Christmas Crafting Kick-off!

I’ll be honest. I am one of those people who tend to skip over Thanksgiving in my head, and jump straight to Christmas mode once Halloween ends. Don’t get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving day and getting together with the family, but for the moment, I have Christmas on my brain. Perhaps even more so this year because of the baby in my belly that is due December 30th. My husband keeps asking my why in the world I have all the Christmas shopping and projects scheduled to be done the next 2 weeks. Hello dear! We are having a baby! This crazy mamma is in full blown nesting mode and Christmas mode at the same time. It’s a little crazy around here.

What really got me going was when my friend asked me to help her pull together a craft night for the ladies in our church. She assigned me to the sewing projects, which surprisingly not many people sign up for. I guess most people are afraid of a few stitches. But that is okay because it gave me a great excuse to start sewing some Christmas pillows. So me and the few ladies in my group will have a blast sewing more.

This pillow was done using the freezer paper stenciling method. This link will show you how to do that. I mixed silver and turquoise fabric paints to get the blue I wanted. My fabric measured 12×17 and after I painted the letters on, I simply sewed it right sides together, leaving a gap for turning. After turning and pressing, I stuffed it and sewed the opening shut. Quick and easy.

The bow pillow started with fabric squares measuring 14×14, and some silver ribbon. I sewed the ribbon on first in a plus sign shape on the fabric. Then I tied a bow, and stitched it on in the center. Next I sewed, stuffed and closed the pillow.

I’m also teaching key fobs at our craft night. You can throw these together in minutes using this awesome tutorial. Great for gift toppers.

The gathered clutch was sewn using this tutorial. It was actually made as a gift for my sister’s birthday but would be great for Christmas gifts as well.

And I can’t help but show you the rest of the craft projects my friend is doing for our ladies night.

Temple blocks, found here.

An adorable wooden silhouette nativity.

And a wooden H-O-M-E, fit for all seasons.

The home was a big hit with the ladies!
More fun stuff that night will be older ladies teaching us their candy making techniques, a free gift tag making class, and a digital scrap booking class. It’s going to be fun and I am so grateful for any distractions to keep my mind off of how uncomfortable I am right now.

I would love to hear any ideas you might be doing too with groups of ladies this crafting season!

Make sure to come back and see what awesome projects I’m making my handy man husband create in his wood shop (our garage). We are doing a handmade holiday’s for our kids this year, and I’m excited to share them with you!