Wreath surgery the other day left me with a decent pile of spare, boring ornaments. What to do, what to do…
Oh. Yeah, we could do that!
To begin you need some plain ornaments and some acrylic craft paint. I had the kids come in one at a time for this part, and was very hands-on getting the thumbprints on the ornaments. (I just didn’t think I could take four kids with their hands in paint all at once.)
We made tall white thumbprints for snowmen, round brown thumbprints for reindeer, and green thumbprint triangles for Christmas trees.
Next: to decorate! We used a black paint pen (paint would also work, Sharpies might work), a glue gun, teeny tiny pompoms, yarn, and little scraps of orange foam to decorate our ornaments.
Use your imagination and what you have on hand! This ended up needing a LOT of help from me, but it wasn’t hard and the kids were SO proud to hang them on the tree.
Well, I have been busy, busy, busy. Well, at least, I’ve been keeping my hands busy. I’ve been doing a lot of sitting, lately, and apparently that translates to a LOT of crocheting.
First up: Tommy has been begging for a Han Solo toy. Begging. And I’ve got him finished, written up, and wrapped for Christmas.
Second, Greg has been plotting his sweater for the annual Ugly Sweater Contest for a year. I kid you not. Since the party is next week, this takes priority over some Christmas presents that need to be…um…started still. Good thing I designed that thing to be quick!
Eesh. No dye lots, huh? I’m thinking they’re full of it on that score. Anyway, I followed the same directions as last year, except I used increases instead of chains in rows 3 and 5, and added three extra rows of dc and a border of sc to the end of the sleeves…he needed a little extra length since his arms are going to be up a lot this time. Intrigued? Stay tuned.
Let’s see, what else… I made a hat for the baby…
…using this pattern. I used some Softee Baby and an F hook, and started with 40 chains. Otherwise, I made it to measurements.
I also made this hat…
…using this pattern, and I have to say, I really love it. The shaping on it is intricate, but the results are fantastic! It’s very stretchy. I was going to give it as a gift, but 1) I love it, and 2) the Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool I used is pretty scratchy. I don’t know if the recipient I had in mind would like it. Not as much as I do, anyway.
Then the last thing I’ve been working on is a pair of Thuja I’ve been knitting to remind myself how to make socks, but I haven’t taken a picture yet of the 1.2 socks I’ve knit so far. Maybe when I finish them! Although, with Christmas coming up so fast, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get back to them.
We’ve started pulling our Christmas decorations out, and today I hit the bucket that had the wreaths in it. We have two wreaths: one, the ornament wreath I made a few years back, and two, an old artificial pine wreath that we stuck a red bow on about eight years ago and called good. The ornament wreath has a problem, namely, whenever it’s in storage, a bunch of ornaments pop off. I’ve put it back together and put it back together, but this year when I pulled it out to discover that I’d have to put it back together again, I was just sort of done with it.
“No problem,” I told myself. “I’ll put the other wreath up.”
So, I pulled that one out, only to discover that it really looked sad…flat…and old, with the flocking coming off the bow and the fake pine really looking dull and boring. (It wasn’t an expensive wreath to begin with, I’d be surprised if I paid more than $5 for it when I bought it. Probably less. Probably at a Michael’s as a ‘craft supply,’ so I was probably meant to do something to it besides put it up.)
Since I wasn’t in the mood to go out and get a new wreath but I was also not inclined to let my front door go wreath-less, I came up with a solution.
So, to recap, here’s what I was working with. (Well, the picture on the right isn’t of MY wreath. It’s a sort of glamour-shot of what my wreath could have looked like when new, with a professional fake-pine-arranger on the set.)
If you would like to be not-a-crazy-person and do this the easy way, here’s what you would need:
Artificial pine wreath
Christmas ornaments (tubes from the dollar store would work well)
Yarn or string
A yarn needle
A bow
(Estimated Time Required: 20 minutes or less)
I had to undo glue-gun-sealed ribbon and untangle my horrible hanger join to get at my ornaments. Then, I removed the shabby old bow from my pine wreath – I’m pretty sure it’s lived a full life and I’ve gotten my dollar’s worth out of it – and carefully perked up the branches.
Cut off a very long piece of yarn – enough to go the circumference of your wreath at least 2 or 3 times – and thread it on the needle. Tie the end of the yarn around your wreath, leaving a tail at least six inches long for tying the other end to it. Then begin stringing the ornaments on with the needle.
As soon as you have a few inches of ornamented yarn, wrap it around from the back of the wreath to the front and back to the back. Arrange the ornaments so that they will stay on the front (we don’t want ornaments on the back of the wreath, especially if they’re prone to popping off with pressure, like mine) then wrap the yarn tightly around the back and bring it back to the front. String some more ornaments on and repeat around! Make sure you work your yarn in between branches instead of tying them down with it – we want this to be fluffy, not squashed.
Once you get back to your starting point, tie the ends together firmly and trim them so they don’t dangle. Attach the bow (I substituted a newer one we usually put somewhere else, but I may need to replace some this year) anywhere you like and hang your wreath!
I am very pleased with the way that this turned out. It’s festive, bright, fast, and – for me – FREE! You can’t beat that.
