300 Days Till Christmas Project - May 21, 2011 - 217 days to go!!

It's been a much better week, creatively, than last week was.  Feeling back in the groove!  Of course, it didn't hurt any that there were a couple of very dreary, rainy days where I was stuck inside.  I watched the lawn get greener and the weeds get bigger from my window as I worked on Christmas project.


This week there have been three projects completed.


First up, I had a few mini canvasses lying around.  I decided it was time to try something with one of them.  I wasn't really in the mood to paint, so I "painted" a tree on with some markers.  Added some bling to be the ornaments and the star.  Added a cut-out package, and there it is.  Just a fun little thing.

Next came one I've been thinking of for a while.  Every year, I get great Christmas cards from friends and family.  Many of them I turn into gift tags to be tied or taped onto future holiday gifts.  But sometimes I get some cards that are really special, with something really cool on the front, often something that is kind of three-dimensional, like a knitted mitten.  I save the fronts of those cards every year, and had accumulated a bit of a pile.  So this week, I made what I guess I'll call "cheater's cards."  I used my own cardstock, and stamped "Merry Christmas" on the inside.  But the fronts are all made from pieces from those other cards.  It is still pretty original, but also easy and fast to do.  And I guess instead of cheating, I could say that I'm recycling!!

As I work on this project, I'm also trying to think of crafts that might work with children.  I've been collecting empty egg cartons for a while and now that I have a bit of a pile of them I figured it was time to try something with one.  I cut it apart and glued the pieces together in a wreath shape.  I used a glue gun, but I'm thinking that if kids are involved the only way the glue gun could be used is if an adult is in charge of it.

Yesterday, I painted it green.

And today I added some stickers inside the "cups," and a ribbon.  This would fun and pretty easy for children, but probably not real little ones.

I'll probably be spending a lot of time in the garden tomorrow, so knitting pieces for my knitted tree chain may be what's on tap for this project tomorrow evening.  This week I may do some more cards.  I also want to start gathering "stuff" to put inside the Advent Calendar I started a few weeks ago.

-Jayne