I always look for ways to bring in as many different types of crafting as possible when I make my trees. For one thing, the contrast looks better, for another, it keeps me far more interested than churning out one clay (or paper, or fabric, whatever) ornament after another. I’m what I would describe as an “intermediate” knitter, and I’ve never done anything that required this kind of shaping, so this was a nice challenge for me.

I used Bamboo Ewe yarn from the Stitch Nation line made by red heart yarns. It’s a great yarn to work with, ESPECIALLY for the price. I stitched it up on size 8 double pointed needles.

To begin:
Cast on 6 stitches. Join for working in the round in your favorite manner. I just started stitching onto the next row.

Round 1: knit into the front of the stitch, then knit into the back of the stitch. (kfb) [12 sts]
Round 2: *kfb, k1* repeat to the end of the round. [18 sts]
Round 3: *kfb, k2* repeat to the end of the round. [24 sts]
Round 4: *kfb, k3* repeat to the end of the round. [30 sts]
Round 5: knit. [30 sts]

Turn the work over to change the direction. To prevent a hole, draw the thread to the knit side of the piece, and slide one stitch from the end of the round over on to the needle starting the beginning of the round.

Round 6: knit.
Rounds 17 – 20: purl.

Round 21: *purl 4, then purl 2 stitches together.* Repeat to the end of the round. [25 sts]
Round 22: *P4, p2tog* repeat until one stitch remains, P1. [21 sts]
Round 23: *P2, p2tog* repeat until one stitch remains, P1. [16 sts]
Round 24: *P2, p2tog* repeat to the end of the round. [12 sts]
Stuff the gumdrop with filling.

Round 25: *P1, p2tog* repeat to the end of the round. [8 sts]
Round 26: *p2tog* repeat to the end of the round. [4 sts]
Cut the yarn leaving about an 8 inch tail.
Cast off by purling, then pulling the remainder of the yarn all the way through. Pull the tail tight to close the top of the gumdrop.

Use that leftover string to make a hanger. Make a loop out of the yarn, and then use the loop to tie a knot around itself right at the base of the ornament. Cut the leftover yarn so that there’s only a few inches left, then poke it to the inside of the ornament.

Aside from the price, the main reason I chose the Bamboo Ewe yarn to work with is because it came is such delightfully gumdroppy colors. This color palette dictated the whole rest of the tree and I think it set just the right sweet tone.

Peppermint is really what inspired this whole tree. Over the years I’ve seen so many gorgeous themed trees in that high contrast red and white and I knew I wanted some of that in my house. I couldn’t bring myself to stay there, but I wanted plenty of it reflected around all the other treats.

Browsing through the wood aisle at the craft store I came across some flat wooden discs in a couple of different sizes. I knew they would be simple to work with, and I loved the opportunity to play with scale by having some ornaments that seemed giant mixed in with all the other regular sized ones.

I started by painting both sides of the discs white, then drawing on the curves that would become the alternating red and white of the peppermint.

Carefully following those pencil lines, I painted every other section bright red. You can see that I didn’t worry to much about how pretty it looked. The white paint you’ll want a nice thorough coat, but with the red we just want some color down. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

When the red paint is dry, go back over it with a white glue, then dump red glitter on the top and shake off the extra. If you wanted to, you could repeat this step with white glitter for the white sections, but I actually liked it better with just the red sections glittered. It amped up that contrast and made it look even more sparkly then sparkles would alone.

Paint and glitter the back side in the same way, and when the whole thing is dry glue a ribbon on the back for a hanger.

Because you are my friends I’ll save you the hassle of geometry and provide the pattern. You could shrink or enlarge these as you need to get the size of the discs you’ll be using, but I think these are somewhat standard sizes. Click on the picture and download the original size.

Is there any Christmas sweet more iconic than a gingerbread house? Maybe a case could be made for the candy cane coming in first, but a gingerbread house is an absolute must. I went for a house that looked a little less candy-draped, and a little more realistic looking, but still covered in loads of “icing”.

Download the pattern and trace it onto a gingerbread colored piece of cardstock.

Cut the pattern out and fold along the thin black lines shown on the pattern.

