A few weeks ago, our church hosted a ladies’ holiday craft night, and I was asked to come up with one of the projects. Funny how people assume you’re crafty because you write a blog. . . Although I’m more keen on the fellowship part of craft night than the actual crafting, I came up with a simple Christmas wall hanging that could be created while doing lots of talking at the same time.
Another great thing about this project is that there’s a lot of creative freedom involved. I painted a tree as an easy example, but I loved seeing how others came up with their own designs.
We also had two other craft stations set up: a painted wood sign with nativity decals and a pair of mossy topiary trees. By the way, if you’re thinking of hosting one of these events for your church or neighborhood, we had everyone sign up, pay and choose one of the three crafts ahead of time to make everything easy to manage. We also encouraged everyone to bring a dessert or appetizer (because eating is equally as important as what you make).
Signs of a successful craft night: smiling faces and dirty floors.
If you want to make your own wall hanging, it’s an easy and pretty quick project. I like that you could make this way bigger, depending on how much fabric you buy and could really customize it for any season. (I’m thinking of experimenting with some botanical painting. You know, in my “free” time.)
I bought a yard of black duckcloth fabric and folded it in half before I cut. (So, my overall hanging was about 26 x 36 inches.) I had to trim the square dowel rods down to about 28 inches before I stained them. Instead of sewing anything (because I don’t), I just hemmed the sides with hot glue and left the top and bottom of the fabric alone. That’s where I hot glued the dowel rods. (Go lightly on the glue, and reinforce with thumbtacks on the back.)
To tie on the twine for hanging, just wrap it around the two end thumbtacks (on the back) before pushing them in.
Once my fabric was ready, I lightly outlined the shape of my tree with a pencil before I started painting and then went to work. The brush strokes automatically made the tree look a little three-dimensional.
Awesome project! I have to know where you found those cute leather and grey oxfords? Thanks for all of your great posts! Happy Holidays
Ross for like $14! :)
This is just too cute! Pinning and DOING!
LOVE this Christmas craft project. So simple & so cute!
Love your shoes too! Ross is great, but hit or miss. Looks like you hit it! Also wanted to say that your head-shot on the homepage is SO pretty. Your hair, make-up, flawless skin!, and such a pretty shirt. You nailed it. Merry Christmas!
Thanks so much :) And, yes, Ross is definitely hit or miss!
Great tips! I’ve been wanting to do something fun like this in our library’s maker space. And amen to people thinking you’re crafty if you write a blog! ;)
I love this tree painting! you never cease to amaze me with the things you come up with. Don’t know how you do it with your busy life. I’ve been admiring your fabulous head shot, too, for some time. SO.pretty!
Thank you, Carol!
(And, I do everything last minute–under pressure…)
Girl….you never cease to amaze me! Lisa Mowry and I were talking about you yesterday…..all good:) Love this project and I could handle most of it except for the artistic part…..ha ha
Congrats on the bathroom project! (Which magazine?) Would love to see you both soon!!
I’m telling you… everything you do is just so simple and easy but at the same time genius. Love your work and your blog~
Thanks so much! Exactly how I want my blog to read :)