The Christmas Card I Should Have Sent…

I had great ideas about Christmas cards this year. We actually purchased a new camera so we could take better pictures. And the pictures are better. But the poses...and the photographer...still the same!

I've gotten so many beautiful cards from friends this year that I couldn't help considering bucking the tradition of sending the prettiest, perfectly styled family and send the funniest card.



Nothing says ‘Merry Christmas’ like a scrunched up newborn face and two less-than-enthusiastic kids.

I actually had a whole list of outtakes from attempted Christmas photo shoots to share, but I decided they might embarrass all my boys someday. (So I'll just share them with relatives instead!)

I still don’t have my [actual] cards. Maybe after Christmas I'll get them sent out.

I guess I should have started earlier. But this is the card I thought I should have sent. Maybe I'll write a Christmas letter that I should have sent and share it here, too.

Last-Minute Christmas Prep.

We have been decorating cookies.

Neon cookies, to be precise.

Past Christmas Posts

Here are a few Christmas Posts from past years at the Monkey See, Monkey Do home that could serve as ideas for your own Christmas decor!

I can't wait to put these wreaths up again!

Felt Wreath Tutorial

Fire Truck Christmas Ornament: Tutorial & Pattern

If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you know that my three year-old son loves fire trucks. I decided we’d better have some fire trucks on our Christmas tree this year.

So I cut up some felt scraps and sewed them into some trucks. Don't worry, I traced them before I sewed them together to share with you. Here’s the pattern link.  It’s a very rough sketch, but it’s just a Christmas ornament. You get the idea.

Framed Wreath with Felt Garland

We have nothing decorating the white walls of our downstairs bathroom. Nothing. I decided it was time to change that.

“Window” Blanket

Before I start, I just want to warn that it is really tough to get a good picture of a large blanket.

I made a blanket for my 2-year old for Christmas. He needs a large blanket. He’s still in a crib, but soon will move to a toddler bed. We’re planning to wait until he starts climbing out of the crib. (He totally could climb out if he wanted to. He’s very tall! In fact, I've seen him climb into the crib before to retrieve his favorite stuffed animal.)

Anyway, I wanted to make one to match the fabric I used for his pillow shams and rocking chair. However, I didn’t want to buy more fabric. So I just used a little bit of the zoo print fabric and used other fabric that picked up the colors. I made the majority of the blanket out of some inexpensive fleece fabric I found in the remnant pile at Jo-Ann Fabric.

I decided to use the ‘special’ fabrics and sew them to the wrong side of the fleece. I made “windows” for the special fabrics to show through. Since fleece won’t fray, it was easier to have it be the raw edge rather than the other fabrics.

One of these fabrics is a towel. (I wanted to add some texture! Add this to the list of uses for an old towel!) This is most definitely NOT my favorite project! It did not turn out to be as cute and perfect as I’d imagined.

However, I think my little guy will like it. It is soft and warm. And BIG. Hopefully it will help him keep the covers on this winter.

Last-Minute Felt Wreath Tutorial

This past weekend, I thought my single wreath looked lonely. So I made two more wreaths to hang on the mirror.

I am so excited about these two wreaths! They were really easy to make and fairly inexpensive. Looking at them makes me happy!

If you would like to make one, keep in mind they can be any color and any size. Mine were pretty small (dinner plate size) and required about 1/2 yard of red felt per wreath.

You’ll also need your hot glue gun, a cardboard box, large needle and some embroidery floss (the same color as the felt you’re using for the wreath).

I needed a base to attach the felt. It was 8 pm on a Saturday evening, so I couldn’t run to a craft store. We had some boxes in the garage, so I just took a dinner plate and used it to cut around.

Then I used a smaller plate to cut out the middle. You’ll want the wreath form to be skinnier than the felt squares you’ll be using. It doesn’t have to be perfectly cut. You’ll be covering it up.

To cover it, I just took some felt strips (doesn’t really matter how wide) and hot glued them to the cardboard circle outline.

When you run out of length on one strip, hot glue the end and start wrapping with another strip.

Next, start cutting some squares from your felt. Precision cutting is unnecessary. The size of the squares just need to be in the same ballpark. They can be rectangles, too. Make sure you save a strip of felt to use as a hanger for the wreath. (You could also use ribbon.)

Take some embroidery floss and a large needle and tie a knot in the end. String the squares onto the floss and push them against the knot. Keep stringing squares until you have enough to go around the diameter of the wreath.

Here’s the wreath. I didn’t completely fill it with squares, as you can tell. (I covered the empty part with the strip to hang the wreath.)

I took no pictures of the last step, but in order to attach the string of squares to the felt-covered cardboard base, I used more embroidery floss to wrap around the base and in between the squares. I wrapped once around every inch or so. I tied it off tightly using the needle to take a few stitches into the felt to make it super-secure.

Here’s two wreaths…

And all three! I am so happy with how they turned out. I love that they’re not all perfectly the same. The texture of these wreaths add a lot to my Christmas decor!

Here’s a close-up of the middle wreath.

I can’t wait to make some more non-Christmas wreaths for around my house!

Merry Christmas and happy decorating!

My Christmas Decor

Let me preface this post by saying I am not a super Christmas decorator. None of this is going to wow you. I do not anticipate anything being 'pinned' to Pinterest. (I'm a member now. Follow me here.)

