DIY: Christmas Paper Village

Hello friends,

 

 I am following through on my promise to make a paper village DIY.  I got inspired a week ago when I saw this display at Anthropologie.  I went to work on it last night and here are the steps to creating your very own winter display.  I found the instructions on how to make the trees from the Enchanted learning website and the inspiration and idea from the Anthropologie store.  It is Very easy to do! Have fun!

STEP ONE: 
Gather your materials. You will need:

- scissors
- tape
- white paper (2 sheets for each tree, and one sheet for each house)
- pencil
- cotton balls, glitter, or anything you want for the snow.

 

 STEP TWO: fold two pieces of white paper in half, one inside the other.  Then draw a tree pattern at the fold of the paper.

STEP THREE: cut out the tree!

STEP FOUR: then separate your two tree pieces.

STEP FIVE: cut a slit with your scissors from the top of the tree down to the center on ONE of the trees, and then cut a slit from the bottom of the tree to the center on the second tree. (they fit together this way like a puzzle)

 

STEP SIX: fit the trees together by sliding the tree that opens at the bottom onto the tree that opens at the top!  then tape the top pieces together and then tape the bottom pieces together. TA-DA!

 

 

 

STEP SEVEN: If you want a house for your village, here is a house decal of the house I made.  You can print it out if you need too :)

 



 

 And a church decal :) the cross is at the bottom to cut out and tape to the top.  I ran out of room on the paper :)

 

 STEP EIGHT: Cut out the houses and put everything together to create your very own village! I added cotton balls for a snowy effect :)

a cozy village

A snowy tree

A christmas church

A home to keep you warm

 Hope you enjoyed the DIY, if you have any questions feel free to email me at lknitter09@gmail.com.  I'd be happy to answer questions, and get your feedback :)

Have a lovely evening and keep warm! :)

 

 

From Christmas tunes to falling under Christian Grey's spell...

Hello friends,

I have been really getting into the holiday spirit lately, have you?  I have been listening to Amy Grant’s “The Night Before Christmas”.  It is one of my all time favorite songs for Christmas along with “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey, a classic.


Night before Christmas - Amy Grant

I have been loving Rihanna’s song “Diamonds”.  It is so amazing and I love the intensity, you can tell there is so much emotion behind her words.  She has been through a lot with Chris Brown.  Speaking of intensity, P!nk’s “Try” is amazing too and the music video is just so captivating, reminds me of So You Think You Can Dance.  I am really impressed by her talent.

Diamonds - Rihanna

 Try - P!nk 

I will be sewing on the buttons of my sister’s scarf tonight and we will be doing a photoshoot soon to show off the new scarf.  I will be starting the scarf for my mom soon as well with the purple wool. J

Scarf in progress, just need to add buttons!

 

I am almost done "50 Shades Darker" by E. L. James and it is getting pretty good now.  I can’t wait to finish this one and then move on to the final “50 Shades Freed”.  This trilogy is amazing, I truly recommend it.

Photo cred.

 

 

Have a great night!

 

 

Christmas parade & things to be made...

Hello Friends, 

This morning I went to the local Santa Clause Parade in my town with my sister.  It has become a tradition to go and check out what our community has in store for us each Christmas.   I took a lot of photos.  I wanted to share some of them with you...

Dashing through the snow, on a one-horse open sleigh....

and you cannot forget the Christmas lights..

an owl? cute and giving all the children hugs xo

A dog with a passenger, too cute!

adorable pony



The Grinch and Mary Lou Who, her hair was done up just like the character.



Me, by the town Christmas tree :)



The big man in red, Santa Clause :)

 I also went into some shops in town and one of them was Anthropologie which is one of my favorite stores for just browsing because the displays are usually so impressive and make you feel happy just by looking at them.  The prices are high but the quality looks to match them. 

I took some photos while I was there because I was inspired by some of the art and some things that I could make myself.  I spotted some jars with wintery displays inside and then spotted some paper decor.  I was thinking it could be a good future couple of DIYs J.

Clever idea

so simple

 

The scarf is almost done, my sister wore it today at the parade but I have not added the buttons yet.  I cannot wait to finally share the pictures with you.  My sister has kindly agreed to model them for an entry soon J

 Have a good night and may tomorrow bring even more happiness.

 

 

DIY: White Yarn Christmas Wreath

Hello friends,

I’m sorry I haven’t posted for a couple days now.  I have been busy with my placement and course work.  I have a DIY for you though..... J  It is a fun and quick holiday craft.  A Christmas wreath! I found the craft on the Better Homes and Gardens website.  I fell in love with this wreath and had to try it out for myself.  I made a tutorial as well and documented making it along the way.  I hope you have as much fun making it as I did!

