Handmade Christmas Gifts from Pinterest

I was amazed by the handmade Christmas gifts our family made for each other this year. I’ve spotted many of these ideas on Pinterest so it was surreal seeing crafts from my pin-boards in real life. You may want to save some of these ideas to make for Christmas next year.

FELT OWLS
One of my favorite gifts was from my sister-in-law; felt owls hanging on a branch for my son’s nursery room.

Aren’t they adorable? I have a whole Owl pin-board with samples of these that I wanted to make but never have time – and she made me eight of them, all hand stitched!
She also made me this custom menu board for our kitchen Diner.

We can change the menu as needed. I’ve been eyeing these but have never gotten around to making one. Now it looks perfect in our diner. See more of our diner here.

EVEN MY MOTHER-IN-LAW USES PINTEREST
I love that my mother-in-law uses Pinterest. I get to see what she likes and in return she sees my interests.  She made me this cute ‘camera attention getter.’

She cut up a small stuffed animal she got at a thrift store and used the extra fabric from the body to make the elastic scrunchy to fit around my camera lens. Much more fun for my kids to look at than just a black hole.

I had pinned this Elmo version from Etsy earlier in the year. It is only $10.

She also gave me a bokeh camera filter which I just discovered on Pinterest in December.

You can see DIY bokeh filters by The Friendly Fox (pictured on left) or on I Heart Faces. Both are on my pin boards and I plan to make more shapes. I took the picture on the right with my bokeh star filter. I can’t wait to use it more.

CROCHET and KNIT GIFTS
My 2nd sister-in-law makes amazing crochet blankets & hats.

She created this special blanket for my in-laws who are a split-sport family. One side likes BYU (Brigham Young University), the other likes the University of Utah. So she combined them together “BYUTAH” into one blanket so they can still sit by each other while watching games.  So creative!

R2-D2 Crochet Hat
Here is the R2-D2 hat she made my son. (I did send her a picture from Pinterest a few months ago for an idea.) She created her own pattern. See the original pattern with ear flaps at Nesting Sticks.


Matching Girl and Doll Hats and Headbands
Then she made these cute matching knit headbands and hats for my daughter and her American Girl doll.  The ribbons and pom poms are perfect accents.


She also made the ‘J’ initial hat for my son and a “U” hat for my toddler son and matched it with a T-shirt. And made another U hat for my husband.  She has been a busy crafter this season.
My sister made me the turquoise hat last year and my daughter steals it from me all the time.



















Crochet Stuffed Animals
My 3rd sister-in-law made this adorable crochet lamb for my son. Can you believe the detail?


BEARDED BEANIE and FINGER-STACHE’S
I pinned this bearded beanie a few months ago from Etsy and wanted one for my husband.


I went to a blogger’s “White Elephant Party” hosted by Kathy @ Danish Mama earlier in December and I happened to score this bearded beanie made by Ashlee of I’m Topsy Turvy. She also made the finger-stache’s that my kids love. 

See pattern for knit Bearded Beanie and knit finger-stache’s.

Funny Story:  I got them the first week of December and hid them to save as presents. My husband actually emailed me the 2nd week of December with the same pic as above from Etsy and asked if we knew anyone who could make these. I was laughing because I already had this hidden in the closet for him. He got it Christmas Eve and loves it.

DIY JEDI ROBE
I started pinning patterns for a Jedi Robe in November. I have a lot on my board. One of my friends commented saying “I used this one at Halloween and it turned out great.”
See pattern at Degraeve.

So I took her advice and whipped this one up while my kids went to a movie with Dad.


SILVERWARE WIND CHIME

Okay, I wanted to share this cute picture of my husband and son under the mistletoe – but look closely at the silverware wind chime in the background. My sister made that for my mom.

STOCKING SHELF
We don’t have a fireplace so I’ve never known where to hang our stockings until I saw this idea on Pinterest from Alayna’s Creations.

I had this shelf in my laundry room and it was perfect to pull out and hang our stockings for the month.

I got the stockings at the Downeast Home Outlet. They all had other monogrammed names on them from being returned so I covered them with ribbon, except the one I found that says “Victoria.” Just right for $1 each. We also have the matching tree skirt for $8 that is monogrammed with “The Kwans” name but we cover that with the train track and no one else knows about it (except you now).

Holiday Paperwhite Flower Planter
I also made these paperwhite planters out of food cans after seeing ideas around pinterest. See this version from Tauni at It’s a Tradition.

I bought ribbon and the fake berries at the dollar store to dress up the cans. I attached a card that said “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” with instructions for taking care of the flower.


MERRY PINTEREST!
It was a Pinterest filled Christmas! I am still in awe of all these wonderful homemade gifts we will forever cherish.

I’m going to keep pinning ideas on Pinterest and maybe more dreams will come true next year. 
What homemade gifts did you give or receive this year?

