Clothespin Snowman Tree Ornaments

I stumbled upon these

sweet little

covered clothespin snowmen

and decided I'd make a few for our

annual church Bazaar.

Click here ,or on the photo, to go to that post.

I dug out a package of clothespins

from my stash of craft supplies,

some natural batting to cover them, 

and black felt for the hats....

But, hmm...
the whole time I was
working with them
I couldn't help thinking
they looked like
....uh..

um.....like,
well, 
    
like tampons. 
Sorry,
I just couldn't shake that thought.

So I did a little alteration
and redesign.

Wrapping a little Fiberfil or polyester batting

around the bottom half of the clothespin

before covering him with the natural batting

gives him a little fuller shape.

I like it!

To make them even more
"my own",
instead of the hand-stitching the
eyes, nose and buttons
as in the inspiration clothespin snowmen,
I used embroidery floss french knots
 for eyes and buttons.

and used the pointy end of a toothpick
painted orange for a nose.

A homespun scarf

and a jaunty little black felt hat.

Update:  To make the hat, I cut a piece of black felt

3" long and 2 1/4" wide.

Folded in half.

The Folded side is the top of the hat.

It is now 2 1/4" wide and 1 1/2" top to bottom.

To resemble the top-hat with brim shape, I trimmed  

with scissors at an angle on both sides.  The trimmed hat piece should measure the same 2 1/4" on the bottom and angle up from both sides to the folded top to measure 1 1/4", so there is 1/2" cut off of each top side and angled down to the full 2 1/4" bottom of the hat.

I hope that makes sense, I don't have a photo.

Run a thin bead of hot glue to close both sides of the hat.

Inserted a bit of fiber-fil stuffing.

Then hot glued around the snowman head 

and positioned the hat.

Tied on a piece of jute twine to cinch the hat a bit and knot.

A little dusting of glittery "snow" on the hat,

and he's all ready to go to the Bazaar.

I'll be showing more

handmade Christmas ornaments

at our next Tea Party

so please, do plan to attend won't you.

Warm hugs,

BettyJean

My DR Thanksgiving Tablescape and Thanksgiving Tree

Thank you so much for coming to visit today.
Won't you please come in...

Let's sit at the table and have tea.

The table runner and placemats
give the room such warmth with the
rich colors of Autumn.

My Thanksgiving Tablescape is

still a work in progress.

After searching for quite some time 

I was able to purchase a

turkey tureen last year just before Thanksgiving

complete with ladle

and I LOVE him!

I'd been wanting one with lots of color

without the expense of a Fitz &Floyd.

I am very pleased with my Jay's Imports finds.

You see, I already had a pair of S&P

of the same mold so I was

ecstatic to find the tureen.

This year just by happenstance

 I found the gravy boat. (sorry no picture)

My collection is coming together nicely.

For many years I've scooped up

the old Morton turkey planters

whenever I saw one thinking I'd

accumulate enough to have one for each place setting

just to hold a napkin or nut cup or something.

I have a set of 4 MarutaWare

cups and saucers.

So my search is on for dinnerplates

to complete the place settings.

 I'm on the lookout for pretty floral

brown transfer ware dinner plates
which prove to be a bit difficult to find.

Since I already had several Blue Willow dinner plates

I placed them under the cup and saucer.

I like how it

brings out the blue clouds

in the MarutaWare pattern.

A compliment and a contrast to allot of brown.

I also have a blue Thanksgiving themed

Johnson Bros. plate

so I added it to the center of the table

on a plate stand.

The scene includes a horse drawn wagon,

 a turkey and
 a border design of oak leaves and acorns.

My wooden pedestal bowl
is full to overflowing with 
pumpkins, gourds,
berries and fall-colored leaves
 on top of grapevines.

I was able to purchase a 6ft lighted

 Christmas tree for $5.00 at a Walgreens
after Christmas sale

which they'd used for display purposes.

I made this my Dining Room Thanksgiving Tree.

It's placed beside the grandfather clock

next to our open stairway.

I've trimmed it with giant pinecones, pumpkins,

acorns, silk sunflowers & chrysanthemums,
fall leaves, wheat, and used a 

bittersweet vine & rust-colored burlap bow 
as a tree topper.
Then wrapped a length of natural burlap 
around the bottom for a tree skirt.

