Yarning for Wreaths

Last year I was inspired by a large selection of yarn wreaths on Etsy and was determined to create my own.  At the time, I had inherited a mother-load of yarn in all textures and colors and also had a plethora of cheap plastic Christmas ornaments from a few years back when my own collection was still in its infancy.   With all the supplies I needed at hand, I thought I could whip up the perfect wreath within a few days.   Oh, how I was wrong.   This wreath took me nearly the entire month of December to complete.  I sat at my table every night wrapping a padded quilting circle with light green yarn.  In the end, it came out wonderful and I let it marinate on my door until March.  After putting so much time and effort into it, I couldn’t just stash it with the rest of the holiday decorations, so I dubbed it a “winter” wreath.

When I pulled the wreath out this season, I was inspired to try my hand at another one determined to get ‘er done in one night’s crafting, i.e. about 2 hours. After receiving a gracious comment on my wreath at the Crafting Brunch from my friend Rachael, I decided to make her one for her own holiday party this past weekend. I worked with the supplies I had on hand:  small quilting circle, thick piece of felt, scraps of yarn, pine cones, and red glitter balls.  I can honestly say I was done with hot glue gun turned off by 11PM, and I had made dinner for 4 people prior to starting.

 

The most time consuming-part of the process is covering the wooden quilting circle.  Start off by wrapping the quilting circle with the felt or cotton batting until you achieve the thickness you want.   Next choose your base color and wrap the circle all the way around until it is completely covered.  Glue the yarn down where necessary.

Once your base is complete, it’s just a matter of decorating. I chose to only put a small clustering of yarn balls, pine cones and ornaments.  I used a combination of hot glue and a quilting needle and yarn to attach everything.   The finishing touch was a wire loop on the back for hanging.

Yarn it up!

Will you shellac my pine cone?

It has been a crazy couple of weeks and the holiday train is in motion.  In fact, I’m worried it left the station.  You better get on board because there are only 11 days ‘til Christmas!

Two weekends ago, I invited some of my wonderful lady friends over for my 2nd Annual Holiday Craft Brunch.  We enjoyed some delicious food and libations before getting down to the serious business of holiday crafting.  Creativity was the name of the game, and with a mountain of supplies and the nectar of the crafting gods - glitter, the sky was indeed the limit.

In the words of my mother, 

“The creative juices were flowing!” 

No two crafts were the same and I’m so proud of everyone’s ingenuity and imagination.   A piece of friendly advice, here; an offer to shellac one’s pinecone, there; it was a melting pot of skill, inspiration and collaboration with friends helping friends turn their crafting visions into reality!

So take a look at the wondrous creations of my lovely friends, along with some of the quick and easy recipes we prepared to sustain ourselves during this 7 hour crafting bonanza!

Enjoy!

Citrus Salad and Ginger Yogurt

1 pink grapefruit

2 tangerines or minneolas

3 navel oranges

1/2 up dried cranberries

2 TBSP honey

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Greek Yogurt

2/3 cup mince crystallized ginger

1/4 cup brown sugar

sliced mint leaves

Peel all fruit and cut into sections, preserving the juices, and place in bowl.  Add cranberries, honey and cinnamon.  Let set at least an hour up to 1 day ahead.  Mix ginger and yogurt together.  Before serving top yogurt with mint and brown sugar.

Prosciutto and Pesto Egg Cups

Makes 12 individual egg cups

24 strips of prosciutto

Cheese of your choice (we did half cheddar and half goat cheese)

Pesto

12 eggs

Spray a muffin pan generously.  Line each cup with two slices of prosciutto to create a cup.  Sprinkle in some cheese.  Crack one egg into each cup.  Top with a generous dollop of pesto and a little more cheese.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Cook at 350 for about 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on these because they cook quickly!

Whiskey Sours

6 oz. good whiskey

6 oz. frozen lemonade

1 egg, lightly beaten

lots of ice

Throw everything together in a blender and be prepared for deliciousness!

The Crafters

Lucy's Wine Cork Trivet

Rachael's Holiday Wreath

Glitter and Champagne

Casey's Brooklyn Brewery Cork Ornament

Josie's Wrapping Paper Ornaments

Simone's Nature vs. Glitter Ornament

Lucy's Brooklyn Brewery Ornament

Kathleen's Paper Snowflake and Nature Terrarium Ornament

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Thy leaves are made of Ginger Chew Wrappers!

I consider December to be the month for crafting.  The fall is full of crafting occasions, but with Thanksgiving and an additional 5 pounds under our belts, it’s time to kick it into high gear.  With parties to throw (and attend), gifts to give (and receive) and halls to deck, there really is no better month than this!

I don’t like to rush the holiday season as it should be pondered and relished, but with only 3 weekends in December and many obligations to boot, I had to schedule my Annual Holiday Craft Brunch for this coming weekend.  In preparation for the party and in response to the Leonard Lopate Craft Contest, I created a simple decoration from a stand-by treat in my apartment, Ginger Chews.

A delicate, whimsical creation made from things found around the home and office, Readers, please put your hands together for the Ginger Chew Christmas Tree!

The list of materials are as follows:

2 Keurig Individual Coffee Plastic filters

1 Yellow 8oz. Solo Cup

6 Pennies

Scrap of used aluminum foil (clean as you can get it)

Scrap of festive fabric

Cinnamon Stick (funkified makes it more realistic and funkified means it's been in your Gram's pantry for a very long time)

Chunk of Styrofoam

Ginger People Ginger Chew wrappers including inner wax paper

Hot glue

This was a quick and easy project that could be done with all sorts of candy wrappers, and I know plenty of people who will have a plethora of them during this holiday season.

First, take one of the Keurig plastic cups and put some hot glue at the bottom.  Drop 3 pennies into glue, cover with more glue, and drop the remaining pennies on top.  

Next, press the aluminum foil into the cup and create a hole just big enough to fit the cinnamon stick in it.  For aesthetic purposes, I covered the foil with the wax paper from the ginger chews then glued the cinnamon stick into the hole.  Finally, I covered the outside of the plastic cup with a scrap of festive holiday fabric.

To fashion the foundation for the leaves, I cut about an inch off of the Solo cup and glued the other Keurig plastic cup on top to create a semi-cone shape.   

I twisted the ginger chew wrappers from the center to create little buds and glued them onto the cups until it was completely covered.  

To attach the tree to the cinnamon stick, I wedged a small block of Styrofoam into the Solo cup and carved out a hole for the stick.  A dab of glue at the top end of the stick before placing the tree on top and that’s all there is to it!

Next week, I'll reveal the wondrous creations from the Craft Brunch.  

Until then, onward Crafters!