Christmas with the England's

Each year for Christmas, my family does a 'homemade' gift exchange. It's a lot of fun, but it can also be a challenge. The gift must be gender neutral, which usually isn't a problem. The issue is that I am from a family of builders and construction workers, so I have to compete with my uncles making mailboxes, bird houses, shelves and other such awesome gifts! So I put my brain to work (with the help of pinterest!) We all share a common interest of the outdoors and everyone has the same last name, as Grandma had 6 boys and I am the only married girl grandchild. So this is what I came up with...


This is not the 'Final' picture as I forgot to take one! The only major change was that I trimmed the tafata even with the top of the E. It was easy and simple and I thought it looked good. Well my family loved it and I got many compliments! My Grandma was the one who ended up with it and it was hanging on her door the next day! :)

Here is what I used:

Wreath $5.99 from Hobby Lobby
Letter E $2.49 from Hobby Lobby
Tafata $2.99 from Wal-Mart (Did not use it all)
Red Spray Paint $1 from Wal-Mart
Hot Glue
Deer Antler (Found mine in the woods!)

I think the rest is self explanatory :)
I sprayed painted the E and hot glued it in the center. I then arranged the tafata bow and antler and hot glued into place. Trim the tafata bow and there you have it! My wreath came with a 'built in' hanger to hang it, otherwise you might need something to do this if your wreath does not have one.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bottle Cap Coasters

Image
Once again, it’s that time of the year again… Time to make a homemade Christmas gift for our annual exchange! My family is ‘outdoorsy’ and the gift needs to remain gender neutral. After looking through the internet for ideas, I decided on two things I could pair together. Today I decided to tackle the first project… Bottle cap coasters. Materials (for one coaster): 9 Bottle Caps 6 Eye pins Hammer Nail Board Black Felt             I purchased a package of 315 eye pins from Wal-Mart for $4 and 9”x12” sheet of black felt from Michaels for 30 cents. One sheet fit 6 coasters with a little left over.                                Directions: 1.        Collect 9 bottle caps you want to use in your coaster. And arrange as you like 2.        Use hammer and nail to carefully poke small holes in the cap so they may be strung together. This is pretty tedious in making sure all holes line up together. If they don’t your coaster will have trouble laying flat
Read more

Nesting Boxes

Image
While shopping at Easter this spring, my husband talked me in to buying some baby chicks. I am not a chicken person, especially roosters. But the thought of raising our own eggs and having garden fertilizer appealed to me. So we got 6 hens and a rooster. We had an old chicken coop on the farm, however the nesting boxes were not in it. After looking at how much they cost (approximately $25 and up depending on how elaborate you want to get) I decided to put my shop skills to use and make my own. I looked at a few different plans online and decided on this one because of the low cost and we had the materials on hand. Materials: 5 gallon bucket with snap on lid Drill Utility knife Drywall screws 2x4’s 2x6’s Directions: I used a bucket that contained drywall plaster; it’s a little shorter than a regular 5 gallon bucket and they fit in our coop better. It was clean and had a good fitting lid. I removed the handle and lid first. I then cut one lid so approximately 1/3 r
Read more

Glitter Chip Clips

Image
This year the other side of my family also decided to do a gender neutral homemade gift exchange. The pressure is on!! I was unable to make it to the Christmas celebration last year, so this would be my first year participating. This side of the family made a lot of baked goods and smaller type gift items, so it’s not quite as high pressure as the other side of my family. I decide to make these glitter covered clothes pins that could be used as chip clips. Materials: Clothes pins                                        $1.00 Glitter                                                    $1.00 White glue                                           $1.00 for 3 bottles Small paint brush Clear spray paint                               $3.79   I purchased all items from the local dollar store, except the spray paint. The paint brush I had on hand, but you can get cheap ones, about 30 for $2.00 at Wal-Mart.     Directions: 1.        Use paint brush to put a thin
Read more