DIY Gingerbread Man Christmas Ornament

I've missed posting here. I have all these ideas swirling in my head, just not all the time in the world to complete (or even start) them these days! Motherhood is very challenging and amazing, in the best way possible, but I'm still struggling to fit in "me" time. And blogging time (since very often those times are one and the same)!

I managed to get quite a few projects done in time for Christmas, but didn't get to post them here for you. So, with many apologies, I thought I'd post them anyways and if you like something you can plan on making it for next Christmas/winter. Not the same, I know, but hopefully still helpful!

This is a felt gingerbread man ornament I made as a gift for a relative. It was a little time-consuming (all those little stitches!) but very easy. I think it only took me two hours at the most. First, trace a gingerbread man shape you like onto brown felt (or whatever color you like). I based my shape on a cookie cutter, with a few modifications because he seemed to have an inordinately large head. Cut two pieces of your chosen shape, but I wouldn't fold over the fabric as it might be too thick to cut without warping. So, just trace two shapes and then cut them out.

Designate one as your "top" piece. On this one, use embroidery thread to stitch on as many or few details as you like, in whatever color you fancy. I chose arm and leg bands, eyes, and a smile. (I wanted to do them in white, but only had red. Oh well!) It helps to trace where you want your details to be with chalk or some other type of marking that you can rub off once you're finished, to make sure you like where things are placed before you embroider.

Then place your top piece over your bottom one, and line up your edges. Cut a long length of thread (I used white here) for the outline stitches. I chose to double mine up so the stitches would look thicker and show up better on the dark brown felt. Start above one of the shoulders, and neatly and evenly stitch around (going next to an arm, then the legs, etc.) until you get to the other shoulder. I think it's easier to start at a shoulder so that when you get to the other side, you'll be able to reach into the limbs so you can stuff them. If you start between limbs, you might end up at a crook where you wouldn't be able to reach back into an arm or leg very easily.

Lightly stuff your gingerbread man. I think I made mine about a quarter-inch thick. You want just enough padding to make your ornament a little 3D.

Stitch around the head, adding in a bit of stuffing as you go. Use a knitting needle or something thin to get in the last little bit of it before you finish your stitches and knot your thread on the backside. Finish by adding a hook, or some more embroidery thread (as I did) for a hanger. I cut about a 5- or 6-inch length, doubled it, threaded both ends through the needle (so the end of my thread was a loop), eyeballed the center of his head and pulled the needle through an inch or two, then removed the needle and knotted the ends together. Then I pulled the loop back the other way so the knot came up right against the back of his head. You could also pull the knotted ends over his head and through the loop, pulling tight so the loop cinches at the top of his head and your knot is at the top of the hanger (instead of the loop being there). Both would work!

DIY Nautical Anchor Necklace and Earring Set Tutorial

Just in time for summer's end (sorry guys, but these would make great Christmas presents!), I have a DIY Nautical Anchor Necklace and Earring Set tutorial. It's really easy, and can be customized to whatever length and spacing you like.

I purchased silver anchor charms on Etsy that were a good size (about an inch or less), and I made sure they had a hole at the top for a jump ring and another hole somewhere on the bottom for another jump ring. You could definitely purchase ones with only a top hole, however, and just have them dangle off instead of being connected on both sides with chain. As you'll see close-up later, I did this with the bottom-most anchors of each chain, to make them pendants.

I had silver chain from another project sitting around, so I used it for these pieces as well. The chain I used has small links and is pretty delicate, but if you want something bolder, go for it!

I like long necklaces, so I made my outermost one about 33 inches, and the inner necklace about 27.5 inches.

I used pieces of twine to choose the lengths, then laid out each piece of twine in a straight line on a flat surface to plan my necklace. I found the center point of each and marked it for the hanging anchors, and then measured 5 inch lengths on either side and marked those. I laid out my anchors and jump rings next to these markings, so that the bottom jump ring would fall at the 5" mark. This would leave 5" of chain from the bottom of the anchor to the pendant. I found this method - using rounded lengths of chain - to be easier when it came time to measure and cut the chain. Then I wouldn't have to subtract half of the anchor and jump ring length, or measure strange lengths.

