Christmas Crafting 2012

This year's Christmas Crafting party was a hoot!  Last year I had the party the very day that I returned home from China and while that had certain advantages, like getting to see all my nearest and dearest all at the same time and getting to eat a REALLY bitchin' ham sandwich, it was also crazy.  This year much more chill and wonderful:

 

My friend Catherine really brought her A-game when it came to crafting this year.  Here she is, plotting with the lovely Mallory:

Working over some foam balls which shortly turned into this:

 

The cutest penguin ornament on the planet!  I think she followed this tutorial at the Craftberry Bush:
http://www.craftberrybush.com/2012/11/the-homemade-treefelt-penguin-ornament.html

Highly recommended for adorableness.  Catherine also taught us how to make these fabulous creations:

It's a snowglobe AND an ornament!  Whoa!  They're so easy.  Here's what you do:
1.) Find some clear ornaments that are plastic instead of glass.  (This might be the hard part.)
2.) Cut off the bottom of the plastic globe with an exacto knife.
3.) Trace the open circle you just cut onto a piece of cardboard or cardstock.
4.) Affix a figurine (or glitter tree, in my case) onto the center of the circle.  For extra pizazz, paint the figurine with mod podge and get your glitter on!
5.) Put the globe over the figurine and its base.  Hot glue the edge of the cardstock and the bulb together.
6.) Pull the ornament hanger end of the ornament out.  Using a funnel, fill through the hole with epsom salts until the level looks snowily appropriate.  Top with a little glitter for extra sparklitude.

Love it!  I opted for a gold glittery tree, but Catherine also suggested an Eiffel Tower might be nice, which I'm dying to try next!

I did a paper poinsettia in a hipster chevron print which turned out pretty cute:

 

And Kate made this super awesome gold holly but with jingle bells as the berries?  Love it!

As always, the social aspect of the party was just as fun as the actual crafting.  Check out the festive outfit my friend Laurel put together!

The holly corsage she wore is a little dark in this pic, but the red plaid tie is vintage, of course!

There was a lot of hardcore crafting this year.  Check out Robyn and Catherine at work:

When Catherine's not busy teaching us to make felt penguins, she's a SURGEON.  Eat your heart out Martha.

The party even spread out to the other side of the house (where you can see Megan crocheting a baby headband that she made in under an hour.  Gotta get the tutorial on that!)  Not sure what James is raising the roof about, but clearly some sort of paper craft is thrilling!

This year we had a couple of very wee guests.  Miss Magnolia Estelle was a hit in her hat with ears.

She looks a little nervous about her crafting prowess.  Not to fear, her lovely mama, Miss Anna is a long-time pro!

And in that amazing way that sometimes happens, THIS (pic from last year's crafting party, the DAY before she went into labor!):

Turned into THESE:

Whoa.  That happened!  Of course, Dana didn't get any less charming by becoming a mother:

Quite possibly the cutest chapeau that has ever been crafted at Christmas crafting!

That was one heck of a crafting party! Thanks to all my ladies for coming and crafting!

I'm posting this as my DIY Deck the Halls (cause boy did we deck some halls!), check out the other entrants here at NewlyWoodwards!