I made the red wreath. I just bought a small foam core at dollar tree, wrapped it with felt strips, and then hot glued a few felt flowers onto it. My dad made us the mirror a few years ago.
I love it.


I decorated a few things around our home. I used some greenery and some Christmas-y china pieces I've been given.

I made stockings for everyone (except me.) My great Aunt made mine years ago and it's too cute to redo.

I like other people's Christmas ideas, but I don't get too excited about starting a bunch of DIY Christmas projects in October. All the decorations I have were purchased at an after-Christmas sale. I wish I had the drive to go with a specific color scheme and make new decor every year.

Maybe someday.

Bird Christmas Ornament

I made a bunch of these ornaments last year.

I still had the pattern so I made one more. It is for someone in my MOPS group. We picked names and are doing little gifts for the other person we picked.

I know blue fabric isn’t very Christmas-y, but I really liked it.

Just thought I’d share.

Scrappy Christmas Stocking

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I made this Christmas stocking for my mom using the tutorial I shared the other day. However, I made the front from scraps on fabric I used last year to make ornaments for friends of hers. (Looking back, I never posted pictures of the ornaments I made for her, just some that were made from other fabric. Oh, well.)

I wasn’t a huge fan of the fabric she had chosen, but since I can’t let anything go to waste, I had planned to make a bunting from the scraps. I cut it out last year, got busy, and never actually sewed it. (It isn’t appealing to make Christmas decorations any other time than Christmas!)

The triangles were just sitting in my scrap bin. So I took the triangles and made a stocking front and back.

I added some scraps of gold ric rack I had sitting around from a project I made for church. I added these to the front before I joined the front and back pieces.

While it doesn’t fall into my favorite style of decor, I think my mom will love it. She loves red and gold and really had liked this fabric.

Repurposed Christmas Stocking Tutorial

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I really want a serger. However, I don’t really have the extra money in my budget to buy one. So, when Prudent Baby says they’re having a Christmas stocking contest and the prize is a new serger, I say, “I’ll make a stocking!” The only requirement is that it be made of jersey material.

So, being the frugal crafter that I am, I dug into my supply of old t-shirts and found part of a red maternity shirt and some leftover dark green pieces. This is what came out. (Not the stuffed dog. He’s just always lying around, so I used him to give the stocking some personality. I can’t teach you how to make him. Yet.)

Anyway, I don’t really need another Christmas stocking for my family, I actually just finished one for our new little guy which I’ll show you all soon. I’m also going to finish one up for my hubby. I’ll show you it soon, too! But the point is that I plan to decorate this one somehow for the contest. I don’t expect to win with a plain stocking.

But to start the basic striped jersey stocking, I cut four strips of each fabric. I didn’t make them the same width or length. I sewed them all together and then pressed them flat.

I then took a cardboard pattern and traced it onto the wrong side of the sewn together jersey strips.

Cut it out.

Now, when I titled this ‘repurposed’, I meant completely repurposed.

I then took a pair of khaki pants that were in my repurposing box and cut the back and lining from them. (You’ll need three additional stocking pieces for a total of four, including the front.)

Next, I debated my embellishment options. If you want to sew something onto the front, like extra stripes, you’ll want to do this now. These are the options I considered but eventually vetoed:

I voted down the ruffles because I live in a house full of boys and I already have a nifty stocking my great Aunt made me.

Then we had this idea. But “ransom note style” doesn’t really scream “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” to me. So I passed on that idea.

Anyway, the point of all that was to show why I didn’t decorate the front yet. But I wanted to show anyone out there that you totally could decorate it if you wish.

Next, sew the striped front to the back of the stocking, right sides together. Sew the lining pieces with right sides together, too. You need to leave an unsewn space for turning (unlike I did). See below.

Next, you’ll want to decide what to use as a loop to hang the stocking. I used a ribbon scrap. You could make a fabric loop. I folded mine like this:

I next pinned the loop to the right side of the heel edge of the stocking. On the top. Line up the raw edge of the ribbon with the raw upper edge of the stocking. Understand? Go ahead and sew it into place.

To sew everything together, you’ll turn both the lining and the outer part of the stocking wrong sides out. Aligning them as shown in the picture below, pin the edges with right sides together, being sure to line up the side seams.

Sew around the top of the stocking. Your stitches will be on the inside. You will turn the whole thing through the unsewn edge left in the lining. After you turn it, make sure all your curved seams are nice and flat. Then sew up the opening in the lining. Press the whole thing. You could also top stitch around the top of the stocking. I didn’t.

I kind of doubt I’ll win the serger, but it was worth a try! It didn’t cost me any money since I used completely repurposed fabric.

Christmas Stockings

I got on a Christmas stocking-making kick last year. I had bought fabric the year before and just hadn't done anything with it.

-I just cut a pattern out of a cereal box (I do wish I'd made the heel of the stocking a little squigglier)

- cut 4 pieces of fabric for each stocking (I lined them)

-pin the ribbon for the stocking holder in between the right sides of the outside of the stocking

- sew two together for the outside (if you want to sew anything on it, do that before sewing it together)

-sew the lining pieces together (leaving a hole for turning in the lining, just like you're making a bag

-and then put them wrong sides together at the top, sew a seam, and then turned the whole thing

Then I just sewed the hole in the lining together.

Now you can decorate it with felt shapes or letters! I used the fusible interfacing to iron on to the felt, peeled off the back, and then ironed it to the stocking.