As I was browsing through Creativebug classes a few weeks ago, with the girls looking over my shoulder, they saw the deer ornaments class and said, “We want to make that!” We set aside some art time this week to take the class. All the materials are things we have in abundance of at our house, so gathering supplies for this was a breeze. I set everything up on my work table, rolled the table right in front of the computer, had some templates printed out, and pressed play.

True and Brave are all about sewing and embroidery projects, so I knew that once they started, they would totally be in the zone. It is also quite evident in these pictures. We watched the video about 3 times through as they were working on it. We would pause here and there, to allow them time to complete a step, and then let it play. They got the idea, so then we would replay the whole class, but they would just keep working because they already knew what to do. Although the video is only 12 minutes long, they took a little over an hour to complete one ornament. Once they were done, they were so excited to have their finished little fawn and they said they are ready to take another class! I’m sure for art this week, we will be taking another holiday class from Creativebug (maybe clothespin dolls to make gifts or paper clay ornaments).

True made two hanging ornaments, and Brave made one, and I made one alongside with them. Though Soul and Glow started with us, they gave up quickly because they don’t quite have the hand eye coordination for hand-sewing. I pre-cut some deer from cardstock, so they could color those and still be part of the deer ornament making fun! With their colored yardstick deer, we made a little garland. True and Brave even wanted to get into the garland action, and help make more deer for it too. These kids will never turn down a good craft project.

Here’s what True and Brave have to say about the class…

I thought the class was fun. I like the part where we did embroidery. I liked making the fawn, and I really enjoyed learning how to make it. The hardest part was doing a running stitch around the fawn, and the easiest part was making the eyes and nose. – True

This is what I thought about the class … I thought that that it was going to be fun, and it was! But, it was hard in the beginning, then it got easy. It was starting to look like a real deer! Near the end, mommy had to help me finish it with a knot. Then, I hung it up in the tree, and that’s it! – Brave

This post is in partnership with Creativebug. They are many creative classes I want to take, and many of them work well as a homeschooling art supplement. Currently, Creativebug is offering two 1 year subscriptions for only $50. You get one for yourself, and get one to give!

Elf Stocking

Supplies:
– Christmas elf stocking template (it’s an oversized pattern, so you have to save and take to copy shop to get printed)
– 1 yard of wool felt
– 1/8 yard of wool felt in other colors (for heel and toe)
– Various scraps of wool felt
– Embroidery needle
– Embroidery floss in various colors
– 1/32″ x 12″ x 24″ birch plywood sheet
– Jingle bell (optional)

Tools:
– Scissors
– Sewing machine
– X-Acto knife
– Hole punch

Seam allowance: 1/2″

Directions:
1. Cut out all your pieces for your elf stocking: 2 pieces for front and back, 1 toe cap, 1 heel cap, 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ strip for hanging stocking, and pieces for the floral motif.

With a running stitch, sew on the toe and heel cap to the front of your elf stocking.

2. Lay out your floral felt pieces, pin in place, and hand embroider each piece on. Be sure to place the design about an inch away from the edge so it won’t be hidden when the sides are sewn.

3. Place the right sides together. Starting about 4″ down on one side, sew down and around the bottom of the foot and up the other side stopping about 4″ from the top. Make a small 1/2″ cut perpendicular to the where your seam starts on both sides of the stocking. Clip curves and corners to prevent it from being too bulky and puckering.

4. Turn the stocking right side out. Fold your 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ strip in half, and insert it about 4″ below from the top back, with the raw edge lined up with the raw edge of the stocking. Sew both sides of the stocking. Fold the top 4″ of the stocking down to reveal the floral design. Press your stocking and snip any excess thread.

5. On the top portion of the stocking, add a decorating stitch that lines the scallop.

6. Trace your skate blade onto the birch plywood sheet and cut out with an X-Acto blade. Sand the edges to smooth. Punch two small holes 1/4″ on the wooden skate blade.

7. Using embroidery floss, attach the skate blade to the stocking. I let mine dangle about 1/2″ – 1″ below. Sew on a small jingle bell (or pom pom) to the tip of the toe.

I think these elf stockings are a fun and quirky take on traditional Christmas stockings. If you want another tutorial on an elf stocking, I did this one a couple years ago with pom pom trim. I love looking up at our mantel to see all our six elf stockings lined up together.

