Christmas

{Christmas} with The Little Giggler

December 20, 2011 8 Comments

Hi Johnny in A Dress Readers!

My name is Amanda and I blog over at The Little Giggler. I love all things cute, crafty, and handmade. I especially like to sew and make fun things for my daughter.

(That’s us)

I’m so excited to be visiting Natalie’s awesome blog today!
She’s so crafty and talented!

Today I’m going to share a fun Christmas craft I made for my daughter.

THE FELT FROSTY THE SNOWMAN

Who says you can’t build a snowman in Southern California? Not me! Maybe we should call him Toasty the Snowman. It is 80 degrees outside.

Supplies I used:

Felt, felt, and more felt.

Velcro

Sewing Machine

Thread

A tiny bit of batting.

I started out with a yard of blue felt. I folded it in half and sewed it together. I made everything with two layers. I sewed the softer side of the Velcro on the blue felt. I wanted the body of the snowman to really stick. I sewed a square of the “scrathy” Velcro to the back of all the body pieces, so it would catch the line of soft Velcro no matter how she put it on.

I sewed the “scratchy” side of the Velcro to all the accessories. It sticks to the felt really well.

Frosty is complete with his top hat and broom, felt buttons for his eyes and body, pebbles for his mouth,

stick arms, a carrot for his nose, a scarf to keep him cozy, and of coarse his heart.

I used a little stuffing for his nose.

Here’s his party accessories. The bow tie doubles as a hair bow and as my little giggler showed me, the mustache doubles as a uni-brow. :)

I used d-rings and Command hooks to hang it on the wall.

She’s having so much fun with him! I really hope this is something special she’ll look forward to every year.

Oh…did I mention he’s HUGE!

Be sure to stop by The Little Giggler and follow along to see more fun projects like this one!

Thank you so much for having me Natalie!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Filed Under: Christmas, Guest Post, Seasons, Tutorial

{Christmas} with Between U & Me

December 15, 2011 1 Comment

Hi JIAD readers!

I am Courtney, the girl behind Between U & Me! I am so thrilled to be here today! I LOVE JIAD and her creativity is infectious! Over at Between U & Me, I try to focus on cost conscious ways to make my house a home and also really great DIY/craft projects that are fun and kid-friendly. Here are some examples of the kind of stuff you can see over at my blog home: Between U & Me

Today, I have a tutorial on how to make this beautiful spearmint wreath!

What you’ll need:

4 Bags of spearmints

Styrofoam wreath

Red felt (cut in to long strips)

Ribbon

Alotta hot glue

1. Start off by wrapping the styrofoam wreath with the red felt that you’ve cut in to long strips. This will give the spearmints something better to hold on to as opposed to the styrofoam and also because you’ll be able to see through the gaps on spearmints and the red felt will be more visually appealing than the raw styrofoam.

2. Then, unwrap all your spearmints. This is kind of tedious, but I sat in front of my favorite movie (Dirty Dancing) and it wasn’t as bad as sitting at the table staring off in to space.

3. Start by applying the 1st Row (as shown in picture), then the 2nd row, and so on.

4. When you’re all done applying your spearmints, it’s time to add your ribbon and then hang it for all to see!

I hope you’re having an awesome day!

Come visit me at Between U & Me!

Filed Under: Christmas, Seasons, Tutorial

{Christmas} with Grits and Giggles

December 8, 2011 2 Comments

I am so excited to be here at Johnny in a Dress today to share with you how to make my

{Distressed Christmas Carol Art}

I’m Jenilyn, author of Grits & Giggles, my DIY and creative outlet. I am a Laboratory Scientist by trade, but my real love is being a wife and mommy!

Let’s get started!

Materials:

8″x10″ canvas (as many as you want, I used 2)

Fabric paint

Printed Christmas Carol Lyrics (more on this later)

Ribbon

Gel Medium (found at craft stores in the paint section)

First, paint your canvases a background color with fabric paint. They can be any color that you want to fit your Christmas/holiday decor, but make sure it’s not too dark. You want black print to show up on it.

Using a pencil, lightly stencil or freehand a design on the canvas. This will be a guideline for painting.

Using fabric paint, fill in your design. Remember that you’ll have print over it, so don’t go too over the top with a beautiful and ornate image, because some of the image will be covered.

I did a ball wreath and a simple Christmas Tree.

Now you need your Christmas Carols.

Here are some notes:

You must print them Backwards. You will be transfering them face down, so they must be reversed on paper to be right on the canvas.

Use a printer or copier with TONER. You must use toner to get a transfer. Ink will not work.

Use the cheapest paper possible to print your text. No cardstock or photo paper, just the cheap white stuff is perfect.

Here are the two carols I used:

Jingle Bells

Deck the Halls

Feel free to use these or create your own!

Here is where we use our Gel Medium

Once all of your paint is dry, brush a generous, but thin layer of gel onto your canvas.

Lightly spritz one of your carol papers with water and lay it writing side down onto the gel. Use a credit card or your fingers to get out any air bubbles. Let these dry overnight.

Once they’re dry, spritz the paper with water until it’s a little see through.

Now comes the fun part….start rolling the paper off! Use your finger or a sponge to lightly pull and roll the paper off of the canvas. You’ll see the print stays on the canvas! The harder you rub, the more likely you are to remove some of the print, so be careful. I like mine “distressed” so I always rub into a few letters.

