Painted block presents

This is a very easy and inexpensive decoration for the holidays. And a very cute one, too : ) For this project all you'll need is some wood, paint, fabric and twine. You can cut up some wood you have lying around or go to Home Depot and buy some. Then paint them green and red (you can probably figure out what you need to do just by looking at the picture, but I guess I'll write them out anyway). After the paint dries, scratch the edges with some sandpaper. I also painted some small pieces of wood with a hole drilled through them to be the tags. Cut out long strips of material and use them as ribbon for the presents. Then attach the tags with some twine. Set on a piano, table, dresser, mantle, or under your tree. This could also be a fun project for kids... let them paint the blocks, then wrap with fabric ribbon and put them in their own bedrooms or under the tree. Enjoy!

Super easy Christmas tree skirt

I decided to try my hand at making my very own Christmas tree skirt, and it only cost 12 bucks to buy everything including the sewing thread... and it worked out rather nicely... All it took was a yard and a half of green felt, two packages of each color of rickrack and a sewing machine.  My crafty friend Dani Frisby helped me you can see her very crafty craft blog HERE ... anyway... the instructions sound way more complicated than it actually was to do... just look at the picture and  I'm sure you can figure it out better than with my babblings... but here they are anyway....
1. she and I just drew a circle by folding the material in half and then one of us pinned the end of a measuring tape in the middle of the folded end and then let out the measuring tape approximately 28 in. (or smaller if you want it smaller) from the center point and then the other person moved the measure tape in a half circle drawing a white dotted line at the 28 inch line of the tape measurer on the felt... uh... does that make sense?  Its the only way we cold figure out how to make a perfect circle. 
2. Than I pinned the yellow (more specifically the package said "golden rod") rickrack around the entire parameter of the circle and then sewed down the middle of the rickrack... when I almost arrived at the meeting point to make a full circle I stopped a bit shy and left about 2 inches unsewn so I could cut a straight line to the center of the circle so that you can actually fit it around the tree... and so that you can sew the rickrack underneath to make a nice edge.
3. Then I did the same with the red rickrack (choose what ever colors or color you want).
4. Then I cut a strait shot to the middle of the circle and then  folded and sewed the loose ends of rick rack underneath the treeskirt so it looked nice and trim... and thats it!  Since I used felt there is no need to hem... I'm such a beginner sewer so this was at the perfect level for me :)