Reverse Christmas Tree Topper Tutorial

This week I'm linking up with an awesome lady whose blog I stalk over at NewlyWoodwards for the Dare to DIY Christmas challenge.


A few weeks ago I was thinking about Christmas decorations and how much I was dreading putting them up since it's not a holiday I have been looking forward to this year. However I found myself on Pinterest one day perusing the "everything" board and came across a tutorial on how to make paper stars. I am a bit of a crafting nut when something gets into my head and here is how it went:

That star tutorial is really cool, I love stars!

What could I make them out of? Ohhh, vellum, I love vellum!

Then what would I do with them? If they're vellum I should hang them somewhere!

Where to hang them...where to hang them...oh! I could make a mobile!

No...maybe I could hang them above the tree since my star always falls over...

OMG I COULD MAKE A REVERSE TREE TOPPER!!!! AND I MUST DO IT RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND!!!


So I did. And other than being covered in glitter for 24 hours and having to hone my fine motor skills to tie thin thread onto an embroidery hoop, it was pretty easy. It also got me excited about decorating which is good because my living room looks wonderful now and I am hating Christmas a lot less so mission accomplished.

Here's what you need:
-Paper of your choice (I used vellum because it's translucent and pretty and some thinner paper with gold accents, make sure it's not thick card stock or it will be difficult to cut)
-Thin thread or clear fishing line (I wanted fishing line at first but opted for a goldish silver thread for the sewing section at Joann's for a bit more sparkle)
-Embroidery hoop
-Glue
-Paint brush
-Glitter (I used Martha's Stewart glitter in Copper)
-Scissors
-Tiny hole punch

First cut out your stars in different sizes. You can do any shape you want or cut them in any way you want (origami stars would be more substantial if you wanted that look). I used this tutorial.

Then punch a small hole in the top of each one using a small hole punch and tie thread through the hole in a knot (don't worry about the length because you can adjust it later).

Prepare your embroidery hoop by covering it with glue and then glitter. Get glitter on the cat for sure so you find piles of it when you go the bed that night. Let it dry for a few hours.

Tie the stars on in varying lengths. I fought with them getting tangled for a while until I had the genius idea of putting the hoop over the top of a lamp shade and tying them on there so they would stay spaced evenly and I could see what lengths I needed. I will have glitter on that lamp shade for life but whatever.

Glitter, glitter everywhere...

There are probably a million different ways to hang this but I just wanted it up so I just wrapped some thread around the middle of the hoop a few times and secured it to the ceiling with thumbtacks. Classy, right? You really can't even tell unless you're looking for them.

And that's it! The whole thing cost me maybe $10 and took about an hour total to complete. And I probably won't want to untangle the stars next year so I will most likely throw it away when I'm done with it. Or never take it down. Both are solid possibilities.

And here is my fully decorated living room!

The other thing I made this year was that garland which is just felt circles glued to baker's string. Last year I made the mason jars filled with glitter and trees and also the Christmas lights with ribbon (although I had to retie all the ribbon on new lights this year when the bun chewed the cord one too many times).

Trixie is still pretty ticked to find out there are no gifts for her, though.

I can only have a small tree on a table to discourage kitties and buns from ingesiting fake needles.

Crafter McCrafterson

The other day I was sitting on the couch looking at my Christmas lights that are still up that I had no desire to take down and decided they were boring. So last night the bun and I drank some wine, cut up a bunch of ribbon, chewed on the spools (after 2 glasses of wine I am not sure who did what in that list) and turned those boring lights into this:

I am pretty positive that I will never take them down now.

Fast forward to this morning. After I went for my run and picked up my stuff for my race tomorrow I decided that I couldn't live another minute without gold spray paint in my life. I went to Home Depot to pick some up (in case you were unaware a can of spray paint at a craft store is about $15 and at a home improvement store is about $4) and discovered that they put the metallic paint on the very top shelf. Because, you know, all those 6ft+ guys are definitely going in for gold spray paint so they should be kept in a convenient spot for them. Never fear though, I stood on a can of paint to reach it. Take THAT for problem solving, Home Depot! This picture is proof that I was standing on my tip toes on a can of paint and could still barely reach it (multitasking FTW!).