Make a No-Sew Poodle Skirt

How to make a No-Sew Poodle Skirt 

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For our 50's Sock Hop birthday party I made 10 poodle skirts as dress-up favors for the girls to wear during the party, then take home.  I wanted to keep them simple and low-cost.  I made them for about $6 per skirt. Once I made the first one, the rest were much quicker to make so I thought I'd share how I did them to save you some time.  I'll admit I don't like making things that require sewing patterns or pinning fabric. I always end up using my seam ripper. So I came up with this NO-SEW pattern to make a poodle skirt. I also needed them to be adjustable because we had very different waist sizes coming to this party that I couldn't measure in advance.  These are perfect for a Halloween costume, playing dress-up or for a dance recital.

Materials Needed

For Skirt:

• Measure waist to knees of the girl. However long you want it to go, double that number Then add 8. That is how big you'll want your square of fabric.  I wanted 17 inches long(doubled is 34 inches) plus  8 (for the waist cut) to make the square 42 x 42 inches to start. (Waist to knee length + 8 = length of 1 side of fabric square.)
• 42 inch x 42 inch square piece of colored felt. (Popular 50's colors, pink, baby blue, purple, red or black) Buy 1 and 1/2 yards of 72 inch wide felt. (I used a 40% off coupon at Joann Fabrics for 1 huge cut to make 10 skirts)
• 1 package Iron-On Velcro (Amazon has it for $3 affiliate)
• Measure tape
• Fabric scissors and cutting mat

For Poodle:

• Hot glue gun
• 7 inch x 7 inch square of white felt (could use black) If you're just making one skirt you could easily buy the 8.5 x 11 sheet of felt from your craft store. If you need to make more, I recommend buying the 72 inch felt off the bolt.
• small pom pom for tail (matching color)
• Sharpie marker (black to draw eyes and nose)
• Collar - 3 inches of sequin ribbon
• Leash- 20 inches of 1/4 inch wide ribbon (often a spools run 3 for $1 at JoAnn's) 

1. Lay out the felt folded to measure and make sure you have enough fabric. (This picture shows me using my first skirt as a template to copy and trace onto the fabric for my 2nd skirt).
2. Unfold and measure the square 42x42 and cut to make the square.
3. Now, fold the 42x42 square into an 21x21 square.
4. Cut a curved line from opposite corners to cut off the open edge. This curve becomes the bottom edge of your skirt. (See picture, this was my doll version size but you get the idea.)

5. While folded, mark 4 inches from the folded corner on both folded sides. Cut a curved line from each mark.  This creates a 16 inch waist opening. It will be adjustable.

6. Pick any area and cut a line from the outer edge all the way to the center circle.

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FREE PRINTABLE: I created this outline.

7. Copy and paste this image into 'Microsoft Word' or another program. You can adjust the size. You'll want it about 6 inches tall.

8. Print the template and cut out the poodle on your paper.

9. Place on white felt, trace around the edge.

10. Now cut out the felt poodle.

11. Hot glue the sequin ribbon behind the neck to hold in place on both sides. Hot glue one end of the leash ribbon behind the neck too. 

TIPS

Poodle Position: Wrap the skirt around your daughter to see where you want to lay the poodle.

EXCESS WRAP: You can cut the length of the circle shorter if you don't want as much excess wrap. If so, cut it first then add the velcro on the ends as directed below.

12. Now, hot glue the poodle onto skirt.

13. Then glue the pom pom on the tail.

14. Just hot glue a few spots on the leash to hold it in place.  Add a few loops for decoration.

 15. Glue the ribbon up to the waist of the skirt and tuck onto back side of skirt.

16. Open velcro, cut 2 pieces of the loop/pokey style (not the soft matching velcro), 2 inches long.

17. Next, layout your velcro, one on outside top corner edge of skirt, one on inside top corner edge. You want the pokey part of the velcro so it will stick to the skirt once you wrap it.  Now iron both pieces on as directed by the velcro package.

18. Try it on. Wrap it around your daughter and the velcro will stick to the skirt where needed. Works for larger and smaller waists.

My sweet sister helped me make 10 of these skirts for my daughter's birthday party.

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If you'd prefer to sew a skirt for everyday wear, check out the circle skirt tutorial on MADE. She has tips that would help you with this skirt as well.

When you need to make a quick skirt or a lot for a group, this pattern is perfect, but if you aren't the crafty type or would rather save time you can always just purchase a skirt on Amazon. The $14 price is great. (Disclosure: As an Amazon Affiliate, I do receive a small percentage of sales made using the link below. Thanks!)

   

  Children's Books: 

At obSEUSSed, we feature children's books and activities. We want families connecting their activities and reading experiences.  If you make this skirt, check out a poodle related book at your local library or try one of these books from Amazon.

I also found some fabulous paper dolls with 50's fashion and poodle skirts from Paper Studio Press.

