Christmas Letter Tags

Created by: Rachelle Carroll

I saw this idea in a magazine. The idea is to do letters for the labels of your christmas presents. What I did was take some stencils and traced out the letters for each present. For the presents for two people I have examples above, in one I hooked one of the letters around the other. In the other example i add an "&" to it.

Add a little ribbon and it turned out fun.

Changing Table Baskets

Created By: Shantelle Ericson

I couldn't find baskets that were affordable, so I decided to make my own. I found these baskets in the laundry aisle at Walmart for $2-$4 depending on the size. The Michaels Arts and Crafts stores all have bins of ribbon up front for $1.00. I found plenty of pink and brown ribbon - each spool had 5 yards for $1.00!!! I used a 50% of coupon and bought a 10yard spool of the pink with brown polka dots for only $3! After deciding which colors I wanted where, I measured the ribbon by wrapping it around the basket, then added about 12-18 inches just to be safe. I attached a safety pin to the end of the ribbon and started weaving. It took longer than anticipated, but it was a fun project. There was some trial and error to get it to turn out right. I tied the polka dotted ribbon on the outside to form a bow, and the others were tied inside the basket. On the medium baskets the holes had the perfect amount, but on the larger basket I had to improvise, as shown in the picture.

Bow Organizer

Created By: Shantelle Ericson

With so many bows I needed a place to organize them but didn't have money to spend on something fancy. I first cut out the side of Brayden's basketball hoop box. I had some felt material that matches Brooklyn's bedding, so I cut it one inch bigger than the cardboard. I folded the fabric over the edge of the cardboard and hot glued it down. (My little hot glue gun has become my new best friend. I use it for everything!) Next I found some brown ribbon, pulled it tight, and hot glued the ends to the cardboard. We already had a nail on the wall, so it hangs by the hot glued material on the back. Then make your bows and clip them on!!!

Christmas Wreath

Created By: Rachelle Carroll

For this wreath I took an old fake pine wreath and left over tree decorations so they match. The best part is that I didn't attach anything permanently so I can redue it every year so it can always match my tree.

I started with the ribbon pushing it slightly into the wreath to keep it in place. Next I took the ornaments with hooks attached and pushed the hooks into the wreath and wrapped it to the back of the wreath.

I also took these little snow flakes I had and attached them by sticking a bit of the pine into the edge so it held in place.

Spooky Eyes Wreath

Created By: Rachelle Carroll

Here are the supplies you need: Glue Gun, Styrofoam Ring, Black Feathers, googly eyes, small styrofoam balls.



To start I glue gunned to styrofoam balls together so they are in twos. Then I glued the googly eyes on the balls so you have two eyeballs!! One thing that I did for this is instead of trying to put the glue on the googly eyes, instead I put it on the styrofoam and then putting the eyes on.



Next I started gluing on the feathers. I started with putting the feathers on every other direction and then went back and zigzagged the other direction. Next I took some feathers, cut them down and made a layer each direction in the middle to make the feathers more full.



For the last step, I took the eyeballs and glued them on to the feathers. I tried to do it in a random fashion so that there was no pattern. One thing I also did was some of the eyes I trimmed so they didn't poke out as much.

Halloween Mummy Pumpkin

Created By: Rachelle Carroll

My thinking for this project is that in Texas, carving pumpkins and setting them outside for decoration does not work. With the humidity, they mold really really fast. We learned that the hard way our first October here.

For this project you need a pumpkin, black construction paper, medical gauze, glow in the dark paint.



I decided to use a plastic pumpkin but a real one will do just fine. I started by cutting out two triangles for eyes. After I finished I think if I were to do it again I would also put a mouth on it.



Next I took the medical gauze and cut the gauze into one inch strip and started wrapping. To start I lifted the leaves and tucked it under, but you could also wrap it around itself because it sticks to itself quite well. I made sure to wrap in different directions, up sideways, angled.



After I was done wrapping I took glow in the dark paint and painted some of the lines on the pumpkin. Be careful to be light with the paint because I noticed that the more paint, the thinner it made the gauze so I had to put more gauze over it. Next I took a paint brush and painted the edges on the leaves.

Halloween Mummy

Created By: Rachelle Carroll

For this craft I did not go out and buy anything. I used stuff found around the house.

To start this project I started with a piece of wood randomly found in the garage. Nothing special. I took a drill and drilled to small holes where the sticks would go. I used chopsticks for the sturdiness. Ok. So after the holes were drilled I painted it orange and then black on the borders with some black on the top.



Next I inserted the chopsticks. I took batting that I had laying around (also can use cotton balls) and used tape to make a rough body head and feet. Next I took some white material I had and cut it into long strips.



The material to give it an old look, I took black paint and smudged the paint on my fingers and than on the material. Next I started wrapping one of the feet and then up the first leg. I cut the material at the base of the body and repeated on the second foot and up the second leg. You can cut the material off if you like but I just started wrapping. I made sure to wrap tight enough to created the body shape I wanted.



I wrapped all the way to the neck and then the head.


Next, for the arms I took craft wire (floral wire) and doubled wrapped it for sturdiness. To make the arms alittle bulkier I wrapped tape lightly down the arms so when I wrapped the material it would bulk up. I finished wrapping the arms and let the extra hang.

Lastly I took the back of a paint brush dipped in black paint and painted on the eyes.