 You will need:

-         Stryofoam wreath or straw wreath with the plastic still on.

-          White yarn

-          Felt, three pieces in red and olive color

-          Hot glue gun and glue sticks

       -          Six faux pearls (I didn't use them in my demonstration)

-          Florist’s pick with red and green berries.

 

 

 

Step 1:  glue the beginning of the wool you will use to wrap your wreath so it doesn’t unravel. 

  

Step 2:  Begin to wrap the white yarn all the way around your wreath until it looks like this!  (watch out for overlapping, make sure none of the green is showing through)  Then glue the last of the yarn when your yarn finally meets the starting point.

Step 3: glue on the berries on the side of the wreath.

Step 4: cut out 5” by 5” squares and then cut into circles.  Then on the back of the circle draw a spiral.  Cut the spiral out.  Then fold it into flowers by rolling the spiral from the center out.

Step 5: then you end up with these! (pretty aren’t they?)

Step 6: glue the six flowers below the berries stem, there should be four bigger flowers and 2 smaller flowers.

Step 7: cut two leaves out of the olive felt.  Then glue them on also.

Step 8:  Ta-da! You have your Christmas wreath to put on your front door or in your home to be all ready to celebrate the holiday season.

 Enjoy!

 

Have a good night and enjoy your day tomorrow!

 

 

Cleaning messy faces by day and dancing Gangnam Style by night...

Hello friends,

 

Yesterday in my classroom, we had the graduation celebration for the children moving up to preschool and it was also a joint birthday party for  another little guy turning two.  They all looked adorable with cake smeared all over their faces.  



Photo credit

 I had a fun time last night at a club for a birthday event. I went with my friend Leeanna (Elle-tea), it was her friend's 23rd birthday with another friend and they got a big group together.   We all had so much fun dancing and of course as mentioned in the title, Gangnam stlye came on and we went wild.   Yesterday I bought a cute new dress from H&M for the night that was 35 dollars originally, but using a gift card I got from my work ... it was only $8 :D I love saving (who doesn’t). Here’s the dress J

 

The dress I wore :)

beautiful lace

Front of the dress, lace flowers

 

I will be working on a DIY craft for tomorrow and today I will also be working on getting my scarf all knitted up!

Have a relaxing, fabulous Saturday J

Lisa

 

 

 

 

 

Obama wins and children grow wings...

Hello Friends,

Photo credit

Today was an emotional day as three of my toddlers were visiting the preschool room to move up next week. The relationships that I have formed with the children and parents are all so amazing that I was upset that they would be moving on.  It just is not quite the same once they move to another room, even though they are in the same building.   I am really happy and feeling proud that the children have become sweet and kind little people and that I have helped a bit in that process and transformation. 

 Underemployed cast.  photo credit

I was watching this new show on Mtv.ca tonight called Underemployed. It is a really good show about 5 friends all in their early twenties trying to figure their lives out. The title explains the show well, they are employed but not making what they would like and are struggling but they have something that is much more important. Friendships that will last a lifetime and such a close bond.  I got a lot of knitting done while watching this show tonight! :) 

I am so happy that Obama was re-elected as President. There are so many clever photos I have seen on Facebook that just are so entertaining to look at. Here are some that have truly stood out...

Facebook

 

 Photo credit

 

Facebook

 

Have a great night everyone!

Lisa J

Snowy days and knitting away....

Hello friends,



Today it actually snowed!  I was driving to my placement site and it was snowing.  It didn’t stay on the ground but it is sure crazy when you see the first snowfall.  I am a cross between thinking “yay snow, that means Christmas is coming!” and “oh no.... the first snowfall, it will get worse”.  I’d rather think the positive of course.  CHRISTMAS IS 50 DAYS AWAY! Speaking of snow, I hope we have a white Christmas this year !

Snow, it wasn't this dark.  But it was amazing.

Tonight I was knitting away my sister's scarf, it's nearly done except for the pockets. I also want to finish soon because I have this lovely wool below to work with for my mom.  I promised her a scarf with this "flaunt" wool to make a ruffled scarf.  Can't wait :)

 

 

 I was also looking up different music and working on assignments.  I have so many things I want to be doing right now that working on assignment seems so boring, but I have to get started soon.

 Have a good night, and good start to your day tomorrow!

Lisa J