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I've been busy decorating the house for Christmas. Over the years, my family has built up a lot of Christmas decorations, many because of me, as you might imagine. One of my favourite parts of Christmas is decorating the tree - something that my mother assigns me to do as it's tedious and we have so many decorations - because it's like greeting all these tiny little memories year after year, displaying them and recounting them annually, then packing them away until the next merry December when you can take them back out and hold them like precious pieces of your life. A lot of the ornaments on the tree are hand made by my mother, aunt, grandmother, great aunts, and yes, even a few that my sister and I crafted. A tree wouldn't be complete without those glittery stars with pre-k photos pasted on them haphazardly.
I wanted to share some of my favourite ornaments and decorations on the blog. It's Christmas Eve and a good time to remember some of those little memories and take delight at the ornaments hung with care for a few weeks of the year. My family has collected some classic ornaments, some delightful ones, some pretty tacky ornaments, some that are only beautiful if you know the story behind them. I have several favourites that I hang each year - the tin man, the deer on the iced over pond, the Play-doh boy decorating his Play-doh tree, all of the Snoopy & Woodstock ones (we have 3!) - and it's nice to share those - and others - on the blog.
Okay okay okay, Gogo isn't a Christmas decoration, but he was a good little helper to have around!
I've been busy getting ready for Christmas. I've spent the last three days in the kitchen, making candles (which, if you follow me on Twitter, you got live tweets of the exciting process) and assembling these water-less snow globes that have been all over Pinterest because Anthropologie was trying to sell them for way too much money and they're actually super easy (and cheap!) to DIY.
I don't have a lot of money (being an unpaid intern generally doesn't make you very rich) and so I decided to make presents this year instead of buying them. My aunt brought over a whole bunch of candle making goods for me and I bought some inexpensive wicks from Amazon. I bought inexpensive tins and jars from the thrift store and Michael's (which I am in absolutely no way endorsing considering that I hate hate HATE that store), so it was a very cheap project. I hadn't made candles since I was about 5 years old (isn't it funny that 15 years later, I'm still broke and making candles as gifts for Christmas?), and I had no recollection of how tedious of a process it really is. It takes forever to melt the wax, and then after you pour it it has to cool and settle for like 5 hours before you can do a second layer. I had to have a constant rotation of Christmas movies playing to keep me sane.
I made 4 different scents and colours. I started with blue (one of which I've already wrapped up and mailed off), which is supposed to be vanilla-sugar cookie scent, but I personally think it smells a bit berry-ish. I was melting down all different chunks of leftover wax, some of which may have been scented and thus tampered with the scent. The next day I made pink-red bayberry scented candles. I used two different brands of bayberry scent and so these ones are very strong and smell wonderful! Yesterday I tackled Christmas tree/pine scent, which was maybe not as powerful as I would have liked. The scent in the jar was very strong, but when I put it in the wax, it didn't really smell. Granted, I was trying to cover up the scent of Crayola crayons for all of these candles, so that might have had something to do with it. After my foray into pine scented candles, I still had a few more tins left, so I decided to make coffee-vanilla scent, which turned out pink and not very coffee-like.
While the long process of melting and cooling candle wax was under way, I was busy assembling some water-less snow globes! They're really easy to make and tutorials are all over Pinterest (shameless plug of my Christmas Cheer pin board, but I swear, I've pinned these babies like 20 times). I used jars that I picked up at the thrift store and my mum's cupboard (free!) and bought fake snow and little fake trees/bushes on Amazon.
I almost had a heart attack after hours of searching for tiny deer figurines on Amazon and having no luck, dreading that I'd have to make a trip to one of those horrid craft stores that make me want to become very angry and violent (yes, even at Christmastime), but when I mentioned the project to my mum she scurried to her closet and pulled out boxes and boxes of little deer. Some of them were these really sweet little wooden ones, and others were these horribly tacky plastic ones from the '60s. I painted those gold, which made them 100% less terrifying and tacky. In my mum's Christmas craft box, she also had loads of little ornaments and even a Santa and an elf which I glued to make it look like it was climbing up a tree. I stuck some little pine cones in there and some extra glitter and voila! Tiny winter wonderlands held captive in old canning jars. I used E6000 which is a crafter's delight and hopefully will keep all the little pieces glued down, even if they're being shipped cross-country.
