Craft Night - Christmas Ornaments

 

Life has been a blur lately. I got caught up in Christmas craziness, got sick and there some other crazy stuff going on in life. As a result I forgot to post this about my latest craft night!

In the holiday spirit, we made Christmas ornaments!!! They were simple to make and did require that many materials. I cut out some shapes from old cereal boxes and added some mod podge and some Christmas themed scrapbook paper.

I was glad to see all the folks who came out. Some fabulous ornaments were made and it was all in all a fun time.

 

Even though it is a bit past Christmas, here is how you can make your own ornaments! After all it's only 12 months till next Christmas.

Materials & Tools

• Cardboard (cereal boxes work great!)
• Christmas themed scrapbooking paper
• Ribbon
• Mod Podge
• Foam brushes
• Scissors
• Hole puncher

Instructions

• Determine the size and shape of your ornament. I used Picmonkey.com to find some really nice shapes and I formatted them to the size I wanted.
• Trace your shapes on cardboard and cut them out
• Go through all of you christmasy paper and figure out what you would like to put on your ornament. Be sure to make them double sided for twice the Christmas magic!
• Once your design is figured out begin putting them together with Mod Podge. I recommend doing this step in layers alternated between mod podge and paper.
• After your ornament is assembled, use your hole puncher to make a hole towards the top of your ornament
• Take some ribbon and tie it around your ornament. Place that baby on the tree!

 

December is moving along. Despite feeling really crappy the past few weeks I have been making an effort to get some projects done. Here is what I have been up to.

We finally got a tree! This time around we went with a Basal fir. I was a little nervous because its my first Christmas with a cat. I hear they like to make a mess of Christmas trees. So far Bmo has been a good kitty and he has just been hanging out underneath it. 

I love putting together the tree every year because I forget what awesome ornaments we have. We have mostly Star Wars, a few Harry Potter and a lot of owls. One tradition we have been keeping up every year is that we each make our own ornament. I love seeing those because its part of our little story. 

Speaking of ornaments, I have been getting ready for the next Craft Night. I've been trying to get into the habit planning these out and I've had this idea for a while. Thanks to this nifty little tutorial, I've learned out to recycle cereal boxes for crafty exploits. I thought they would make perfect ornaments. So the base, mixed with some Holiday scrap paper, mod podge and ribbon, you've got the perfect personalized ornament. 

While unpacking I came across our little nativity. Its cute, but tiny. I'm not the most religious person but I feel that I needed to spiff up our nativity. I was inspired after seeing this on pinterest. Since I had some spare wood lying around I made a stencil and whipped this up in a few days.

 

After a lot of experimenting I think I may have finally perfected making my zipper pouches. I'm quite proud, so proud that I've listed some new pouches made with the new pattern and techniques. 

After the fun festivities of last weeks's Harry Potter themed bridal shower, it was followed up by the arrival of Caitie's invites! 

A Very Geeky Christmas.....

Hello out there! Its less than three weeks till Christmas. This is a fact that is freaking me out! If you are feeling a little unprepared for the holidays this year I have put together an Etsy treasury full of some of the geeky-ist items for all of the nerds on your list!

Last year I got some of my friends candles from Bubble & Geek and they smelt so good that I debated keeping them for myself! Hopefully this will help give you some holiday ideas!

'A Very Geeky Christmas' by Nerd Craft Librarian 

The holiday season is upon us! Here are some Etsy items to make any pop-culture obsessed nerd in your life quite happy for the holidays!

Star Wars ATAT holiday ... DoodleButton $12	Super Nintendo Holiday-... AwkwardAffect... $5	And To All A Who Night ... NinjaGreeting... $3.5	Gamer Geek hand decorat... ThePerfectCup $12
Christmas Is Coming Dir... ClassyWhaleTe... $12	Christmas Pinback Butto... TheOneStopBut... $4	BATMAN COMIC Christmas ... forbiddenfrui... $16	Handmade Comic Book Upc... Bookity $25
Gift Tags - Nerd Tags -... ableandgame $7	Star Wars Han Solo Bot... GeektasticCre... $6	Lord of the Rings inspi... NerdAlertCrea... $45	Harry Potter Book Movie... parenholly $40
I Love You More Than A ... rachaelwindem... $18	I like big books and I ... vitaminaeu $18	PICK 4 - 8 oz Jar Candl... bubbleandgeek $38	Luke Skywalker on Taunt... Megatone230 $45

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Christmas Memes - Meme for Monday

Merry Christmas !!!!!! I can't believe its here again! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you are spending it with those you love. To celebrate, please enjoy some Monday Meme's appropriate for Christmas. 

Its beginning to look a lot like....

Gyspy wanted to spread some Holiday cheer

So this Christmas thing has really been throwing off my bogging game. Its getting down to the wire and I have been running around, wrapping, baking cookies and a teeny bit of crafting before the big day is here.

Last night we got to relax a bit. For the last few years we host a holiday movie marathon and provide delicious noms. This year we made a ham, potine (french fries, cheese & gravy) which was pretty amazing. Tim also brewed up some eggnog. I was never was one for the stuff, it always looked like gross sour milk. Not this kinda nog.. it was so good!



As for feature presentation we had a few options including Jingle All the Way, Home Alone 2 and Pee-Wee Herman's Christmas Special. We ended up going with Die Hard (yes its a christmas movie) and A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas.

