CHRISTMAS CRAFT CHALLENGE

Julie over at Tess and Back has asked those who have Christmas crafts project to show. I term myself as a frustrated artist, one that cannot paint or draw. Since I have this burning need to release my artist in me, I have gotten into design and creating. I am not what I would say a "crafter"... I just do "stuff".

I am not decorating once again this year for Christmas except for my dining room light so I just kind of dug around in some of the boxes and came up with these. I am a lover of all that is red and bright and a child's dream of Christmas. All my ornaments and decorating are in this theme. I use red plaid and glossy red berries and beads. Next year when I have Tate, I will most definitely go all out for her. This year, not too much.

These 12 x 12 inch pillows are felted wool. I did these little softies two years ago. The Santa is from a pattern, the snowman was of my own design. I just love the snowman pillow.

I have been loving the snowman decorating for a mantle piece have collected quite a collection. These are three of my experimental ones. They are from my own design and weighted with beans on the bottom so they do not topple over.

Many years ago I made these stockings. We never had cute stockings for Christmas, just the standard plain red felt you get at the store. It might have something to do with this being an American tradition and we celebrated the Norwegian traditions for Christmas. Getting a little into psycho analysis, I guess I missed the cute stockings and made these as my first Christmas craft. They are made from a kit.

ORNAMENTS

Necessity is the mother of invention.... Salt dough hearts. I used small heart cookie cutter, small paperclips for the centers and high gloss red craft paint then a high gloss lacquer. I have about 40 of these and will place all around the branches. Just looks so cute! My own design.

Another one of my designs. These are small jointed Teddy Bears made out of felt and floss. They are about three inches tall. I have about 6 of these.

Made from a pattern about 15 years ago. These are brass sheets cut and punched. The Santa to the right was real detailed and took a while. During this time, I cut out 6t stars and placed them in the kitchen window for the holidays. I loved them so much that they have been up year round since.

If you took Julie's challenge, let me know.