Homemade Holiday Banner (12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts)

Next up on the crafty list is a holiday banner. Do you have one yet? This one was quick (and free) to make, and you can even get the kids involved. You can use any materials, but I chose to use burlap and a red wool blazer that I threw in the washing machine to felt up. Use whatever fabric you have lying around the house. Use funky patterns or mis-matched colors. This would be a great, green way to repurpose some ugly holiday sweaters.

You'll basically need fabric for the circles, fabric for the banner strip, yarn, paint, and potatoes. Yup, I said potatoes.

I cut the blazer into smallish circles (I traced around some ramekins from my kitchen to make a perfect circle, but I did it in 2 different days and used 2 different sizes by mistake. I preferred the way it turned out though, with the different-sized circles).

I also used 2 different blazers, and one was thicker than the other. For the circles made from the thinner fabric, I sewed them together with yarn and a big needle. Then I laid out the circles in the order I wanted them.

Now it was time to carve my potatoes into letters. (I did potato stamping to make the letters on my banner). To carve a potato, just cut it in half. You can draw on it with a pencil (it won't make marks, but it will leave indentations). Or you can just freehand it. I just freehanded it. If you have to cut out rectangular shapes, it helps to do it in pieces. Cut a triangle into the corners to get a clean cut.

You don't have to use a ton of potatoes to do this. I used two potatoes (four halves) to spell out "Happy Holidays." If you're cutting an "H," first cut it into an "A" shape and stamp it where you need to. Then, cut out the top of the A to make an "H". This can then become a "P" (if you add the little top part back in). Then, you can cut out all but the side of the "H" to make an "I."

An Important Potato Stamping Tip: If your letters are not symmetrical, you need to carve them backwards so they stamp in the right direction. (See my letter "P" below).

To do the stamping, apply paint to your potato stamper with a paintbrush, then stamp it onto your circles. A nice, heavy layer of paint works great on felt. I used washable tempera paint, but it came out faint. Acrylic would work better.

Now it's time to make the banner. Cut a length of fabric long enough for your letters to fit. (I had to sew two strips of burlap together.)

If you're using a fabric like burlap, you can intentionally fray the edges to give it a rustic look.

Now you're going to attach the circles to the background. Sew a length of yarn through the top of the circle, attach it to the background strip (it helps to have a big needle to do this), and tie the yarn off.

I had my circles dangle at different levels. That's it! I hammered it right into the wall with some nails. The banner says it all!

Check out some of the other 12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts:

December 14:  Felt Owl Ornaments	December 15: Burlap Ruffled Tree Skirt	December 16: Easy Advent Calendars
December 17: Quick Gift Tags from Kids' Artwork

Quick Gift Tags from Kids' Artwork (12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts)

Yesterday, as I was getting ready for the Christmas party at Baby T's daycare, I realized I needed a gift card idea. Fast. (I'm a procrastinator). Baby T had just woken up from his nap and he was in the car waiting for me. That's how fast I was able to do this. I decided to make some personalized gift tags from some of Baby T's artwork.

All you need is your child's artwork, masking tape, and a hole punch.

Here's the piece of artwork I used:

I drew a gift tag shape on the artwork and cut it out. (I just freehanded it. Nothing fancy here).

Then I used that tag as a template to draw and cut out the rest of the gift tags.

I cut masking tape into small rectangles and wrapped it around just the top of the gift tag (where the hole will be punched.) If it extends over the edges of the gift tag shape, just trim it. Then, punch holes where the masking tape is. I have a cute heart hole puncher that I use for everything. I think it gives my crafts added flair. I'm a goof like that.

Then you can tie string, yarn, twine, hemp, or whatever else you have onto the tags and tie it around or tape it onto your gifts. It's a quick, eco-friendly way to reuse your kids' artwork and personalize your Christmas gifts.

Check out some of the other 12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts:

December 14:  Felt Owl Ornaments

December 15: Burlap Ruffled Tree Skirt

December 16: Easy Advent Calendars

Easy Advent Calendars (12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts)

Liz and I were inspired by this advent calendar from Crafty Nest, so we decided to do some crafting ourselves. We wanted to make a 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar. I had to stop by Green Baby on Thursday to drop off my diapers, so I brought some crafting supplies with me: Fleece, cardboard, yarn, old Christmas cards and gift bags, and contact paper. Somehow, we were able to do some crafting while our kids played happily. It was a Christmas miracle.