A lot of people forget that Die Hard is a Christmas movie but it does indeed taking place on Christmas eve so Hippi-Kai-yay Father Christmas!  Harold and Kumar was really funny, but in a self-aware ridiculous kind of way. It also left me with a desire for a Waffle bot. 

I have also had Christmas music in heavy rotation. One artist that always is a holiday favorite is Sufjan Stevens!!!!

I absolutely love Sujfan Stevens and this year was ecstatic to discover that he released a new Christmas album! I have been playing it non-stop. I also love his older christmas album too.. here is my favorite song from that album. If you have never heard of him or his music you must! Right this very second!

The Christmas Tree - Meme for Monday

Hey guys its Monday! I know this past weekend hasn't been an easy one so I hope this makes you smile a bit. That after all is the goal of Meme for Monday! 

With Christmas almost a week away I thought this meme would be seasonal. This is one of my all time favorites and it has become a Christmas tradition. If you haven't seen this prepare to laugh! I have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of this not only because its hilarious but because I know so many Long Island mom's that are like this (including my own). 

This is performed by comedian John Roberts. You may recognize the voice as Linda from Bob's Burgers. He has some other silly videos on his youtube channel. 

Countdown to Christmas!!!!

This year the Christmas season has been pretty easy going. I think thats because it is my first year not having to worry about finals... I get to actually enjoy the season! I have even had some time to catch up on some craft projects!

I made this main organizer because I am getting really tired of huge mail piles. I bought burlap fabric with vintage skeleton keys at Joann's. I didn't have a project in mind for it but I just really wanted it so boom, impulse buy. I put this together on a canvas we had laying around and viola! It came out pretty snazzy looking. I am in the midst of creating a tutorial for it, so look out for that soon! 

I have also been trying new types of crafts at work. Recently I did a craft with youngin's (ages 2 - 3) we  used shaving cream and food coloring to make a really neat marble effect when mixed on a paper plate. You then lay a piece of paper flat on top, then wipe away the shaving cream. I had some wintery type shapes for them to slap on it. I called it snowscapes. It wasn't as messy as I thought. Here is how my sample came out.

Getting back to Christmas fun time! I was excited to get my latest Whimsey box that was chock full of gift wrapping items! I also got a bunch of ribbon from my mother in law, which has been going to good use. I have been using brown packing paper to create my own wrapping paper. I have those sharpies left over form my mug craft and used those to make some fun whimsical wrapping paper. I think I got the wrapping thing down this year and proud of my skills! Here are the presents under our tree so far. 

I mentioned the mugs earlier and I got a bunch more for some customized christmas presents. I am working on a mustache for my friend fond of facial hair, Margaret and one for my sea cow loving friend Laura. I hope she will enjoy some mana-tea with it! 

Also don't forget about my friend Michele and her epic giveaway for the entire month of December! Go check it out at Short Girl, Long Island

Mug Shots

Some of nerdo friends, a few of them came over the other night and we had ourselves a little craft night. It seems that since a lot of people are still in school and the hurricane it has thrown a lot of things off. So after going the whole month of November with out a craft night, I called Michele and said 'girl we gotta meet up.' I had the idea of making possible Christmas gifts, because you know...tis the season.

Michele perfecting mugtastic-ness

I got some pin-spiration which led me to the blog, The Sweetest Occasion. It had great instructions and I decided that I needed to try it. I stopped at the Dollar Tree (guys this is my new favorite place!)

So we sat in my craft dungeon, waiting for some idea to come to us. We were on our iPhones waiting for inspiration to hit when I mentioned possibly doing something Harry Potter related like a snitch or a lightening bolt. Morgan suggested that I make his face. I really like the idea of drinking coffee out of Harry Potter's head, so I went for it! Morgan sketched out some tree branches while Michele went for some funky ass shapes. It was fun making them and just chatting with the gals. After we were done we baked those bad boys in the oven. Here are the results!

The next morning I made use of Potter mug. It made coffee taste all the more magical! I also plan on making another trip to the dollar store and stocking up on more mugs because I think these are going to be everyones christmas presents this year (to those that read the blog, act surprised!) I'll even get some hot cocoa or K-Cups and stick in the little muggles (get it? Potter humor) 

If you want to make your own here is what I did to make them. I followed the instructions from this blog I mentioned earlier (the Sweetest Occasion)


Materials & Tools

• White ceramic mug
• An array of sharpie markers 
• Oven 

Instructions

• Clean those mugs good! I used soap, water and a bit of windex 
• Think of something super neato to put on your mug
• Start drawing your design. Its ok if you make a mistake! Break out that windex and wipe away the oops.
• Now you can bake 'em! DO NOT PRE-HEAT! The ceramic is very sensitive to temperature. So stick them in the over THEN turn the over to 350 * 
• Set a timer for 30 minutes. After the timer is done, turn the oven off let' the mugs cool.
• Then enjoy! 
• F.Y.I. best not to put them in the dishwasher or microwave

Getting ready for the Holidays!

This week I have been getting ready for Christmas! I have been crossing a few names off my shopping list, how are you fairing? In the spirit of the shopping season this week I am having a sale at Nerd Craft Librarian on Etsy, just use the coupon code Holiday at check out!

My friend Michele over at Short Girl, Long Island is also doing some exciting things for December! She had a big birthday earlier in the month and to celebrate her birthday, and the Holiday season she is going to have a giveaway for everyday in December! If you haven't been to her blog yet, go check it out. More information about the month of epic giveaways will be posted soon. I will also be making something quite snazzy as a contribution to the giveaway. So be sure to enter!