Ornament Wreath

All of the ornament wreath pictures on Pinterest look SO pretty, so I decided to make one for S's parents for Christmas :)

I used:
- 1 wire hanger (free from my closet!)
- 6 12pack of ornaments from Dollar Tree ($6)
- 1 2pack ribbons from Dollar Tree ($1)
- jingle bells (from my mess of classroom supplies)
- 1 Mardi Gras neclace
- pliers

First I took the hanger and stretched it into a circle. Okay, it's more like a blob, but I tried ;) Then I used the pliers to untwist it.

Some tutorials say that you should hot glue the ornaments to the hook, but I didn't. They felt tight enough. (A few did pop off as I was rearranging on the hanger, but up to you!) Once the hanger was free, I started putting the ornaments on.

After they were all on, I used the pliers to close the ends of the hanger back up. It was super tricky. It ended up being a mess of wire in every direction haha! So I put one of the bows on the front and covered up the ugliness. Most tutorials will show you how to make your own bow out of ribbon, but I'm not that crafty. So I'll stick with my premade one:)

Then I added the jingly bells. They came with the string, so I just looped the string around the hanger and back through the bell so they were sorta dangly.

Finally, since I botched the hanging part, I strung the Mardi Gras necklace in place to hang it! I will probably go back and redo this part since I don't really like the way it look. But for now..... this is the final product:

Happy crafting!

Date Jar Craft

Money is pretty tight this year, so I've decided to get crafty and make most of my Christmas presents rather than buying them :)

My sister and her boyfriend started dating earlier this year, so I made them a "Date Jar" for Christmas. For this craft I used:
- 1 mason jar ($1.49 at Hobby Lobby)
- large Popsicle sticks ($1 at a dollar store)
- leftover scrapbook paper and stickers
- leftover ribbon
- leftover tulle
- a scrapbooking embellishment

I wrote all of the dates on large Popsicle  sticks. I didn't bother coloring them by cost or anything like that. Here is my list of dates that are on there:

Drive through the city
Movie and popcorn
Bake cupcakes
Pizza and jigsaw puzzle
Go out for Mexican
Bowling
Go to the movies
Watch favorite TV show
Go to a tigers game
Watch sunrise and make breakfast
Play board games
Visit the local art museum
Go to CJ Barrymore's
Have a picnic at the lake
Arcade
Go kayaking
Go ice skating
See a play or live show
Volunteer for a good cause
Visit the driving range
Go to the batting cages
Listen to your favorite songs
Do a crossword
Photography shoot at a playground
Climb trees
Karaoke
Make canvas art together
Play bingo
Recreate a music video
Go window shopping
Ride a Ferris wheel
Send a message in a bottle
Play cards
His choice
Her choice
 ....... and some other ones, but I was writing as I went and did not add them to my typed list.

I traced the lid and cut out a circle on scrapbook paper.

 Then I added some letter stickers.

Lastly, I tied a piece of ribbon into a bow and added some leftover tulle that I had laying around. The tag was mixed in with my scrapbooking stuff, so I added that as well.

I may go back and do more to the jar- either try to dye the glass or use mod podge and get some tissue paper on there. But for now, this is it :)