Spread glue on the tabs, fold all the sides up to meet each other, and press the tabs onto the inside of the long side pieces to create the body of the house.

Cut and score the roof piece of the house. Bend the roof piece along the fold line and, while folded, use a hole punch to make a hole in the center of the roof.

Tie a loop in a length of ribbon, and make the knot big enough so that it can’t go through the hole you’ve just made. Thread the ribbon through the hole from the bottom of the roof to create your hanger.

Next you’ll want to cover all your seams with the “icing.” The stuff I used is magic. It’s similar to fabric puff paint, but if you use a heat gun on it it puffs up. I found them in the fabric paint section at my local Beverly’s, but I also found them available online here. I loved this stuff so much it was hard for me to not pull it out for every single ornament. It makes the perfect fake icing. If you can’t find this paint, I’m sure a traditional puff paint would work just as well, you’d probably just have to plan ahead to allow for dry time.

Glue the roof on the house by running a bead of glue all the way around the top edge of the house and carefully placing the roof on top. Don’t worry too much about any gaps because your puffy icing can cover all that up for you. Run icing all around the seams, the edge of the roof, and along the roof to make shingles.

Next I made the windows. If you want your gingerbread house to look more edible, you could use candy stickers, or even actual candy if you sprayed it with a sealer. I wanted to stick with paper and keep things cheap, so I used translucent velum to make my windows and made the frame with tiny strips of cardstock.

For the larger windows on the side of the house:
Cut the vellum to a 3/4″ square. For the interior sashing, cut pieces to 1/16″ thick. For the exterior frame, cut the pieces to 1/8″ thick.

For the smaller windows on the front and back of the house:
Cut the vellum to a 1/2″ square. For the interior sashing, cut pieces as thin as you can. For the exterior frame, cut the pieces to 1/16″ thick.

When working with pieces this small, my favorite glue is Martha Stewart’s glue pen. I didn’t try and cut pieces to the exact size, I just glued a strip in place and then cut the extra to match the size of the vellum square.

The doors are a dark red piece cut to 3/4″ wide by 1 1/4″ tall. Then I cut a lighter red to create panels. The bottom pieces measure 1/4″ side by 1/2″ high, and the top pieces measure 1/4″ square. The doorknob is a large seed bead I had lying around.

Glue the windows and doors in place and finish decorating with the puff paint icing to make snow. I used the same puff paint but in green to make the wreath for the doors.

Click on the picture and download the original size.

If I wasn’t already so committed to my Christmas decorating plan, I think I’d be tempted to make a whole village of these little guys. Maybe down the road I’ll do that when Atti’s interested in having a little Christmas world of his own.

When I was a kid and saw those giant lollipops in Willy Wonka, my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. It seemed like the height of decadance to have a lollipop as big as my face. Then we went on a family trip to Disneyland and I used up all my vacation money to buy one, only to get completely sick of eating it and stuck either missing out on rides while I ate this ridiculously big candy, or throw it away and waste my money. This is definitely one of those items that is better in theory. Or in this case, in fabric.

Cut a strip of fabric 2 1/2″ wide by the length of fabric off the bolt. Match the right sides together and sew into a tube.

Turn the tube right side out and lightly stuff. Be careful not to overstuff, you need the tubes to stay flexible. Tuck the ends in and glue shut.

Roll the tube up from one end, gluing as you go.

In the candy making aisle at any major craft store, you can find little cardboard sticks to use in making lollipops. I bought some of those and then cut a few inches off of one end to look as if the stick was actually all the way inside the lollipop. Cut a small hole right where the end of the coil is glued down, and glue the cardboard stick inside the hole.

Tuck the ends of a piece of ribbon in between the layers of lollipop, and glue in place.

This polkadot fabric I used has all the colors I was trying to bring in so it was a perfect discovery. But I think if you used something with a stripe, especially a large scale stripe, you could get a really trippy effect.

Sugar cookies are Bear’s very favorite treat in the whole world. Especially those kind you can sometimes find in vending machines or gas stations where the frosting is neon pink and the cookie is about an inch thick. Even now that he’s a baker and knows so much better, that technicolor sugar cookie stays with him like only a food you loved as a child can.

