Mini Mitten Napkin Ties

Christmas and New Year's have come and gone, and if you're like me, you're ready to reclaim your house from the Santas and elves that took over in December. But even though the holiday season has passed, winter is just beginning--here in Pennsylvania, anyway. So I'm not going to pack my snowflake and icicle decorations just yet. I'm going to hang them in the windows and put them to use as pretty table decor.

I made a bunch of these felt mitten ornaments for Christmas this year. They were super simple. For each, just cut two mitten shapes from felt (I love this icy blue color) and decorate them with ribbon, snowflake sequins, or any other wintry trims you have on hand. Sew the two mitten pieces together, stuffing the ornament lightly with fiberfill as you go. When you stitch the mitten closed, sew on a jump ring. 

To transform your mitten ornaments into cute napkin ties, thread them onto lengths of baby rickrack along with sparkly icicle ornaments. Tie the mittens and icicles around rolled napkins and you have the perfect table setting for sipping cocoa and nibbling leftover Christmas cookies.

Happy New Year!

I'm taking a holiday break from the blog this week. Thank so much for following my stitching and crafting adventures in 2015! Come back on January 4th when I kick off 2016 more ideas and inspiration!

Hearts, Arrows and More in the Winter Issue of "Craft Ideas"

My cross-stitched Heart Arrow Pendants are featured in the Winter issue of Craft Ideas magazine! It's filled with snow- and Valentine-themed projects to satisfy your post-holiday crafting cravings. Look for it on newsstands now . . . Enjoy!

Sew-Inspired Ornaments

Christmas is just days away, so I'm entering the "If it's not done now, it's not going to get done" phase of holiday preparation. I do have one more quick Christmas craft to share. It's really not a craft at all--just a pretty way to transform odds and ends from your sewing room into holiday ornaments.

The project begins with those beautiful, versatile clear glass ornaments you can find at craft stores. They come in different sizes. The ones I used are about 3 inches in diameter. I've seen these ornaments filled with everything from sand and seashells to photographs. 

Today, I'm filling them with sewing supplies left over from my Christmas crafting binge. I filled mine with mini pompoms, buttons, beads, sequins, ribbon, and rick-rack. Use your imagination and see what crafty fillers you can come up with.

To finish, pop the tops on the ornaments and add hanging ribbons. If you're hesitant to part with your treasured supplies to make ornaments, don't worry. When Christmas is over, you can retrieve most of the fillers from the ornaments and put them back into circulation in your craft room. However, I think those snowflake sequins are in there for good.