Christmas Goodie Bag Made From a Lunch Bag

I was very impressed how this goodie bag turned out. I am always on the hunt for ideas for bags or containers to put cookies or other goodies in. I don't like spending much money, but I want the package to look good. This is so simple and frugal.

Buy the lunch bags that are called pop in bags. They do not have the flat bottom. I find them at the dollar stores, usually with 50 bags for $1.00 or $1.25.

Find a stamp you like and stamp both sides. I stamped about 3/4's of the way to the top because I cut the bag to make it a little shorter.

Put in your goodies. Fold over the top, tie on a ribbon and add a tag.

Burlap Pillows - Homemade Christmas Decor

I had so much fun with these pillows. I love how frugal these are and how awesome these look. I am going to give a few of these away as gifts, and make more for my house. I purchased a meter of burlap from the fabric store. I was waiting for a sale, but I couldn't wait any longer so I ended up spending $8.00 for the meter. I managed to get six pillows out of that and a little left over to try some burlap flowers. I did not measure the pillows - I just started cutting to get the most I could from the fabric. The fringed pillows I learned to do from this tutorial from La T Dah.
I made my stencils from the cricut machine. Something I did that was different from the tutorial was that I stenciled the paint on the burlap before I sewed the pillow - that way you don't have to worry about paint going on the other side of the burlap. The burlap soaks up the paint so you want to get a good coat.

You can make your stencils from the computer. The possibilities are endless however the simpler the word the better. It just takes a little more work to cut out the stencils. I use cardstock.

If you have a cricut machine, the possibilities are limited to the cartridges you have - but I find that is the way to get creative, working with what you have. This is what I used for the stencils :
Hope - From the "Give a Hoot" Cartridge - page 53 - phrase option - size 5
Peace - "Winter Wonderland" cartridge - page 75 - card option 3dBldgl - size 4
Joy - "Winter Wonderland" cartridge
December - "Designer Calendar" cartridge - page 39 - boxed option - size 4 1/2
25 - Designer Calendar cartridge - page 72 -  rounded option -  size 5
Tree - "Designer Calendar" cartridge - page 39 - shadow option - size 5

The 12 Days of CHRISTmas - advent calendar box

This is a spin off from the matchbox advent calendar. I love how cute these look being half the size. I made this for a 12 days of Christmas gift. I took some quotes from a talk I love given by Jeffrey R. Holland that is titled, "Come Unto Me" that you can find by clicking HERE. I rolled them up and put one in each drawer. There are lots of ideas for a twelve days of CHRISTmas activity. Scriptures or service ideas can be put in the drawers. How about twelve days of telling the miracles of Jesus? You can even do something along the lines with the twelve days of Christmas song. Don't forget candy too.

You can learn how to make this box by clicking on the tutorial for the matchbox advent calendar HERE,
with the adjustments being that you only make one of the layers. For the top of this particular box, I used a large snowflake that I bought in a package of eight plastic snowflake decorations at the dollar store. I just knocked off the hole for the hanger - so frugal for embellishing things like this.

Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

A couple of my friends and I got together for a card night. Here is what we made....

This is an easy card that uses up some scrap paper. Just cut a whole bunch of circles that are a few different sizes. I glued on the biggest circles first shaping the wreath and then I glued the two smaller sizes on here and there. Add on a bow and you are done!

Card number two is pretty self explanatory.  Use two coordinating papers. Glue on three snowflakes and buttons, and stick on a saying.

Rudolf the Red Nose Hobby Horse - Christmas Homemade Toy

I started making this hobby horse a few years ago. I had the head and the antlers sewn - but it never got finished. I have no idea who I was making this for, but I decided it was time to finish it. I learned a lot about how to make a hobby horse properly by watching a few Youtube videos. There is a whole video series on how to make a beautiful hobby horse on Youtube, so if you are going to make one, I suggest you check that out. This post is for ideas only. I won't attempt to tell you how to make it, as I was already half finished a few years ago. I don't have the pattern anymore for the antlers or the head or the ears, but I did just hand draw them. I used googly eyes for the eyes and I sewed on a pom pom for a nose. I did not sew on a mouth as I thought my sewing techniques would ruin it. I was going to sew jingle bells on the antlers, but the recipient of the reindeer is only three, and he has a little brother so I decided not to for safety reasons. I think the little boy who got this was scared of it at first (either that or confused as to what it was), but I have heard that he has warmed up to it now.

Homemade Box for Chocolates or other Goodies

I have wanted to try my hand at making homemade boxes for a while now. I was given an assignment to make some little boxes for homemade chocolates. I found a mini pizza box tutorial and decided to give it a try. I was so excited after I made the first one. It is SO simple to do. For the link to the tutorial,
CLICK HERE! I love the idea of using up old Christmas card stock. Dress the box up with a pretty bow and you have a lovely package to give away.

Noel Blocks - Homemade Christmas Decor

Looking for a simple decor for your home? These blocks are made from different sized scrap pieces of wood (2x4's and 2x6's). Paint the wood the desired color. Stamp letters onto paper and then adhere to a paper covered piece of wood. I made the letter stencils by printing them off my computer, and the snowflake stencil was from a dollar store. I used regular tacky glue, but that glue has proved not to work very well. I hear that rubber cement works good.