When do you put up your (real or fake) tree?

Happy 2 days before Thanksgiving! Too early? Okay...

As I write this, I'm back in Sunny Florida where the weather is about 80 with a slight wind. It cracks me up that my entire family thought it was cold here this weekend. Do you know what the temperature was? 68 degrees. 6.8. That was a moment of realization for me that it wasn't changing my address, or moving a million times, or changing my drivers license to a new state that makes me no longer a Floridian. It's the fact that I'm no longer freezing when it's in the 60's outside. OH THE HUMANITY.

But all that aside, I have a serious question for y'all: When do you put up your Christmas tree? It's a tradition for our family to have the tree up the week of Thanksgiving, preferably before the holiday meal so we can enjoy it with any guests. My parents always use a fake tree. For about 20 years we had used a tree that had belonged to my Grandparents before it found it's way here. By the end, that little tree was sad, almost bare and leaning heavily but we loved it still! It wasn't until the tree started to look dangerously imbalanced that we bought a new tree.

I've been thinking long and hard about whether I want to buy a real tree this Christmas or a fake one to have for years to come. There's something so festive in the smell of a live tree, but there's also something to be said for having the same tree for many, many years. It's like having another member of the family just for the holidays. And then there's the maintenance of a real true vs. storage of a fake tree. I just don't know!

When do you set up your tree? Do you prefer real or fake trees? I'd love to know!

Sheila


P.S. My Mom uses beads as garland instead of tinsel around the tree. I love the simple look and it doesn't leave little pieces all over like tinsel does. Just a thought.

Crochet Pumpkin Patch Garland

TINY THINGS. Do you loves them as much as I do? I stand by my choice to adore things more for the simple fact that they are smaller than their full-sized counter parts. This love has most recently manifested itself in this little crochet pumpkin patch that even a beginning crocheter can make in less than an hour.

You will need:

Orange yarn
different shades of green and brown yarns
crochet hook

The size and gauge of the yarn/hook don't matter. Use whatcha got. I made about 10 pumpkins for my 3ft garland.

Start by making your pumpkins:

Chain 3.
Row 1: Double crochet 9 stitches into 3rd stitch from hook (the first chain you made). The last 2 chain stitches will count as a double so you'll end up with a circle of 10 double crochets. Slip stitch to join.
Row 2: 2 single crochets into next 3 stitches, 2 double crochets into next 2 stitches, 2 single crochets into next 3 stitches, 2 double crochets into next 2 stitches to make the oval shape. 20 stitches total.
Finish it off by tying and weaving in your ends.

Time to add them to the vine:

Use your first color of green or brown to chain at least 15 stitches. Add a pumpkin in by single crocheting through the top few stitches. I did each one a little different but used about 3 or 4 stitches each time. Chain anywhere from 15 to 30 stitches in between each pumpkin for desired length and variation.
Add other colors to give your vine dimension by chaining with 2 pieces of yarn at once. No need to tie in a new color, it seems to stay just fine. Occasionally, I would chain a few of one color and wrap the other around it then pick it back up in the chain. Leaving the ends loose looks cute.

You could add more variety by crocheting leaves along the vine as well. Or make little jack-o-lantern faces! I'm thinking about adding some acorns when it gets closer to Thanksgiving.

Do you decorate for the holidays? Living alone, I'm the only one who enjoys it but I still love to do it. Do you decorate for yourself or for family and visitors? I'd love to know!

Sheila

Children's Book Decorations

One of my favorite things to do is make something new with something old.

I hate to throw something away that might be useful, as you may remember. And I love making things for parties or decorations. These flowers (and the banner down below) satisfied all my re-using, re-purposing, fancifying needs.  Plus, they added some cuteness factor for a work event celebrating the service of some of our VISTAs. They were much easier to make than you might expect.

You Will Need:

-Book pages from something your children no longer read (or that have very few words on them so they serve little education purpose to a tutoring program like these)

-scissors

-buttons

-hot glue and sticks

-bamboo skewers

Cut a strip of the page at least 2 inches wide and 8 inches long. Cut fringe in roughly quarter inch increments down one short side about 1-1/2" into the strip. These pages had a little weight to them. For thinner pages, you may want to leave more area uncut so it doesn't tear easily. 

Once all the fringe has been cut, hot glue the uncut end of the strip to the top 1/2" of the skewer. I cut my skewers to different lengths for a little variety. Wrap the strip tightly around the skewer and hot glue the end. It will look a bit like a tassel. Fold down the fringe and hot glue a button to the center. Done! Each flower takes about 5 minutes start to finish.

I also made bunting for the same event but I forgot to take pictures of the finished product :( For that, I cut the pages in triangles. Printed out individual letters that spelled out "Thank You" which I cut into circles. Glue the circles to the center of the triangle and thread some string (I used twine) through them. For fun, you can add a button between each triangle so they more closely match the flowers.



This might also be fun to do with a thrifted version of your favorite children's book. Mine would be "The Oak Inside the Acorn" by Max Lucado. Or anything Dr. Seuss. Or the "Giving Tree." Oh children's books, how I love you all...

Would you be able to use these for a work party? What would your favorite children's book be? I'd love to know!

Sheila