TRY THIS: DRIED CITRUS ORNAMENTS

Citrus season is upon us! You know what that means, don't you? Elsie will be whipping up some tasty cocktails featuring the tart fruit, and I'll be over here butchering oranges and lemons for holiday home decor. That's right, I'm getting au naturel and turning food into Christmas ornaments. They smell great when you make them, and you can eat the leftovers. Sounds like my kind of craft!

Step One: Slice the fruit into 1/4" slices and carefully remove the seeds. Use a wide blade knife to ensure uniform thickness of individual slices.

Step Two: Arrange the fruit slices onto a baking sheet and place in a warm oven set to about 150-170°F. Bake for 3-4 hours, flipping every hour until the fruit is dried, though not completely shriveled up. You want the slices to retain their color and not look brown around the edges.

I also tried a technique of air drying the citrus slices and was surprised at how quickly they dried out. It took about 4 days for them to get to a nice stiffness, though the orange slices curled up rather than staying flat as they did after baking them. (The lemon and lime slices didn't curl.)

I love how the slices are a bit like little pieces of stained glass. The light shines through them creating a pretty orange glow. These citrus ornaments work great with a vase of evergreens, hung on a Christmas tree, or even strung up for a beautiful garland in front of a window

CARDS & TAGS

You never know when you'll need a cute greeting card or gift tag, and that's why I love making bunches of them to keep on hand. You know how much I love fancy gift wrapping—and a cute little homemade tag or card is the perfect companion to a thoughtfully wrapped gift.

I was so excited to receive three sets of A Beautiful Mess stamps to play with, and spent the next week dreaming up fun ways to use them to make cute and quirky cards. Emojis really are the perfect little accents to any kind of greeting card! It's like an Instagram comment sent via snail mail. Who wouldn't be delighted to get one?

For this card, I filled a glassine envelope with confetti and sealed it with my sewing machine. Then I glued it onto a card and accented it with a little square of gold cardstock and a confetti emoji stamp. I added a celebratory "HIP HIP hooray" with the alpha stamp set and some little stamps I've had for ages.

This card would be perfect to send to a far away friend for New Year's Day. They can rip open the glassine envelope and throw confetti in memory of you!

This naughty or nice card is a fun holiday greeting card—perfect for sending to a cheeky friend. I stamped two emoji stamps onto different shades of pink cardstock and elevated the cardstock with foam tape to give it dimension. I used an old set of little stamps for the "naughty or nice" phrase.

We like to tease my sister-in-law for her excess use of "I can't" as an expression of amusement. This would be the perfect card to send to her! It was so simple to make too. I just stamped the blue card with the emoji stamp and added the words with an old alpha stamp set. Then I stitched angled pieces of olive green cardstock to the top and bottom. If you don't have a sewing machine, you could easily glue on the pieces of cardstock instead!

Sewing on Paper Tip: It's safe to sew through paper if there isn't adhesive on the paper. Make sure to change your needle to a fresh one before sewing into fabric again.

These little round tags are just the cutest! I think it's probably because of the dancing twin girls, honestly. I made the top two tags with the cross and triangle stamp from the bow stamp set, and the bottom tag features the dancing girls from the emoji stamp set. I punched out the cardstock with circle punches and cut out the yellow cardstock with pinking shears.

If you know someone who's been an angel all year (or would have you believe they've been good), the HO HO HO tag above would be a perfect way to adorn their gift! I used the alpha stamp set andemoji stamp set for these tags and accented the plain cardstock with pieces of glitter cardstock. Fancy and fun!

Stamping onto plain gift tags is a super quick way to give your gifts a custom look. On these premade tags, I used the heart and heart eyes emoji stamps as well as the striped ribbon and triangle from the bow stamp set. Very quick and easy! 

 Which one's your favorite? I think I'm going to have some friends over for hot chocolate, Christmas movies, and crafts so I can make my other dream cards into reality! Uh-oh... I might be addicted.

BRIGHT AND SHINY DECORATIVE PILLOWS

It's easy to hit the holiday refresh button when you have a few simple tricks up your sleeve for customizing plain pillow cases. Since we're spending this Christmas in a new space, I wanted to add some cozy touches to the living room without spending a lot of money. I took three plain pillow cases and a handful of supplies I already had on hand and came up with a set of pillows that feel cheerful and festive.

These same steps can be changed out with different colors for fun new pillows in any season, but they're an inexpensive way to make a big impact during the holidays when you want a little more sparkle. Below are three easy tutorials you can tackle in an afternoon.

