaments.

I tried to space out the large ones, and then fill in the rest with the smaller ornaments.  

 The only ornaments I refused to glue were the two elves.  I'm in love with these.  I took a long pin and I pushed it through the felt down into the foam wreath.

Ornament Wreath

How about a little Christmas in July?  I made this last Christmas with some of the extra balls I had from misc projects.  I did a quick little how to video on putting this little guy together.  The interesting part...everything was bought at the dollar tree or Target dollar spot.  Those are my go to places for every holiday.  Let me just say....it doesn't get any easier than an ornament wreath.  Give it a go.  You can find the how to video here.

Gingerbread Crafts

 Last Christmas my cousin brought his precious kiddos into town.  I had them over one morning for a gingerbread brunch.  Blythe and I have been crafting together since she was 6 months old.  Really.  She was more a victim at the time-paint a hand/force her to stamp something with it, at the time, but now she loves crafting and she has a little brother, Jonathan to join her.
I found some bird houses for a dollar and sprayed them brown to look like gingerbread houses.  I decided this would be easier than the 'real thing' this year.

 I found a bunch of glittery foam stickers and jewels and let them go forth and decorate.

The thought is they can maybe even hand these little treasures on a tree of their own....or at least keep them for a fun memory for a month or two.

 We also decorated gingerbread cookies.  I used store bought gingerbread dough and a canned icing.  I bought a bunch of misc candy.

 ...and they put their artistic skills to work.

 I also had them paint some little wooden angel ornaments.  Yes, gingerbread men would have been better, but Blythe and I already did a gingerbread themed ornament one year....

 Blythe wrote her name with a silver pen and I added a bell and a bow to the front.  I appreciate that as long as all the letters are present, it counts as her name.  Cutest.  Name.  Ever.

Faux Gingerbread Houses

 This year I'm hosting a gingerbread brunch for my niece and nephew that are headed into town.  I'll be posting those details...honestly, next fall.  I've had a ton of fun planning everything.  BUT...I'm headed to GMT tomorrow and my theme for the day is gingerbread.  Here is one of the crafts the kiddos and I will be doing at my brunch!  They are 4 and 2, so instead of making little gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, I found these little bird houses for a buck at Michaels.

I sprayed them brown, and then found some glittery/foam stickers at Hobby Lobby and jewels they are going to use instead of candy.  Totally durable, and they can hang them on their tree if they want as a little momento from this year's festivities.  I'll share the finished products soon.

Heart Map Ornament

 When I first saw this idea floating around online, I just assumed it was a craft from a blog.  I went to the site...and I saw it was for sale.  For 32 dollars.  Uhh.  What?  I made this for 25 cents, but....you choose.
I bought these little wooden hearts-it was a 4 pack for less than 2 dollars, and i used a 40 percent off coupon....and then....you know all those little brochures you have at the end of a vacation with maps and info?

 I used a piece of a map from my trip to Brazil, and I traced and cut out the heart.

 I used a gluestick to stick it down.

 You could add the year and date on the back, maybe have each family member put their name on it and the year, or add another photo from the trip...

I drilled a little hole at the top, and wa-la, a little ornament to remember my trip, and a way of putting those keepsakes to use without collecting more stacks of paper.  You could run an ink pad along the edge if you wanted it to look aged a bit, or paint the side of the ornament.

New Home Ornament

 I made this ornament for a friend of mine who just bought a new house to commemorate her and her husband's new house.
I printed off a picture of the house on colored transparency paper.  You could also use frosted paper.

I cut out a circle...

 ...and slipped it down into the ornament.

 I printed off their new address and the year and bought these little key charms to add.

 I added a bunch of ribbon (trying to match some of the outside brick....

To get the picture not to move around, I punched a little hole at the top and pulled a string through the top to hold it up.