Belated Christmas Crafts Part II: DIY Vintage Reflector Wreath

For Christmas, I finally got around to making a wreath out of vintage reflectors. These decorative shapes cut out of metal (I believe either aluminum or tin) were manufactured to fit big old-style Christmas bulbs and reflect the light outwards. The ones I found on Ebay and Etsy came in pink, blue, silver, gold, green, and red.

Some came attached as doubles, and some were singles that I had to mix and match myself. They tend to be in star, flower, or starburst shapes.

Since I didn't take pics along the way (crafting with a kid who might wake up from his nap any second is more about speed than anything else and winter light is awful anyways!), here's a rough guide to how I did it:

*First, buy some vintage reflectors. I sourced mine on Etsy and Ebay. They aren't cheap as they're currently very popular, but you only need 9 double or 18 single shapes. (I had enough leftover from the large batches I bought to make a wreath for my mom as well. Lucky her!)

*.Buy a cardboard wreath frame that's fairly sturdy. I got mine at Papersource. (Dangerous store to walk into - you've been warned!) Pick a paint color you like, and paint your frame. I went with white. You'll probably need a couple of coats. Let dry between coats.

*Buy a short strand of LED lights. I think my strand only had 12 lights. Since we're working with paper and glues, go the safe route and use LEDs. They don't heat up so the fire risk is very low. Obviously, don't leave lights on when you leave your house/apt. I found ones with a battery pack from Home Depot for less than $10. (However, they turned out to be TERRIBLE and I'm currently trying to find a better replacement. I'll talk about this more later.) I went with a battery pack so I wouldn't need to hang it near an outlet, allowing me to display it on a door. Just hide any extra length on the back of the frame or loop it around, and then attach your battery pack to the back with glue or strong tape.

*If you have any singles you need to match up, use very strong glue to attach together. I want to say I tried hot glue at first but found it popped off over time. So I switched to a very small amount of Gorilla Glue. This stuff expands a LOT so try to put it on the underside of your inner shapes a bit away from the inner edge and not close to the outer edge so it won't show once it's dry. Follow safety directions on the glue.

*Lay out your doubles on your wreath frame until you find an order that you like. You want a good variation in both background/outer color and liner/inner color for your double reflectors. Make sure they're evenly spaced. You might have to spin them around so they fit together better (especially for the starburst shapes). I tried to do a sequence of three background colors, and then form triangles across the wreath of inner colors while also varying the shape. Buying extra reflectors can make this easier.

*Mark the inside opening of each with a pencil dot. Set aside reflectors.

*Be super-scientific/safe (sarcasm) and start each hole with a nail that you whack in with whatever heavy object is nearby. I might've used a stapler (don't be me: find a safer way).

*Once the nail is through to the other side, take your pencil and start working it into the hole. Get the tip in, then start spinning it around back and forth til the hole enlarges. I don't know why this works to enlarge the hole, but it does. (See: super scientific/safe process.) Have a firm grip on your frame so it doesn't buckle as you do this.

*Using a bulb from your LED strand to check the width of the hole as you go, enlarge until your bulb fits tightly into the space from the underside of the frame. You might have to pop off the top and just use the socket to get it into the hole from below, then you can replace the light from the top once it's in.

*Do this for every hole.

*Remove any lights, and glue on your reflectors around each hole in the order that you chose. I went with Gorilla Glue for this.

*Once it's dry, use an x-acto knife or other tool to remove any expanded glue you don't want to see. Paint any remaining bits/bits that won't come off your wreath color (so I used white).

*Replace lights, add batteries or plug-in, and hang! You could add a ribbon loop for hanging. I just banged in a nail and then rested the top of the inner circle of the wreath on it. Up to you!

*A note on the lights I used: a downside to LED lights is that they aren't as bright as regular lights. (You can barely see mine in daylight.) Mine also only lit up in certain areas, I think because of the way they hung when I put it up on the wall. So maybe buy a couple different strands and see what works best.

Belated Christmas Crafts 2015 Part 1: Glittered Putz Houses

Sometimes I have to let go and accept that between chasing a toddler, house-hunting, making time for my husband, and dealing with the constant exhaustion of pregnancy, I just can't post as often as I'd like. Someday, there will be time for more making and more posting and more, well, everything. But, for now, this is the phase of life I'm in and instead of fighting it and becoming frustrated, I just need to accept that this will pass (all too soon, can't believe how quickly babies grow up!) and enjoy the moments I have rather than the ones in my head that don't come to pass.

So here I am, for the second year in a row, posting my Christmas projects late. Apologies, but I figured if you plan parts of your life out up to a year advance (as I do, see: babies!), you might want to add these to your crafting calendar for next year.

If you look up Putz houses, you can find plenty of free patterns online. I chose a few that I liked, printed out the templates, traced them onto empty cereal boxes I'd been saving (they're a great cardboard weight), painted them white, and then brushed them with glue before sprinkling on clear glitter from Michael's. For the "snow", I just stretched and tore up cotton balls and arranged them in drifts around the houses. I like to put a flickering LED candle inside the church (on the left), so it glows at night.

