Pretty Paper Christmas Trees

Here is an easy fun Chrismas craft tutorial, Pretty Paper Christmas Trees. 

What you will need: double-sided paper of your choice.  You want the paper double-sided because when you loop the paper you will be able to see inside the loop.  You will need straight pins and styrafoam cones.  Styrafoam cones can be spendy, I bought the 7" cone from The Dollar Tree and the 9" cone from Hancocks Fabric on sale, just shop around or use coupons.

9” Paper Christmas Tree

You will need to cut strips of paper from coordinating paper, I used a different pattern for each layer, but you can repeat a pattern if you wish. Then you will loop the strip and use two straight pins to attach paper to cone. Pin at the corners. The next layer up should be placed between the two strips in the layer below to hide the pins. You will use about 194 pins.

*You may need to trim the width a little on some strips to fit around better.

1st Four Layers (Starting with the bottom layers):

12 strips, 11 strips, 10 strips, 9 strips of 1” wide x 3” long

5th and 6th Layer:

9 strips, 8 strips of 7/8” wide x 3” long

7th Layer:

9 strips of 3/4” wide x 3” long

8th Layer:

7 strips of 3/4" wide x 2.5” long

9th and 10th Layers:

8 strips, 7 strips of 5/8” wide x 2” long

11th Layer:

7 strips of 1/2” wide x 2” long

Finish:

Make a cone for the top by cutting out a half circle and gluing it to the top. If you want, embellish along the edge of cone.

7” Paper Christmas Tree

You will need to cut strips of paper from coordinating paper, I used a different pattern for each layer, but you can repeat a pattern if you wish. Then you will loop the strip and use two straight pins to attach paper to cone. Pin at the corners. The next layer up should be placed between the two strips in the layer below to hide the pins. You will use about 184 pins.

*You may need to trim the width a little on some strips to fit around better.

1st Four Layers (Starting with the bottom layers):

12 strips, 11 strips, 10 strips, 9 strips of 3/4” wide x 2.5” long

5th Layer:

10 strips of 5/8” wide x 2.25” long

6th, 7th , 8th, 9th , and 10th Layers:

10 strips, 9 strips, 8 strips, 7 strips, 6 strips of 5/8” wide x 2” long

Finish:

Make a cone for the top by cutting out a half circle and gluing it to the top. If you want, embellish along the edge of cone.

This is a great craft to do with friends!  Have Fun!!!

Etsy Christmas Stockings

Just Listed

in my Etsy Shop

I just finished making a set of 6 Christmas Stockings, which are now in my Etsy shop.  Each stocking has it's own design and unique look.  I used mostly Michael Miller's Funky Christmas fabric.

Dots

Checkered with Chenille

Argyle

Christmas Animals 

Pinwheel

Zig Zag



All the backs have green ticking fabric.  I hope they will find a good home!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Surprise Disney Vacation

Our kids woke up to the smell of pancakes.  When it was time to eat they saw the Mickey Mouse pancakes, and one boy asked, "Are we going to Disneyland?".  Yes we are, we leave today!  We had our things packed up and ready to go.  We drove!  A long drive, but we were able to see friends and family and play a little in California.

Off we go!  Gotta love Redbox.  Pick-up the movies almost anywhere and drop them off just about anywhere too.  It sure was nice having the DVD player and headphones.  During that time Jason and I had peace and quiet.

It seemed unreal to the kids that we were actually at Disneyland.  Even for me, I was 16 years old the last time I was there.  It was Jason's first time.

Here we are in line for our first ride, Star Tours, one of our favorite rides.  We played at Disneyland for two days and did this ride 3 times.  We didn't have to wait usually more than 15 minutes in line for most of the rides because we went during the slower time at Disneyland.  But a downside to that was a couple rides weren't operating, like Pirates of the Carribean.

Another favorite was Splash Mountain!  In the picture above, my hand is right over the face of another kid that got stuck with our family, the picture worked out for us.

The weather was PERFECT, sunny and in the 70's.

California Adventure was not a favorite of ours, mostly because there was a lot of construction going on, so we spent the majority of the time at Disneyland.

Mark Twain Steamboat ride.

I can't believe I went on this ride.  It was the first and last time, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  It was a little freaky.  Tanner and Logan were the bravest!

I'll miss you Disneyland, if I have it my way we'll be back again soon.

