Felt Christmas Tree

Christmas came early at my house this year. A new camera just for me! (well I guess I have to share it with my husband :) ) To test it out I decided to share the felt Christmas tree I made with my daughter this year. I have heard that it discourages toddlers from taking ornaments off the real tree, but that is not the case at our house. My 2 year old's favorite thing to do is let me put all the felt ornaments on the tree so she can take them all off :)

We are using the ornaments as an advent calendar/countdown to Christmas tool. I followed the instructions for this tree here.

I used about half a yard or green felt from the craft store and cut out the shape of a tree. I used a small piece of yellow for the star and a small piece of brown for the trunk.

 Since we are using it to countdown to Christmas I needed 25 ornaments. I bought a pack of a few pre-cut felt ornaments to assemble. But I must admit we had more fun with the ones we designed ourselves :)

I was able to use scrap felt and embellishments that I already had in my craft drawers to create the rest of the ornaments we needed. I think the puff paint and google eyes are our favorite!

Because the ornaments are made of felt, they 'stick' to the felt tree without any adhesive. Here is the finished tree with all the ornaments. 

Check out more great holiday craft ideas at eyesonthesource.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Bazaar! December 3-8, 2012

Who is finished with their Christmas shopping? Well if you are having a baby this month (like me!) then maybe you are. But for the rest of you I have a great opportunity to get a jump start!


That’s right! My friend Jaima is hosting her first annual Christmas Bazaar on her amazing blog – Ring Around the Rosies.


Jaima loves helping women create health and balance in their homes, and so she’s thought of a brilliant way to save you time and sanity this year by shopping in your pajamas!


She has rounded up over twenty other talented work-at-home moms who are offering exclusive discounts and free gifts for a week long shopping event and you’re invited!

My Etsy shop (http://etsy.com/shop/GirlyGirlsCrochet) 

will be featured as well with an exclusive discount for Ring Around the Rosies followers. To be the first to see these great discounts sign up below. Hope to see you there!

Sign up now for the daily offers

or, visit her site daily to see additional shops

My Etsy Shop is Open

One of my goals this year was to list my crochet creations on Etsy. Finally, after a lot of work and a great photographer, GirlyGirl's Crochet has a live Etsy shop!

You can check it out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GirlyGirlsCrochet

Here are some of the great photos taken by my photographer, Stacy, at Loving Life Photography.

You can check out more of her work on Facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/LovingLifePhoto?ref=ts&fref=ts

Add my Etsy shop to your favorites to stay updated on my new listings!

Owl Thanksgiving Banner

I am trying to make the most of these last couple months with my 2 year old before little boy arrives. We are attempting to make a few homemade holiday crafts that are quick, cute, and 2 year old friendly :)

This week we made an owl thanksgiving banner that was inspired by a blog I follow. She has lots of great holiday decorating ideas that are easy to make in a short amount of time. She also happens to be my sister, so I might be a little biased :) You can find the instructions (and better pictures) here. 

http://eyesonthesource.com/31-days-of-homemade-holidays-day-7-owl-banner/

To make our display a little different we added these colorful leaves that list the things we are thankful for. My 2 year old had so much fun adding stickers to the leaves and using "sticky tack" to put them on the wall.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yarn Wrapped Letter Decoration

We are anticipating the arrival of our second little one at the end of December. As part of the process we are moving the baby furniture from my daughter's room into the baby's room and recreating her room to a "big girl" room.

One of my projects is this yarn wrapped wooden letter for her door.

I started with a wooden letter from the craft store and chose a fun pink yarn to complement the new colors in her room.

I used a little hot glue to secure the end of the yarn before I began wrapping. First I wrapped the letter vertically. Make sure to wrap as tight as possible so most of the wood will be covered by the end.

Then I wrapped the letter horizontally to cover the remaining bare edges.

To add a little more girly-ness I crocheted a few flowers and glued them on. If you don't crochet, you could use fabric or premade flowers or even buttons.

I used a small piece of satin ribbon on the top and a command hook to hang the finished letter on my daughter's bedroom door.

Here is a picture of the finished product on her door. I hope she likes it!

My Craft Fair Display

In my previous post I let you know that I was participating in a local craft fair. I thought I would share my display with you and some of the creative display options I have come up with.

I always put my most popular and colorful hat designs up front to catch the attention of customers when they walk by. This year has been character hats like owls, monkeys, and flamingos. :)

My favorite part of this display is the custom sign that I had my photographer create from my business card. It lets people know right when they walk up what to expect from my display. My husband built a frame out of scrap wood to prop the sign up for the display.

I was able to borrow this great shirt rack to display my scarves. I used plastic hangers to line the scarves up and make a perfect setup for customers to browse my designs.

Another display I used this year is a simple drying rack. I painted wooden clothespins in bright colors and used them to hang the hats on the rack. I found that this was a great way to show off more hats at one time.

I hope these ideas are helpful and inspire you in your own displays. Thanks for stopping by!

MELHS Fall Craft Show

I am participating in the fall craft show at the Metro East Lutheran High School in Edwardsville, IL this weekend. November 3 (9a-4p) and November 4 (10a-4p).

Here are a few pictures of items that will be on sale.

Photo prop, baby cocoon $20

Flamingo hat $22

Owl hats $22

Another owl $22

boy sock monkey hat $22

girl sock monkey hat $22

sweet apple hat $15

Boot cuffs $15 a pair

 I also have scarves, headbands, wristwarmers, lots of other hats, and photography props that will be available at the sale. Come on over to visit and get ideas for your own custom orders. Hope to see you there!