It can take several steps to remove all of the paper. Just keep rewetting and rolling until you have most of it removed. It takes me 5-6 times.

Once your canvases have dried, apply a thin coat of the gel medium to seal everything in and give it a shiny finish.

I made two canvases, so I wanted to connect them for hanging. Use hot glue to attach ribbon to the back of your canvases to connect them.

Then apply a loop of ribbon for hanging to the top of your canvas.

Hang, and ENJOY!

Thanks again to Natalie for having me over today! I’ve enjoyed sharing some Christmas crafting joy with Ya’ll. Come on over to Grits & Giggles to check out other DIY ideas in our Tutorials section. There’s lots of great ideas for Simple Christmas Gifts, Sewing Clothing, and Party Decor.

*Merry Christmas Ya’ll*

Filed Under: Christmas, Guest Post, Seasons, Tutorial

{Christmas} with Ginger Snap Crafts

December 6, 2011 2 Comments

Hi! I’m Ginger, & I blog over at Ginger Snap Crafts.

It’s a fun place where I share my easy, simple & cute crafty ideas & projects.

{Would love to have YOU drop by sometime!}

It’s such an honor to be over here at

Johnny in a Dress!
{Isn’t Natalie fabulous??!! Love her & her blog!}

Today I’d love to share my cute & easy way to do a Christmas {countdown}.

{Supplies Needed}

wood plaque*

paint

ribbon

vinyl**

scalloped circle chalkboard vinyl***

* I bought my wood plaque at Hobby Lobby for under $2. Yay!

**I used Mr & Mrs Popsicle & His Name is Honey fonts for my vinyl.

***You could also use a stencil & chalkboard paint.

This is soooooo easy to make! First you paint your plaque white. Then drill two small holes along the top.

Apply your vinyl. Then thread a festive ribbon through your holes & tie a bow. All done!

Then use a piece of chalk or chalkboard pen to countdown to Christmas! Yay!

So fun, & your kiddos will love it!

Would love to have you over to Ginger Snap Crafts!

On my blog you’ll also find some more fun tutorials.

Like these:

outdoor chalkboard

chore sticks

family wall

I’ve also have a fun link party on Wednesdays…would LOVE to see what you’re up to!

Thanks for having me over, Natalie! I had a great time!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Merry Christmas!!!

(Hey, it’s Natalie again…)

Isn’t Ginger SUPER talented?!?

Seriously, you HAVE to go check out her awesome blog!

And in case you are wondering what I am up to today….

I am making Ginger’s super cute Christmas Countdown Plaque!

Thank you Ginger for sharing this fabulous Christmas project with us!

Merry Christmas!

Filed Under: Christmas, Guest Post, Seasons, Tutorial

$2 Merry Christmas Plate Tutorial!

December 1, 2011 4 Comments

I shared this project on A Glimpse Inside a few weeks ago and wanted to share it with you here just in case you missed it!

I wanted to show you how to create a $2 Merry Christmas Plate!

I fount this plate and “Merry Christmas” ornament at the dollar store!

Next I took the plate outside and sprayed it with water…

(I know this sounds super strange, but trust me!)

Then I got out my red spray paint and sprayed the plate…

and took a paper towel and dabbed the plate to create the “mercury glass” look on the plate!

(sorry this pic is awful… it’s super hard to dab and take a pic at the same time)

I ended up with this:

After the plate was completely dry, I took it inside, got my E-6000 out and…

put the glue on the back of the Merry Christmas ornament!

Then I stuck it onto the center of the plate and put a bag of drawer pulls on it!

(you don’t HAVE to use a bag of drawer pulls, anything with a little weight to it will work)

Then I ended up with this:

Oh yea, and just to let you know, the Dollar Store has some cutie ornaments this year!

Merry Christmas!

Filed Under: Christmas, Seasons, Tutorial

Christmas Wreath {flashback}

November 28, 2011 20 Comments

Our Christmas decorations are up and Christmas music is taking over our house!

My Christmas Wreath is on the door and just in case you missed it last year…

… here is the tutorial!

Take a plain grapevine wreath:

Start tying ribbons into knots onto the wreath.

Then add more sizes and lengths (Look familiar? I used the left over ribbon from my Christmas Ribbon Garland!) until you get the “look” you want!

For the “P”, I got a plain wooden letter from Hobby Lobby and spray painted it red. It was a little plain for me, so I decided to get some lime green paint and put polka dots on it!

The eraser of a pencil makes the perfect dots (a little trick I have used for years!)!

…keep “dotting!”

Then I decided it needed a little “sparkle,” so I put green glitter onto the “P!” (make sure your “dot” paint is still wet so the glitter will stick!)

And then…

A cute “P” for my Christmas Wreath!

It got late and I got tired so I don’t have picture for the next part, but I think you can handle it! I added red and green ornaments on the wreath to fill in the gaps that the ribbon didn’t quite cover. I tied the ornaments into the wreath and then put a tiny dot of hot glue where the ornament touched the wreath to hold it into place. This is what it ended up looking like:

Yay!

That was easy, right?!

Now hang that super cute Christmas Wreath on your door!

Merry Christmas!