twelve (plus) days of traditions: santa's gift sack

Two days until Thanksgiving, and all we are talking about here is Christmas.  Hmm . . . I hope you don't mind!  ;)  If you are just joining us, we are in the middle of twelve (plus) days of traditions here at twelve crafts.  We've been given a sneak peak into the homes and holiday celebrations of some amazing bloggers, and we are in for even more terrific traditions for the next two weeks.  Today, Jennifer Juniper from Hope Studios has a cute, scary-free way for Santa to leave gifts.  This tradition makes me chuckle! 

But first, a little housekeeping . . .

Two more days to enter to win the ready-made ornament set or the pdf pattern from my friend Chris at Pickup Some Creativity.  This set is an amazing addition to your holiday traditions.  And don't worry . . . if you don't win, you can still pick up your own pattern and instructions at Chris' shop. 

Also, keep on linking up your own tradition posts below. You can link up more than one tradition.  I'm looking forward to featuring a few more of these inspirational posts along the way. 

And finally, check out Stephanie Lynn's ornament event going on this week over at Under the Table and Dreaming.  So many great ideas.  Why not add ornament making to your tradition list!  

Without further interruption, here's . . . Santa’s Gift Sack a tradition from
Jennifer Juniper @ Hope Studios

Hi everyone! It’s Jennifer Juniper from Hope Studios here to share with you a Christmas tradition from our family. I wanted to share with you my crazy method of wrapping gifts...but only if you promise not to mock me. Okay, you can mock me...and laugh...and point...Just do it quietly.

First, all (two) gifts from Santa arrive wrapped in red and white striped paper (ala Polar Express). They can be found in the fireplace in "Santa's Sack". This tradition began years ago because #1 son was super afraid each Christmas at the thought of a strange man tip toeing around our home in the dark of night. Really...it IS kind of creepy! He used to sit on Santa's lap and ask him to take the gifts to Daddy's work instead of coming to the house.

So, since that time, Santa has agreed to stay OUT, per our request, and simply drops the sack down the chimney and continues on his way to prowl through other unsuspecting children's homes. They still expect him to eat the cookies, though...go figure...

My kids sit down and write a thank you note before they leave for Mimi's house and Santa sends an elf to retrieve the sack left by the fireplace after we leave. This whole scenario has cut down on a lot of nightmares!

The rest of the gifts are from Mom and Dad and this has worked out nicely for us! Thanks for letting me share one of our family’s traditions, I can’t wait to read some more!

Jennifer Juniper

Thanks Jennifer!
 

What are your gift-giving traditions? 

Tradition on!

sew stupid

So . . . I chose the crayon roll as my first of twelve crafts till Christmas on the premise that this is a craft that "anyone with a sewing machine can make".  Now, in theory I did make and finish the crayon roll.  (I used the pattern and directions from Cindy at Skip To My Lou.)  Of course, I use the word "make" very literally as in I picked fabrics, cut them, pinned them, did some sewing, undid some sewing, did some more sewing and came up with a finished project . . . finished not necessarily polished.  This picture does not do my many mistakes justice!  However, I also learned some valuable lessons along the way.  Here's four for those of you who would like to learn along with me.

1)  It might be a good idea to have all the recommended supplies.  I didn't have this thing called lightweight fusible interfacing.  Not only did I not have it, I have no idea what it is.  It appears to be used to add some weight and stiffness to the fabric, so I figured I would just use some extra flour sack material that I had on hand.  I think that complicated the sewing process and added some extra bulk that I didn't need.

2)  Using a rotary cutter is not as easy as you might think . . . or maybe I'm just rotary- cutter challenged.  For the life of me, I could not get that thing to cut straight - as you can see from these photos.  All of these fabric pieces were supposed to be the exact same size.  Clearly that is not the case.    

3)  Measuring is important.  So . . . in my life outside of sewing and crafting, I am incredibly Type A.  One of the reasons that I decided to start sewing and crafting was to allow myself to be more creative and not so focused on some ideal of perfection.  Because of this goal, I typically don't get too worked up about measurements when I sew.  However, apparently in many instances measuring is super important.  Who knew?  This particular crayon roll was supposed to have 16 inch-wide slots for crayons.  I, on the other hand, had to modify my crayon roll to a 15 slot roll due to some mismeasuring.  This unfortunately displaces shag-carpet orange from the box of retro colored Crayola crayons I am going to use to fill this crayon roll.  As you can see I just cut off the part that didn't seem to work for me.  That was clearly not Cindy's intention.

4)  Fabric glue is a sew-stupid crafters best friend.  Due to the above mentioned rotary-cutter mishap, I had some edges that needed to be glued shut.  I'm grateful for the invention of fabric glue, and I have a feeling that I will be using it frequently in the year to come.

Well, I have finished my first of twelve crafts; however, I think I'll be taking a couple more shots at this before the month is out.  First on my list of things to do before try number two . . . track down the elusive lightweight fusible interfacing.

Craft on!

to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right . . . let me see your crayon roll!

It's simple.  It's classic.  It's something every child can use.  It's the crayon roll . . . marker roll . . . colored pencil roll.  Who knew a roll could be so versatile?  I think it may be my first craft till Christmas.  I've looked a patterns on multiple crafting blogs, and they all claim that this is one of the easiest projects out there.  One blogger said, "Anyone with a sewing machine can make a crayon roll."  Anyone?  Really?  Hmm . . . I am going to be testing that theory. 

Here are a few variations on the nifty little craft that "anyone with a sewing machine can make."  If you have a sewing machine why not join me in testing this theory.

First, I like Cocoa's crayon roll pattern at Chocolate On My Cranium mostly because I like chocolate and also because I credit Cocoa with giving me the basic skills necessary to make my own blog template.  Thank you Cocoa!

Second, I'm a big fan of Skip To My Lou's crayon roll with vinyl.  Cindy provides three variations on the crayon roll.  You can find links to the other two patterns by clicking the crayon roll with vinyl link.  

Cindy's Crayon Roll - SO CUTE!

Last, but of course not least, I'm loving Serena's version of the roll at Nap Time Crafts.  She actually used Cindy's tutorial but with different dimensions to come up with the colored pencil roll.

So now that I know the craft, I just have to pick the version that's easiest, find my materials and start. 

Craft on!