Seasonal Crafting

I mentioned in the last post that I had been attempting to squeeze in some holiday crafting, one of my great joys of the season, and I thought I ought to share them! Sometimes I can save a little moola by making my own gifts or decor, and sometimes I end up spending too much--it's the fun and inspiration that's indispensable.

First off, there were Christmas cards to be sent. It was a very limited run this year--very sorry if you didn't receive one in your mailbox! (New Year cards are in the works for those left off the list, so send me a message if you need a handmade card!) I was inspired by the new Peacock color at PS--it adds a fun punch of color to the holidays and complements nicely with so many colors. I layered snowflake scrapbooking paper, small paper bag business cards, and die-cut snowflakes with a little faux aging. A shiny snap holds them together.

Some of the ladies at the shop put these cute paper snowflakes together one afternoon, and it became the crux of my imaginary-Martha-Stewart-holiday-fantasy! In my head I made oodles and strung them together in garlands to hang from doorways and the mantle. In actuality I only got around to making these three one afternoon...sigh. I cut text weight shimmery paper into 1/2" strips, created loops, and double-stick taped them together. Easy! They'd be even lovelier with quilled details for intricacy.

Lastly, I knew I wanted a wreath on our front door. The front door is a very important place for me as a designer and a domestic person. Unfortunately, wreaths are quite expensive! Have you noticed? There were all sorts of tutorials for various holiday wreaths online--real and fake greenery, fabric, pompom, paper. I ended up finding a basic metal wreath form at Ben Franklin for $3 and the bundle of boxwood branches at Home Depot was $6.

My advice....if you're too impatient to wait and pick up the floral tape and wire at the store tomorrow (like me)--don't be. The right supplies would have made this so much easier and more fun, but instead I used thread to wrap/tack on each branch. Bah. However, in the end I am so happy with how it turned out.

I'm glad I didn't make excuses and let this one go by the wayside as I often do when it gets busy around the holidays. Some people may never understand why the effort is worthwhile...but this makes me happy when I walk up to my door.

I hope your 2011 is full of creative pleasures--I'm planning mine!