Hot Chocolate Bar

Lately, I get a lot of my ideas and inspiration on what is trending from Instagram.  It may be my favorite app.  Hot chocolate bars are everywhere lately.  I was trying to decide what to put on my 3-tiered stand at Christmas time and decided this would be perfect!  Since part of my theme this year is "vintage Christmas" I decided to hunt for vintage Santa mugs at the antique store - so fun!!  The tray is vintage too.  The jars mostly came from Michael's or Goodwill.  Straws from Michael's, then I added Starbucks hot chocolate packets, marshmallows, mini chips, wafer/fudge stir sticks and peppermint stir sticks (not shown in this pic).  

Two Sided Fleece Blanket

I love how this blanket turned out!  

For this project you'll need:

2 yards print fleece fabric

2 yards solid color fleece fabric

lots of pins

sewing machine

Step 1:  Lay out the solid color, right side up.

Step two:  Lay out the print fabric on top of the solid fabric right side down.  So right sides together.

Step 3: Pin the two sides together, all the way around.

Step 4: Sew around the edge with a 1/2 inch margin, leaving about 8 inches open on one side, to enable you to turn it right side out.  Also when you get to the corners, stop 1/2 inch away from the edge and leave your needle in the fabric and turn the fabric to begin sewing the next side.

Step 5: Turn the blanket using the 8 inch opening you left.

Step 6:  Top-stitch around the entire blanket, which will close the 8 inch opening and give your blanket a more finished look.

My brother-in-law Lance loved it!!

Colorful Vintage Christmas

These pictures are my inspiration.  

It's a Wonderful Life

Christmas in Connecticut

Here's what I took from the pics - common elements - colorful, old fashioned C9 lights, garland - tinsel or popcorn, colorful ornaments and tinsel.

Then the colorful, vintage idea expanded to include "Merry & Bright" so I created my mantle with Heidi Swapp marquee letters in bright, colorful, glittery paper, a chalkboard background and an oversize ampersand.

I found a mix of colorful ornaments at Target, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and an antique store.  I bought a bunch of tinsel.

And made a popcorn, cranberry, orange garland.

I love how it turned out - colorful, cheery, vintage - just like the old movies I love!

Ruffled Burlap Christmas Tree Skirt

My sister commissioned me to make a Christmas tree skirt for her and had a specific idea in mind - a ruffled, burlap tree skirt in red, green and burlap colors.

I did a little research and found this blog tutorial to help me get started.

I had a couple yards of regular colored burlap already, so I bought red and green burlap from Hobby Lobby, 2 yards of each.  I also decided to buy a plain, red felt tree skirt from Walmart as the base.

Step 1:  Cut the burlap.  To do this, I measured 3 inches in and then used a safety pin to pull out the thread.  Then that open space in the weaving was my cutting guide.  (Yes, this process is time consuming.  Yes, burlap gets fuzz all over you.  No, you don't need the entire 6 yards, you could probably stop after cutting 3/4 of each color.)

Step 2:  Sew along one long edge and both short edges of every strip of burlap.  (Yes, this process is time consuming, but I think it'll be worth it, because it frays so easily.)

Step 3:  For the outer circles, you'll need several long strips sewn together and it's easier to do it at this point then after you've started pinning. I think you need 4-5 strips for the outermost ring.

Step 4:  Start pinning along the outer edge of your base.  Do this by just folding a pleat every 2-3 inches and pinning it down.

Step 5:  Sew down that ring, in the same direction as the pleats.

Step 6:  Measure and mark two inches above that ring with a fabric pen (or chalk, as I used).  You can kind of see the chalk markings in this pic.

Then just keep repeating steps 4-6 - it does get easier because each ring gets smaller!

The only part that gets more challenging as the rings get smaller is having the bulk of ruffles to move around while you're sewing.

It felt very good to get this one done and my customer loved it!!