A Very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to All,

Warm Hugs,

BettyJean

sharing at Sew Darn Crafty

The Decorated Thanksgiving Tree

To my burlap and leaf Fall tree

I've added the

Thanksgiving elements

from my previous posts

here 

and here.

The turkeys I cut from paper plates,

The cornucopias

I constructed from placemats,

The little fabric pumpkin pies

And the very special thing about this

tree is that I've invited those

visiting our office to

tell us what they are thankful for

by writing on a leaf and then

 hanging it on the tree.

I'm get so excited when I

find a new leaf on the tree.

Such beautiful sentiments...

Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving

to  you all.

Warm Hugs,

BettyJean

Pumpkin Pie Ornaments for the Decorated Thanksgiving Tree

Welcome back, 

thank you for "staying tuned"

for the follow-up to my

previous post here.

Today I'm showing you my 

Pumpkin Pie Thanksgiving Tree Ornaments.

I spent a whole dollar for a 6 pack of 5 inch foil pie tins

similar to these (mine weren't the deep kind,

nor did they come with lids).

I scoured our local super-center fabrics section and

decided on two fabrics that I

thought came close in color to pumpkin pie and

pie crust.

I like the little pattern on the pumpkin fabric, 

it gives it some interest.

I traced around the foil tin and cut it

a bit smaller in dimension.

I scrunched up a single plastic shopping bag

you know the ones...

I have a seemingly  endless supply of them...

and why waste fiber-fil when you can use

something that costs nothing.

Then ran a line of hot glue around the foil

tin and laid the "pumpkin" fabric in place.

Now for the crust.

After some trial and error, I found this to be

the easiest (and maybe the laziest, because 

there was no sewing involved).

Nevertheless, I cut a long narrow piece of

the pie crust colored fabric.

Twist two fuzzy stick pipe cleaners together

and roll them up into the fabric.

Shaped it into a long zig zag

and hot glue it around the edge of the foil tin.

There, all finished.

Mmmm....  I'm getting hungry already,

I can't wait for that Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Why do we only make it once a year????

Check back soon, 

I'll show you the Decorated Thanksgiving Tree

in my next post.

And I've added a little extra something

to this particular tree.

Until then,

Hugs,

My Handcrafted Ornaments for the Thanksgiving Tree

When Halloween is over

some like to go

straight to Christmas.

But for me it's still a little early.

It's no wonder people complain of 

getting sick of hearing Christmas music 

when they start the day

after Halloween.

I like to observe Thanksgiving.

Fall leaf garlands and burlap

that gave way to Halloween decor

have gone back on my tree.

What says Thanksgiving more than
turkey and pumpkin pie!

Then there are pilgrims, cornucopias...

oh...and I saw these 
Indian corn on Pinterest
aren't they the cutest!?

Adorable

Let me show you what I've been working

on to add the Thanksgiving element

to my office tree.

First I went to the Dollar Store and

purchased a package of paper party plates.

There were several with a turkey theme.

I chose this one....

I love everything about this turkey,

the shape, size, colors.

So, I just cut them out,

 punched a hole,

inserted a wire hanger 

and voile....instant tree ornament

...and 8 for $1.19 

what a deal!

Next...Cornucopias.

They had to have some texture,

that woven look.

Oh... I know!

 one of those round placemats

I cut it into wedges like a pie.

Then to prevent fraying of the cut threads,

 I ran a line of hot glue along the edges.

I planned to curl the wedge into a cone.

But to get the narrow end to turn up like

a cornucopia I first applied another

line of hot glue and laid down a

piece of wire so it would be able to

hold it's shape.

So here's one after it's been rolled into

a cone, the seam along the top secured with

more hot glue 

and then shaped with the narrow end turned up.

A piece of foil leaf wire 

and a little glittered pumpkin

are just the finishing touches.

I love how they turned out!!

Perfect little tree ornaments for the 

Thanksgiving Season.

In my next post 

I'll share my

pumpkin pie ornaments.

Stay tuned....

Update:  See my next post here

to see how I made the pumpkin pie ornaments.

Hugs,

BettyJean