Now, all our stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and our kids are waiting for Saint Nick to soon be here…

When putting together gifts for teachers, co-workers (Ben’s), or neighbors, I go for simple and usually something edible. For this month’s Michaels Maker’s challenge, I put together three easy gift ideas that I think send some holiday cheer.

I created gift labels from black card stock and wrote on it using a fine paint brush and calligraphy ink. Each present was topped off with glittery gold ribbon to give it that bit of holiday pizazz.

For the first gift idea, I thought it would be fun to give a set of star lights. Michaels has a few different star types, and the larger stars are my favorite. Twinkle lights always add such a festive vibe, so I thought this would make a wonderful gift. On the tag I wrote, “Oh starry night!” If giving this to a teacher, you could write “You deserve a star!” or “You’re a star!” I changed out the original card stock store label that was in the box with the one I created from black card stock.

The second gift idea is to give a beautiful ornament. I saw these gem stone ornaments and thought they would be perfect with a tag that said, “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree …” I put the ornament in a craft box and it makes a simple, but stunning gift. You could also write, “You rock!” or “You’re a gem!” on the tag to go with it.

Last, but certainly my typical go-to gift idea: get a pretty stocking and stuff it with chocolate! I would do a happy dance if someone gave this to me. I love this sparkly stocking Michaels had, and since they always have a nice assortment of chocolates on hand, I picked up a few, and voila! I have a gift ready to go. And of course, “The stockings were hung by the chimney with care …” is what I wrote on the tag that went along with the gift.

There you go … these simple gifts are perfect for their school teachers, dance instructors (music, karate, soccer, etc.), or neighborhood postal worker. You may not know those people  really well, but you appreciate them and want to give them little something to let them know they are appreciated. These gifts and the messages that go along with them are fantastic for spreading that Christmas spirit!

Supplies for this project were provided as part of the Michaels Makers Series. 

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I cut some watercolor paper into smaller pieces and had the kids paint on them. I gave them watercolor paint in autumn hues and they happily went to work. After their painting dried, we folded them in half, and then I wrote each of our names on them. Voila … instant place cards! Initially, I wanted to calligraphy our names, but my ink was spreading too much on the watercolor paper, so I just used a fine tip marker and wrote our names in cursive.

Tonight is our special Thanksgiving dinner. Last year we started having a mini Thanksgiving on Wednesday night, so we can take a moment to savor the holiday with our girls. Thanksgiving Day is so busy spent going from Ben’s cousin’s to my parents’, so we use Wednesday night to do our own celebration. We will each read our thankful list out loud, and the girls even have a special puppet show prepared.

I’m making pretty much everything I did last year. There hasn’t been time to look up new recipes, so I’m sticking with what I know works. I love turkey and stuffing, and of course pie, so I’m excited about all the food I will delightfully be indulging in. I know the girls are especially anticipating the pie. I can’t wait to sit down together tonight and talk about all the things we are thankful for.

Leather Bow Clip

Supplies:
Bow pattern
Small leather scraps (or use vinyl scraps or wool felt)
Alligator clips (we used this 4.5cm and this 6cm)
Glue gun and glue stick
Scissors

Directions:
Trace pattern onto the backside of your leather, then cut out. Knot the bow and then glue onto the clip!

The girls have their Thanksgiving outfits picked out, so they wanted to make some bows to go with it. When you have four girls, you find that you’re always making hair accessories. I had these leather scraps in a shimmery gold, pink, and even animal print, so it felt like the perfect bit of fancy for some added bling to go with their holiday outfit. They are so quick and easy to make, we are thinking of making them as gifts for all their little friends. If you have wool felt lying around, you could definitely use that to make these. In fact, we made some of those too.

True has been loving Brave’s flares, so she got her own pair (Brave’s are way cropped on her). I love how kids look old school in them. Of course, Brave opted for a blue dress, and Soul goes for a girly striped dress with a little bit of shimmer. I picked out this swing dress for Glow, and the rest of the girls already asked Glow if they could borrow it. It would be tunic length on True and Brave, and just a bit shorter for Soul. I’m glad they think it’s fun to share clothes now, I hope that doesn’t change. For Thursday, I plan on wearing a nice loose dress because we are going two Thanksgiving celebrations and you bet I plan on indulging on lots of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie.