These are super enjoyable to make and I am going to make a few more in the next couple of days. I'm feeling very crafty! I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled at garage sales this summer - people are always trying to sell old crafting bits and silly Christmas ornaments. I definitely want to make some wacky ones next year!
I have loads of photos of my Christmas tree/other Christmas decorating that I've been doing that I will share tomorrow - on Christmas Eve! In the meantime, I'd love to see what Christmas crafts you guys have been doing. Send me links to your blog or photos of your DIYs! Keep warm and keep crafting xx
A couple of weeks ago I went to the No Coast Craft-o-rama at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. It was my first time making it out for the event, although I've wanted to go for years. I was able to pick up a few Christmas gifts and a whole load of business cards so I can shop from these businesses when I have money again. Minnesota is super crafty (it happens when you're stuck inside all the time, too cold to go out and have fun) and so it was great to see all those crafters out at once, showing off their goods. I decided to share some of the things I bought, as well as showcase some of the businesses that were there in case you're interested in shopping Minnesota local!
Zeichen Press had loads of witty and well designed greeting cards. I milled around their booth for a while, taking my sweet time trying to decide which ones to get. Zeichen Press even have break-up cards which, lemme tell you, would've been real nice to have a stash of over the years. I also loved their cases for when you make mixed CDs for friends and need something nice to put them in.
Also, the cards are printed on a letter press so even cooler. We did some work on a printing press for my typography class and I completely fell in love with the whole process and have new respect for people who make it their main medium.
I Like You is a Minneapolis based store that features creative goods from over 200 Minnesota-based crafters and artists. They have loads of Minnesota themed items which I love because, well, Minnesota is pretty damn cool. I Like You also has a booth at the state fair.
I loved Beckamade! Her creations are inspired by Midcentury design. I bought these clever (and Minnesotan) magnets because, come on, it's POP not SODA, duh. She also had some absolute darling cloth dolls of retro ladies, which I will have to buy next time I see her at a craft fair. This was one of those booths where I loved and wanted everything. Her online shop seems to be closed for the holidays, unfortunately.
My dad has a Santa collection that I like to feed every year. Even though he can't remember what the Santa I bought him last year looks like, hopefully he'll remember this little guy! He's from Willy's Branches of Minnesota, however the designer, Willy Dawydenko, does not seem to have a website. If you're interested in picking up one of his beautiful pieces (which you really should be), give him a call at (612) 788-0518.
I picked up this little ornament for my boyfriend's parents who live in Nevada. It's from Too Many Suitors who had an absolutely adorable goods. I loved this bright and colorful screen printed ornament, but they also had great tee shirts and prints.
And some other designers that you should be interested in:
(all photos credit to the designers, not me)
Deux Amis, created by crafters Erin & Lisa, have a number of items, including jewelry, for sale, but I loved their switch plate covers the most! I almost bought a couple of a pink map of Paris, but ended up talking myself out of it. Regrets? Yes, already.
I was totally in love with these whimsical moss terrariums from Moss Love Terrariums. I thought about getting one for my boyfriend - owner Jacie designs some really cool themed terrariums, like Lord of the Rings, alien UFO landings, Jurassic era - but figured he'd let it die eventually. I'm definitely keeping her on my list for future presents (to myself). She also designs awesome jewelry.
Amy Jo's Handmade was a colourful booth full of stuffed creatures in whimsical patterns and with cute faces. I'm definitely keeping her in mind as I get into the time in my life when my friends are having children and such (yikes!)
I found myself missing my pooch as I browsed Cosmo's Collars. Martine makes these beautiful collars (also available in velveteen and felt) with supervision of her pooches Cosmo and Lyla.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post! A little different from what I usually do, but I was so in love with so many of these Minnesota-made creations that I had to share! It gives me pride to know that my home state is full of creative individuals.
