Newest Name Signs

Christmas Tags

As a gift to my sister I made masonite tags for her to use on her neighbor gifts. I also made several for myself to use the same way. I love to tie these to gifts because once the goodies are gone, the recipient still has the little tag to hang on their tree or display on a tiny stand.

And because they are made on masonite and have a protective layer of Mod Podge on the top, they are quite durable and should last for years.

I made these exactly the same way I did my CHRISTMAS ADVENT TAGS.

First Friday Art Class for December 2013 - Christmas Angels and Doodles

Today our focus was Christmas. We began with some fun Christmas doodles. We did ornaments, strings of lights, presents, bells, bows, and letters accented with snowflakes.

Here's a Christmas Doodle worksheet of all the doodles we did. (The optical illusion bells are from texasdoxiemama).

We did all these doodles together with me working on a white board and the girls working in their sketchbooks or on a blank piece of paper.

These doodles are really fun and easy to do and they look so sweet. And if you add color to them, they really pop!!

We then moved onto some sweet Christmas angels. These took me back to my elementary school days. Do you remember making angles with doily wings? :)

Paper Doily Angels

Supplies needed:
Paper doilies (I got mine at Joann's in the baking section--they are about 3-1/2" across)
Scrap paper for the dress and face
Colored pencils
Black markers
Glue stick (for the paper)
Glue gun (for the accessories)
Gold paint (optional)
Misc. items for accessories (pearl trim, gold thread, heart punches, brads, beads, tiny buttons, ric arc, etc.)

What you do:
1. Fold a paper doily in half, unfold it and cut along the fold line. This half circle becomes your angel's wings.

2. Draw a head on white paper. Color it and outline the features in black pen. We tried to remember to make them look very serene and sweet.
3. Cut out the head.
4. Using the wings and the head as size references, cut a triangle to be the angel's dress.
5. Glue the head to the top of the triangle dress and glue the wings to the back of the dress.
6. Accessorize your angel and add any other finishing touches you'd like to add. (We dry brushed some gold paint on some of the wings to give it a little shimmer).

Here's back view to help you see the construction of the angel:

Here are the girls' darling angels:

You could make a whole choir of these angelic cuties. You could also glue a magnet or clothespin to the back of them or mount them on a Christmas card.

Okay, now get out there and do some doodles and make some angels! :)

See you next month.

Gray Knitted Cowl - Free Pattern

Gray Cowl

Needles: US 8

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton – just under 3 skeins

CO 40

Row 1 (RS) – Knit

Row 2 (WS) – Purl

Row 3 (RS) – Knit

Rows 4-12 – k4, (yo, k2tog) to the last 4 stitches, k4

Row 13 (RS) - Knit

Row 14 (WS) – Purl

Row 15 (RS) – Knit

Row 16 (WS) – Knit (this knit row on the wrong side creates the purl ridge on the right side, in the middle of the stockinette segment)

Row 17 (RS) – Knit

Row 18 (WS) – Purl

Row 19 (RS) – Knit

Repeat rows 4-19 until desired length. (I did them 22 times)

Repeat rows 4-12 1 more time

Repeat rows 1-3

BO loosely

Seam the two ends together.

My finished size before blocking was 8" wide and 50" around.