I’m definitely not a pro when it comes to putting together a fancy Christmas tree. I go for the sweet and simple when it comes to tree decorating, but I wanted to share some tips I remember my mom teaching me when we decorated the Christmas tree growing up…
-Spread out all the branches. We never had a real tree growing up, just my parents’ preference, so we had to take time to spread out all the wire-y branches.
-Don’t just put ornaments hanging from the edge of the branches, but put them in closer to the trunk too. You want to give use your ornaments to give your tree some depth.
-Check the tree from all angles. Everything might look fine and dandy from one side, but you look from another angle, and there’s a spot (or two) that need some ornaments. Make sure to spread them out!
Besides the wooden ornaments from Michaels (we purchased these straw ones from eBay), I also created some additional ones with the wooden balls. I bought some tiny eye screws, drilled a tiny hole in each wooden ball (okay, had Ben drill holes!), then screwed in the eye-screw (okay, Ben did that too!). The girls added some string (they really did that!) and we hung them up!
When I was little, I would be gung-ho about decorating the tree as soon as my parents brought it out. Then, my drive would fizzle out at some point, and I would sit there and watch my mom finish it. She always took special care to make the tree just perfect for all of us. I love the festive feeling my mom (and dad) created in our home growing up, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to do that for my girls now.
If you want more tree inspiration, stop by The Glue String to see all 30 of the Michaels Makers’ trees. Some of them are pretty awesome. Like I said in this post, I would totally lose in a tree decorating contest.
Supplies for this project are provided by Michaels as part of the Michaels Makers series. No additional compensation was provided.
Supplies: Tiny House Template
Cereal box (we used a box from a bakery, but a doughnut or cereal box would work too)
Scissors
Directions: Using the template, cut out all the necessary pieces from your box. Accordion fold the piece for the stairs, and decorate the house any way you would like. Put the house together, and there you go!
It’s a small house, and a cereal box would do just as well to make it. If you do one with a pink doughnut box, I think that would be really cute too. The girls and I are having fun repurposing boxes into toys. They want to make another tiny house with our Trader Joe’s cereal box, but after that, we want to try a castle. If you want to make a larger dollhouse from a box, don’t forget this one!
I know. You probably still have that Halloween hangover, and I’m on to Christmas already. It seems I even skipped over Thanksgiving. Trust me, this doesn’t feel natural. This is part of the Michaels Makers Series though and today is the day we are all sharing our Christmas tree with you.
Growing up, my mom went all out for the holidays. I remember one year, I went with her to the day after Christmas sale at Bullocks (anyone remember that department store?!), and was helping her buy all the gold ornaments we could find. She bought lots of ornaments that day, but every year after that our Christmas tree lit up with a lot of sparkling gold. She had a theme and she was sticking with it. Twenty years later, that theme is still going strong every Christmas and her tree always looks like it belongs in a department store.
Here we are today, and I’m a more simple Christmas tree decorator. Usually, we just put up felt ball garland on the tree and that’s that. Though with Michaels Dream Tree Challenge, I had to work to get beyond the felt ball garland. I pinned some images, and this one was by far my favorite. Another simple tree, but I loved it so much. The girls and I set out to Michael’s to see what we could find to recreate it, and to my surprise, there were lots of wooden ornaments. I’m sure they are meant to be painted, but we aren’t doing any of that. We scooped up the ones we liked, as well as some wooden beads, and large wooden balls. We don’t have a star on top because I haven’t figured out one for that just yet.
So it’s November 1st, the turkey hasn’t even been bought yet, but we have a Christmas tree up in our home. I’m sure our neighbors noticed the twinkle lights in the front window when the girls and I are decorating it, and they probably think we’re crazy. Heck, I think it’s kind of crazy too, but my aunt and uncle get their Christmas tree up October 1st, and they have like 5 Christmas trees up in their home (each decorated to the nines), so I’m late if I’m going by their standards.
Don’t forget to stop by Michaels blog, The Glue String, to see all the trees that were out on November 1st by other Michaels Makers. If you’re in need of a tree, head into Michaels from November 2 through November 8 for the Make It Merry Event and get 50% off all trees 6ft. or taller. Then, you can join me in getting strange looks from your neighbors for having yours up so early too! We do have one neighbor who has had an artificial Christmas tree sitting on his front balcony for about 5 years straight now, so maybe we aren’t so strange after all. Happy November first friends!
Supplies for this project are provided by Michaels as part of the Michaels Makers series. No additional compensation was provided.
Written by True Bratcher
Illustration of Dr. Mechanical Blah Kah Kink by True Bratcher
Our Glow loves animals. Her last two birthdays were spent at the zoo, so True built this story around her. We saw the zookeeper costume at the San Diego Zoo, and we knew this was totally her, so we bought it. Then, True created the story around Glow being the zookeeper. The girls still were able to each pick their own costume too, and while True didn’t want to be an animal exactly, she worked the story to be able to be her new favorite hero, White Tiger. We had some masks, but had to order a few extra. It was a lot less sewing for me this year (I’m so thankful!), but we were still able to put our own spin on it, and we have another family Halloween story for the books.
on me:zebra shirt, old navy. zebra mask, amazon. on true:white top and leggings, old navy, and decorated with grey duct tape. mask, michael’s craft store. on brave:black shirt and leggings, old navy, and decorated with orange duct tape. foam tiger mask. tail, made by sisters. on soul:leopard dress (out of stock, but this is similar) and leopard shoes, old navy. foam leopard mask, amazon. tail, made by sisters. on glow: zookeeper costume and monkey from San Diego Zoo (similar here). high-tops, c/o old navy. on ben:panda mask, amazon. giants shirt, vintage.