Cut the pattern pieces out of wool felt, and use a zigzag stitch to sew the icing to one of the layers of cookie.

Sew the two layers of cookie, right sides together, leaving an opening. Turn it right side out.

Stuff the cookie lightly, so it looks puffy, not round. Cut a short length of ribbon and tuck the ends into the opening. Fold the edges of the felt towards the inside and glue shut. If you are super neat you could close this opening with stitches, but I prefer glue for Christmas ornaments because it’s so much faster and you won’t notice any shortcuts when it’s on the tree.

Dot the icing with little drops of white glue and push a bead down to make a sprinkle. You could use all kinds of different colors for rainbow sprinkles, or even use buttons if you want a larger impact.

Getting the pattern is just the same as the last few days. Click on the picture, bring up all sizes, and download the original size. Although this one is so easy you really don’t need my pattern. Just make a circle whatever size you want, and then make a blobby shape to go on top.

A few months ago I asked over twitter what people’s favorite Christmas sweets were and then tried to think about ways to make them in fabric or clay. Some of them I gave up on – like Peppermint Bark – and others I took in a whole different direction. Several people listed chocolates or candies that they only eat at this time of the year, so then my brainstorming went straight off into candyland. I was thinking about those brightly colored licorice candies, or pieces of saltwater taffy, and this is what I came up with.

It couldn’t be simpler to make.

Glue together the ends of six pieces of wool felt, cut into strips 1″ wide. I used the full width of the fabric from the bolt, but you can make the pieces as long or as short as you’d like to determine the finished size of your ornament.

Then it’s just a matter of gluing and rolling. I used a white tacky glue because you will use a lot of it. Each layer needs to be glued down as you go. I found it easiest to spread the glue over the top of the curve, and then press the wool down on top of it. If you tried to glue the pieces together before you rolled you’d end up with a bumpy and misshapen candy. Going one layer at a time allows the wool to take on the curve shape in a nice smooth way.

When you are nearly finished and are just gluing the last couple of layers down, insert the ends of a piece of ribbon between them to create your hanger.

Cut the excess ends off in a stacked manner.

I was inspired by the bright colors of wool I found in the shop and how I imagined that looking on the tree, but once I was done making these I thought, “Oh my gosh! This is a cinnamon bun!” If you did five pieces in tan and one piece in brown, it would be a perfect cinnamon bun ornament. I might have to give that option a try for next year.

My hot chocolate obsession is well documented in the pages of this blog, so this seemed like another no-brainer in the list of must-have Christmas treats, but it was one of the last things I got around to making. I am not a softie maker ordinarily, so this was a bit of a stretch for me. The plus side of that for you is that since it was beginner softie designed, it will be a beginner softie to make.

From wool felt, cut one piece for the mug measuring 4″ by 8″. Cut another piece for the handle measuring 2″ x 4″. Match the right sides together and sew each piece into a tube.

Cut out the rest of the pieces using the downloaded pattern. Fold the whipped cream piece in half and sew down from the point.

Pin the cocoa circle into one end of your mug piece, and sew into place.

Sew the two saucer circles together all the way around, then cut a hole in the center to turn it right side out. This hole will be covered when you glue the mug on top of it. I placed a little bit of glue inside the saucer to adhere the two layers together. That just looked a little more “saucer-like” to me.

Now all your pieces are sewn together and it’s time to assemble. Turn the mug right side out and loosely stuff, stopping about an inch from the top. Cut that remaining inch into tabs.

Glue those tabs down to create the bottom of the mug, overlapping them and pulling them taut to make as neat a bottom as you can.

Glue your mug to your saucer.

Turn the handle piece right side out and fold the edges towards the inside to hide them.

Turn the whipped cream piece right side out and lightly stuff. Cut tabs into the bottom in the same way you did for the mug, just about 1/4″ and glue down towards the center.

Glue both ends of the handle onto the mug, pinning it in place as necessary while it dries. Glue the whipped cream blob on top, let the whole thing get good and dry, and it’s ready for hanging.

To download the pattern, click on the picture to go to flickr. Then select “actions” and “view all sizes” above the picture and download the original size.

