Christmas shirt #2

I made a second design after seeing all these pretty ruffle shirts on Pinterest... mine didn't turn out exactly how I had imagined, but Miss 4 loved it anyway :) I used the same fabric as I used on Mr 7's shirt but this one took a little longer.

Cut strips of fabric about 5cm wide using pinking shears.

Lay your strips out on your shirt to work out how many you will need. Sew each strip from the edge (1cm) using a straight stitch on your machine with the settings to the longs and widest, and cut with some length left so you can pull the ends to 'ruffle' the fabric. You could hand sew the ruffles if you don't have a machine using a basic running stitch.

Arrange strips to form your tree (you may have to trim some to the right size)

Once arranged sew the strips onto your shirt staring at the bottom. I hand sewed as I found the ruffles easier to control, but machine stitching would be much faster!

Once sewn, add your embellishments (beads, bows, bells, whatever, and your shirt is done)... Miss 4 insisted on shiny red beads as her shirt then resembled our tree :)

Christmas coasters

I made these as part of my husband's 12 days of Christmas presents (day 6 I think), and they were super easy so thought I'd share.
I purchased the plain coasters from my local craft shop 80cents each and used some scrap booking papers I had purchased earlier, added some cut out monograms (there will be 6 of us Christmas morning so I used all our initials) and Mod Podged to seal it and that's it, done :)

Christmas shirt

I was inspired earlier in the year by a tutorial from thisgirllovestotalk who is VERY talented and demonstrated how to make reverse applique shirts for birthday's, but I thought I'd test it out for Christmas.

I got the kids plain white shirts ($3-$4 each) and had some left over fabric from a quilt I made for Miss 4. I cut my Christmas tree out using my Cricut, but no need for that, and you can cut whatever shape you like... baubles, presents, reindeer, star etc.

First lay your shirt out and trace your picture onto it

Next place your selected fabric on top to ensure you cut the right amount out to cover your design

Turn your shirt inside out and iron the fabric (face down) onto the design using an iron on adhesive, be CAREFUL not to place the adhesive on the part of your design that will show through, I just put it along the edges. 

Turn your shirt back the right way and stitch, either by hand or machine, around the traced line of your design. I chose to hand stitch as I find it easier and I am much neater this way, but machine would be super quick.

Once you have stitched around your traced design, turn the shirt inside out again and trim any excess fabric using pinking shears to avoid frayed edges

Turn your shirt the right way again and CAREFULLY trim the top layer away to reveal the patterned fabric underneath. I left a 1-2cm edge when I trimmed mine as I was worried I might slip and cut through the stitching. 

and you are done.... 

Mr 7 modelling his new Christmas shirt

I did want to add some buttons on as baubles but Mr 7 decided he didn't like that idea and asked that I leave it as it was, but you could try the idea of buttons, or bows, or even little bells! MERRY CHRISTMAS :)

Grinch Dust

I have stolen this idea from Miss 4's daycare teacher (thanks Sophie!), who decided that we have all seen 'Reindeer food' a little too much, and was very clever to put a spin on it with "Grinch Dust" I told Miss 4 we may need it for Daddy!! Dr Seuss is very popular in our house and we have got our Grinch cartoon out to talk about the spirit of Christmas since we got our dust.

All you need is some shredded coconut, food colouring, and the cute little verse to add to your bag... and if you feel, you could always add some glitter in case you are a reindeer food addict!

Clay Tags

Every year I want to make clay tags and never get to it... well finally we got ourselves organised and found some white air drying clay at our local newsagent. I grabbed all my Christmas cookie cutters for the kids, rubber stamps and some embossing plates to make our tags a little more interesting, and away we went. I must admit, it was a lot more difficult than I had expected it to be and they didn't turn out as nicely as I would have hoped for, but after speaking to a friend I think it may be the brand of clay we purchased that gave us problems. Anyway, the kids had a great time and were busy for hours with this one, so if you're looking for a holiday activity, I highly recommend this :)