Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Today's Christmas Stocking tutorial can be found on Melissa's blog, Sew Like My Mom. These stockings are so nice and big and can be filled to the brim literally. They are designed so that if you need a little more room for all the goodies, you can turn up the cuff to make them a little taller. For the pattern, instructions and some great pictures, simply click on the photo above.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Love to crochet? Esther at Make My Day Creative has a fun zig-zag crochet pattern finished in Christmas colors to get you in the holiday spirit. For the pattern and materials to complete these quick and easy stockings, simply click on the photo above.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas Lights Blanket - Free Pattern

Christmas in July might be almost over but Christmas is right around the corner! Why not get started with your Christmas decor or gift giving early this year? Sarah of Repeat Crafter Me has all the instructions along with videos for you to complete this fun Christmas Lights Blanket in no time complete with a candy cane striped border! Click on the photo above, grab your yarns and get started today!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries: Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! I will be enjoying the day with family and friends and I hope all of you do also. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Colleen :)

Get Wrapped Up

Wrapping paper isn't just for wrapping gifts anymore. You can use it to create cute holiday decor. The Container Store has great ideas with instructions and templates to use up that beautiful gift wrap. Click on the photo above, grab some gift wrap and work on a fun paper craft today.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries: A Vintage Christmas

If you are like me Christmas time brings back memories of when I was a child (many, many, many years ago! haha!) and all the wonderful Christmas's we had with family and friends. From waiting to open presents to the wonderful church services. 

I thought today we would check out Etsy and see what we can find to help bring back the memories of Christmas's past. 

For all of you who do sugar cookie baking, and I am one of those, do you remember using these cookie cutters like the one's from StoneBridgeWorks...wait......I still use them! :)

Remember sending out all those Christmas cards? How many of you still do this? If you do that is very nice of you to continue to do that. I for one had to stop doing this when I got so busy years ago with life and I just didn't seem to have the time to get everything else done. These cards from TheBrownPear show how pretty the Christmas cards are. 

OOOO....OOOO...who remembers these??? I do, I do!!!!! We had these on our tree and I remember watching the bubbles go up and down in them for hours. Actually I still have some of these on my tree. :)  PinkPickerParty has these. 

Do you remember these aluminum trees? I do. I had a neighbor who had a big one in her front window and it had blue bulbs on it and she also had a light shining on it. I always thought how pretty it looked. It was a little bigger than this one from PennsVintage, but this one would sit nice on your table. 

Oh my......I could go on and on finding all this Christmas vintage, but I need to get busy making those sugar cookies with my vintage cookie cutters. :)

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the season!

Colleen :)

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries Blog

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries: Merry Christmas!!

I am taking this week off from posting as to spend time with family, but I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!! 

Colleen :)

Handmade Spotlight - JOY

We all need a little joy now and then, this treasury has a lot of JOY to spread. CLICK HERE to see more details about these items.

Thanks for stopping by,
Deena Davis

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries: Shopping Handmade

Well the Christmas shopping season is in full swing and for those of you that shop your local craft shows to find that one special handmade items we all thank you. For those of you that sell at these craft shows we thank you also. 

I read this story that I thought I would share with all of you as the shopping season progress along. I thought is was pretty good. 

A lady wanted to purchase a beautiful hand crocheted dress and spotted a crafter who did absolutely amazing work, but she charged a good price too. The lady thought that her price was way too high so she approached the crocheter and in quite a brusk fashion stated "I want to buy a dress from you, but I think you charge too much." The crafter was a little taken aback but replied "Ok, how much do you think i should charge?" The lady replied “I think you should charge “X” much, because the yarn will cost this much, and ribbons this much, and buttons this much. I even factored in the price of scissors." The final price the lady had calculated was a lot cheaper than the crafters original price, but she said "Ok, deal. You will get your dress in a week". The customer is very pleased with herself and can’t resist telling all her friends what a fabulous deal she has negotiated and how smart she is, and that in a week she will have her gorgeous crocheted dress. A week later her parcel arrives in a lovely packaged box. She opens it and inside is yarn, ribbons, buttons and even scissors. Angrily she contacts the crafter asking “How could you do this to me? I asked you for a dress and you sent me a box of yarn, ribbon, buttons and scissors?!" The crafter quietly replies "My dear, you got exactly what you paid for, if you think there is something missing, you need to pay for it." 

I thought this was pretty good and the moral of the story, when you buy handmade you are not just buying the materials you are buying the crafters, time, effort, love and dedication that goes into making your items. 

Have fun shopping!

Colleen :)

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries Blog

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries: Time To Start Decorating

So did all of you eat wayyyyyyy to much for Thanksgiving? I know we sure did. We always eat too much, but it always tastes so good. It takes so long to make it and then....whamo....it is gone in 10 minutes! :)

Now that Thanksgiving is over it is time to start decorating for the Christmas season (and yes I wait until it is over to start decorating. :)) I don't decorate as much as I use to as when my kids were still at home, but I do a little of it. Now my daughter is the decorator! She does great!

This week we are going to learn how to decorate a Christmas wreaths. I found this video from The Flower School/YouTube online and thought some of you might like it if you are looking for idea to decorate a Christmas wreath. :)






Have fun!!
Colleen :)
Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries
Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries Blog

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries: Legend Of The Nutcracker

I think most of us are familiar with the Christmas icon of the Nutcracker. But do you know how the legend of the Nutcracker began? According to the Nutcracker's Collector's Guide this is how the legend of the Nutcracker came to be. So in the realm of the Christmas spirit here is the legend:

Long ago, in the Erzgebirge of Germany, there lived a wealthy farmer who was miserly and lonely. His heart was as hard as the walnuts on his trees! As he had no time for foolishness, the farmer was unable to crack the walnuts and enjoy their tasty meat. So he offered a reward to anyone who could find an easy way to crack the nuts. An old soldier said that he would shoot the nut. A carpenter recommended sawing through the nut. A veterinarian suggested placing the walnuts under a chicken. Surely the walnuts would hatch! Of all the unusual ideas, none were acceptable.

