Let's Get Busy
Crafting for Christmas
(Decorations, Gifts & More)
Courtesy Pixabay.com
December 3, 2020
We'd better get started on all of those decorations and gifts we want to make if we plan on getting them finished in time. With that in mind, I'm providing yet more ideas and inspiration I've found hither & yon on the net that I hope will be of interest to you.
If the centerpiece above interests you, while I didn't make it, and isn't my idea/invention, I can pretty much tell you how it's made if you're interested in making it for yourself (or something similar to it).
Materials,
one log slab 1/2" thick
pinecones,
dollar store crystals (usually sold in a fair sized bag)
a votive candle
polar bear figurine or your own handmade polymer clay polar bear
1 small styrofoam ball cut in 2
white glue
glue gun.
Slather the top of the log slice with white glue and then cover with crystals. Let dry as per directions on glue bottle. Using the hot glue gun adhere the other components as per photo or your desire to the crystals on the slab. And it's good to go.
Another idea is a polar bear or snowman and trees on ice:
round 8" diameter mirror
polar bear or snowman
small plastic christmas trees (found at dollar store)
spray can snow
votive
newspaper & tape
hot glue gun
This will look like a snow covered pond cleared in a certain area to show the ice (mirror) underneath with the items arranged in a natural looking winter scene atop it. So before you proceed arrange your bear, or snowman & trees & votive where you would like them on the mirror and then decide where you'd like for the ice to show through. Cut the newspaper to cover that/those areas and tape to the mirror. Now decide whether you want the bear, or snowman and trees to have a dusting of snow on them too or not. If not keep them aside and spray the mirror with the snow. Let dry and place items where you want them to be and hot glue them to the surface. If you would like the other components to have a dusting of snow on them, using the glue gun adhere the pieces in place before spraying with the spraycan snow and spray the spraycan snow over all, maybe lighter in some areas than others to give it a more realistic look. Remove the paper and tape once the snowcan spray is finished and dried.
This pretty much replicates an item I made as a gift for a friend one year. I made the snowman out of polymer clay and used some dollar store Christmas trees a little taller than my snowman was.
I made another one similar but using a gingerbread house I made out of polymer clay, along with a victorian style lamppost and trees both again purchased at the dollar store. That too was also a gift for a friend.
The ideas for the snow covered log or mirror are endless once you start going with them. So just get creative and enjoy.
They make nice table centerpieces and provide a little candle light as well.
Other means of making Christmas scenic centerpieces, involves taking a sheet of styrofoam (could be salvaged from packaging) and cutting it to size (using a hot serrated knife - heat on stove - or a styrofoam knife - usually an accessory in a wood burning kit) and shape required for your project. If you want to achieve the look of snow, simply get cotton batting (usually sold for quilting - but now a days it's more like acrylic batting than cotton - but basically looks the same, or pulled & stretched out out cotton balls enough to cover the area in question) and hotglue that to the styrofoam where you wish for the snowy area/s to be. You can get dollar store trees, santas, benches, lanterns, snowmen, deer, carollers, and whatnot that you can then position where you want them to be and if they can't be pushed into the foam as they have no pointy ends to them (like trees or deer legs might have) then hot glue them into place. Make your own unique lightweight centerpiece for table or coffee table display or anywhere you wish. Heck make as many as you want and give some as gifts, I did. They'll be unique that's for sure.
Again your imagination is the only limit on what can be done here. Stryofoam is an excellent base for all kinds of scene based projects - like maybe a graveyard scene for halloween or a grassy meadow for the easter bunny, a beach - sailboat scene, even a space ship interior with the help of aluminum foil etc.... Like I said the only limits are your imagination on ways to recycle that styrofoam packing that we can't recycle in the bluebox.
I even wash and reuse those styrofoam trays that the supermarkets package food in. I use them for all sorts of things, like holding projects that I'm working on that can't be touched because they're still in the drying process - so I lay the pieces on those trays in order to move them later to let them dry. I have traced patterns on to them to use as a sturdy template to trace around on other things for the purpose of cutting them out. One year, I got my kids to make some mittens tree ornaments using the trays, by tracing a mitten design on them and cutting them out and piercing holes for hanging and then letting the kids have their way with painting them and finding pretty ribbons or wool to thread through the holes and tie up for hanging on the tree. They're also good for beaders - so that way the beads if they fall
aren't rolling around all over the place - I got tired of trying to find
them all over the table and floor and everywhere all the time so
decided to try using a tray like that underneath where I was working
(like on the table directly underneath where my hands are trying to
string things together). It cut down on a lot a lot of aggravation trust
me. So now I use one of those all the time. Maybe if I wasn't so clumsy I wouldn't have to, but alas, what can I say. Like I said, possibilities are endless when you use your imagination.
Like I think I said before somewhere in this blog, I love crafting and that's my go-to activity when I just want to relax and enjoy myself. Actually, come to think of it, I just like making things. Whether that's a meal, a cake, pickles, jam, a candle, an afghan or a rug, or anything else that strikes my fancy.
Now on with the links to all the wonderful decorations and gifts you can make for yourself, family & friends....
Christmas Crafts and Activities - for kids
Check out the edible snow globes here!
Holiday Cheer for Your #DisneyWeekend Disney's Christmas crafts and recipes.
Favorite Christmas Crafts - for kids
For toddlers - kindergarten aged kids.
All things Christmas from decorating to crafts and food and much more.
Some of these are really cute, but man, talk about a sugar rush....
18 Fun Edible Christmas Crafts for Kids More of the same, only different....
Over 20 Christmas Games and Crafts for the Classroom For those teachers looking for something Christmas related to do with the kids.
For those who thought it'd be a great idea to get into gardening and then preserving the produce afterwards, initially, but are now having other thoughts about it, but are wondering what to do with the large investment made in canning jars, if they're not going to be used again for the purposes for which they were intended, here's a few ideas on how to recycle them.
Quilled Christmas: 30 Festive Paper Projects I love this craft quilling and I would love to get this book and try to do some of the projects in here.
Knit Today - Christmas 2015 I love the coat.
Merry Christmas : Noel traditionnel a broder au point de croix This is a Christmas cross-stitch book in French. I don't have the book and so haven't looked at it, to know whether or not it's usable by someone who doesn't understand French, but if you want it anyhow, go for it.
Great for kids.
Added December 10, 2020
There is more than enough ideas and inspiration for all sorts of Christmas related crafts here with projects for just about anyone from toddlers right on up to senior citizens. Your only challenge now is deciding which one/s you want to make, finding the material, time and giving it your best shot. There's plenty here to keep everyone in the household busy right up until the big day if they want.
So have fun crafting and getting into sticky situations with the cotton, glitter, and glue and whatever else, or all balled up in the crochet and knitting projects that abound. Please try cutting the wood and not your hands or anything else that shouldn't be cut.
Until next post take care & stay safe.
