It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

. .If only in our dreams!

I have heard about craftin' parties and have seen lots of cool articles about hostessing one. .

but I have never been to one. .

until now!!

Our friend Pat that works at our local clinic is a master crafter.

And somehow, the girls at work decided that we were going to get together to make Christmas trees out of wool.

So we did!! And what a fun time we had.

This little guy was our model. .I know he is a bit hard to see with bright fabrics behind it. .I should have moved the tree.

We started with wool fabric in a piece about 15 X 18-24 inches. We cut them into strips about 2 inches wide.  And then cut little fringe along one entire length, leaving about 1/4 inch of intact fabric to hold it together. Now. .I gotta stop to say. .we didn't measure anything. .and we kept reminding each other that the trees were R-U-S-T-I-C!!

Here's 'ole Pat, explaining to us how to mark our dowel rods from the pattern.

And Bambi, marks hers out just like she was told!! These marks would later serve to show us where to put the bottom wire of our "branch" before gluing and taping them on. The square block next to Bam is the base of the tree. .I don't think I showed it anywhere else.

Next we cut floral wire into lengths that were drawn out on the paper. Guessing. .they were between 4-6 inches long, varying lengths and numbers.

Then put a little hook on the end of the wire. We used needlenosed pliers to cut them and hook the ends.

Using Elmer's glue, we covered the wire in glue. .

. .and started swirling the wool fringe pieces around each wire. .

Using a q-tip to spread glue down the wire as we went. You can see Bambi's little pile of "branches."

It looked like this when you got to the end of the wire. .at which time we just secured it with a little more glue and pinched it together for a minute to seal the ends.

It was handier for me to hold the q-tip in my mouth as I worked. .which Pat thought was amusing! And I only put the glue end in my mouth once. .I just washed my mouth out with another sausage ball and all was good.

Pat showed us how to put the branches onto the dowel rod using glue and brown florist tape. .

. .in order to make a feather-duster looking specimen. That was the hardest part. .keeping the wires spaced out on the skinny little dowel rod and get them covered up with tape without them changing location on you.

But it was a success. .and we all went home with our little feather dusters. . with STRICT instructions NOT to move the branches for at least 48 hours. .until the glue had set properly. Then we bent the branches down, and are supposed to affix berries to the ends if we want to (which I do, just haven't done yet). .and

Voila. .

An adorable little Primitive Christmas tree!

I'm thinking I might make one more. .cause they are just so darn cute!! And, while we had a good time visiting and crafting. .we pretty well decided that we would not be planning on going into the wool tree manufacturing business. .mostly because Maria immediately called "cutting out the wire branches" and refused to do anything else. .which meant the rest of us got stuck with the glue-y mess jobs.

So, we'll just go home and enjoy our OWN little trees. .and if you all would like to make your OWN little tree, just let me know. .I'll be glad to email you measurements and some better directions!! I'm thinking about all the places I can put this little guy when it is time to decorate!! I'll keep you posted!!

Speaking of keeping you posted. .I appreciate all of the sweet responses of encouragement to my earlier post this week. Somehow that always makes a burden lighter!! However, I also wanted to share our unexpected turn of events here.  I was praying earnestly earlier this week for energy and tirelessness to accomplish all that the Lord has put on my plate, while additionally praying for wisdom and discernement to keep myself out of extra activities that I couldn't handle.  His answer to my prayers (a rather quick one, I might add) was an injury to Tristan's foot Monday night at his game. He has struggled with his left foot since last November, when he complained of pain in it after a basketball game. With no trauma, and not a lot of physical findings. .we put it to rest and eventually it healed. Well, Monday. .while running. .the pain returned exquisitely and we xrayed it yesterday afternoon. The tip of his second metatarsal (a long bone in the foot) is broken into the toe joint. It seems that there is a disease process going on in there, which can heal. .but may require surgery, and may entail long lasting pain problems with athletics. I'm waiting on the podiatrist to read the xrays later today and call with advice. But, nonetheless. .his football season is finished for this year. Not exactly the answer that I wanted. .but the answer we received. Tristan loves football. .now we pray for healing of the bone. .and his spirits.

Blessings for the rest of your week! Mel