One day, an old puppet carver traveled from Seiffen and presented the farmer with a beautiful wooden puppet. It was painted in bright colors with a large mouth and powerful jaws-big and strong enough to easily crack the hard walnuts! Extremely grateful, the miserly farmer rewarded the entire village. Each year at Christmas, he treated everyone to German fruitcake and painted his walnuts gold to decorate the Christmas tree. And for the puppet carver, the farmer created a special workshop where he could make the most beautiful nutcrackers in the world! Because not only did the beautiful nutcracker crack the walnuts, but it also broke the hard heart of the farmer….so that kindness and generosity would come forth for all.

I have seen Nutcrackers at Christmas time all the time, but I never knew there was actually a legend about them. So now I know...and for those that didn't know before....now you know. :)

I also want to take this time to wish everyone of you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Best wishes for all of you in the new year!

Colleen :)

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries

Needles-n-Pins Stitcheries Blog

Handmade Spotlight - Reindeer Games

Check out this awesome selection of reindeer items. You can view this entire treasury by Clicking Here, or you can click on each item to see it in greater detail.

Folk Art, Reindeer in Christ... barbsheartstro... $25	Primitive Rudolph Reindeer O... happyvalleypri... $8
Primitive Holiday Wood Sign-... scaredycatprim... $8	On Sale Primitive Christmas ... Rabbithollowpr... $29.71
Primitive Reindeer Ornies --... ButtonsInTheAt... $19.95	Santa were ready...sign, wal... loisling $18
Reindeer Woodcarving lmdickie1 $26	Santa and Reindeer Pillow NancysWorkshop $60
Completed Cross Stitch Primi... Stitchcrafts $20	Wooden Reindeer Ornament RomaLandWoodcr... $8
Ronnie Reindeer Christmas De... scarecrowcabin $35	Flying Reindeer Ornament, Ch... ToleTreasures $6.5
0002 snowman and reindeer EP... countrylanefol... $6	Rudolph Ornament Kit Wool Fe... woolhearts $3
Christmas Soap " Reinde... DaisyKays $4.5	Reindeer Ornament OccasionalGift... $10

Blog Party Sunday --- Handmade Christmas

Welcome to our Blog Party Sunday. The holiday selling season is in full swing. We would love to have you show us what you have for sale.

You are allowed to add 3 links to your shops.

The rules are simple:

1. Follow our blog

2. Handmade items only.

3. You may list up to 3 items.

4. Family friendly items only.

The success of this link party depends on the participants so spread the word to your friends, visit the shops, post about it on your blog, in a forum or on your favorite social networking site, grab the button and put it on your blog or website.

Just click on the Add Your Link button below and add your items.

And if you would like to add a link to the party you can grab this button below.

a href="http://www.byyourhands.com" target="_blank"img src="http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy110/ByYourHands/blogparty.jpg"

Blog Party Sunday --- Handmade Christmas

Welcome to our Blog Party Sunday. The holiday selling season is in full swing. We would love to have you show us what you have for sale.

You are allowed to add 3 links to your shops.

The rules are simple:

1. Follow our blog

2. Handmade items only.

3. You may list up to 3 items.

4. Family friendly items only.

The success of this link party depends on the participants so spread the word to your friends, visit the shops, post about it on your blog, in a forum or on your favorite social networking site, grab the button and put it on your blog or website.

Just click on the Add Your Link button below and add your items.

And if you would like to add a link to the party you can grab this button below.

a href="http://www.byyourhands.com" target="_blank"img src="http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy110/ByYourHands/blogparty.jpg"

Blog Party Sunday --- Handmade Christmas

Welcome to our Blog Party Sunday. The holiday selling season is in full swing. We would love to have you show us what you have for sale.

You are allowed to add 3 links to your shops.

The rules are simple:

1. Follow our blog

2. Handmade items only.

3. You may list up to 3 items.

4. Family friendly items only.

The success of this link party depends on the participants so spread the word to your friends, visit the shops, post about it on your blog, in a forum or on your favorite social networking site, grab the button and put it on your blog or website.

Just click on the Add Your Link button below and add your items.

And if you would like to add a link to the party you can grab this button below.

a href="http://www.byyourhands.com" target="_blank"img src="http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy110/ByYourHands/blogparty.jpg"

Blog Party Sunday -- Share Your Handmades For The Holidays

Welcome to our Blog Party Sunday. The holiday crafting season is in full swing. We would love to have you show us what you have been making.

You are allowed to add 3 links to your shops and you don't have to be a selling crafter to show off your art. Even if you only craft for your own pleasure we want to see it, so don't hesitate to join in.

The rules are simple:

1. Follow our blog

2. Handmade items only.

3. You may list up to 3 items.

4. Family friendly items only.

The success of this link party depends on the participants so spread the word to your friends, visit the shops, post about it on your blog, in a forum or on your favorite social networking site, grab the button and put it on your blog or website.

Just click on the Add Your Link button below and add your items.

And if you would like to add a link to the party you can grab this button below.

a href="http://www.byyourhands.com" target="_blank"img src="http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy110/ByYourHands/blogparty.jpg"

Today's Featured Shop -- Nancy's Workshop

Today's featured shop is Nancy's Workshop.    Here are just a few of her cute handmades from her shop.

Santa Claus

Mrs. Claus

Handmade Fabric Carnations

Winter Snow Family

Visit Nancy's shop to see all of her handmade items.   http://www.etsy.com/shop/NancysWorkshop