::CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS 2013: Felted Acorns::

This year, my ornaments don't have a drop of my own creativity to them. They are a classic pinterest knock-off. But they're cute!

1. Grab some 2 cm felt balls from CraftyWoolFelt.  2. Then collect some acorns from the base of a local oak tree. Or, look outside, see a blanket of snow on the ground and realize it's far too late for that. Then go ahead and buy some from VerreMer, or another Etsy shop of your choosing.
3. Drill a small hole in the acorn cap. Feed two ends of a craft ribbon through and tie, forming a loop.
4. Using a glue gun, squirt some glue inside the cap and quickly press a felt ball into the cap. Note: With bigger felt balls, I worked each ball between my fingers until they were more oblong in shape. But I left the smaller balls as is.
5. That's it. Felt acorns.

::NOTECARDS: Perfect Teacher Gifts::

I've heard that most teachers usually head home for the holidays with more chocolates, mugs and smelly candles than they know what to do with. So I try my hardest to come up with something homemade to send off with the kids every year. This year, I put my photography to good use and made notecards.

The best blank notecards I've found so far are these:

They are sold at Walmart and Homesense, and come in lots of different tones. You need to size you photos to 2000 px by 2588 px. Print off your favourite photos. Cut, and paste!

::Tiered Tea Platter::

One of the funnest things about Tea parties is the food display. Three-tiered platters are classic. I made my own using glassware from the dollar store.

~ Three-Tiered Tea Platter
1. Pick out large plate as a base.
2. Pick out a small plate for a middle.
3. Pick a small bowl for the top.
4. Finally choose two candle holders, small cups, wine glasses or, in my case, candy dishes.
5. Glue each layer on top of the other using Super Glue.
Voila! Load it up with pretty food.

::Wood Pallet Shelf::

Old beat-up wood is a personal favourite. One of my greatest misgivings about building new was that we would be working with new materials. But, given time, I've found ways of making the place look older than it is. More wizened. When I stumbled across an old wood pallet behind the garage, for example. I remembered seeing this:

 And we got to work. It was really muddy, and huge & ungainly. But we wrestled it into shape by prying off certain board and replacing them in structurally-sound places. And up it went onto our bathroom wall. It was so fun to collect narrow-enough items to perch on the "shelves."

::Round Bookmarks::

The Bookmarks are the product of my new love-affair with my fancy ::Marvy Uchida Giga Craft Punch::

1. Punch out brightly coloured card-stock, scrapbook paper or plain cardstock{this can be covered with images from magazines.}
2. Coat it in clear packing tape. Cut off excess tape.
3. Punch a hole in circle using a regular hole-punch.
4. Feed a string or ribbon or hemp through the hole and tie beads to the dangling ends.