For the record I do not have chubby meat hooks. My hands are very small it just appears that this angle is the equivalent of the double chin camera angle for hands.

After proving that I wouldn't let "the man" get me down and deny my shiny paint needs I came home and did what I do every winter when I decide I want to spray paint something: I set up shop in the corner of the kitchen and went to town. Sadly, two things happened: 1) Neither can of paint is exactly what I was looking for so my current painting project will be tabled until I get some more and 2) The last time I spray painted inside I did not have the bun. After I found her hiding in the back of her cage behind her hay box with a glassy look in her eyes appearing as if she belonged on an intervention episode of Dr. Phil I decided that my days of spray painting inside are over. Which really is too bad because it was a good time while it lasted, Trixie even thought so. Once I accidentally got her tail as she was doing a drive by nosy cat inquiry and it was pink for a few weeks (which, come to think of it, was way more effective than that one time I tried to dye her paws pink with Koolaid when I was in college).

After I abandoned my spray painting I decided to get to business and finally frame some stuff I got for Christmas, rearrange my living room and rewire some of my surround sound speakers that the bun got to several months ago. The speakers came out ok-ish but my living room rearranging came out perfect! Yes, it's girly but it's my house so I can do what I want! Or something... So one wall is exactly what I want it to be and I only have three more to go.

I rounded out my evening by chasing Trixie around the living room until she bit me in the foot, building a cardboard fort for the bun to chew her way out of and buying a pair of bright red boots for no other reason than because I am going to DC for the first time next weekend and my weather.com app said it might rain. "Might" is close enough to "Will" for me which totally justifies the purchase of bright red boots that I may or may not have a reason to wear more than once a year. And don't try to convince me otherwise!

I wonder if I can get away with wearing them to work and somehow have them fall into the "business casual" catgory?

Now I'm going to shove a few fistfuls for mini chocolate chips at my face and watch Hook while I bead some necklaces and try to forget that I have my first 5k race tomorrow since I got back on the running bandwagon and have only 7 weeks until my half marathon.

The end. Keep it classy, San Diego.


PS: After writing this post I spell checked it and saw that Blogger tried to change the word "rearranging" to "rear raging". Probably the best part of my whole day, no lie, I almost died laughing.

I don't know if you know this but...I'm kind of a big deal.

The beauty of making something with your own two hands is that when it comes out wonderfully you can just sit back and bask in the glow of your own awesomeness. There are many times that my crafting endeavors fail or come out looking completely different than I had planned in my head but when they come together in a harmonious explosion of creativity...well that's the kind of things dreams are made of.

The one downfall is that this time I can not claim originality for this bit of crafty awesomesauce. I was perusing my favorite productivity quick sand, Pinterest, this afternoon and came across this tutorial:

http://www.ecabonline.com/2010/04/braided-bead-necklace.html

It was lovely and simple but amazing all at once. I've been getting more into jewelry lately and the turquoise and gold just sang to me. I ran right out to JoAnn Fabrics (and then Hobby Lobby) to collect the necessary bits to make my own (I am not one of those people that pins things that I will never make, I'm usually the opposite and must recreate it right away). Mine isn't "perfect" because I couldn't get findings all in the right shades of gold but I think it still looks fantastic. Behold!

Please disregard my Saturday-crafting-not-looking-so-good self and focus on the beauty of that necklace. I think tomorrow I am going to try rose gold chain with cream beads because when I love something I need it in every color imaginable (refer to shirt above, I have it in 2 other colors).

Just some words to the wise if you choose to use this tutorial: it is pretty straightforward but what it doesn't mention is that tying the knots is the worst part of the project. I think I ruined 3 of 6 strands and had to restring them because of knotting issues. It helps to knot two strands of thread together before putting on your first bead pinch and then put your beads on after that. I also kept a ruler handy to keep the first string of the set on part with 5.5 inches (you could easily make a longer one, I really want to make a full necklace and pin a rhinestone broach to it) and then you can measure your second of the set against that.