See how to make a matching poodle skirt for an 18 inch doll.
I really wanted the Maryellen American Girl doll (for myself ;) but we made the skirt for my daughter's doll and she was happy to have the matching skirts.

See more 50's ideas at our Sock Hop Party.

If you try making a skirt I'd love to see pictures. If you post it online, leave a link in the comments below or send me an email (obSEUSSed (at) live.com)
Let me know if you have any questions about making your own poodle skirt.

UPDATE: November 2016. I love seeing all the comments of those who have used this tutorial to help them make skirts.  I'd love to see your pictures. Email me a photo of how yours turned out and I'll add it to this post for others to see. Email obSEUSSed (at) live.com (or click the email button in the top right column). Thanks so much! It makes my day to see others successfully making these cute skirts.

YOU DID IT! Comments and photos from readers who made the skirts. They turned out Swell!!

Rebecca in Texas said: "Just wanted to say thanks for posting your tutorial. I discovered it through a Google search when I found out my daughters' school would have 50's Day. I'm not crafty at all and was pretty intimidated to take on such a project, but your easy instructions made it a breeze. My girls love their skirts and I had enough scraps to make one for their baby sister as well!" 

Thanks again and please keep blogging! Rebecca"

Mike in Georgia made these for his twin daughters:

"I had no experience and bought a yard and half of each felt, more than I needed since each girl was 14+8 and 16+8 for size.

I ended up cutting the wrong color first so both became 14+8. All good as they look good on the girls. They received lots of comments and even with buying extra materials and forgetting to give Joann my 40% coupon it was still less than $27 for two skirts. Two hours later (9pm to 11pm the night before the dance…) they were completed.

By the way – These are twin 8 year olds, 1 minute apart… Thank you for sharing a quick and easy plan to follow. Mike"

10/23/13 Mirna M. said "Thanks so much for the easy steps. I'm horrible crafty but this turned out pretty good. Here is my skirt."
















July 2014, Kathy (@mabelgabel on Instagram) shared this photo.  She used this pattern to help her group of girls at church to make their own skirts for a daddy-daughter 50's party.

Linking to more great ideas at Tip Junkie.
(Disclosure: As a Google & Amazon Affiliate, I do receive a small percentage of sales made using the links below. These would be great to complete the costume or prepare for a 50's Party. Thanks!)

Poodle Skirt Tutorial for 18 inch doll

How to make a no-sew poodle skirt for your 18 inch doll.

I made dress-up poodle skirts for my daughter's 7th birthday party. I had to make a matching one for her American Girl doll. These are so simple, your daughter can help you make one.

Materials Needed:

For Skirt:

16 inch x 16 inch square piece of colored felt. (Popular 50's colors, pink, baby blue, purple, red or black)

1 package Iron-On Velcro

Measure tape

Fabric scissors and cutting mat

For Poodle:

Hot glue gun

6 inch x 6 inch square of white felt (could use black)

small pom pom for tail (matching color)

Sharpie marker (black to draw eyes and nose)

7 inches of sequin ribbon for leash and collar 

Start by folding the 16x16 square into an 8x8 square.

From open corner to open corner, cut a curved diagonal line across the middle of the fabric.

The curved edge becomes the bottom edge of the skirt.

Now mark 3 inches from the folded corner on both folded sides. Cut a curved diagonal line from each mark.

Now you should have a circle with a hole in the center for the waist.

Pick any area and cut a line from the outer edge all the way to the center circle.

FREE PRINTABLE: Poodle Outline

Copy and paste this image into 'Microsoft Word' or another program. You can adjust the size. You'll want it about 3 inches tall.

Print the template and cut out the poodle on your paper.

Place on white felt, trace around the edge.

Now cut out the felt poodle.

Hot glue the sequin ribbon behind the neck to hold it in place.

Hot glue the poodle onto the skirt (lay it out first and wrap around the doll to see where you want it to lay).

Then glue the pom pom on the tail. 

Next, glue the ribbon across the poodle's neck then glue it up to the waist of the skirt and tuck onto back side of skirt.

Open velcro, cut 2 pieces of the loop/pokey style (not the soft matching velcro), 2 inches long.

Next, layout your velcro, one on outside top corner edge of skirt, one on inside top corner edge. You want the pokey part of the velcro so it will stick to the skirt once you wrap it.  Now iron both pieces on as directed by the velcro package.

Wrap it around your doll and the velcro will stick to the skirt as needed.

You can cut the length of the circle shorter if you don't want as much excess wrap. If so, cut it first then add the velcro on the ends.

Make sure leash is tucked into waist.  Now find a cute shirt to match and tie some pink tool in her hair for a bow and your set for the Sock Hop!

Make matching poodle skirts. See tutorial for girl size skirt here.

Linking to more great projects at Tip Junkie.