Holiday Traditions: The Christmas Tree

Every family has a their own holiday traditions.  As the month of December gets started around our home, these traditions roll in with the Christmas tree.

When my husband and I began our lives together, we didn’t have much.  Both of us agreed we didn’t want a Christmas tree covered in random ornaments bought at the local department store.  I had a few glass balls from my Great Grandmother, and a few from my childhood.  That first year, we went and each chose one ornament we felt was significant to us that year.  Our tree was not one that was picture perfect for a magazine, but each ornament on there had a story and we loved it.

Each year since, our family has continued the tradition of adding an ornament for each family member.  We each choose one that has meaning to us that year.  Our Christmas tree has filled up over the years. Now it is splendidly full of all the personality our family brings.

Another holiday tradition for our family is making our own ornaments.  Each year when my children were growing up, we would make a set of ornaments.  We made clay candy canes, yarn weaving on toothpicks, paper chains and snowflakes, and so many others.  One of my favorites was the decoupage ornaments that we made a few years ago.  I went to the local second hand store and purchased a few glass ball ornaments that had seen better years.  The color was chipped and coming off.  Most of them were missing their tops.  More than a few of them had cracks and chips in the glass.  Paintbrushes in hand with Modge Podge and Christmas fabric, my children and I recycled the old ornaments into something new and beautiful.

Every holiday season, I love hearing my children dig through the ornament bins to find the ones they picked or made.  Each ornament hung in just the right place for them.  When they are ready to have their own Christmas trees, I will go through and pack up their own decoration set to start them off.  Passing on the tradition of a Christmas tree decorated not just in pretty ornaments, but in memories too.

If you are interested in trying out the decoupage ornaments, I wrote up a DIY tutorial over on DIY Craftz recently.  They are super fun to make!  Just enough messy for the kids to really have fun, pretty enough to enjoy for years to come, and easy enough for the whole family to make their own.

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Knitting Necessities: Notions Boxes

Over the last decade I have knitted my way across the western United States.  Every road trip, weekend get away, and even just a drive for the day my knitting goes along.  My knitting notions boxes make it so I can knit everywhere while on the go without worry I’m missing a vital tool.  When you knit so many different projects like I do, you never know when you will need an extra stitch marker or a cable needle.  Finishing a project while out and about without a tapestry needle is pure torture for me because I can’t stitch in the loose ends.  Don’t even ask how many times I have been caught without a notions box and in need of scissors.  I have chewed my way through yarn more times than I can count.

I keep all my projects separated in large plastic zipper bags.  These bags have the yarn, needles (or hooks), and the paper pattern (or name of pattern on my kindle) in them.  Basically, my project is all packed and ready for me.  When I am ready to work on one of the projects, I simply grab the project that catches my attention, drop a notions box in the bag, and I am ready to craft on the go.

A notions box is a small container that holds all those little tools that make knitting or crocheting easier.  I have a couple of notions boxes that I thought I would share with you in this post.  One I put together myself with bits and pieces out of my collection.  One I purchased pre-made on Etsy.

knitting necessities blue notions box

My blue notions box was put together out of my own supplies.  It has a flexible measuring tape, fold-able scissors, three different tapestry needles, a handful of stitch markers, and a stubby little pencil for paper pattern notes.  This is my go to notions box when I am working on a simple project that will not have need of cables, row counting, or held stitches.

knitting necessities alpaca notions box

I recently purchased this little notions box on Etsy.  The seller is The Sexy Knitter ,she has a whole slew of different designs for these little notions boxes in her store.  You can purchase just the tin, a partially stocked tin, or the fully stocked notions box.  I purchased the fully stocked notions box.  It came with a cable needle, an adorable retractable sheep measuring tape, a wooden needle gauge, a tiny double ended crochet hook, a stitch holder, tiny scissors, a row counter, three tapestry needles, five paper origami star stitch markers, and five plastic safety pin stitch markers. The lid also has a surprisingly strong magnet in the lid to hold the needles.  I was so impressed with this little notions box!  I really didn’t have much faith for those tiny green scissors.  I honestly expected them to not be able to cut very well.  Boy was I wrong!!  Those little things are amazing!

Whether you put a notions box together out of the supplies in your knitting stash, or purchase a pre-made one, a notions box is definitely a knitting necessity!

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DIY Stitch Marker Display

I have started putting together quite the collection of stitch markers.  Originally, I stored them in a small jar on top of my crafting dresser.  They tended to get tangled, and I struggled to find particular sets when I was looking for them.  Today I am sharing my solution.

With this stitch marker display, all of my stitch markers are stored on display.  The safety pins keep them in their sets.  I can quickly unpin, and take the entire set for my project on the go.  Plus, I think they look lovely!

These were quick to make with supplies I happened to have on hand.  I have included links to Amazon if you want to purchase the supplies quickly and easily!

supplies needed

Supplies Needed:

2 – 6 inch embroidery hoops

Safety Pins To Hold Sets

2 Felt Sheets

Scissors

DIY step 1

1.Cut felt sheets so that you have a bit of fabric all the way around the hoops.

DIY step 2

2.Stretch the fabric on the embroidery hoops.

DIY step 3

3.Trim extra fabric from the back of the hoop.

DIY finished

4.Finished!  How easy was that?

DIY Stitch Marker Display Finished

Use the safety pins to display your stitch markers in sets, ready to go!

 

*This post contains sponsored links from www.amazon.com.  I was not paid to do this post.  However, if you use the links to purchase, I will receive a small compensation.  Thanks for checking it out and helping to support my bloggy habits!*

 

 

DIY Stitch Markers

When I am working on a pattern for knitting or crochet, I love to have fun stitch markers.  A stitch marker can be as simple as a loop of contrasting yarn, or it can be a detailed little piece of artwork hanging from your work.  Recently, I discovered making my own stitch markers.  I just love how quickly they work up, and I can have beautiful stitch markers on all my projects!  This weekend as I was working on my collection, I figured I would take a few pictures and give you all a tutorial for DIY Stitch Markers.  I have included an Amazon link for each of the supplies for your convenience.

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First you need just a few supplies:

Round Nose Pliers

4 – 12mm Jump Rings

5 – 8mm Jump Rings

5 Charms

1 Lobster Claw (for crochet or knit)

I like to do one special marker in each set to be used as the beginning marker.  It could be a larger charm, it could have an extra jump ring to make it longer.  For the set in this post, I chose to use a lobster claw clasp.  The lobster claw clasp makes it so that you can hook the marker directly to the yarn in your piece or it can go on the needle in knitting.  If you are just planning on using the stitch markers for knitting, you could skip the lobster claw clasp and just use another 12mm jump ring.

Here are the supplies I used to make this set.

DIY stitchmarker 2

First step is to put one 8mm jump ring on each of the charms.

Use the pliers to gently pull the jump ring open just enough to put the charm on.

DIY stitchmarker 4

Next, slip the charm and either the 12mm jump ring or the lobster claw onto the jump ring.

DIY stitchmarker 1

Use the pliers to gently close the jump ring.  You want to get the ring closed as tightly as possible without squishing it.  This might take a bit of practice.

DIY stitchmarker 3

Repeat these steps with each of the charms, and you will have a complete set of stitch markers to use on your next project!

DIY stitchmarker 6

*This post contains sponsored links from www.amazon.com.  I was not paid to do this post.  However, if you use the links to purchase, I will receive a small compensation.  Thanks for checking it out and helping to support my bloggy habits!*