Super Easy Christmas Ornaments

Yep - I am only doing one post on a crafty Christmas project.  Things have been a little bit busy and I like to put my friends and family first (especially around the holidays!).  I have been able to do a lot of fun things this season.  I baked Christmas cookies, only 4 kinds this year but I made our favorites.  This year I also put up and decorated the tree.  Last year I got the tree up but never got around to decorating it.  I was sad afterwards that I spent so much time on other things that I didn't get to truly appreciate the beauty of Christmas decorations.  So, this year I also pulled out and put up the rest of our decorations including putting some extra lights up.  I have to say it looks very pretty at our house and I am really looking forward to opening presents up with my hubby in a beautifully decorated room. 

Now, enough about me!  Onto the tutorial.

You will need:

Clear glass or plastic ornaments

Paint 

Yep, I am making a Packer ornament!  I can't help it, I bleed green and gold!

First, pull out the metal top part of the ornament. 

Next, squeeze some of the darker color paint into the ornament. In this case I started with the green.  I couldn't actually get a picture of myself squeezing in the paint because I needed one hand to hold the ipad.

 Let that drip of paint flow down the side of the ornament, then as you see fit add more drips and move the ornament around so the paint drips and drops throughout the ornament. 

 Once you are happy with the drips of the first color let it dry for about a half an hour to let the paint get a bit tacky.  Then, add your second color.  Start with one drip into the top and let it flow down, twisting the ornament to cover any of the still clear parts. 

After the ornament is completely covered let dry overnight. 

Then, the next day put the top back into the ornament. 

Viola! You are done!

I made a bunch of these because they were so fun and so EASY!!!!

Ties - Final Pics

Well, the baby shower is over!  It was a huge success and I think everyone had a great time.  Below are some pics of the finished stash of decorations and goodie bags, plus some pics of the decorations on the day of. 

Tie Wreath

It's the home stretch of the tie marathon!  This one might be my favorite!  I am planning on hanging it on my door when we are done with it at the shower!  Generally I rarely keep anything I make for myself.  Most of my jewelry, hats and scarves go to the shop and I love to give things to people as gifts.  But, I love this tie wreath, I really do!  Also, our front door is red so I think it will look super cute!

Supplies:
Wreath - the one I used was straw, I think you could use a Styrofoam one but I am not sure how it would handle the hot glue gun
Ties
Hot Glue Gun
Flower (optional)
Sewing Machine or needle and thread

I used the parts of ties that I had left over.  But, if you are starting from scratch with new ties I used approximately 195 inches of ties. First, I sewed the ends of the ties together, small ends to small ends and larger ends to larger ends.

Then, I broke out the glue gun!  I started by gluing a small end of the tie chain to the back of the wreath.

Then, I wrapped the tie around the wreath and glued the front.

I was pretty liberal with my application of the glue as I wanted to be super sure that it stuck.  I just kept wrapping and gluing.  I overlapped the ties a bit so that none of the wreath would show through.  I this got a little trickier as I came to the wider parts of the ties but in the end you can't even tell that was an issue.

 
Wrap and glue, wrap and glue until the whole wreath is covered. Then, if you want, add an adorable flower to give it a bit of a feminine touch.

I just love, love, love this one!

Tie Gift Bags

Ok, this is the second to last posting on my tie-riffic tutorials.  Get it?  I think I am getting a little slap happy and a little bit at a loss over what more to write about ties.  I have finished my tie key chains and my tie coffee cozies.  But I can't just hand them to people as they leave, no I have to have them in appropriate containers.  Can you guess what they are?  Gift bags with ties on them!!!!!!  This gave me another opportunity to use some of my scrapbook paper stash.  

Supplies:

Scrapbook Paper

Brown Lunch Bags

Scissors

Hole Punch 

Ribbon/Yarn/String

First, I selected the paper I wanted to use.

Next, I traced my tie onto the back of the paper.  For those of you that did not read my last post, here is the link to the tie template I have been using.  Also, here is a picture of it a little smaller.

Just like last time I was able to trace 4 ties on each piece of paper.  

Cut out all of your ties. 

Place the tie on top of the brown paper bag and punch a hole through the tie and the bag. 

Next, insert your bag contents. 

Lastly, close up the bag by tying yarn/ribbon or string through the holes.  I ended up using yarn, I would have loved to use some satin ribbon but I am horrible at tying bows and didn't want to embarrass myself  by putting a picture of one of my awful bows where anyone could find it. 

Presto, an adorable gift bag for the shower.  

Thanks for hanging in there with me folks!  Only one more tie tutorial to go!

Tie Banner

Yep - I am still working on tie items for my friends baby shower.  But, I am on the home stretch.  I have only a few more key chains and coffee cozy's to make.  In the meantime while I am watching TV with the hubby in the evening I have been making some decorations for the shower.  Initially I wanted to use real ties to make all of the decorations, but alas I don't think I will have enough ties, time or energy to make that happen.  So, I had to improvise.  Here's a fun fact for you, back in the day I was an avid scrapbooker and card maker.  I have fallen off that train a bit and moved onto other things but of course I still have a huge stash of supplies!  I love printed paper almost as much as I love ties.  If you haven't guessed yet, prints and patterns are a definite weak point of mine.  So, back to my love of printed paper.  Upon pondering what decorations to make and considering the time frame I had to work with I decided that I had enough printed paper in my stash to make decorations.  I love etsy and have noticed these adorable banners that people have been making for parties etc. well, a shower is a form of a party so why can't I make one?

My Inspiration

Supplies needed:
Beautiful, colored and patterned paper
Scissors
Yarn or String
Hole Punch

Of course I couldn't make just a plain banner!  Oh no, mine had to be tie themed!  So, I went to one of my favorite places on the web, Google images.  I found this awesome tie image by "googling" tie outline tie template.  I printed it onto a piece of card stock since I knew I would be using it a bunch and wanted to make sure it was relatively sturdy. 

Next, I went through my collection of paper and picked out the pieces I wanted to use.  My friend didn't want "baby" colors at her shower, she prefers bolder, manlier colors (she is having a boy so manly colors are appropriate.) 

After selecting my paper, I traced the tie onto the back of the paper.  I fit four ties on each 12x12 piece.  I tried really hard to fit a fifth on one but I could not make it happen.  

Next, I punched a whole on each side of the tie. 

Then, I strung all of the ties onto a doubled up piece of yarn. I doubled it so that the ties would stay in place without adding knots to keep the ties in place.

I left a long tail on each side of the banner so that I could tie it into place easily on windows etc. For a patio door I ended up using 12 ties. 

You may be sad (or happy) to find out that I only have two more tie tutorials to share with you before the shower.  And, of course I will share some pics of the shower with you so you can see how fab everything turned out.  My friend Nicole (who had the original idea for a tie themed shower) and the brains behind the blog More Beets Please is cooking up most of the food and I can't wait to taste her amazing dishes.  She is a MARVELOUS cook.