the fairest one in sight. . .
Choose Something Like A Star, Robert Frost

Here is an hour-long project for that last minute gift. My friend always gives me an ornament for Christmas and when I saw this year’s I had a “Hmm, I wonder if I can make one of those” moments. (Did I mention that I tend to procrastinate and suddenly making a star was way more important than typing up overdue PTA meeting minutes?)

So here it goes:

Materials

• 20 gauge or slightly thicker wire. I used copper wire from the hardware store.
• Wire cutter, pliers
• Beads, washers, popcorn, buttons, or anything else you can think of to string on the wires

Step 1

For a six point star cut three 12 inch lengths of wire and one 6 inch length to tie the wires together.

Step 2

Lay out the three 12 inch wires to make a star shape. Then take the opposite ends of the bottom wire, cross them over the middle of the star and begin securing the wires. Repeat with the remaining 2 wires. This may require some fiddling. Basically you want to kind of wrap the wires around each other to make a star shape.

Step 3

Further secure your shape by using the 6 inch length of wire and basket weaving around the center of the star. Go over one wire and under the next, and so forth. Once you get to the beginning, you have to wrap the wire around the first “ray” so the securing wire can go the opposite way on the second round. In other words, if the wire went over the first “ray” the first time, it should go under the “ray” the second time. (Please let me know if there’s a better way to explain this.) Do this until you find that the ends of the wire are fairly secure and the whole contraption looks like a star. (Oooh, this could also make a good spider.)

Step 4

Start decorating your star. I used beads, but I think you could make a really cool star using stuff from the hardware store like washers and nuts and anything else you can thread. At the end of the wire, make a basic loop to prevent everything from sliding off. (See wigjig.com for instructions.) Repeat with the remaining wires. Tie a ribbon, string or wire off one point to hang up your star and you’re done.

Variations

• Make a second star, stack the two stars and tie them together to make a 12 pointed star.
• For a kid version, use chenille wire and decorate with beads or buttons
• Use popcorn and dried cranberries to decorate the wires
• Make a glam star with silver wire and crystal beads
• Don’t decorate the wires, just use your pliers to bend them this way and that

Here’s my confession: I live vicariously through the artistic abilities of my child. I believe she has a fantastic sense of color, line, and style (not that the state of her room is any indication of her design talents).

Being the stage mother of a single child I intend to exploit her vision for this year’s holiday gifts. To put it simply, her artwork will serve as an embroidery pattern to give a humble flour sack tea towel some extraordinary flourish. Since your child is obviously equally as talented, why not give this idea a try:

Materials

Copy of the artwork
Fabric
Transfer paper
Embroidery floss
Embroidery hoop

Select the Artwork and Make a Copy
I like simple line drawings because you don’t have to fill in planes of color with your embroidery. You can copy the drawing either with a copy machine, or scan it into your computer. If you have a scanned copy, you can use a graphics program and further expand on the original art by adding other elements like lettering.

Trace the Design onto the Fabric
I’m using a dish towel, but you could also embellish a whole line of linens such as pillow cases, napkins, aprons; or clothing like a t-shirt or jeans jacket. Place the transfer paper on top of the fabric where you want your design to appear and the copy of the artwork on top of the paper. Trace the design.

Start Embroidering
Take a look at Candace’s embroidery lessons to give you some ideas of what type of stitches might work well for your design. For this towel I used satin stitch for the letters, stem stitch for the outline, seed stitch for the butterfly’s body, a rosette stem stitch combination for the butterfly’s wings,and feather stitch for the bee’s body.

Tata
That’s it.

This year has become my ‘Year of the Bag.’ In the past, I’ve usually bought a bag a year or maybe every other year. Then Kristin La Flamme’s bag pattern
caught my eye and since then my household has been inundated with bags, purses, and pouches.

Currently, my favorite pattern is the basket bag designed by Lisa Lam on her blog U-Handblog.

It is the perfect size, amenable to countless variations and a great gift. I make mine out of felted sweaters, but you can obviously use any kind of sewable fabric. If you are thinking of pledging handmade gifting this year, this would make a fabulous present.

I grew up in Germany and advent calendars were always a big deal in my family. I remember this beautiful embroidered calendar my mother made for my aunt with all kinds of interesting little packages attached to it. My brother and I would discover calendars made out of matchboxes and walnut shells or just wrapped up little packages tied together with string. Last year, my mother even put together a calendar for my brother’s dog. So in the spirit of the season, I went online to browse for some inspiration for this year’s calendar.

Paper Calendars

Kids Craft Weekly explains how to put together a cute origami cup calendar. You could also make little origami boxes as explained by Lisa Lam from U-handblog, or just simple cones and fill them with goodies.

Another fun idea from Kinder Stadt is to use toilet paper rolls and to turn them into snowmen, Santa Clauses, or penguins.

If you have the space you could create a whole village of 24 houses. Marilyn Scott-Waters of The Toymaker has a great template for a house complete with chimney.

Fabric

Jenny B. Harris of Allsorts just reposted instructions for her felt pocket calendar. I think you could also re-purpose her elf shoes. You could make 12 pairs of shoes and hang them from a clothesline.

Last year, Susie of Susie’s Country Garden made a garland of little stockings.

Eldrid Røyset Førde from Bremanger, Norway has English instructions for a different stocking type calendar.

I also like this quick calendar by Shizzyknits.

Other Materials

Splitcoaststampers has a tutorial for a calendar using little favor tins.

Miniature terracotta pots are another popular starting point for advent calendars. Turn them upside down, add a Styrofoam ball for a head, and paint them to make Santas, elves, snowmen, etc. Then either glue them on top of the box that will contain the gift, or cover the bottom with felt and/or cardboard to hide the gift in the pot itself. Here is a German tutorial from Creadoo with pictures of “potty” creatures to give you some ideas.

I’ve finished my calendar what do I put inside?

If you are still recovering from a Halloween candy hangover and are worried about lead levels in gum ball machine toys, you may want to consider filling your calendar with different activities. Kiddley has a list of activities you could use. You could also put pictures of friends and family in your calendar and put together a progressive collage, or collect or make some ornaments to hide in the calendar and then hang off a branch or your tree.

For more inspiration, go to flicker and search for pictures in the adventcalendar cluster.