2011 Review: Top 10 Most Popular Posts

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I had great plans of writing a Christmas post, and then...I ended up spending the time with my family instead.  Which is really how it should be, right?

So, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.  I know we did.  And, we have the rest of the week off, so we're having all sorts of relaxing fun!  But, before the year is completely gone, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and do a wrap-up post.

So, without further ado, here are the most popular posts on Jengerbread Creations this year.

1.  Harry Potter Parties

 

2. Sun Shades Dress Knock-off

3. Pink and Gray Necklace Tutorial

4.  Scalloped Edge Baby Quilt Tutorial

5. Sculpey Flowers and Necklace Tutorial

6. Pink and Gray Dress

7. Child's Art Portfolio

8.  The Bored Board

9.  Uchtdorf quote printable

10. Black and White Polka Dot Dress

It's been a fun year (well, not quite a year for me--I only started this spring!). I've enjoyed having a place to show off all my silly little projects. :) Thanks to my little group of followers for your support. And, thanks for the comments. I love comments. :)   Here's to another great year!

Christmas Project Past

I made this wreath several years ago, for one of my very first Christmases as a mother. It's like the one we had when I was growing up. I'm pretty sure my mom got the pattern for it out of Good Housekeeping.

By the time I made it, I didn't have the pattern, just a little instruction from Mom and my memories of what hers looked like.

It's basically just a tube of fabric with a foam wreath form inside (you have to cut the foam to put the fabric on).  And then, I tacked the bow on to the front.

It's not an evergreen wreath or an ornament wreath.  It's not yarn wrapped.  It's not trendy at all.  But I love it.  I love the bright red bow and ric-rac.  I love the ruffles.  I love the cute Christmas tree fabric.  And, I love that it is like the one I grew up with.  It reminds me of coming home from school to find that my mom had decorated for Christmas because the wreath was on the door.

Do you have any decorations in your home that remind you of your childhood?

I'm a Finalist!!

Somehow I made it into the top 12 in the So You Think You Can Sew competition over at Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night.  Top 12, out of 127 entries.  Not too shabby.  :)

There will be four weeks of competition, starting in January, with a different theme each week.  The week of January 4th I'll post my first project (theme: for the home).

Voting will begin on January 4th at Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night.  Readers will only have 24 hours to vote and then the bottom three will get eliminated.  I'd really like to make it at least through round 1, so please be sure and vote.  :)

I think this is going to be really fun.  I have big plans for my first project.  I can't wait to show you guys!

Tree Skirt (and a Mini-Tutorial)

I've never really liked my tree skirt. I bought it when I was a newly-wed and it was the cutest tree skirt in that particular store on that particular day. Plus, I like to think that my taste has improved with age.

It wasn't really bad exactly, just not really my style anymore.

So, this year, I decided to make a new one.  And, best of all, it's simple, fast, cheap, and easy.  Because, Christmastime is busy enough as it is, right?

I bought some inexpensive felt and laid my old tree skirt on top of it.  I basically just traced the old tree skirt, but with scallops.  I did the bowl trick again for the scallops, but this time I marked a spot on the bowl with tape so that all my scallops were the same size.

After doing the first layer, I shifted the tree skirt/makeshift pattern up and over to make the next smaller circle out of a different color of felt and did the same tracing thing again.  (In retrospect, I should have just done the pencil-on-a-string compass trick to make them all exact circles, but I didn't care enough for that kind of exactness on this particular afternoon.)

When I got all my scalloped circles done, I cut up one side of them all, with a hole in the middle.  I then laid them neatly around my tree.  The whole thing took me no more than a half-hour.

Perhaps before I put it away after Christmas I will sew all the layers together, but the felt layers stick nicely to each other with just friction, so I don't really need to.

I like my new tree skirt.  It's a little bit vintage and a little bit funky.  I like it's bright colors.  And it looks great with the eclectic ornaments on our tree.  And, to think, it only took me 30 minutes!

Poinsettia Headband

I went to a Christmas party on Friday night. And, I wanted something festive to wear. I wore a green sweater (because of course my clothing must color-coordinate with the Christmas theme!) and decided to make myself a festive poinsettia headpiece.  (Note:  I'm obviously not wearing a green sweater in the below picture. You think I had time to make a headband AND photograph it right before the party?)

And yes, I did make it right before the party.  Like, the babysitter is arriving and I'm still hot-gluing.

I pretty much made it up as I went, comparing it occasionally to the poinsettia plant my sweet friend gave me for my birthday.  I wanted the middle to be authentic (because that's how I roll) and have the tiny yellow flowers that real poinsettias have amongst their red and green leaves.  But, I didn't have any yellow beads.  So, dear readers, you know what I used?  I used a pair of pliers to cut the heads off of some of my sewing pins and then I hot glued them to the flower.  Yep.  I'm a little nuts.  But, hey, they look cute, right?  Mission accomplished.