We’ve used foil tape before for making greeting cards, and now it’s time to get that shiny roll of goodness out again to make some quick, easy and elegant Christmas ornaments.
What you’ll need to make some:
- clear Christmas balls, available at just about any craft store
- paper punches; I would suggest using cutters of the 3/4″ variety as they won’t crinkle at all or as much when put on the rounded surface of the ball and they aren’t as tedious to work with as smaller ones
- foil tape; you can find this in the heating department of your local big box store like Menards and Lowes and such
- boning tool, optional
What you’ll do:
- punch the shapes foil side up; I suggest foil side up because this will make it easier to get the back of the tape off
- apply the shapes to the ball
- burnish the foil shapes with your boning tool; this will not only get out any crinkles, but it’ll also make the tape shine
And that’s it! Merry Christmas all!!!
If you’re ready to try something other than e-wrapping, this quick and easy project done on a Knifty Knitter blue circular loom will have you practicing a new stitch and casting on technique!
Supplies:
- Knifty Knitter blue circular loom
- a few ounces of variegated worsted weight (4ply) baby yarn
- a tapestry needle
- a bit of cardboard or a pom-pom maker (my absolute favorites are those in the American Girl Pom Pom Pets kit.)
Instructions:
Holding two strands of yarn together now and throughout, cast on using the long tail cast on method. This is a very neat, non-loopy cast on that will very likely become a favorite!
Row 1: Purl around.
Row 2: Knit around.
Row 3: Purl around.
(Note: this purl one row, knit one row procedure creates a Garter Stitch. It produces a reversible fabric that lays flat when working it as a flat piece.)
Row 4: E-wrap knit around. I’d suggest e-wrapping each peg and then knitting it over instead of e-wrapping all the pegs at once. Doing one at a time, the stitches won’t ’swirl’ as much.
Repeat row 4 until your piece is 5″ long.
Bind off with the gathered bind off technique.
Make a ridiculously big pom pom and attach it to the top of the hat!
This is an original creation; the content of this pattern is copyrighted. You may print out pages for yourself, or for charity IF credit is given on each page to DIY Maven (aka: JoAnn Moser). You may link to this page with appropriate credit. However, publishing this pattern on other websites, in e-mails, mailing lists, in any print media, OR the selling of this pattern, or items made from it, is strictly forbidden.
If your life is as wired to the internet-tubes as mine is, you’ll recognize the icon on this pillow immediately. And if you DON’T recognize it, the bloggers in your life will. Made in afghan (aka Tunisian) stitches and finished up with some fancy cross-stitchin’ it takes no time to whip one up!
First, let’s start with the pillow, shall we? You’ll need a few supplies; here they are:
- a number 10 US or 6.00 mm afghan crochet hook, at least 9″ long
- 1 skein each Red Heart Classic in Tangerine and white
- yarn (darning) needle
- 1- 14″ pillow form
- this PDF of my cross stitch pattern
Now, let’s get down to business!
(Make 2)
With the tangerine-colored yarn, chain 34.
Work 33 rows of the afghan or Tunisian stitch. (Keep in mind that one complete row of the afghan stitch consists of two parts, so you’ll be working back and forth for a total of 66 rows.) For an explaination on how to actually do the afghan/Tunisian stitch, visit this page.
Take one of the two squares you’ve just completed and cross stitch the RSS fee icon onto the pillow’s front using the white yarn and the yarn (darning) needle. To cross stitch the pillow, follow the grid on the PDF, just like you would if you were cross-stitching on aida cloth. Visit this tutorial for further illucidation on how to cross stitch on the crochet afghan stitch in particular.
When you’re done cross-stitching, grab the tangerine yarn and single crochet the two pillow halves together, wrong sides facing, working three single crochets in each corner. BUT only crochet three sides; when the last side is left, insert a 14″ pillow form into the pillow. Continue single-crocheting the pillow’s opening closed. Join with slip stitch to the beginning single crochet, cut off and weave in ends.
And when you’re done with your cushy pillow—don’t forget to sign up for my RSS feed!!!
This is an original creation; the content of this pattern is copyrighted. You may print out pages for yourself, or for charity IF credit is given on each page to DIY Maven (aka: JoAnn Moser). You may link to this page with appropriate credit. However, publishing this pattern on other websites, in e-mails, mailing lists, in any print media, OR the selling of this pattern, or items made from it, is strictly forbidden.