We got started by cutting some cardboard (from the recycling bin.)

Why does Gaby always use beer boxes for her projects?

We cut out some fleece big enough to wrap around the cardboard and traced the cardboard shape on the fleece so we would know where to place our images.

The baby on the back is optional.

We quickly realized we were running out of time and we would have to finish at home. We thought it would be interesting if we both took the same idea and made it our own. So we went home and finished our advent calendars. Here's what we did:

Advent Calendar 1:   Cut out squares from old Christmas cards, magazines, and gift bags. Enclose them in contact paper and trim. Punch holes in each for lacing yarn through.	Advent Calendar 2:   Lay out squares on felt to make sure they will fit.
Advent Calendar 1:  Lace yarn through the holes you punched in the images.	Advent Calendar 2:  Lay out images and adhere to cardboard with a sheet of contact paper.
Advent Calendar 1:  Color in lines on index cards (I laid one of Baby T's markers on the fat side and just drew a rough line) and cut out in candy-cane shapes (I freehanded one, cut it out, and traced around it for the rest.)	Advent Calendar 2:  Cut out windows where images are laid out.
Advent Calendar 1:  Cut out squares from a brown paper bag to cover your images.	Advent Calendar 2:  Use hot glue to adhere the fleece to the backer. Make sure to add glue around the edges of the windows. Wrap fleece around the cardboard and use hot glue to adhere to the back.
Advent Calendar 1:  Glue the candy canes onto the brown paper with a glue stick, leaving the tops free to hook onto the images. Write numbers on brown paper with marker. As your child lifts off each candy cane, you can tuck it behind the image.	Advent Calendar 2:  Add embellishments and numbers with felt to your windows.Give to your child and watch his amazement. Thomas said, "Wow!" When he saw this.

The hard part now is getting the kids not to peek under each candy cane or flap. This is the great part about these two advent calendars, though: They are great for different ages. The beauty of Liz's advent calendar is that Thomas can enjoy it now; I keep hovering over Baby T and reminding him not to take off #4 until tomorrow. But as Baby T gets older, I can use real candy canes with numbers glued to them, or I can tuck a little prize behind each window.

You can still make this! There are nine days left until Christmas. (Eek!)

Check out some of the other 12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts:

December 14:  Felt Owl Ornaments

December 15: Burlap Tree Skirt

12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts: Burlap Ruffled Tree Skirt

Is the space below your Christmas tree a little bare? You don't have presents out yet, but you always thought tree skirts were a little outdated? This ruffled Christmas tree skirt is inexpensive (or even free). It's contemporary, yet it has vintage appeal.

This tutorial will show you how to make it (it's super easy and doesn't even require you to sew, although I think the sewing method is easier).

First of all, get your hands on some burlap or other natural-looking material, like linen or canvas.. You could use an old canvas dropcloth that might be lying around, or you can buy burlap by the yard at the fabric store.

How much fabric do you need? It depends on the width of the fabric. My skirt ended up being about 40 inches in diameter, with five rows of ruffles. You'll need enough fabric for the base and enough for the ruffles. For the ruffled strips, I used about 2.5 burlap sacks, and each one was approximately 24" by 36". I'm bad at math. I always buy more fabric than I think I need and just guess.

But to get your burlap for free, check your local coffee roaster. Coffee comes in burlap bags, and the coffee companies usually just throw them out. If you live in Wilmington, check with Port City Java's corporate offices on River Road. They are really nice and are happy to give you as many bags as you want. That way, the tree skirt is not only free, it's green--you saved another few things from going into a landfill.

Start by cutting out the circular base of the tree skirt. It needs to be in the shape of a donut. If you have an old tree skirt, you could trace it. I just eyeballed it. I had to use two burlap bags, cut along the edges and unfolded. I sewed them together after cutting them to shape. Here is a tip: you want your skirt to be open at one end so you can wrap it around your tree. If you're sewing together two halves of the circle, only sew it together on one side, leaving the other open. If you cut out the skirt from one piece of fabric, cut a slit in one side of it.

