'Crystal' Ornament Hangers–Ballard Style

photo from Ballard

I love to spend time each evening browsing for different Christmas ideas. Last night, these cute Holiday Magnetic Crystals on the Ballard site caught my eye. So pretty! But I couldn’t pay $39 for them. That’s just not in our budget.
So I dug out some some old shatterproof ornaments that I bought when my kids were in their Christmas tree destroying phase (not entirely sure that we’ve bypassed that stage yet!), along with some plastic beads, a magnet, spray paint, and the hot glue gun.

A straw and an egg carton from the recycle bin served as a holder for spray painting – look, action shot from the garage. I let the paint dry overnight, and then used my glue gun to attach beads to the top of the ornament. I like the delicate beads in the Ballard ornament, but I had star shaped beads and only a few round ones, so that’s what I used.

I tried using pliers to break a magnet into smaller pieces so that they would fit invisibly on top of the beads, but the magnet shattered. Plan B was a glue dot from my scrapbooking supplies, which worked perfectly.

Here’s the finished ornament. I really love the beads instead of string or ribbon, and can’t wait to make more. Here’s another view:

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Christmas Tree Napkins

Confession time: I’m one of those nutty people who listens to Christmas music all year long, and who spends even the hottest summer days dreaming about my favourite holiday. So naturally, I love preparing gifts and decor in advance. This little project counts as both: the Christmas Tree Napkin.

Cute, right? Let’s add simple, too. This tree napkin is a two-sided circle folded and flipped a couple times to form a Christmas tree. I love it! My Grandma used to fold napkins like this for Christmas Eve dinner, but I completely forgot about that until I saw a video on YouTube for a similar project. Where would I be without the internet! Here’s how you do it:
Choose two pieces of material and place them right sides together. I used a scrap of cotton and a piece of an old curtain, but you want washable fabrics (they should be pre-washed to avoid shrinkage later).
Draw or trace onto the wrong side of the lighter fabric a circle the size you want your unfolded napkin to be. This was my test napkin, so it was a mini – only 8 inches across. A more usable size is about 18 inches in diameter. Once the circle is drawn, stitch along the line, almost all the way around. Leave a two inch opening to turn the circle. Trim the excess fabric and clip the curve, making sure not to cut into your seam.

Next, turn the fabric and press it flat. Take care to ‘unroll’ the edges as much as possible, so that neither fabric shows on the opposite side.

Once the circle is pressed, go back and either machine or hand stitch the opening. Press again.
Now for the good stuff!

Fold the circle almost in half and press the fold. One edge of the circle should be slightly lower than the other, as shown.

Flip over the semi circle. Working from about 2/3rds of the way up the folded edge, fold the lower right corner down to the left to form the middle part of the tree. Press. Flip the whole thing over again.

Take the top of the folded edge and fold it to the left. Press.

And then fold and press the top piece of the tree so that the right corner extends just beyond the edge of the middle section. Press again. You’re done!

This mini version will be placed on our official Cookies-for-Santa plate come Christmas Eve, but until then, I’ll be busy making lots of full-size napkins to give as gifts to family and friends. By switching up the fabrics and colours, these napkins can be made as fun and casual or as elegant as you want.


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Crafting with the STARS!

After my last post about feeling like I'm in a bit of a slump, it occurred to me: what better way to get my creative juices flowing again than a little competition? Enter season 2 of Crafting with the Stars, hosted by Tam at Sew Dang Cute. How amazing would it be to collaborate with some of blogland's best crafters? Yeah, pretty darn amazing in my humble opinion. I'd love to pick the brain of any of the stars taking part.

Anyway, there are a ton of potential contestants, but I thought I'd throw my name in the ring. And you know what? It's working! I feel excited about crafting again and have started a new project. Can't wait to show you!

PS...if you want to boost my chances, check out my project entry at Sew Dang Cute. It's thumbnail #179, the vintage airplane growth charts I made for my son, a friend's son, and my nephews.