Yarn Wrapped Ornaments

This is one of those projects that I loved - It cost nothing for me to make and it was simple and fairly quick.  You can use these for ornaments, gift wrapping, table decor and I think the list could go on.  I think it would be fun to make shapes like hearts or monograms as well.  So let's get to it, here's how I made my Yarn Wrapped Ornaments.

I simply used two items to make these - craft wire (mine was 22 gauge because that's what I had) and yarn.

First I cut a piece of wire (I didn't measure anything, I just guessed) and then bent the wire to form the word I wanted it to say.  Since I used 22 gauge wire it was easily molded with just my hands.  If you use a thicker gauge you may need some round nose pliers.  Your wire doesn't have to be perfect and you can mold and shape it some more once its covered in yarn.

Then after I had my words I just wrapped and wrapped them with yarn until it was fully covered.  I did use a pinch of glue on the ends to keep them in place and from fraying and tied a little baker's twine for hanging.

Then you can hang your pretties on your tree.  I love our tree this year its full of homemade things, as well as all of the ornaments we love to pull out each year- I'll share soon!

There was something really calming about this project to me.  I think that's why I enjoy crafting so much, it allows my brain to rest.  Is anyone else like that or is it just me?

Thanks for stopping by today!

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Christmas Ornament Party

Recently we have had the opportunity to be involved in helping start a new class for young adults at our church.  After talking and praying together we dubbed our class the Next Step and it came out of a need for a place for young adults (single or not) who are at their next step in life -whether that be grad school, a new career, a new move, etc.  It really has all been God's perfect timing and we have been so excited to be a part of this awesome class with some amazing people.  

As our class has started to come together we have decided that we would love to do some just girls nights every now and again -I mean, who doesn't love a good girls night?  So our first one came together as a Christmas Ornament Party.  We spent the night eating, talking, laughing and of course being crafty and making ornaments together.

We had a wonderful host (hey Melissa!) who put everything together for us - she cooked, she gathered supplies, she organized - I was so thankful for her!

We made ornaments from yarn, cinnamon applesauce ornaments, salt dough ornaments, painted ornaments - I even crushed a glass ornament with my bare hand.  Sometimes I just don't know my own strength - one day remind me to tell you the butter knife story.  Pretty much it involved me, a butter knife and six stitches.  

As much fun as making ornaments was, the best part of the night was just getting to be together with a great group of ladies.  

So any of you have any christmas parties or get togethers coming up?  My sister, cousin and I have a cookie baking date set and our small group has a cookie exchange planned.  So many fun things going on, I'd love to hear what you have planned!

Have a great week!

Making Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Recently Silas and I tried our hand in making the ever so popular Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments.  This is a simple recipe, a fun and great activity to do with kids (even two year olds) and it will keep your house smelling like Christmas for days.

Here's what we used:

1 cup Applesauce

1 1/2 cups Cinnamon

Cookie Cutters

Rolling Pin

Bakers Twine or some kind of string for hanging

So first you just combine 1 cup of applesauce and 1 cup of cinnamon.  Silas loved measuring everything out and being a big helper.

Then, we mixed and mixed the two ingredients together and Silas wanted to eat it.  I'm pretty sure he took a couple of bites - this is one of the reasons we left out the glue (some recipes call for it).

After we had a good dough-ish consistency we sprinkled some of the remaining cinnamon on our counter and rolled out the dough.  Another favorite part for Silas.  I didn't worry about a certain width for the dough, I just eyeballed it since he was so into this part.

Then we just had fun using our cookie cutters and cutting out shapes.  The star was Silas' favorite.  We also used our little stamps on a few to write messages - we have several that just have the letter X since that was the stamp Silas insisted on using.  Oh, don't forget to poke your holes for hanging, we just used a straw. We just had fun, made a big mess and made something together.

We baked our ornaments at 200°F for about an hour and a half.  They still didn't seem quite as hard as I wanted so I let them sit for about a week in a nice and dry place until they were as hard as a rock.

We finished them off with a little bakers twine and then Silas thought they were cookies so he took a bite.  Needless to say he found it disgusting so one bite was all it took - these are totally inedible.  Don't worry, I gave him a real cookie to make up for it.  

I thought this was a great craft to do with small kids, we had a blast!

PS - Check out our Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments we made last year.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful weekend!!

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Dollar Store Chalkboard Ornaments

A few weeks back a came across a christmas ornament diy that I just loved from Emily at 52 Mantels.  I love to chalkboard just about anything so this was right up my ally and I'm all about adding in some black this year to our christmas decor so this was perfect!  Oh, and its cheap - score again!  So here's my take on this little chalkboard ornament.

So first thing you need is a package of plastic ornaments from the dollar store in your choice of color.  I loved the idea of red and black together so I went with that.

Since they are cheap and plastic you just use the line that runs down the middle as your tape line.  I used a wide blue painters tape and it ended up setting up perfectly for me to paint.  Oh, I also removed the little gold tops so I wouldn't get paint all over them.

I just used chalkboard spray paint because I already had some.  I ended up doing two quick coats.

After a little dry time, I had a cute little chalkboard ornament!  I liked the idea of adding a little red and white bakers twine to hang them.

Super easy, super cheap but really cute!  Love these kinds of projects!

Take care and have an amazing Thanksgiving everyone!

O Christmas Tree

I love Christmas trees, the smell (if you are a fresh tree kind of person), the lights, the ornaments - it just makes for a cheerful house.  I love getting down the box of ornaments and pulling them out one by one together as a family and connecting them with our memories.  We usually stop at every one and talk about the story behind it. We are sentimental people so we enjoy that sort of thing.  I've never had a themed tree or color schemed tree, it's just a tree of memories every year and we wouldn't have it any other way.

This year's tree was a little different for us seeing that we have a very active and curious little 13 month old running around - we weren't even sure if we could do an actual tree.  But, we worked it out - it's definitely not our best tree and probably not our worst but we were just happy to have something this year.  We kept our tree small and our ornaments minimum to avoid destruction and mayhem and tucked it behind our sofas so it would be out of harms way.  It has worked out great this year, we have lost just a few ornaments to curious hands. So come on a little Christmas tree journey with us...

Our first Christmas together we had zero ornaments and zero money.  These ornaments came in a pack of 3 for $15, and boy we thought that was so expensive and almost felt guilty for buying them - now we laugh and think back to that first Christmas together when we see them.  Such a great memory.

This was my very first ornament for my very first Christmas.  

Little known fact, I love The Wizard of Oz and everything relating to that.  

If you know my husband you know why this is an important ornament.

So that was just a little taste of what our tree is like - Now it's your turn, share with us, do you have any Christmas tree traditions or favorite ornaments?  Do tell.

Have a Christmasy kind of day.