By the way, I totally see teenage True in these pictures. It kind of freaks me out, but she only has 4 more years until she hits the teens. Eeks! And we all get a kick out of Brave’s wonky two front teeth; it’s holding on for dear life.

on true: sweater, flares, c/o old navy. on brave: zip shift dress, c/o old navy. on soul: shimmer dress, sparkle sweater, c/o old navy. socks, gap kids. clogs, lotta from stockholm. on glow: swing dress, old navy. shoes, minnetonka moccasins (hand me downs).

Stitched Rope Basket with Creativebug 

Supplies:
100ft cotton rope
Scissors
Coordinating thread
Sewing machine
Yarn, optional

With a Creativebug subscription (sign up for a two week trial!), you can the full video tutorial here.

I first got introduced to Creativebug at the Michaels Makers Summit earlier this summer, and I had the privilege of taking some classes from some of their instructors in person. I was instantly smitten and was excited to get home and continue taking some of their video classes. They have a plethora of creative classes to choose from on their site, and Creativebug brings the best of art & craft videos in art, sewing, knitting (plus more!) with classes for all skill levels and interests. I’ve taken the weaving class (and learned how to make my own looms from it), and the most recent class I took is this Stitched Rope Basket Class. The girls have done a couple classes of their own, and I have my eye on a few others to take once I gather up the supplies needed for those classes.

When I saw the Rope Basket Class, I knew it would be perfect for some Christmas gift making. I’ve made some smaller stitched rope baskets before (this one), but I’ve always had trouble forming them upward into more basket-bag like. I watched the video once through without doing anything, just to get an idea of what it entailed. Then, I replayed the video on my computer as I sewed nearby. I would press pause when I needed to get a section done to catch up with the video, and then pressed play again when I was ready to move on. After watching the video and making the baskets alongside it, I’m definitely making more because it’s so easy!  I love how you can go at your own pace, and the Creativebug videos are so well done and simple to follow. For someone like me who loves to learn new crafts, but doesn’t have the time to actually take a class outside of the home (and these classes outside can cost a few nice pennies), this type of thing is perfect. Plus, not only are there projects for me, there are ton that the girls can take too!

I made one basket, and couldn’t just stop at that. I found my first one a bit wonky at certain parts, so I wanted to try it again and change up the shape a little bit. The video already taught me the basics, so I felt a little more comfortable experimenting. After doing my first one, I knew what worked well, and how to adjust for the second. Initially, I was going to give the second one to a friend, but I’m keeping it and going to order more cotton rope (it’s about $6 for a pack here!) to make more for Christmas presents (I hope my friends like them).  I think the rounder one makes a really fun plant basket (don’t forget to put a plastic liner inside), and now I’m using the handbag-ish one as a quirky little purse. One of the girls told me yesterday, “You want to use that small purse so we can’t put all our stuff inside it!” Anyone else have their kids putting their whole worlds into their purse?!!

I wanted to add a little bit more pizazz, so I made some colorful pom poms and added those to the baskets. My first basket took about 30 minutes to do, but my second one only took about 15 minutes to sew. Then, it took another 15 to make the pom poms and hand sew those on. Oooooh … I’d love to make an even larger one to hold the current weaving I’m working on and its coordinating yarn (right now it’s just strewn all over my bedroom floor).

If you’re a fellow crafter, I think you’d really enjoy Creativebug. Or if you are another homeschooling mom, there are tons of projects that would be great for the kids to do; it would be great to use as part of your art curriculum. Creativebug has unlimited classes for just $4.95 a month. They also allow members unlimited access to over 500 classes. They have a special holiday event going on where you can get a one month free trial using the promo code: COZYCRAFTS. Starting December 1st, if you purchase a 1 year subscription for $50, you get another one year subscription free to give to a loved one (get more info here)! My mind is already spinning with what friends I know would love this as a gift.

This post is sponsored by Creativebug. I’m a fan and I think my fellow makers would definitely love their site too! I highly suggest giving it a try, especially if you want some good projects to do for the holidays (for you or the kids!). Thank you for the time you take here to support me and the brands I partner with.