Crafting Our Christmas | Two Delighted

Entries Tagged as 'Crafting our Christmas'

An Ornament Decorating Affair

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

This past weekend, Colleen and I had an Ornament Decorating Party. We started out with the intention of getting some close girl friends together for some girly crafting and gossip time. The list of attendees was small to begin with. It was to be Colleen and I along with 5 of our friends. Last week, one of our friend’s grandmothers passed away (We love you Katie) so she was going to be unable to attend. Then, a few hours before the party was going to start we had 2 more cancellations due to sickness and scheduling conflicts. :( Colleen and I felt like we were 5 again and no one was coming to our birthday party. But instead of crying in our cookies, we decided to call in reinforcements. Our cousin Bill (Sir Billiam) and his roommate were lured by the promise of free food and another friend talked her husband into coming. Despite it not being what we had intended, it was still a really fun night and everyone got into ornament decorating (including the dudes ).

We always like to do at least a few special things when having people over. We added to my regular Christmas decor by creating a shimmery snowfall over my kitchen peninsula and pimping out my chandelier. Colleen and I have already crafted ornaments this year and we had a really big problem finding a way for our ornaments to dry without getting messed up. We came up with this…

We hung silver twine and beads around my chandelier along with some ribbon and ornaments I already had for decoration. Then we hung all the empty ornaments from hooks on each loop of twine. This way, to get a new ornament, we only had to reach up and grab another, and when we were finished, we hung it back on its loop to dry.

I also took the time the night before to craft some smaller ornaments of my own to give people some ideas of things they could do. I hung these in the middle of the chandelier so they could also be on display.

We had a 3 tier stand full of Martha goodness (she should really give us some of her billions for this advertising) in the middle of the table including different colors of glitter, Martha’s new multi-surface paint (love), sequins, newspaper strips, and different colors and patterns of small circles to make the scalloped ornaments. I even had a Martha glue gun. Did you hear that Martha???

Of course, we also made cookies for the occasion. I made fudge and pink frosted chewy gingerbread men. Colleen made raspberry chocolate bars and almond bon bons.

For those who are interested, I used this recipe for my gingerbread. They turned out yummy, soft, and chewy. I just covered them in royal icing.

Here are some pictures of our Christmas crafters.

How cute are the dudes at their little crafting table?

And some of the finished products hanging to dry.

Chapel Grove is Chris’ (Laura’s Rockstar Husband) band.

Everyone except Colleen and I

And so goes the story of our ornament crafting affair. If anyone would like a DIY on some of the ornaments that we crafted, just let us know.

Love,

Megan

You might also like:

A Merry Christmas to us all!!

Illuminated Christmas Canvas {DIY}

Tinseled Glass Candlesticks {DIY}

The Making of My Sparkle Village

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I will not call this a DIY because I basically just used already made products and put them together. The only thing that I crafted were my trees. It all started when I was on the internet researching options for things I might want to purchase on my journey to ABC Carpet and Home in New York. This was obviously very important research. :) I spotted something that I immediately knew had to be my trip souvenir.

Yes, I am crazy and ridiculous enough to spend money on a little pink sparkle house. I accept no judgement from the likes of you.

You see, when I take a trip, I usually like to buy some sort of art. Always something relatively cheap. Because I was going to New York at Christmas time, I thought a Christmas decoration would be nice. Unfortunately for me, they were sold out. Big bummer. I found this glass display case that I fell in love with and figured I would just buy that instead. Then, as I circled the store for the 50th time in my hesitation to depart, I realized that the tiny sparkly house ornaments that they had would probably fit in my display case. And so I went about purchasing the key items to create my little village. I bought the case and 3 little sparkly house tree ornaments.

When I returned home, I found another sparkly house ornament at Walmart (for exactly 1/10th what I had spent on the others. Crap.) and used some leftover trees from my snow globe escapade. This time, I decided to bleach out and dye some of my trees pink (obviously). I added some powdery snow to the bottom of the case to cover the mirrored surface. Here are some pictures of my final product.

Doesn’t it look like a fantastic place to live? If I could fit my big head inside, I would sleep in it. You probably also noticed that I added a tiny lamppost (from Hobby Lobby), some tiny silver ball ornaments, and a North Star. It makes me happy and looks ever so lovely sitting on my coffee table. The glass case is also crucial for keeping out troublemaker cats.

Yes, I could have just bought one of those cute little villages that they sell everywhere but I could never make something that easy on myself.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on our Christmas giveaway post to win free stuff!

Love,

Megan

You might also like:

For the Love of Friday- Christmas Carols You Hate

Illuminated Snowflake Garland {DIY}

A Merry Christmas to us all!!

