Quilted Christmas Stocking

I made this stocking for my cute little girl:

I wish I could tell you how I did it, but I didn't use a pattern (of course) and vaguely remember swearing/seam ripping a lot. I think it turned out pretty cute, though! I wanted to make stockings for all of us this year, but I just don't know if I can muster up the strength to do three more. 

(P.S. Yes, I know the lines aren't perfectly straight...). 

Easy Advent Calendars

Every year my grandma has a "getting ready for Christmas" party. We always make a craft, and this year we made these advent calendars:

Easiest advent calendar ever! To do these, you need:

• styrofoam half-circle
• 24 holiday pencils (can be found in the $ section at Target)
• x-acto knife
• sturdy holiday craft paper
• number stickers
• holiday stickers

Cut 24 circles out of some sturdy holiday scrapbook paper. Number the blank sides from 1-24, then put a holiday sticker on the other side (you don't have to put a holiday sticker on the other side, but I know how much kids love stickers). Using an x-acto knife or other sharp knife, make a slit in each pencil eraser. Arrange the pencils in whatever order you'd like (my mom and aunt put all the pencils in one row along the outer edge of the ball, but my other aunt and I decided to do two rows). Put the numbered circles into the slit of the eraser, number side facing out. Every day starting December 1st, turn the circle to the sticker side. Easy!!

World Map Splatter Painting

I minored in Art History in college, which is ironic considering I don't have an artistic bone in my body. One thing I liked about the works of "action painters" like Jackson Pollock and James Brooks was they looked an awful lot like children's paintings. I always thought, "hey I could throw some paint on to a canvas too!" So that's exactly what I did...well, kinda.

I didn't want mine to look just like a splatter painting, so I thought I'd add a design to it to add some dimension. My husband is a bit of a map fanatic, so I chose to do a world map design.

First step - what you'll need is a couple of canvases (I got mine with a 50% off coupon at Michael's, so it was about $10 for two), a design template, paint brushes or sponge brushes, and paint. All in all, the supplies cost me $20.

Now this next step you can certainly skip if you want more contrast, but I chose to first splatter on a layer of light cream paint.  

After the paint dries, tape your design onto the canvas. I went waaay too detailed with the map and cut out little islands and stuff like that. You couldn't even really see the small island countries in the finished product, so if you do a world map, skip the detail (sorry, Iceland!). This part definitely took the longest and was the least fun. 

Next, splatter on that paint, baby! You can choose whatever colors you'd like. It was really messy and fun, and I released a lot of pent up frustration. Your kids can even help you with this part. Different brushes leave different marks. Don't be afraid to experiment because there's no way you can mess this up. I got mine on nice and thick in some areas and then added a little water to the paint to get more of a spatter effect and less of a globby effect.

Let the paint dry a little, but not all the way, or else your paper will stick to the canvas when you peel it off. The thicker the layers of paint, the crisper your edges.

So there you have it! So easy a kid could do it (or me, same thing, really), and your friends will be impressed with your custom "Jackson Pollock art".