Felt Ornaments: Trees

Hobby Lobby is one of my favorite stores, and that is where I found the parts for these ornaments. As some of you know, I love folk designs and colors, much like Dora. These were super simple to make and will probably go to teachers and friends for Christmas.

SPOTLIGHT - Advent in Strasbourg

We decided to go to Strasbourg, France (just a little over 2 hours away from our home) for the weekend and were stunned by the masses of decorations and people there for their annual Adventsmarkt. Most cities in Germany (well, in this case, just across the border from Germany) have a Christmas Market starting the first weekend in Advent. These involve lots of wonderful smells (like hot Glühwein, a spiced red wine, and freshly-made waffles, roasted chestnuts and sugar-coated roasted almonds - are you drooling yet? I am!), lots of quaint booths with Christmas-y or hand-crafted items for sale and throngs of people.

Baking Soda Clay Heart Ornaments

I'm pretty pleased with how nicely these little heart ornaments from baking soda clay turned out. I posted the recipe for Baking Soda Clay earlier and this clay works very nicely if you do your modelling within a week of making. I like the clean white color of this clay and the beaded patterns - made with the help of a toothpick - stand out well. I got the inspiration for these ornaments from these lovely porcelain ornaments on Etsy.

Renaissance Festival Jewelry- Head Jewelry

We were planning to go to the Renaissance Festival this fall but decided last minute not to. I made a piece of head jewelry for each of my daughters plus an extra.

Thanksgiving Pomander Ball

This post was moved here

Peppermint Topiary Trees

Last week Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming invited us to be part of her Handmade Holidays series using STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam.  We were super excited to be featured with several other talented bloggers!  Here is the project and post I shared with them:

Some of my special childhood memories of Christmas center around holiday candy.  Peppermint sticks and marshmallow Santas and those creamy bits of heaven called Lindt balls were stocking standards in our home.  I would savor my stocking candy for weeks, trying to prolong the magical taste of Christmas.  Santa always left Starlight mints for us among the cookie crumbs on his plate, and although I enjoyed them year round, those enchanted drops touched by The Man Himself always tasted special and different on Christmas morning.

Last holiday season my friend brought a peppermint-covered decoration to our girls' craft night.  The sight of her ball brought back vivid memories of Christmas-morning delight and crispy-coolness melting in my mouth.  I knew I had to make some peppermint topiaries for my home as well!  With her permission, I'm sharing my interpretation of her idea.  Thanks Tiffany!

Materials needed:

Folk Dancer Ornaments

I had fun making more folk dolls recently for someone who needed them for their church school. There were 30 dolls in all, so I decided to make a larger variety- the ones with the sari's are one of my newer ones.

SPOTLIGHT - Family

There's a special word in German that always reminds me of family: the word 'behueten' (be-HOOT (with a raised lower jaw)-en) means something like protect, nuture and comfort all at once, a bit like that feeling you get when a fuzzy week-old kitten or baby rabbit is nestling within the palms of your cupped hands - you take extra-special care to hold it carefully, keeping it warm without squeezing it too hard, holding it safely with awestruck wonder. A few days ago, I got back from a perfect visit to my family, full of that feeling of 'behueten', where we celebrated my mom's 80th birthday and I thought I'd share some of the things that made it magical:

- my youngest two really enjoying lots of time with Grandmom and Grandpop, both indoors and out, while playing, dining, watching movies, going for walks, doing yardwork or helping Grandpop repair things around the house;

This One's For the Boy

After the successful sewing session with my girls a few days ago, where they made their own skirts, that turned out beautifully, I was pumped to take on a project to challenge my own sewing skills. I decided to make something for my son. I have no doubt he would have loved being let loose on the sewing machine, also, but this particular project involved knit fabric, not for beginners, and besides he was in bed during the three hours from 9:30pm to 12:30am in which this project was executed. Up until now I've pretty much avoided boy clothes, I prefer more loosey-goosey, flowing projects that I can just sort of make up as I go along. Projects with gathers that hide crooked seams and puckers, projects where you can stick lace trim over the hem to cover up your drunken lines of stitching.

So with this project I overcame my fear of boy clothes, drafted my own pattern, and sewed on jersey knit for the first time. Even better, it was free, since I repurposed clothes others had thrown out. Can you tell I'm feeling good about it?

I followed this raglan tee tutorial, there were others but this one made the most sense to me. I cut the body and neck pieces out of the black Hanes t-shirt from my brother, and the sleeves out of the back of a red knit shirt from my mother. The front had lace on it, and a few grease stains, but the back was perfect. On both shirts I was able to place the bottom of my pattern piece right on the hem, so I didn't have to hem the bottom of the shirt or the sleeves, yay! It really went together fast once I figured it all out, it's only four pieces, two body pieces and two sleeves. I was the most nervous about the collar piece, and it did turn out a little wide, but still, for my first try it's very acceptable.

When he woke up the next morning, my son was thrilled to see his new shirt. As you can see, he was so jazzed I had trouble getting him to stand still for pictures. We're both pretty enamoured with it. I already have the next one cut out, and I'll post step by step pictures of how I converted the original short sleeve pattern from the tutorial into a long sleeve pattern, so stay posted...

This post was shared at:

Craft-O-Maniac Monday * Beneath the Rowan Tree * Made By You Monday * Today's Creative Blog * Hoo's Got Talent? * Show Off Your Stuff @ Fireflies and Jellybeans * Somewhat Simple * Simply Link Party *Frugal Friday @ Shabby Nest * Sunday Showcase Party * Craft Schooling Sundays * Not Baaad Sundays * Tatertots and Jello *

Birthday Giveaway Winner!