Cut some of the other bags into strips. I cut them to be 5" wide.

Starting at the slit and on the inner part of the tree skirt, begin sewing on your 5-inch strip. Ruffle it as you go by folding it back onto itself. This is where you'll sew your stitches. Put a small stitch into each ruffle. I used natural-colored cheap yarn (similar to twine) and a tapestry needle.

Continue around the skirt, adding more burlap strips as you go. When you start the next row, put the top of the strip (and your stitching) underneath the ruffle above, so that it overlaps. Keep adding ruffled strips until your skirt is as wide as you want it to be. That's it! Wrap it around the base of your tree when you're done, and you have a free, eco-friendly, repurposed, beautiful Christmas tree skirt.

**No-Sew Instructions: Use a hot glue gun to glue down each strip, ruffling the strip as you go.**

Check out some of the other 12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts:

December 14:  Felt Owl Ornaments

Check out more cute crafts at:

12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts: A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Christmas is 12 days away. To keep you from stressing out, becoming overly anxious, or baking way too many cookies, we are going to distract you with fun DIY crafts and holiday decorations to keep you busy for the next two weeks.

Today, we're starting off easy. In fact, you don't have to lift a finger. We're not exactly showcasing a partridge in a pear tree, but it's close. Green Baby is now carrying felt owl ornaments--handmade by Liz! They are super cute, very colorful, and each one has a personality of its own. These handmade felt owls make great stocking stuffers and look even better on the Christmas tree.

Stop in to buy one of these adorable ornaments for $4.95.

Now, get your craft on, because the next few days, we are going to show you some green crafts and handmade Christmas decorations you can make yourself!

The Best Holiday Deals Are Not Only Online

On Tuesday, I posted about the importance of shopping locally. But the economy isn't great, and many people are stretching their pennies thin this holiday season. You may be asking yourself, "Isn't shopping locally more expensive?" Or you may be certain that you can find a better deal online. Sometimes you can, and then you have to decide whether paying for shipping and supporting a big box store or an out-of-town retailer is more valuable than shopping locally and supporting the community.

But when it comes to cloth diapers, more often than not, the deals you can find locally are the same as the ones you can find online. Below are some prices of some of the most popular items at Green Baby Diaper Service and online.

BumGenius Pocket Diaper (Artist Series):

Green Baby's Price: $19.95

Online:
Just Kid's Store: $16.99 + $3.38 shipping = $20.37
Diapers.com $19 + $4.99 shipping =  $23.99
eBay $28.84 (seriously?) + free shipping = $28.84

Thirsties Duo Diaper Cover in Hoot (Size 2)

Green Baby's Price: $13.25

Online:
eBay: $19.95 + free shipping = $19.95
TGN: $13.75 + free shipping = $13.75
Jillian's Drawers: $12.75 + $5.95 shipping = $18.70

Belle Baby Carrier

Green Baby's Price: $84.95

Online:
Belle Baby Carrier Store: $99.95 + $9.25 shipping = $109.20
Babies R Us: $99.99 + $6.38 shipping = $106.37

GroVia Shell

Green Baby's Price: $16.95

Online:
Betty's Baby Stuff: $16.22 + $6.97 shipping = $23.19
Cloth Diaper Outlet: $16.95 + $2.98 shipping = $19.93

Flip Diaper Cover

Green Baby's Price: $13.95

Online:
The Green Nursery: $13.95 + free shipping = $13.95
Cotton Babies: $13.95 + free shipping = $13.95
Cloth Diaper Outlet: $13.95 + $2.14 = $16.09




 Really. I actually tried to search for the lowest prices online. When it comes to cloth diapers, the retail prices are pretty regulated, so you're generally going to find approximately the same price everywhere. So why buy from someone you don't know when you can buy from someone you do know? Someone who can also answer your questions and help you when you need advice. You can even bring your child into the store and try the diapers on.

Also, if you see a lower price online and Liz hasn't matched it yet, it's most likely because she wasn't aware. Let her know. She's always open to helping her customers out.