Supplies: Cardboard Dollhouse Template (the biggest piece is about 20″ x 20″)
Recycled cardboard from a box
Pencil
Box cutter
Self-healing mat
Directions:
Download the Cardboard Dollhouse Template and you will need to take it to a copy center to get it printed. The largest piece measures about 20″ x 20″, but if you want a smaller house to accommodate a smaller box size, I would just have the template size decreased by 25% or 50%, or whatever your need may be. The template can be used later to make wall paper and floor for the house by gluing it onto the cardboard.
Break down your cardboard box into flat pieces and trace the templates onto your cardboard. With a box cutter, cut out each house piece: 1-center, 2-exterior, 3-house floors. If you want to create small stairs for the interior, cut out a 3 1/2″ x 5″ piece and cut two slits on one side (about 1 1/2″ apart) , and three on the other side (between the slits on the opposite side), then accordion fold them. You can easily create some stairs by accordion folding some scrap pieces of cardstock too!
Note: When you cut out the connecting slits for the house pieces, you will want to be sure that the slit you create accounts for the thickness of the cardboard you use. Depending the type of box you use, your slits might need to be slightly thicker or thinner.
To put it together:
Slot together the center piece with the exterior pieces. Be sure the doors and windows of the exterior pieces parallel one another. Slot each floor onto the house.
Tada! It’s such an easy dollhouse to create and put together. It’s inspired by the Ray-ray dollhouse from Momoll, even still, your children will be oh-ing and ah-ing about how clever you are using a box, at least mine did. Not only is this a eco-friendly way of creating something your children will love, but it will allow them to stretch the creative muscles decorating the house however they wish. We decided to outline all the openings with duct tape (always use a pair of non-stick scissors when dealing with duct tape). They started scavenging around the house to find things to use to make rugs and other furniture pieces for their dollhouse.
When I was asked the kids what was on their Christmas list, they told me they wanted a dollhouse for their My Little Ponies. I told them we don’t need to buy that, but we could make that using things we already have. My kids love boxes, what kid doesn’t?! Sometimes a box gets played with longer than their toys. Thus, I thought it would be great to create a dollhouse out of some boxes we already had. We are big at recycling and reusing in our house, we have a big basket next to the trash can for recycling (and we recycle all we can), so I love saving boxes and pieces of things that I think can be used for something else. We had this large box from a light fixture we ordered (and I had been saving it for awhile), and it ended up being perfect for this eco-friendly dollhouse. My children have been working on making things for inside their house, and once they are all done with that, I will share it with you!
Lots of waste is created everyday, and little things like reusing a cardboard box into a dollhouse helps promote sustainability. We’ve also been knee deep in other projects, but we have plans to make our compost bin (finally!) soon. This will really help us reduce the amount of waste in our house. The girls and I have done projects from this book, which we have shared about here and here, and it has helped make use more aware.
With that, I’m happy to partner with Target’s EcoSet Initiative. All props, furniture, and clothing from their sets are donated to local partners so they can be given to those in need. Constructed elements of a set, like walls, flooring, or other art props are donated to local artists, filmmakers, and theaters. Even packaging materials, and things like rope, or lights are donated to those who can reuse it. My girls take toilet paper rolls and make them binoculars, or telescopes, and when they are done with those, we make sure to recycle them. It’s about thinking about things as a cycle and trying to give things the longest life possible. Thus, I’m happy when my children can use their imagination and turn boxes and things toilet paper rolls into toys.
This post is brought to you by Target. With helping hands, Target is committed to building healthy and sustainable communities. Thank you for the support you give this space and brands I collaborate with.
Erin, Melissa, Lauren, and I live relatively close to each other (for SoCal and traffic), so we had been wanting to get together. After a couple cancellations, we finally made it happen (third time’s a charm). They all came over to my house, and we hung out in the backyard over wine, cheese, and some crafting.
We’ve been following each other for awhile via blog and instagram, so it was so weird to see each other in real life. At first, you just wanna stare and say, “You’re real.” Actually, I did that. HA! Then, you get to see their movements and hear their voice, and it’s really so interesting to have the online world and real life collide. Lauren and I already knew each other (so I already knew how sweet she is), but this was my first time meeting Melissa and Erin are both are just as lovely as they are online (even more so in person!).
They brought some necklace beads, and I had some ready to share, and we made simple beaded necklaces as we chatted. I enjoyed getting to know these creative ladies, and chat about random things like malls, birthing, and social media.I set out some mini pumpkins we had, a few tea lights (the wind blew most of them out), and a little vase of flowers made for a simple table set up. I have this pretty bark cheeseboard, and used it for cheese (duh!) and crackers. I also served some hummus and pita bread, and the girls and I made Trader Joe’s pumpkin bread. Santa Margherita sent me this bottle of wine awhile back, and so I opened it up for the occasion.
It was a relaxing evening and we talked about doing it again soon, maybe this time doing some macrame or weaving together. Lauren got bit by the necklace making bug that she did it again with friends a couple days later. If you’re itching for a creative night with some friends, just pick up some simple beads and cording at your local craft store, and get together over food and create necklaces together!
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
I’m definitely not a pro when it comes to putting together a fancy Christmas tree. I go for the sweet and simple when it comes to tree decorating, but I wanted to share some tips I remember my mom teaching me when we decorated the Christmas tree growing up…
Besides the wooden ornaments from Michaels (we purchased these straw ones from eBay), I also created some additional ones with the wooden balls. I bought some tiny eye screws, drilled a tiny hole in each wooden ball (okay, had Ben drill holes!), then screwed in the eye-screw (okay, Ben did that too!). The girls added some string (they really did that!) and we hung them up!
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