Ripped Strip Christmas Trees

I have a very talented cousin (in-law) who hosted a craft night last week. We all came home with three cute Christmas trees made from ripped strips of Christmas fabric. She gave me permission to post the instructions and pictures of our trees. Thanks again, Cami! We had a lot of fun.

We used a cross section of real wood, drilled and fitted with a painted wooden dowel. Start each tree a few inches up from the bottom and tie a strip to the dowel. Hot glue in place. Tie the rest of your strips above the hot glued strip, starting with the 15 inch strips and working up to the 7 inch strips. Turn the knots and push strips down as you go so the knots are not all on one side and they are nice and compact. Only hot glue the first strip,the rest can just be tied on the tree (I double knotted) without glue. Allow 3 inches of dowel or so at the top of your tree to hot glue the star. Trim any strips or stray threads with scissors that you don't like, and viola! Cute Christmas trees are done!

Here is what you need:

6 fabrics, 1/2 yard each (each fabric will be about 18"x42")
16", 20", and 26" dowels
3 pieces of wood with hole for dowel or other kind of base
3 stars or toppers
hot glue gun
scissors

Cut each fabric into 18x15, 18x12, 18x9, and 18x7 inch pieces.
Clip up an inch into fabric every inch along 18" sides. Tear fabric into strips with hands.

Small Tree- 16 inch dowel (bottom to top):
3- 15 inch pieces of each fabric (3 strips x 6 fabrics = 18 strips total)
4- 12 inch pieces of each fabric
4- 9 inch pieces of each fabric
2- 7 inch pieces of each fabric

Medium Tree- 20 inch dowel:
6- 15 inch pieces of each fabric
6- 12 inch pieces of each fabric
4- 9 inch pieces of each fabric
3- 7 inch pieces of each fabric

Large Tree- 26 inch dowel:
9- 15 inch pieces of each fabric
8- 12 inch pieces of each fabric
8- 9 inch pieces of each fabric
4- 7 inch pieces of each fabric

Total for all three trees:
18- 15 inch pieces of EACH fabric
18- 12 inch pieces of EACH fabric
16- 9 inch pieces of EACH fabric
9- 7 inch pieces of EACH fabric

FYI: I had extra strips left over, so this is just a basic guideline. The amount of strips on your tree depends on how tightly compacted you can get them.

Leave a comment if you have questions!

Cupcake Train

Two of my boys' birthdays are just a month apart, with Christmas in between. While they're young (or until they start protesting) we are doing the combo birthday thing. They are turning 2 and 3 this year.....so I'm pretty sure they don't mind.

They are both in love with Thomas the train and I didn't have time to do a large Thomas the tank engine cake with fondant and all of the works, so we opted for a simple but adorable cupcake train.

We jazzed it up with a cheap "grass colored" tablecloth and laid "track" down using black electrical tape.

I bought a blue tablecloth and cut out a lake, just for fun.

My platform cars were made with marshmallow wheels, a toothpick in between to hold them together.

Two sets of wheels glued to a graham cracker with frosting. For best results, let dry overnight.
(Not pictured: I glued on Oreos to the marshmallows to make the wheels more prominent. You could just leave the Oreos off and just stick with the marshmallows too)

I bought those silicone cupcake liners and I loved them. You could do regular round cupcakes too.

Line them all up, and there you go! The boys loved it. The Thomas engine is a bath toy and I got the "Happy Birthday" candles at Walmart. This whole thing took about 2 hours to put together and had just as much wow factor as a 3D Thomas cake (which would have taken me at least 2 days). Happy Birthday A and T!

Christmas Stockings

Hallelujah! I finished my youngest child's stocking last weekend! A four hour marathon sewing session while I watched college football was all I needed to get this baby completed. The only reason that block of time was available was due to my youngest two taking unusually long naps, and my fantastic husband keeping my 5 year old entertained. Dinner was not made this night (we ordered pizza), but that stocking is DONE!

The others I have done through the years.

And the one that started them all. My mom made this for me and let me take it with me when I started my own family. Perhaps I'll make myself a new one eventually so she can keep this one on her mantle. For now though, it's with me....and in good company with the other handmade stockings.

Quilt Class: Week 9

Circles! I know, crazy! How do you quilt circles, you ask? Magic, I tell you....MAGIC! I cannot begin to explain because, quite frankly, I'd probably just thoroughly confuse you, but let's just say it involves freezer paper, fabric glue stick, a zipper foot, and a compass (the circle drawing kind, not the one that points north). Please excuse my creased quilt square. I didn't iron it before I snapped the picture. Oh, this class is the BEST!

November Sampler

Some baking: pumpkin pie and Muddy Buddies. My 5 year old helped with both of these. He loves to bake with me, so Santa is going to slip a child size rolling pin into his stocking this year since he has a hard time using my big one.

Our Thanksgiving Turkey Countdown. Each day, we remove a feather and briefly talk about why we are grateful for the item listed. My 5 year old came up with all of the topics on the feathers on his own. It's been a good conversation starter and the younger siblings haven't tried to rip him down yet, hooray!

Fabric Dollhouse

I have been really wanting to try my hand at one of these for a while now and I'm so glad I finally got a chance make my first fabric dollhouse. I found the tutorial for it HERE and am planning on making a few of these for Christmas gifts....I won't say who just in case there is a chance of them reading this and finding out!

So, you have a cute little, soft fabric dollhouse with buttons holding one side up. Undo the buttons and.........

A little indoor/outdoor dollhouse all ready to be played in! Aren't they adorable?

I'm going to add some flowers and maybe a little walkway on the grass. And I still need a door and window on the outside of the house too.

Another way to use this is to just button up the sides (or just sew them together for an older girl who won't use it for playing with dolls) and use it as a purse. Way cute! I'm itching for a good chunk of time when my kids are asleep so I can make some more!

Quilt Class: Week 7 and 8

I missed week 7 due to illness, so this week I'm back and ready to quilt!

The lesson I missed was on hand applique and this week was iron-on applique. I really like this simple square and would love to make a bunch of these for a baby quilt in pinks and browns and greens. Maybe I can squeeze it in sometime....

This process is very similar to the baby onesie applique I've done numerous times. I zig-zag stitched around the white petals, but still need to do the purple. Simple and sweet.