We played at the beach.  We are from Washington so even though it wasn't very warm, it was what you would expect here in the summertime.

Santa Monica, we ate at Bubba Gump.

We went through the Redwood Forest after visiting family in Northern California and visited Paul Bunyan on the way home.

We made some good memories!

Good times...good times!

Farmer's Wife Blocks

I have joined in with most of the quilters working on the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt.  Although, I have many projects going on at once so I haven't gotten as far as I want.  To get started I checked out the book from my local library, but someone else must of had the same idea because I wasn't able to renew it this last time.  I should just buy the book.  Anyways, this is what I have so far.  I can't say that I love my blocks, but I am just using the scraps I have on hand, which I guess makes it more random, maybe even more farmer like.  Check out these Farmer's Wife Blocks that I LOVE at Simplify and a little sweetness.

Laundry Room Makeover

 

 I finally finished my laundry room!  Here is the before picture.  There were no cabinets, just a taupe wall color, plus all the previous shelving hardware still in the wall.  It wasn't a real pleasant looking room, especially since laundry isn't my favorite chore, it really needed some attention.  I was first thinking of doing an apple green color on the walls, but decided to go with more of a fresh feeling color and a little Cath Kidston look.

 

It's hard to see in the picture, but I painted the walls and ceiling Spring Mint by Benjamin Moore.  It is a light blue-green, a clean, refreshing color.  I bought the STAT cabinets from IKEA, I used a open shelving unit in the middle.  Then I starched fabric to the walls and on the back of the open shelving.  Yes, that is fabric on the wall, not wallpaper.  I think it's a great way to get the wallpaper look without the commitment.  All I did is mixed cornstarch with water, brushed it onto the wall then applied the fabric, then brushed more starch on top.  Now when I'm ready for a change all I have to do is peel it off and wash the wall, plus I will still be able to use the fabric. 

 

The fabric I used is called Flower Sugar White Medium Floral by Lecien, I bought it at the Quilted Castle.

I added pink glass knobs to the doors.  I had these on hand from a previous project, so it worked out perfectly.

Now I have laundry to do, I'm so excited (not really), but at least I like my laundry room now! 

Bad Luck Pants

My running pants are now officially unlucky.  First, last Friday I was out on my morning run when I turned the corner and a man was walking his two little yappy dogs.  We all kind of startled each other and the dogs were going crazy, so I went for the street to go around them when one of his dogs bit me in the leg, the leash was too long.  You can see the hole in my pants (above) and the bite (below).  The man felt awful and used a few swear words, I'm sure he was thinking, "I'm going to get sued".  But I told him I would be okay and kept running.



Then Tuesday morning I was getting ready for my morning run, pulled my pants out of the dryer and thought, "I can still wear these, the hole isn't very big."  I met my friend on the corner and we started to run.  We ran for only one block and started to cross the first street when the next thing I knew I was on the ground.  I had stepped off the curb wrong, twisted my ankle and landed on the other knee and my hand to catch myself.  So now I have a swollen ankle, cut up knee, and a dog bite.  These pants are just bad luck!!!  I'm suppose to run a 10k next Saturday.  Now if my ankle is better by then, I'll be out of shape.  I hope I will be able to run again soon, but if not, I guess I'll just have to sign up for another race.   

Almost Everything

I hope you all had a wonderful summer now that it's almost over.  When the sun finally decided to warm us up in July, I started to have fun, which is why I haven't been posting on my poor neglected blog.  Here are some of the things we did this summer.

We played in the water.

We actually got some tans.

We ate watermelon (actually I didn't, not a fan).

 We had a picnic at the Portland Rose Garden, absolutely beautiful.

 I couldn't stop taking pictures of the roses.

I learned how to crochet flowers (can you tell I LOVE flowers).

Checked out this book from my local library to help me along.

 My kids started school.  Yes, ALL my kids.  Never thought this day would come.

 Preston is in Kindergarten half day, so it's a good way for both of us to get used to him being gone.

I had the most perfect birthday!  I went to the beach with my amazing husband and our wonderful four boys.  The weather was beautiful.

There even was a car show, which was fun to see.

So that is our summer in a nutshell!  I really enjoyed it this year, I'm not ready for cooler weather, but I have to admit with school in session, my house stays cleaner.  Time to get ready for Fall now.