by Shannan
You can also find Shannan blogging at Chubbie Chica
Now that the holiday’s are upon us, I’d like to share with you my family’s 3 favorite holiday crafts. With cold weather hitting I am sure you and your family will have fun with these activities!
Clay Pot Santa & Mrs. Claus
You will need (for each character):
2- 1 1/2″ diameter wooden balls
2- 2 1/4″ diameter clay pots
shiny holiday ribbons
wide sheer holiday ribbon (with wire is best)
red material scrap
white plush felt
shimmery white pom pom
white curly doll hair
gold craft wire
shiny green ribbon
thin white ribbon
silk holly berries & leaves
textured snow paint
acrylic paints in flesh, red, and pink
What you do:
Place newspaper down on work surface. Turn clay pot over and glue wooden ball to bottom of pot. When glue is dry, use large paint brush to paint the outside of the clay pot red and the entire wooden ball with flesh colored paint. Let dry and apply a second coat.
Mrs. Claus
Glue a small amount of white curly doll hair onto head. Use wide sheer ribbon to fashion a scarf around her head so that hair sticks out in the front. Tie in front. Use shiny green ribbon to border the bottom of the pot (see photo), glue in place. Fashion three small white bows from the thin white ribbon, glue to the green ribbon.
Create the hand muff by rolling up a small rectangular scrap of plush felt, glue together, then glue to the body. Using a small sponge, gently dab on a thin amount of pink for the cheeks. using gold craft wire, fashion Mrs. Claus’ spectacles and slip onto her face, tucking into the sides of the scarf. After glasses are where you want them, carefully dot on eyes and draw on mouth with fine tip black marker.
Santa
Create cap by wrapping red material completely around the top of the “head”, glue brim in place. Trim and tuck material as you move upward to the top of the cap, sealing seams with craft glue until you have reached the top and created a point. Use a strip of plush felt to create a white brim, glue in place. Glue the pom pom to the end of the cap. Bend cap tail to the side, glue if necessary to keep it pointing down.
Use black marker to dot on eyes. Using a small sponge, gently dab on a thin amount of pink for the cheeks. Working in sections, glue white curly doll hair onto Santa’s chin creating his beard. Fill in gaps with extra doll hair. Glue holly berries & leaves just above the rim of the clay pot bottom. Use textured snow paint all the way around the bottom rim of the clay pot, dab some onto the holly berries & leaves.
Salt Dough Snow Family
This cute little snow family is easy to bake up. Paint them white then have a ball adding the finishing touches. Be as creative and colorful as your heart desires.
You will need:
1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup water
acrylic paint in black, white, pink, green, orange, and red
paintbrush
two orange toothpicks
6 small twigs
felt scraps
2 mini pom poms
1 small gold glitter pom pom
pink and gold ribbon
IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe for salt dough makes a lot of projects. If you only plan on making a few, cut this recipe into fourths or in half.
What you do:
Preheat oven
to 250 F. Mix together, salt, flour, and water until a dough is formed. Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. BE CAREFUL. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it.
THIS DOUGH IS NOT EDIBLE, though it won’t hurt you or your kids, it just won’t taste very good!
Roll dough in your hands to form different sized balls. Make three snowmen from the balls, then line them up on the cookie sheet. Make sure they are touching each other so that they will be one piece after baking.
Break or cut orange toothpicks in half. Insert toothpick halves, point size out, into the each snowman head for the nose. Insert twigs for arms into each snowman. Be sure to both of these steps BEFORE baking.
Bake for approximately 2 – 2.5 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. For best results, allow to cool and dry overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
Paint snowmen with white paint. Use the wrong end of the paint brush to dot on colored buttons (we used green on one, red on another, and orange on the third).
Use a smaller paintbrush to repeat this method for adding eyes and mouths with black paint. Alternatively, you can use a black Sharpie marker if you prefer.
Embellish your snow family by fashioning scarves and hats out of scrap pieces of felt and adding a pom pom to the top of the hat. Add on ribbon and make ear muffs out of a small piece of gold ribbon and tiny pom poms. Use photo as a guide. Let dry completely and display.
Light Bulb Penguin
This cute little fellow is all bundled up for those arctic winter mornings at the North Pole! Help this little cutie get warm and cozy by placing him in your lighted Christmas tree this year.
You will need:
burnt out light bulb
rubbing alcohol
acrylic paint
in white and black
gold cord or ribbon
orange toothpick
shiny gold ribbon
gold chenille twist tie
finger from a child’s glove
white iridescent pom pom
Fiberfil cotton batting
hot glue
scissors
black marker
What you do:
Wipe bulb down with rubbing alcohol, this will help the paint adhere to the bulb. Let dry. Paint entire light bulb with black acrylic paint except for an hour glass shape in the front. When the black paint is completely dry, paint the hour glass shape white and let dry. Apply a second coat. If finish appears streaked, you can use a large paint brush or a sponge to blot on a “stucco” look. It is not necessary to paint the socket. Allow bulb to dry completely.
While bulb is drying, prepare hat and mittens by cutting off a finger from a child’s glove. Use the longest finger on the glove, cut a small section for the mittens. The mittens are simply small triangular shapes. To make the hat, put a small amount of Fiberfil into the glove finger and roll up end for a brim. Glue pom pom to the top. You can bend the hat to one side by bending it down and gluing in place.
Fashion a bow tie from 1/2″ or 3/4″ wide shiny gold ribbon (about 3″-4″ in length). To do this, lay the ribbon, shiny side down, onto your work surface. Fold both ends into the center, doubling up the ribbon. If this gives you the length that you want for your bowtie, then glue those ends down to hold in place. Take a piece of shiny chenille twist tie and manipulate it around the center of the ribbon, scrunching the ribbon together, thus creating your bowtie. Hint: these ribbons and twist ties are found on many premade ornaments, some with angels others with flowers.
When bulb is completely dry, pull hat over socket and glue in place. Glue bowtie in the front at the neckline and glue mittens at the edge of the white where the hourglass shape widens. Using black marker, dot eyes onto face and five tuxedo buttons down the front of the bulb. Carefully cut 1/4 of the toothpick off at the pointed end, glue in place for beak.
With a fairly generous amount of hot glue, fasten a loop fashioned from gold ribbon or cord to the back of the bulb. Hang!
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