Yarn-Wrapped Pinecones

I found this idea for a holiday table decoration on pinterest and decided it seemed easy enough to try. I only needed a few materials: pinecones and yarn. 

I bought 2 bags of pinecones (I know it seems silly to BUY pinecones...but if you get them from outside they could have bugs, etc. These were cheap, so I figured it was a safer bet) These are from Joanne Fabrics and they were only a couple bucks. 

I bought 2 different colors of yarn to add some variety to my project. Since this is a Christmas decoration, I picked red & white. Both of these bundles (is this the correct terminology?) were under $5. 

Next comes the easy part - wrapping the pinecones in yarn.

I started wrapping and tried to tuck away the end by continuing to wrap around the same spot for the first few rotations.

I wrapped in a variety of different pathways so as to cover all of the pinecone. When I decided it was enough, I tucked the end of the yarn in the bottom part of the pinecone where the crevices are tight and can therefore hold the yarn so it doesn't unravel. 

When I was done, I put all my pinecones in a clear circular bowl. You can obviously put them in any sort of arrangement, but I think it looks nice in a clear vase so you can see all the colors, shapes and sizes.

Happy holiday crafting!

Christmas Gift Certificate Tree

If you haven't already caught on, the one thing I love as much as crafting is giving gifts. I think it's the perfect outlet for my creativity. I absolutely love coming up with thoughtful gifts tailored to the recipient.

For Christmas, I decided to get my brother and his girlfriend a bunch of gift certificates to restaurants in the neighborhood in Chicago that they lived. While I thought this to be a fitting gift for them, I thought it sounded kinda boring..."here....they're gift cards for a bunch of restaurants". So, I came up with a nice way to display them that didn't seem so flat.

First I purchased a piece of rectangular foam and a gift bag from Hobby Lobby. I used a wine gift bag, and the piece of foam was probably 3/4 of the height of the gift bag. I went outside in my backyard and cut 5 or so twigs off of the leaf-less tree (it was winter time), and arranged them so they looked like a mini-tree.

Then, I made little envelopes out of cardstock and scrapbooking paper that fit each of the gift certificates. Sorry I do not have a tutorial for these....but, stay tuned - I promise to do one soon! 

With this one I used a striped patterned paper and I cut it into strips. I laid the strips out to look like a Christmas tree and cut out a non-perfect star for the top (Who likes perfect things anyways?). This one is created as a sleeve, where the top is open and the gift certificate slips out of the top. 

This one was made with patterned paper, some cardstock (the off-white) and some stickers. This one is also created as a sleeve. Notice that I cut a semi-circle at the top for easy removal of the gift certificate. 

I tried to make this one look more like an envelope. The snowman sticker is meant to look like a stamp and on the back I cut a slit and tucked the folded part of the cardstock into it to close it.

I went simple with this one. This was the first one I made, so I didn't figure out that I should cut a semi-circle on the top. With this one you actually couldn't pull the gift certificate out unless you ripped the ribbon off. It is also a sleeve for the gift certificate.

At each of the restaurants I went to, they gave me a take out menu to go with the gift certificates. I slipped those in the wine-shaped gift bag, as they were the perfect size to hide in there. 

While the gift was slightly difficult to transport, I felt much better giving this than I would have a stack of gift certificates. I think overall it turned out to be a nice gift that keeps on giving. 

Happy Christmas Gifting :)

Washi Tape Find!

I am such a sucker for a deal, and I love to share my findings. Don't worry, I'm not an extreme couponer, but I rarely buy any type of clothing, household supplies, etc. at full price. I frequent the dollar store for things that they sell for a great price, but that you don't have to compromise quality for.

I was super excited when I found washi tape at the dollar tree. They had a huge selection (10+ different designs), so I couldn't help myself. If you have a dollar tree near you, check it out! Not the exact quality as non-dollar store washi tape, but it definitely does the trick. I use it mostly for scrapbooking, but who knows what types of uses I'll find for it in the future.

Happy Deal Finding :)