Crafts - 8/9 - Views From the Ville

Make at Home Monday is late this week, but I wanted to share with you a quick and easy decorative Christmas craft that you can make: Christmas Clothesline Swag.

Christmas Craft - DIY Christmas Clothesline

I first saw this sold by AVON like a decade ago and I thought it was so cute. After buying one for my Mom, I thought it would be really easy to duplicate so I made a few of my own. Once you make one, you’ll probably make five; they’re quick and easy to customize to fit whatever decorating theme you follow. You could do felt top hats and carrots, plus buttons, and have a snowman clothesline; knit socks and hats, thermal long-johns, and scarves for a general winter theme; or felt and wrapped candies for a Visions of Sugarplums theme. Use your imagination; the ability to personalize is one of the best parts of this project.

To make, all you need, is…

Clothesline (or cording)

Mini clothespins (I’ve seen them at Walmart, Michael’s, etc.)

Miniature or doll-sized winter or Santa clothes

Cut a length of cording about 6″ longer than you want your finished swag to be. Tie off a small loop at both ends (for hanging). Starting a few inches from one end, move along the length of the cord and attach the mini clothespins at evenly-spaced intervals.

Use 1-2 clothespins to attach an article of clothing or other item, as shown below.

Christmas Craft - Santa's Clothes for the Clothesline

Christmas Craft - Santa's Socks for the Clothesline

There are a number of different places you can find items to clip. I found a cute pair of mittens at Hallmark this season; they were a package tie-on, and cost less than $1. You can also check the newborn section of clothing stores for socks and maybe even hats and mittens; make a few items from felt; or raid your kiddos’ dolls for some of their accessories.

What theme would you choose if you were going to make a Christmas Clothesline swag?

I forgot this weekend to pick up the supplies that I needed for the craft I wanted to make this week, so today’s Make at Home Monday is a collection of great Christmas Craft pins I found on Pinterest. Next week I’ll have my supplies and I’ll be sharing a craft for the readers in your lives (maybe on your shopping lists?).

Salt Dough Family Thumbprint Christmas Tree

Clay Pot Snowmen

“Grinch” Pills

Tree Garland

Baby Food Jar Snowmen

Cinnamon Ornaments (I’ve made these before; they’re easy and smell great!)

Do you have any Christmas crafts you’d like to share?

As this week was quite hectic, I missed Make at Home Monday and Tasty Tuesday this week. To make up for it, I wanted to share a few of my favorite pins from Pinterest for Thanksgiving recipes, crafts, and decor. If you click the images you’ll be taken to the pin so you can find the original source.

I also want to wish all of you and your families a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy all the Black Friday shopping, too, if you’re braving the crowds!

Thanksgiving Dessert Hats
These would be cute for your dessert table or even your child’s classroom.

Pumpkin Praline Trifle Shots

While I love Thanksgiving and will take time to savor and enjoy the holiday, I can’t deny that I look forward to the day after Thanksgiving for two reasons. First is Black Friday, that fast and furious day of shopping where the deals are plentiful (and where common courtesy and patience often are not). The second reason is because we finally get to decorate for Christmas.

Decorating is one of my favorite parts of the season and I’m lucky that my hubby cheerfully offers to put the tree up as early as I want. He offered to put it up for me this weekend but Baby C. is in to everything right now and I knew it only meant two extra weeks of chasing her amazingly fast little self down and keeping her from trying to climb the thing.

So we’ll do it Thanksgiving evening or the day after. But just because I’m not decorating yet doesn’t mean I’m not crafting (and buying) ornaments!

Button ornaments have been around for ages, so this may not be all that new for you. But they’re inexpensive to make and get put together very quickly so they’re easy to do as a family craft, at an ornament exchange with friends or just to mass-produce on your own to decorate the tree or give as gifts. Continue reading »

If you are my brother or my sister-in-law – stop reading here, please!

I wanted to make something a little special as an “Our First Christmas” ornament for my brother and sis-in-law this year and when I saw a similar ornament on Pinterest a few weeks ago I thought it would be perfect.

DIY First Christmas Wedding Ornament

A clear glass ornament (I purchased mine at a craft store)

Wedding Invitation

Craft knife or pair of scissors

Ribbon (coordinating with the colors of the invitation)

Charm (I used a heart that I found in the jewelry section of a craft store)

Pen or pencil

I started by cutting the invitation horizontally into strips; I didn’t use the entire invitation, but I cut out the sections that had all the important information such as their names, date, location, etc. I used a pair of scissors so they’re not perfectly straight or of even thickness, but I can’t find the box I had all my crafting supplies packed into, so I couldn’t get out my mat and knife. It worked just fine, though, I think.

Next I wrapped the strips of invitation around a pen to corkscrew them.

After I curled them I slipped them all into the glass ornament.

I used a heart-shaped charm on my ornament but you could easily swap it out for something special to the bride and groom (a sun for an outdoor wedding, a starfish for a beach one, etc.) or something Christmas-y, like a snowflake.

I tied a ribbon on; as you can see the pink of the ribbon is a lot brighter than the actual invitation, but watermelon was one of their wedding colors so I thought they would like it. (It’s a quick fix to untie it and throw a new one on if they don’t). You’re also pretty safe if you choose to go with white/cream.

Do you have a craft you’d like to share with everyone? Feel free to link it up below!

Views From the Ville

Decorative Christmas Clothesline Swag Decoration – Make at Home Monday

Make At Home Mondays – Christmas Craft Pins

Thanksgiving Recipes, Crafts And More Via Pinterest

DIY Button Wreath Ornaments

DIY First Christmas Wedding Invitation Ornament – Make at Home Monday

DIY First Christmas Wedding Ornament