Anthropologie Mason Jar Snow Globe {DIY}

Monday, December 12, 2011

I was at Anthropologie a few weeks ago and noticed these…

And I thought to myself, “Those people are crazy inside their heads if they think anyone would pay $38 for that.” Well, enough people paid $38 for them that they are sold out on the website. I will admit that they are adorable. I decided to make my own. You can too. We can’t let Anthropologie beat us and take our bank account monies anymore! Well, at least not until next weekend.

What you’ll need:

You won’t need a cat. Don’t let orange furball confuse you.

1) Mason jars- need to be of the “wide mouth” variety. However many globes you would like to make is how many you’ll need.

2) Baby trees. I wanted one big and one little per jar. You just plan accordingly. These can be purchased at Michael’s (you can buy a big bag of different sizes). I got mine at Hobby Lobby in the dollhouse section. These can also be bought at Dollar Tree in the Christmas section. I saw it with my own eyes.

3) Glitter- silver for the trees

4) Snow- I found something at Michael’s called “Twinklet’s Diamond Dust” and used that because the texture was the most similar to the globes at Anthro. You can also use that snow stuff in the bags that is powdery or really thick glitter if you can find it.

5) Spray adhesive

6) Glue- Gorilla+Elmer’s is what I used. I think that a glue gun would be best but I didn’t have mine at the time.

What you’ll do:

1) Glitter and snow up your trees. In all honesty, you could probably just use the tree as is, however, it would not be as pretty. Take your spray adhesive and spray down your tree. Warning: Your fingers will get real sticky. Dip it in your diamond dust or sprinkle your dust over it all the way around. Next, take your glitter and sprinkle that over. Spray with adhesive again and repeat. The second go round is optional. Let dry for a bit.

2) Open your mason jar and glue trees to the bottom of the lid. Like I said previously, I used a combination of Elmer’s and Gorilla Glue. I really believe a glue gun would have been easier. Let this dry very well. Make sure your trees are really stuck before you attempt to move on. I was too impatient and my trees went crashing down and glitter flew everywhere. Less than ideal.

3) Pour your snow into the mason jar. Somewhere between a half an inch and an inch will probably do just fine. I used a combination of the powdery snow from the bag and the diamond dust.

4) Turn the top with the trees on it over and place carefully into the jar. Screw on the rim of the jar to tighten.

5) Turn the jar upside down. Voila! You have your very own Anthropologie mason jar snow globe. Excellent work.

I like it simple like this but there are lots of options if you want to spruce yours even more. Here are some I have considered:

~ Adding tiny sparkle balls found at Hobby Lobby as tree ornaments.

~ Adding a mini lamppost I found at Hobby Lobby so that your jar looks like Narnia.

~ Putting a house ornament in.

So, in conclusion, I feel as if I’ve won this round. That would make the tally:

Me: 1, Anthropologie: a quabillion.

Oh well.

Love,

Megan

You might also like:

Painted Message Mason Jars {DIY}

Paper Wreath {DIY}

Confetti Balloons {DIY}

Illuminated Snowflake Garland {DIY}

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Meg and I really love to craft our Christmas. Last year we started to glitter anything and everything in our path. This year, while glitter still maintains a large presence (as well it should), we have started to incorporate more and more snow related crafts. Meg dreamed up this craft in her brilliant head, which I imagine to be a constant rotation of sparkles, cookies, and home decor (oh my!) You can pick up the necessary supplies at your local Target. If you are like us, you are probably there at least once a week.

What you’ll need:

- 1 string of LED lights (in warm white)

- 30 snowflakes ornaments (or however many LEDs are on the string) – 4 for $1 at Target

- Fishing line (or similar string)

What you’ll do:

Lay the string of LEDs on the ground. Take a snowflake and use the fishing line to tie the snowflake to one of the LEDs. We tried to make sure that the LED would line up with the center of the snowflake. A tip for tying: tie the snowflake onto several different places on the LED, preferably towards the wiring where it is thicker. If you are a genius (which I am not) you will also tie over the top of where the LED wires are perpendicular. I tell you this because if you do not, some of your snowflakes will fall off when you try to put up the garland. Major sads. When one snowflake is secure, just keep on trekking.

Things that will aid you in this endeavor: hot chocolate and cuddly cats.

Finally, when you have tied all 30 snowflakes to the 30 LEDs, you are finished my friend. This took me a couple of hours while watching TV to complete, but was really ridiculously easy. Other than the whole snowflake falling off part, I really love the final product. Makes my house just a little bit more Christmasy. Once Corey and I get our Christmas tree, we will really be in business.

Just pretend you don’t see me taking the picture in the picture above. A secret amongst friends.