One last ornament for the season. This ornament is also very fast and easy to put together. In fact, this is a good project to do with kids as well. Using cookie cutters as patterns works well if you need inspiration, and don’t forget to…
This project comes from a friend of mine, who made several of these simple vases to give to friends this season. I think the project is great, even if it does mean tearing apart books. I actually love using old, falling apart books for craft…
It may be felt, but it works like the real stuff (and doesn’t have to be shipped to your door)! I made two versions of felt mistletoe: one to hang in the entryway, and a smaller version to pin on a coat lapel. This project…
Last year I confessed my love of old glass bead garlands. I like to find them at garage sales or thrift stores. The colors are great, they come in all sizes, and they’re easy to repurpose. I can’t actually imagine untangling them each year to…
I make cards a lot, but have never made my own Christmas cards to send during the holidays. I think I resist because the task of making enough cards for my list is daunting. My answer is to simplify the card. One of my wedding…
This year, my tree is a tabletop centerpiece. While it isn’t the same as a big tree in the living room, it is sustainable and merry. You will need: a container for the base plaster of Paris a dry branch or two piece of felt…
This might be my favorite of the 12 Days projects (there are still great projects coming up, don’t you worry). I love repurposing vintage Christmas decorations and using jars from the cupboard. The project is extremely simple and the results are unique and fun. You…
If you’ve been reading for very long, you know that I love food—making, giving, and eating food. Christmas time is, let’s face it, the time to eat and gift all kinds of delicious. There are a few standards that I make every year, one of…
The season of holiday parties is upon us—which means host(ess) gifts are on many of our to do lists. Today’s craft is the perfect accompaniment for a bottle of wine or sparkling cider. Using inexpensive wine glasses is perfectly acceptable for the project—these are meant…
A few years ago, my niece made felted wool ornaments for family Christmas gifts; they are some of my favorite ornaments to put the tree each year, mostly because she made them, but also because they are adorable. One of ornaments is a little tree…
I love a good gift tag; in fact, gift tags were the first item I started making when I decided to become a craft-sale artist. My love for the gift tag developed because they are so simple and still dress up any gift. Giving a…
A friend recently asked if I had any ideas for dressing up simple, recycled gift bags for Christmas. Making gift-wrap was on my list this season, so I gathered supplies. Gift bags are much easier to reuse last longer than wrapping paper. To decorate the…
Twelve Days of Holiday Crafts are back this year! I have a great list of projects for holiday gifts, décor, baking, and wrapping that I’ll be sharing in the next couple of weeks. Much of my gift giving this year shall include jars of jam…
The next step for the advent calendar is filling the stockings. Most advent calendars are filled with chocolates or other candy treats; the joy of making your own calendar is in personalizing the insides. Whether the one who checks the stockings is an adult or…
When I was a kid, I had an advent calendar every year, and each year it was about the same… I opened little perforated cardboard door every day to find a molded waxy chocolate behind each. I loved the calendar and the anticipation of the…
There has been a bit of a fad in the jar world: baking individual pies and cakes in 8 ounce, wide-mouth jars. They are quite cute, but I had no real reason to try the project, until this week. I wanted Thanksgiving on the go,…
I haven’t made pomanders (clove-studded citrus) since I was a kid. I don’t know what inspired me this week, but I feel a pomander kick. I mentioned making place cards by studding oranges with cloves in guests’ initials in this post. After that project, I…
Today, Serena Thompson, of Farm Chicks fame, announced that she has a pair of early admission tickets to the 2012 Farm Chicks show to give away. Entering is easy and takes almost no effort, so I thought I ought to share the chance with you,…
My dining room table is not always clear…to be honest, it often becomes cluttered with school papers, and for several months the whole room was given over to wedding storage. It feels good to have a dining room again, so I am celebrating. Table settings…
Fresh flowers in the middle of winter are a rare and welcome sight. If you plan ahead (and you don’t even have to plan much in advance, really), you can bring spring into the house as early as you wish. Forcing bulbs indoors is quite…
It’s the time for craft fairs and Christmas lists…and Spokane is bursting with opportunities to shop while supporting local artists and crafters. This Christmas, gifts recieved from our house will be local and/or handmade. Where are you shopping? November 12: Jefferson Elementary Craft Fair (37th…
The craziness of the canning season is slowing, but I’ve found a few recipes that are not only worth a try, but absolutely delicious and make your house smell like Christmas. Apples, and even some pears, are still widely available from local farms, and don’t…
This is a project I’ve wanted to try for quite awhile, and these acorns were my first attempt at needle felting. (No, I do NOT need another hobby, but people do amazing things with wool, and I wanted to give the process a try). I’m…
If glass etching isn’t your cup of tea, here’s another project that converts a standard canning jar into a jack-o-lantern. For this project, I covered the jar in paper, using standard decoupage techniques. I used a paper sack that had been reused several times and…
This week marks the one-year anniversary of my writing on Dwell Well. I love this work; I find myself paying more attention to the world around me as I think of ideas, projects, and events to write about—which is always good. To celebrate a year…
Artist and crafter Maggie Wolcott writes about craft events in and around Spokane, as well as her own adventures in creating and repurposing. Her DwellWellNW posts include project and decorating ideas, recipes, reviews of events, and interviews with local artists. Maggie spends her days as an English professor, and when she’s not grading papers, she can generally be found with a paintbrush or scissors in hand. She can be reached at mebullock@gmail.com.
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