Candy Cane Reindeer

I cannot take credit for coming up with this craft on my own.  There was one of these little guys in my mailbox at work and I thought it would be fun to make these for my son's daycare friends.  Originally I thought he would be able to do them with me, but then I realized after I had made the first one that the dexterity required is more than his little three-year-old hands can handle.  No matter -- here's the results of my efforts.  Too cute!!

Incidentally, I love Photoshop Elements.  My flash had over-exposed the candy canes, so I used the little selection tool (and a whole lot of clicks!) and adjusted the lighting on the red & white parts.  And then finally I rotated it just a little bit.  The result is a much nicer picture!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My Garland Wreath

A shout out now to both Chaos Among Us and to her inspiration, We Are That Family, for this garland wreath idea.  I followed Jen's (Chaos Among Us) directions, but found that I needed to use two 20 yard strands of garland.  Maybe it (and I) are wound more tightly!  :-)  Not a bad end result nonetheless!  Thanks to both for the fun and easy project.

And in case you were wondering....  the stripes belong to wrapping paper I put on the back of a door that leads out to a enclosed room that is really only useful when I weather is nice.  The rest of the year it sometimes acts as a storage room or a "hide the presents" room.

A Pretty Christmas Bow

Some might wonder at my enthusiasm for my last post about how to tie a bow.  Perhaps everyone else is good at it, but I only knew how to tie the most simplest of bows - the old fashioned 'tie your shoe" kind of bow.  So here are the results of this lesson:

My Christmas Sled

I'm so happy!

How To Video for Bows

Love the Container Store!  Found a great video for making your own bows (there are several variations in this video).  I can't just read and follow a set of directions -- I need to see how it's done.  So easy!  I particularly love the poinsettia bow.  Happy Wrapping!!

Christmas Cards in a Frame

Here's a way to add some holiday decorations to your home for not a lot of money.  Take some favorite cards and put them in to a frame.  I'm sure it's been done before and this is nothing new, but maybe it'll re-spark the memory and you'll want to do it.

Ta da!  Posted for DIY day at A Soft Place to Land.