Lots of Crafting

Our days are getting shorter and shorter. It makes me want to sleep late and be lazy all day. As usual I've been watching lots of YouTube videos. This one on making a scissor keeper made me want to make one for myself right away.

I had appropriate vintage-themed fabric in my stash and a bunch of zippers.

and scissor fabric for lining.

I used the template from the video but enlarged it to 105% to fit my long scissors. I also topstitched through both the quilted outer fabric and the lining.

They fit perfectly. 

The whole thing fits in my Bionic Gear Bag so no one will be tempted to use my fabric scissors for any other use.

I also watched Sit and Knit for a Bit with Arne and Carlos' First of Advent special. In this video, Carlos attempts to make a lighted Christmas star while Arne videotaped it. It was painful to watch Carlos fumble with trying to put the screwdriver bit and drill bit into the cordless drill, and then operate it. I wanted to yell, "Give it to Arne to do!". 

However the finished result hanging from their barn was excellent 

and I thought I'd enjoy making one of my own. So off to the big box lumber store I went to purchase two 1 x 2s (under $2 each) and a string of indoor/outdoor mini lights.

Back home I cut each of the 8 foot lengths into 3 equal 32" pieces. I only needed 5 pieces so set one aside. I pre-drilled the holes 1" from the ends and centred. This helps avoid splitting the wood with the screws. The 5 pieces went together quickly. There was some arranging of what piece should go over or under the adjacent one so the last piece could be easily attached. I then wrapped the 100 mini lights around the outer arms of the star.

I decided to hang it up in our bedroom window. As luck would have it, it fit perfectly.

And after dark...

I also got our new the tree up yesterday and mostly decorated with ornaments I've fashioned over the years.

I'll do a tour of the tree in a later blog post.

I also got the wreaths on the front doors.

I made them back in 2009 on a crafty day with a couple of friends.

I had seen a similar wreath at a Starbucks the year before and wanted to have a couple of my own. 

I bought the wreath frames at a craft store, as well as styrofoam balls of various diameters, globe ornaments of various textures and sizes and a few small glass ornaments. I wrapped the styrofoam balls with enough yarn to cover all the white and glued the yarn in place. There was a LOT of wrapping as each wreath had 8 of those balls. I then glued them to the wreath, trying to duplicate the pattern on the second frame as well. They hang on the glass door with a suction cup. I also attached a couple of red-dyed grapevine balls.

I've used these on our front door every year since then.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.