I was figuring this out as I went and ended up using a combination of white glue, fabric glue, and hot glue, so I don’t think there’s a wrong way to go. I could’ve used fabric glue for everything except I was trying to save a few pennies by using the cheap white glue, and the hot glue just made putting on the handle way easier. But I think you’ll get by just fine using whatever glue you like the best.

I toyed around with the idea of decorating the mug. I think a little hand embroidery or some rick rack around the rim could be adorable. I decided I had so much going on with the tree already that it didn’t need it, but I think I would experiment with that a little bit more if I was making these as stand alone gifts.

Crosstitch was my first love, so I don’t need much of an excuse to pull it out, but it’s also such a nice way of bringing in a different medium, a little different look, a little contrast to the tree while still in keeping with the theme.

I used 28 ct linen and stitched the design using one strand of floss over one thread of the linen (instead of the standard two threads) so that the design would be small enough to fit into these cheap little frames. If you stitched it over two threads, it would be large enough to frame in a 5 x 7 frame.

If you’re new to crosstitching, here’s some great tutorials:
Animated Sampler Stitch (select Surface Stitches – Cross Stitch Danish)
Celtic Cross Stitch
Instructions from DMC

Once I had my piece all stitched up, I wrapped it around a thin piece of cardboard and placed it in the frame, and then glued a ribbon around the frame, leaving it loose at the top to act as the hanger.

To download the pattern, click on the picture to go to flickr, then click on “actions,” then “all sizes” above the photo. Download the original size, which I formatted ready to print. Hopefully flickr will think so too.

The first step in decorating a Christmas tree is adding the garland. Well, the first step on a pre-lit tree anyway. And for a tree focused on the traditional treats of Christmas, a popcorn and cranberry garland seemed a natural fit.

But have you ever tried to make one of those? It’s a total pain in the butt. Neither the popcorn or cranberries seem to want to be strung. The cranberries are as hard as pebbles as you force the needle through, and the popcorn crumbles as you try and make a hole. Then the whole thing grows stale so that by the end of the season you’re eager to get rid of it and have to start the process from scratch next year. As much as I love the iconic look of the popcorn garland, I was not eager to dedicate time every year fighting to get that made. A permanent option was required, so I pulled out the polymer clay.

This is a great project for polymer clay newbies. It’s just rolling ball shapes, you don’t need any tools or sculpting talent, but you can achieve the traditional popcorn garland once and for all and never have to make it again.

White polymer clay will pick up every speck of dirt, so wash your hands before you start and work on a clean surface. I like to work on parchment paper because it’s non-stick, makes cleanup easy, and I can use the same piece to take the work straight into the oven.

Cut the brick into quarters along those marked lines, then cut those columns into thirds.

Cut those thirds into thirds again, and then set one of those small pieces aside. Each piece of popcorn will use two of those third pieces, which by this point in our cutting works out to be 2/36ths of the entire brick. If I did my math right.

Cut one of those small third pieces into fourths.

Roll each of your pieces up into a rough ball shape. The best thing about sculpting a piece of popcorn is that you’re aiming for chaos. So precision actually works against you in this project. Wonky shapes and ovals only make things look more realistic.

Press each of the small balls into the bottom of the larger ball and arrange them as desired to get the most “popcorny” look.

Take a tiny ball of yellow clay and press it into the bottom of the popcorn piece.

Push a skewer through the middle of the popcorn to make a hole for stringing. Don’t be afraid to make this nice and big, you’ll thank yourself during the stringing process.

When you’re all done with the white clay, then break out the cranberry colored clay. Red clays leave marks on everything, so don’t even think about working on this before your popcorn pieces.

Cut the brick into four pieces along the marked lines, then fourths. I liked a little variation in the size of my cranberries, so I cut some pieces into fifths instead of fourths, but it really doesn’t have to be precise.

Roll your pieces up and run them through with the skewer. Bake all your pieces according to the instructions on the packaging, keeping the cranberries and the popcorn pieces on separate cookie sheets so the colors don’t transfer. When they’re cool, thread them onto a piece of yarn.

So I admit that this isn’t the speediest project I’ve ever designed, but what you put out in labor one year you’ll be grateful for every other year as you get that wonderful homey look without any additional effort.