Gone Fishin' : Nautical Christmas Gifts

Since Christmas, I haven’t been too crafty. Hubby just had surgery for a ruptured disc in his neck. He’s recovering nicely but will be out of commission for several weeks. I’ve also been scrambling to get my house clean just in case someone stopped by after Hubby’s surgery. So far, no one has. If I had not cleaned my house, everyone and their mama would have come by. At least my house is clean.

Since I haven’t had time to craft it up lately, I wanted to share a few things I made for Christmas gifts. My mom lives on the river and adores nautical home décor and anything with fish on it. Her neighbors, who have been incredibly kind to my family this year, are the same way. I wanted to make something for them since a homemade gift says, "I'm too cheap to spend money on a real gift, but I think you're great, so I'm taking time out to make something especially for you!" 

I made these fish signs for mom's neighbors out of old barn wood and acrylic paint. I finished them off with some wire and spray sealer, and they were done! These fish paintings were some of the easiest paint projects I have done recently. Everything I had on hand except for the sealer, which was about $5 at Lowe’s. I still have plenty left over for more projects.

 I also made this seashell Christmas tree for my mom. I made a tree form out of cardboard. (Have you seen the price of foam tree forms at the craft store? Ridiculous!) Here’s a tutorial for a cardboard tree form that’s pretty close to what I did.

I then proceeded to hot glue a million tiny seashells onto the tree form. It wasn’t really a million, but it sure felt that way. This project didn’t cost a dime! I collected the shells at a beach trip in October. It was, however, very time consuming. It did turn out very cute, and my mom loved it, which is the important thing!

If only I could quit my job and move to the beach to open up my own tiki hut selling beachy crafts. If only... Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at a few of my crafty Christmas presents!

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Christmas Mantel

I wanted to show everyone my Christmas mantel. I’ve had it up for awhile, but I haven’t had a chance to take pictures. These pictures aren’t the best either, but I wanted to show a few highlights from my mantel. I also wish I had tutorials for some of the decorations, but sorry – no time for that. Unless you're Martha Stewart, you wouldn't have time to make any of this before Christmas anyways. At least I had time to show this to you! 

I made the wreath from a foam wreath that was covered in this weird garland. It almost looked like blades of grass. My sweet mother-in-law gave it to me thinking I could put it to good use, and I did! I cut circles in red fabric and stuck them on the wreath with straight pins. I love the way it turned out!

I already had the ornaments, so I went to the thrift store and purchased some vases to display them in. The glass candlesticks were from Dollar Tree.

The trees were made with the same red fabric from the wreath and some damask ribbon. I made the tree forms myself out of cardboard and super-glued the fabric and ribbon onto them. I topped them off with stars cut out of aluminum cans.

No Christmas would be complete without the Nutcracker. My mini-me absolutely adores nutcrackers. I took her to see the Nutcracker Ballet last Christmas, and now she’s hooked! Even her elf on the shelf is named Nutcracker. I now have a growing collection, but less is more when it comes to the mantle.

The banner I made with scrapbook paper and jute twine. I cute the scrapbook paper into the banner shape. I printed letters out on white cardstock and cut them out in circles. I then glued them to the scrapbook paper. I glued the banner pieces to some twine and hung the banner on the mantle.

I wanted to add more greenery or a little something more on the surface of the mantel, but I never did. With everything I’ve been busy with the last month, I’m lucky there are Christmas presents to hand out, more or less a decorated mantel. I’ve also included pictures of my tree. Nothing too fancy, but I enjoy it. I hope you do to! 

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!

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