Wooden Bead Christmas Ornaments

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I have never been the Pinterest perfect, Instagram worthy Christmas tree kind of person. I love pretty trees, and sometimes I do want to have a perfectly coordinated, themed, pretty tree. But the fact of the matter is our big tree that we put up in the living room is a crazy assortment of ornaments, some from when I was a kid, some from my husband, ornaments that our kids have made or been given. There are ornaments from vacations we went on and ornaments that that represent favorite things. And to make it even better we let the kids decorate it so they are never evenly dispersed, some places may not have any ornaments while others have 2 to a branch. The top is usually a little more sparse than the bottom. They each have their own box of ornaments that they put on the tree every year, and they love it. It is fun to watch them pull out the ornaments and remember their ornaments and when the made them, or who gave them to them. And any time that I wish for a minute that this year we could have that beautiful Instagram worthy tree it all goes away when I see the kids excitedly pulling out their ornaments and we decorate our crazy mishmash of a Christmas tree. I love our tree. 

Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Stickers

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 November is Diabetes Awareness Month and knowing that, and because I have a 9 year old daughter with Type 1 Diabetes,  I had plans all year to share a Diabetes Awareness project this month. With working on Thanksgiving and Christmas projects, and just being busy with normal life stuff I almost decided not to, but because of my daughter it is something that is important to me so I decided to make it a priority to get up before the end of the month. 

Christmas and Winter Tumblers with Vinyl Decals

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A couple of weeks ago I was at Walmart and I saw some sets of color changing cups, both hot and cold cups, that I thought were cute colors. They were part of a fall/harvest line but I thought the colors would work well for Christmas or winter designs as well. There was one that is a dark orange color that was definitely more of a fall color and maybe a stretch for winter, but the others were pinks and green and would work well. I grabbed a pack of each, hot and cold, to use as blanks to add vinyl to as a Christmas project. 

Days Until Christmas Chalkboard

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A few weeks ago I was at a store looking at the Christmas decorations that they had out and I saw a little easel style Christmas countdown chalkboard. It was really simple but I thought it was cute. Then later I was at Walmart and saw some similar size/style chalkboards in their craft section and decided to get one so I could make a countdown chalkboard similar to the one that I had seen earlier. 

Weasley Sweater Christmas Ornaments

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Another month means time for another Creative Crafts Blog Hop. I was super excited about the theme this month, if you have been following me for awhile you probably know that I am a big Harry Potter fan. I have made lots of Harry Potter themed crafts over the years so when I saw the theme was Harry Potter Holiday Crafts it was right up my alley.

Paper Mache Advent Calendar

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 I have been wanting to make one of these paper mâché advent calendars for a long time, but never get around to buying one before they are either sold out or it is too late to make a new advent calendar for that year. I had seen them in the past at Hobby Lobby, but I don't go there very often since there are other craft stores closer to me. Last month I was there picking up some stuff for another project and I saw them in their Christmas craft supplies, and I decided this year I was finally going to buy one so that I could make it, and I was going to get it done before December. 

Thanksgiving Activity Placemats with Cricut

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New images and designs are always being added to Cricut Design Space, and a month or so ago I saw that they had added some Thanksgiving Activity Placemat designs. I thought they looked like they would be a lot of fun for kids at Thanksgiving so I thought I would make some and share them here so that others can make them too. 

Easy Two-Color Pillowcases

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This holiday season JOANN is partnering with St. Jude to raise money to help children battling illnesses. The goal is to raise $1M to raise to help these children, and they have several ways that you can help. One way is through donations in stores or online at joann.com/st-jude. Another way that they are raising money is through a collection of fabrics inspired by artwork created by St. Jude patients. 

Crocheted Elf Ornament

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Today I am excited to be joining the 2021 Holiday Stashdown Crochet Along. Every Monday and Thursday from October 4-December 16, different designers will be sharing free crochet patterns to help you get started on you holiday crafting. Each patter will either be a one-skein project, or a scrappy project that you can probably make using your stash.