The lucky winner of this beautiful Through the Looking Glass necklace from Shabby Apple is Comment #67, Kathy O! Congratulations Kathy, we will be contacting you so you can claim your prize. Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to Shabby Apple!

Didn't win? Don't forget you can enter coupon code "showtellshare10off" during your checkout at Shabby Apple to get 10% off your purchase. Coupon expires in 30 days.

Crafty Kids- Make their own skirts!

Dora and I have been talking about doing more crafty things with our kids, we both love making things, and we both love hanging out with our kids, so it seems like a good way to accomplish two things at once. To tell the truth, Dora's always been much, much better at it than I have, and she's often been my inspiration in that area. So last night I was surfing the internet for crafty inspiration, and I came across this great post, "How To Sew A Skirt When You Are 5 Years Old". The writer of the post had been inspired by this thoughtful post, which I also read and so even though it was already 8:30 at night, I figured, hey, we get an extra hour tonight (daylight savings time), let's make some skirts!

Etsy Scavenger Hunt: Win Prizes!

This month is the month for prizes!

This is Idealeon and I'm participating in an Etsy Scavenger Hunt right now. There are special discounts in many of the stores that are also participating, and a few prizes, including a

grand prize of $50

to be deposited in your paypal account!!

To find out how to play, click on this button below!

Thanks!

You can even win $20 for promoting it!

Here is the link to my Etsy shop:

5 Things To Do With Halloween Candy

To enter the Shabby Apple Giveaway, please click HERE.

Halloween is over and most of us are going to have a lot of sweets on hand.

The first thing I always do is take the candy out of Trick-or-Treating buckets and bags making sure to keep each child's loot separate.

Apple Witches part II

Don't you love good intentions?  I always seem to have twice as many good intentions as I have time.  And this was the case with my Apple Witches craft.  I planned ahead by carving the faces from apples so that they would have plenty of time to shrivel.  That was the successful part of this idea.  I intended to turn the shriveled faces into cute little witches with wispy hair and colorful hats to use as more fun Halloween decoration.  But time got away from me.

So here is my half-finished craft:

Before

"After but not completed"

Picture how cute these old hags would have been with hair, hats, and collars.  Maybe next year I'll revisit this post to finish it up.  In the meantime, I'm off to give my Thanksgiving-related good intentions a reality check.

Happy day-after-Halloween!

Birthday Giveaway With Shabby Apple

Happy Birthday, Show, Tell, Share readers!
On November 8 our little blog is turning 1 year old ! I remember last October talking on the phone with Rachel (one of our authors), listening to her describe a fun project she had made. Since we no longer live near each other I wished I could actually see instead of only hear about the fantastic ideas she comes up with. Then I thought of my creative friends who do live close by, but due to busy schedules, we don't often get to share our creations in person. The idea to share our crafts via a blog was born. I quickly e-mailed a few friends near and far and asked if they would want to participate. I was encouraged by the positive response, and we created Show, Tell, Share "to inspire each other, to show off what we've made, and to get a few ooohs and ahhhs."


Today, almost a year later, I feel that Show, Tell, Share has surpassed all my initial expectations. We made a new friend Janice, who joined us early this year. We gained wonderfully supportive readers. And what began as a simple attempt to show off our projects has turned into a fun, symbiotic community that continues to inspire and motivate us. We hope you feel the same way too!

It just wouldn't be a birthday without gifts, and we want to say Thank you to our readers! Your comments and encouragement have helped our blog become better. Many of our blog authors are fans of Shabby Apple , so to celebrate our 1st Birthday, we will host a Giveaway from Shabby Apple for YOU, our readers! If you have never heard of Shabby Apple, you need to head over to their site ASAP.

Check out their fantastic women's dresses in chic prints:

You will find clothing in classic colors, such as this blue women's dress:

(I absolutely LOVE this one!)

Also, I really appreciate that they help you pick the best outfit for your figure, whether you have curvy hips or short legs (I have both)!

They also carry adorable little girls dresses!

If you feel like starting your Holiday shopping early, we have a coupon for you! Enter coupon code "showtellshare10off" during your checkout to get 10% off your purchase. Coupon expires in 30 days.

Now, the GIVEAWAY!

Shabby Apple is offering one of their gorgeous, vintage inspired necklaces,

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
to one lucky winner!

Round glass bauble pendant with side hinge opens like a locket.The glass has a fish-eye magnifying effect.

Interior accommodates objects up to 4mm thick: photo, dried flower, charm.
Necklace 24” long.
Chain: Sterling silver.
Handmade in the USA

To enter this GIVEAWAY, you must have a US Shipping Address. The winner will receive one 'Through The Looking Glass' necklace. There will be no exchanges for the winning piece of jewelry.

The winner will be picked through random.org and announced on November 8, 2011 at 11 pm Central Time.

Entries are accepted until November 8, 2011 at 10 pm Central Time.

The winner will be notified via e-mail, so please make sure we can contact you (leave your e-mail address in your comment). The winner has 48 hours to claim the prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this blog post sharing a Show, Tell, Share post or project that has inspired you.

There are 5 Bonus ways you can enter as well. (Optional, you can do any or all of these and then leave a comment saying you did so) Please leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry:

• Follow Show,Tell, Share
• Subscribe to Show,Tell,Share via e-mail
• Visit Shabby Apple and tell us what your favorite item is from their site.
• Follow Shabby Apple
• "Like" Shabby Apple on Facebook

Good luck! We appreciate you, and hope that this next year will be even better than the last.

-Dora, Idealeon, Janice, Kristin, Lor, Rachel, Wendy