One caveat: remember to cut out the windows and doors *before* you assemble and glitter these! I only remembered to do this for the church. The others don't have any windows or doors, and I can't cut them out now without crushing them. (I'm going to redo them for next year.)

DIY Spool Knit "Merry" Christmas Letters in Candy Cane Colors

In a similar vein to my candy cane spool knit ornament, I made these festive holiday letters. I decided to spell out "merry", but you can use whatever word or phrase you wish.

You'll need a spool with nails or tacks knocked in, some sort of fiber for the "knitting" part, flexible wires, needle-nose pliers, and a needle. I used red and white baker's twine as my fiber.

For my spool knitting tutorial, please click here.

I used graph paper to draw my letters, making sure they'd be the same height and I used similar widths as well. Make sure you draw your letters as one continuous line. You can see here where I changed straight lines into loops to do this. We'll recreate these letters in wire to provide an inner structure and form for the spool knit tubes.

Here's an example of what some of your finished letters will look like.

A close-up of some of the letters so you can see the details better and the effect that variegated twine creates.

To form your inner wire frames/structures, cut a long length of wire. I believe I used 20 gauge gold-tone wire for mine. Lay the wire on top of your sketched letters (I traced my finished letters onto white paper so I could see the wire better as I bent it). Use your pliers to bend the wire into each letter. I found a few gentle bends where the wire overlapped or curved was all that was needed. You can also use your hands to bend parts of the wire into shape.

Make sure you leave 1/4" or so of overhang at the beginning and end of each letter. You'll be bending this later (see two pictures down).

Here's my almost-finished "Y". I closed my pliers on the place where the wire overlapped to keep the pieces fairly close together. You want enough room to slide your tube past this point, but not so much that the top piece is up in the air.

To finish your wire forms, bend each end down into a loop (you can see this here on the end I left uncovered). This will prevent the wire from getting poked up through the tubes.

When each letter's form is completed, knit your tubes. As I spool knit each piece, I'd pause along the way, lay it over my forms, and make sure I was going to have a long enough knit tube for each length of wire. You want a little bit extra on the beginning and end of each letter so the tube isn't stretched tight. Don't leave so much, however, that your tube ends up bunched and wrinkled. I'd say about 1/4 - 1/3 an inch extra per end is good.

Leave an extra six inches or so of twine/fiber at each tube's end. Pull the spool knit tube's ends up over the wire loops and use your needle to gather the ends together. Cinch tight 

When you're done, insert the needle into the tube for an inch or so, and then back out. Pull slightly tight, and cut the extra off close to the tube. This will ensure that each end "disappears" inside the tube.

The finished product!

And, because I couldn't resist, I snapped a photo of the letters in our tree surrounded by white lights. This year, I'm displaying the letters as a banner. I strung them on white yarn and hung them over a doorway to make my little guy smile!

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 Glittered Birds from the Dollar Store

Here's another quick and easy DIY project for the holidays: festive birds using inexpensive birds from the dollar store and colored glitter!

I bought a couple doves and cardinals from the local dollar store. They looked okay, but the feathers were a bit thin in places and they looked, well, cheap up-close. So I decided to fancy them up!

I brushed on Mod Podge with a small brush, doing small areas at a time. I put a piece of paper underneath the birds to catch glue drips and spills, and then carefully shook glitter over the glue-painted parts.

For the dove, I decided to do the wings first. Then I did the tail. Finally, I did the beak and feet. I used silver glitter (also from the dollar store, although more expensive German glass glitter would look even better!). I liked the way it contrasted with the white - it seems very Winter Wonderland-y to me!

I used red for the cardinal and covered everything except the black face mask and eyes. However, I only painted one area at a time so that the glue would not dry in places before I'd applied the glitter.

Voila! Here's what they look like from above. Try not to touch them too much after you sprinkle on the glitter. Give them an initial tap or two to get off the excess (and pour it back into the container so as not to waste it), but then let them dry thoroughly. After they've dried, if some areas need more glitter, carefully dab on more glue and shake on glitter again. Repeat until you get the desired effect.

At this point, you have two options. You can leave them as is and when you go to use them, you might get glitter on nearby surroundings as tiny pieces come loose. Or, you can seal the glitter. I recommend the latter! (Side note: also great for DIY glittered heels, gift tags, ribbons, fascinators, etc.)

You have quite a few choices: pastel or charcoal fixatives, acrylic spray sealants, Mod Podge (might take off glitter when you brush it on, though), or other glue-type sprays. I'm going to try an Elmer's version. I'll report back and let you know how it works once I've applied it. Whatever you use, make sure you follow the directions on the can/container!

These have wired feet, so you can turn them into ornaments for the tree after they've dried. They'd also look great tucked into Advent wreaths, Christmas wreaths, garlands, or on top of presents (for very lucky recipients!).

I still have a few of these birds leftover. I might make the dove light pink or yellow for Easter, and do the cardinal in blue (so it looks like a Blue Jay) or another bright color for the summer. Just change your glitter color to match the season!

What would you use these for? Any other ideas?