Marbled Clay Jewelry Dishes

 When I saw these clay ring dishes over at A Beautiful Mess, I knew they would make the perfect little Christmas gift for my aunts and cousins. Plus, any excuse to have craft time is A-OK with me! These little jewelry dishes are wildly simple and addicting to make. The size and shape are limited only by what oven-safe wares you have at your disposal.

To make these dishes I followed ABM's instructions, but instead of using a bowl I used tiny scalloped baking dishes to get ruffled edges. After I rolled out my clay, I pressed it into the molds and trimmed any excess. They baked for 15 minutes. After they cooled, I removed them from the molds. I'm happy to report, that even with the ridges, the clay dishes were fairly easy to remove. The next time I make these I think it might be cool to use cookie cutters to get some unusual shapes. This is such a simple DIY! Perfect gift for the holidays :)

Felt Ornament DIY

 Felt ornaments are a simple and fun project for the holidays with endless possibilities! So far I've made a bird and a reindeer, but I have plans to make more (updated 11/30 with pictures below). Once you decide on the ornaments you want, create a paper pattern. Fold over your felt so you're cutting through two layers. Pin your pattern to the top of the felt and cut out your shape. For my ornaments I just searched Google Images to find simple animal shapes that I liked and could create fairly easily.

 Pin your two layers together and insert a loop of twine or ribbon for hanging. Next, top stitch around the edge of your ornament leaving a small opening for stuffing. Stuff the ornament with a bit of poly-fill, then finish sewing.

 Now the fun part: accessories! For my bird, I added a beak and hot glued on a button eye and some feathers. He's now a very happy part of our Christmas tree.

 This is my reindeer outline. It follows the same steps as above. It was a little tricky cutting and sewing because of the details, but it's well worth it. I finished him with a button eye and a little scarf made out of scrap fabric. These ornaments are really fun to make. They're also inexpensive, extremely customizable, and they would make great personalized gifts!

I made this Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy inspired whale ornament for my older brother and the black and white kitty for my cat loving aunt. What kind of felt ornaments would you make?