DIY Sew Toddler Stuffed Christmas Tree and Ornaments

This was definitely a labor of love project!  2 years later, I finally have something I can show off.  I believe I started this right after Connor's first Christmas when I had the great idea that he could decorate his own child-proof tree the next year.

I started out with some fleece and made my famous stuffed tree, but a giant version that was much bigger than the normal 10-12" one.

The star was the hardest part.  I had to find a way to get it to stay on and be child-friendly.  Using a party hat and a star cut out as my inspiration, I created a felt version that fit on the tree.

It took a few attempts to get it to work, but I figured it out eventually.


I used a blanket stitch around the outside edge of the star.




The ornaments were the hard part, but I wanted to go all out with these.  I did some sketches of the ideas I had, so I would be able to plan the designs.


Seriously, these must have taken months to finish, but the end result was adorable.  Each one has little buttons and hand-stitching on it.

To get the ornaments to stay on the tree, I added big buttons to each tree branch.

At some point, I finally finished this thing and put it in the basement with the other holiday things.  I got busy and forgot about it until the other day when I found it!  Connor is the perfect age for it now and I'm so happy I have it for him!

He loved decorating it!

Sesame Street Birthday Party DIY

My little guy just turned 2!  (They grow up way too fast!)  I wanted to share some of the cute decorations and designs I made for his Sesame Street party.

I designed invitations and backed them on colored cardstock.  I also printed matching address labels for the envelopes.  (My trick to save money is to buy a package of colored card stock and cut them to size rather than buying individual sheets from a craft store.  I save a lot of money and then I have leftover cardstock to use for other projects.)

Party hat with a yarn pom-pom

Noise makers - not just for the kids!

I took off the fabric garden flag we had up and replaced it with a sign backed on cardboard.  Of course, this wouldn't work in bad weather, but it was a perfect day out.

Front door sign

Right inside the front door, I set up a little table with balloons, Sesame Street characters, goody bags, and noise makers.  On the wall, I hung up photos from the year with the month written on each one so guests could see how he's grown during the past year.

Happy Birthday banner and colored streamers in the kitchen

Chocolate-covered pretzels are always a hit at every party we have!

Cookie Monster and Elmo fruit platters

Rubber duckies swimming in blue jello

We decided on a hot dog buffet for dinner because it's one of Connor's favorite foods.

I put all the utensils in the Elmo basket and hung balloons from the handle.

The one thing I didn't make was the cake, but the bakery did a great job on it.  Connor was so excited when he saw a giant Elmo on his cake!

It tasted good too!

We had a great time and Connor was such a big boy!

CHEAP St. Patrick's Shamrock Door Decor

You can't beat $1 and 2 minutes of your time to make this cute little shamrock for your door!  I can't believe I still don't have anything to hang on my door for St. Patrick's Day when I have something for every other holiday throughout the year. 

I was browsing the aisles at Dollar Tree when I came across this big felt shamrock and it looked like the perfect size to hang on the front door.  All I did was grab some green ribbon and a big industrial-size needle to make the hanger.  I threaded the ribbon in the needle and then made a loop at the top of the shamrock to create the little hanger.  For a minute, I wondered if any craft project could really be this easy...but it was!

I love how it looks from the street when you drive by our house.  It's a little pop of color on our white door!

Surfing Santa Hawaiian Office Christmas Decorations

I've seen a few different blogs that talked about decorating for the holidays at work.  It's hard to come up with something unique, but still appropriate for work decorations.  At our office, we started a department decorating contest last year, and we all work really hard to be the winning group with a really unique idea.

After many brainstorming sessions, we decided to go with the Tiki Tidings & Surfing Santa theme.  This was a huge labor of love and we spent many, many hours perfecting our design.  I'm so proud of how it turned out!

The surfing Santa is on foam core and hanging from the ceiling.

Santa Seahorse with his sleigh of fish

North Pole Beach with suntanning Santa

Melted snowman hangin' out on the beach...until he melted!

All of the interior aisles with cubes were decorated like this with the sand, water, green fringe, colored lights, and random fish with Santa hats.

Did anyone do anything really creative for their decorations this year?  We already need to start planning for next year!