Based on laying out my anchors and jump rings, I then measured 5" lengths from the top jump rings to figure out where the next anchor would go. For the outer necklace, I ended up with two anchors (4 total) on either side of the pendant, and one anchor (2 total) for the inner necklace.

I used fewer on the inner, even though I ended up having about 7.5 inches of chain on each side going up to the clasp (instead of 5") because I didn't want anchors rubbing against my collarbone area. However, you could make the inner necklace have two anchors on either side if you wanted. Use whatever spacing you like as well!

I then cut my lengths of chain, and attached them between the anchors using pliers and the jump rings.

Here's a close-up of one of the hanging anchor pendants.

Here's what the bottom parts of each chain look like. At the top part of necklace, for the clasp, I attached both the inner and outer necklace chains to one jump ring on each side and then attached these rings to the clasp. Make sure your chains don't get twisted as you do this!

Since I had leftover charms and still more chain, I made matching earrings. The longer chain length is about 1.75", and the shorter piece is about 1". Again, you can customize this part depending on your personal taste and style!

Even though I used anchors here, you could use a variety of charms (or even mix and match). Crosses, ship's captain's wheels, little bows, Celtic knots. You could change the metal color as well, especially to rose gold or a nice warm bronze for fall.

How would you customize this?

DIY Painted Patterned Stenciled Feathers

In this DIY tutorial, I'll show you how to easily and quickly stencil feathers in a variety of patterns using just a few materials that you can easily obtain!

You'll need feathers, Rub N Buff gold paint (or another paint in whatever color you like), a stiff brush for stenciling, and paper for making stencils.

I decided to repurpose some ho-hum feathers from a pair of earrings I bought for next to nothing, but you could also use regular feathers from a craft store. I liked these because they already have caps on the end, which makes it easier to turn them into jewelry again. You could also buy crimp caps and add the end yourself after they're painted.

Take your piece of paper, fold it in half if you're making a symmetrical pattern, and cut out a shape. Here, I cut out a line at a slant to make a chevron stripe.

Place your stencil over your feather.

I lined up the point in the middle of the stencil with the line going down the feather to make sure that it was centered.

Now it's time to paint! I put a piece of paper under the feather to keep the paint that might go through the individual plumes from staining my work surface. Wax paper works great for this as well. Then I squeezed out a little paint onto the paper, dipped the brush into it, and then stippled it (a hard up and down motion, like you're hitting the brush against the paint) on a different area to get off the excess paint. You don't want too much paint on the brush or it will seep under your stencil.

Then I stippled over my stencil with the brush, making sure I got nice even coverage of the uncovered area. If you need more paint, just reload your brush like you did initially. Make sure you hold your stencil down nice and flat and taut over the feather. This keeps the paint from going under the edges of the stencil.

Carefully remove your stencil and you should have a stripe that looks like this!

You can cut lots of different stencils to get different results. Here are a few that I did.

You can see the accompanying stencils I made for each feather here. From top to bottom: the chevron one already shown, a nice thick line (I painted this three times: two times to form an "x", and a final time down at the bottom with the stencil spilling over the edge), polka dots, and an argyle stripe.

For the polka dots, I used a hole punch to cut out circles in a random pattern. Then I just stenciled over each hole.

Here I reused the chevron stripe to make it a double.

A triple stripe looks nice as well!

I think this stencil was my favorite. First, I cut out a diamond shape, and stenciled this in the middle. Then, I cut out an "X", centered the stencil over the diamond (let it dry first), and carefully stippled it. The "X" had a lot of edges to hold down, so I went slowly and carefully to make sure it didn't bleed under the edges at all.

I think next I might try thin stripes stenciled into a gingham or plaid pattern, stars, triangles, or a combination of polka dots and stripes.

Let the feathers dry thoroughly, and then turn them into whatever kind of jewelry you like! Make matching (or even non-matching) ones for a pair of earrings, turn one into a pendant, or use different sizes for a string of feathers along a length of chain. You could put the biggest as the center pendant, with gradually-smaller ones on each side going back towards the clasp. You could also attach them to string or leather and then braid them into your hair for a Bohemian look! These would be great for making DIY Christmas presents as well.