Supplies:-alpha stickers (similar to these)-metallic fabric paint
-washi tape
-paint brush
-chipboard or cardboard

To make the painted negative space pillow, think of a fun phrase and spell it out using your alpha stickers. Start from the center of your words and work your way out for even spacing. Place some cardboard inside your pillow to protect it from leaky paint. I used tape to mark off a clean edge around the pillow case and then painted right over it to the edges of the pillow instead. Paint over the tops of your stickers and give the pillow top two coats of paint. Remove stickers and let it dry. 

Supplies:-pillow case
-gold sequins
-tacky glue
-chalk
-ruler
-needle and thread

To make the swiss cross sequin pillow, outline the shape of a swiss cross with your ruler and chalk in the center of your pillow. Add glue to the left section. Then start laying down your sequin trim starting in the top left corner, slightly overlapping your chalk line so it doesn't show. Keep running your trim up and down in lines, making sure your edges line up at the top and bottom. Once you get to the middle section, add more glue, and continue in your rows until you finish the final section. Tuck the last sequin cut underneath the one before it to hide the tail. Loosely stitch it down after it has dried for a little more stability.

Supplies:-pillow case
-thick yarn
-metallic fabric paint
-foam paint brush
-needle and thread

To make the pom-pom pillow, wind your yarn between your hands so that it stretches about 12" wide and about 75 times. Then tie a double-knot around the center with another piece of yarn and again about 3" from each end so that you have tied it in three places. Trim off the end loops and halfway between the knots. Fluff your pom-poms and trim them up so there aren't any stray pieces sticking out. Paint any geometric shape on the front with your gold paint and foam brush. Once it's dry, insert your pillow and stitch your poms on each corner. 

I love how decorative pillows help a space feel a little more pulled together and finished!

If we're honest, the swiss cross pillow will have a forever home on my bed. I just can't quit gold sequins!

TRY THIS: NO-SEW SWEATER WRAP

Guys, I made a sweater from a favorite blanket. Well, it's not really a sweater, per se. It's not a poncho or capelet either. Maybe tunic? I'm not sure what to call it, but it feels similar to wearing a poncho (if you've ever owned one of those or a similar garment), and it's SUPER cozy. I'd like to think this is a more fashionable version of a Snuggie. 

So, if anyone has ever wished they could find a way to wear a Snuggie in public, man, we are kindred spirits. And also, this post is for you. 

This blanket was a present from my dear friend Holly. You know Holly, she's been teaching us to crochet lately. She's the sweetest. And last year she gifted me this beautiful blanket, and it's been used as a throw blanket at our home since. Until one day I found the dogs had dragged it out the dog door while we were at work. It got quite dirty, and I was afraid it was ruined. I had it dry cleaned, and they were able to get most of the stains out. I just love the colors of this blanket, so I decided to turn it into something wearable instead. 

Now, I actually have been working on my sewing skills. We are currently developing a sewing-based e-course (written by Rachel and Katie), and I've been learning a lot as I help them edit, save materials, move things over to our shop site, etc. But since this fabric is a synthetic fleece and doesn't fray, I knew I could easily turn it into something wearable without any sewing skills at all. So, I went for it. Here's what I did. 

I have this vintage body form. But, if I didn't, I could have just as easily used myself and a full length mirror. This project was all about draping. Whatever you use, it needs to be something along these lines.

First, I figured out where I wanted the front opening and head area to be. In case you're curious, my blanket was originally about 65" in length.

I measured to center my cut and created a space for my neck. I cut 14 1/2" in (found from draping), and I decided how big to cut the neck hole by measuring my neck and adding an inch. 

After every cut, I draped the blanket back onto the form (or sometimes myself) to make sure I was on the right track and things were laying properly.

After draping again, I found that the arms were too long. I had to essentially "roll" the sleeves, which doesn't really work with this kind of garment. So I cut off both edges. This meant I lost the navy blue stripe, but I still had three of the four original colors, so I was OK with that.

The last thing I did was cut two small holes for a belt to loop through. I had grabbed this red belt from my donation pile, and I planned to swap it out with a better one later. But it ended up working so well with the colors that I just kept it—repurpose win!

I like to wear this with the belt looped around the front of the tunic but not the back. The belt goes on the inside around the back. You could easily wear it either way. I just like the flowy look of the back, so this is what I prefer.

As you can see, you just wrap it around, belt it, and you're good to go. One day I wore it with a long sleeve cotton shirt underneath, and another day I wore it with a sleeveless, sheer collared shirt. I preferred the second as the fleece won't move as much against the long sleeve cotton, making it a little more tricky to move in throughout the day. Also, this gets seriously warm, so the sleeveless shirt felt better underneath in addition to allowing for more movement with the fabric. 

And there you have it. About thirty minutes of "work" and no sewing skills, and I love it! Thanks for letting my share my "new" blanket sweater with you