Homemade Christmas

Hi Ya'll!

I have been so sick this week and have been laid up in bed for the last 3 days. I don't want to give Russ or Chloe Jo my germs so I've been staying in my room for the most part. I was sick last week for a couple of days with a cold, was well Sunday and Monday and then my cold came back with a vengeance on Tuesday. Wednesday night I didn't get hardly any sleep for coughing and my throat felt like it was on fire. I thought I would have to go to the doctor, but my throat felt better Thursday. I'm hoping to be better tomorrow because we have plans for a holiday get together. I have had to skip Wednesday evening Bible study, then a holiday light tour we had planned with some friends on Thursday evening and going to a class with Chloe Jo that we have been doing on Friday mornings. Plus, tomorrow is our church's food pantry, I had planned to take CJ to a friends to decorate cookies and then the get together in the evening. I'm definitely skipping food pantry. We will just have to see about the other two. I would hate to get anyone else sick so we may just have to sit those out as well. Sigh.

Anyway, this post was not really supposed to be about Miss Sickie Pants! It is actually about all the fun Christmas decorations I have made this year! Apparently I am very into the holiday spirit because I have made way more than I thought I would.

First up, my sister and I got together a few weeks ago to make frames. I love the way mine came out (sorry about the glare on the picture) and I am loving seeing it on my hope chest every time I walk by.

I also spray painted this frame red. My Granny had given it to me along with several other fun things. It was originally gold (which was fine, but not really my style). I am loving all the bright colored, old fashioned frames I've been seeing around and I saw the potential for this one to be a fun Christmas frame. I love the way it turned out! It really looks fantastic!

I have pinned many Christmas things and have actually done several. I pinned something similar to this and then put my own twist on it. I love how it turned out. My point and shoot camera doesn't capture how pretty this actually is. The ornament is very glittery and the letters and base all have a gloss top coat so it sparkles so nicely in the light from the Christmas tree.

 I know I already did a post about this window I redid but I had to include it in this post because it is something I made this year. Ditto on the point and shoot camera not capturing how beautiful this piece really is.

At the beginning of the season, I bought 3 yards of different Christmas themed fabric and 3 yards of plain white. I had bought another yardish piece last year on clearance after the holidays. I planned to make new stockings, a tree skirt and a table runner out of it. I am thrilled with how all of them came out!

For the stockings, we each picked our favorite fabric from what I bought and I made the stockings out of those.

Russ liked the green houndstooth.

My favorite was the piece I picked up on clearance last year. This piece was the one everything else was matched to. At first it bothered me that the background of the fabric is a cream and not white, but I think everything tied together beautifully in the end.

Chloe Jo loved the whimsical polka dots for her stocking. I had a small scrap of the red with tiny white dots so I used that for the initials.

Here is the tree skirt I made. I had the hardest time finding enough double fold bias tape for the skirt edges, skirt ties and table runner edges. I ended up using 4 packages of it for everything.

I am so happy with the tree skirt. The tree skirt is something I always struggle with. I find ones I love in stores, but I never want to pay the price for the nicer ones. $50.00 for a tree skirt just seems excessive to me and our personal budget. I had one the first few years we were married that was made out of the same stuff traditional stockings are made out of. Fuzzy red material with a band of fuzzy white around the edges. Then I bought one that was a little more toned down (which is not me at all) that was red with a plaid band around the outside edge. Both were fine. Just fine. This year, I made one that is very me and very fun and I am thrilled with it!

It is right at home under our fun, traditional but whimsical tree!

And here is the table runner. Yes, I have a white tablecloth on my table. No worries. Oxyclean is the best!

Directions to make your own:

Elf stockings

Christmas tree skirt - here and here

Table runner