Alternative Stocking-Hanging Method

by Melissa // December 19, 2012 // No Comments

You know, we haven’t had a fireplace since our apartment that we lived in when Max was a baby. (We have one in this house – not a woodburning fireplace, but a little gas one with fake logs. The kids like it. I like it, too.) I suppose that’s why I didn’t think about doing anything different with our stockings this year than what we usually do: lining them up on the sofa Christmas Eve. What was I supposed to do, though, when Charlie came up to me with his big blue eyes wide and asked, “Mommy, aren’t we going to hang our stockings?”

We don’t have any stocking hooks, or hangers, or whatnot, and I had NO intention of going near my pretty white mantle with a hammer and nails. Fortunately, I had a small tension rod handy, and in seconds, our stockings were hung with appropriate care.

(Yes, those are my children’s actual names. Nicknames, anyway.)

Maybe someday I’ll get more personalization on those stockings than just names, but for now it works. My, it’s getting Christmassy around here!

The $4, 5-Minute Tree Skirt

by Melissa // December 17, 2012 // 2 Comments

We have a fresh Christmas tree this year for the first time in our marriage. (We’ve always used an artificial one before.) I’ve meant to make a tree skirt before, but somehow it just looks wrong with the tiny little fake-tree base and so I didn’t feel too bad that I never got around to it. This year, though? Real tree. And a real tree needs a tree skirt. As I am both cheap and pressed for time, this is what I came up with.

All you need is a round Christmas tablecloth (I got a vinyl one for under $4) and some scissors. The tablecloth I used has a 60″ diameter – I could have gone a little smaller but it wasn’t too big.

Next, fold your tablecloth into a wedge, like you’re getting ready to cut a snowflake. CAUTION: my tablecloth was folded when I pulled it out, but it wasn’t folded very neatly. Make sure to even the edges of your tablecloth for the best results.

Snip off the point. Remember, however much you cut off is going to be half of the hole, or in other words, the hole will be twice as wide as the piece you snip off is long, so make sure you don’t overdo it.

Then, cut a straight (er…mostly straight…) line from the edge to the hole in the middle. Make sure you only cut through one layer.

If you have a 360-degree tree where you can see all sides, you might want to turn your edges down and glue them so they look neat, but as our tree is crammed into a corner I just left it like that. Vinyl won’t fray. All in all, it was a fast, easy, inexpensive way to take our Christmas tree from this:

to this!

Give it a try!

How to Make a Quick and Easy Sheep Costume

by Melissa // December 12, 2012 // No Comments

As you know, I had two boys being sheep in our church Nativity play last Saturday. (Max was widely regarded as the most committed sheep there; he even “Baa”-ed loudly during key points of the play, the punk.) I didn’t have a clue what to do for their costumes, at first, aside from making a pair of sheep hats. (Looking for shepherd costume directions? Check here!)

Pageants wait for no mom, though, so we figured something out.

You Will Need:

A solid color clothing under-layer. We used big white t-shirts: you could use black sweats, tights, turtlenecks, whatever you have.
A roll of quilt batting (my boys loved that this felt “wooly”)
White Felt
(Optional) A fastener, snap, button, latch, etc
A Safety Pin
Hot glue gun
Cotton Balls
A sheep hat (in a hurry? Improvise one with a white store-bought hat and black felt ears pinned on.)

First, cut a piece of quilt batting big enough to go around your child.

Fold it in half and cut a slit in the fold to serve as an armhole. Be careful not to separate the top of the fold, or you’ll have to pin it back together.

Make a belt out of the white felt; if it’s long enough you can just knot the ends to keep it closed. Mine wasn’t that long, so I sewed a little latch to the ends.

Have your child put on their t-shirt (over clothes) and stick their arm through the hole in the batting. Wrap the batting around them, secure the belt around their middle, and use a safety pin to close the other shoulder.

Use glue gun to attach cotton balls to the backside of the costume.

You’re done! Now hurry! You’re going to be late!

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