~Christmas Crafts~

12/1/05

So, I'm a little behind with my assignment, better late than never.

I'm a very crafty person, but this year I've been preoccupied with throwing a Christmas party.

Everything else has kind of taken a backseat. lol

I've created a variety of Christmas crafts over the years.

and I think the simpler the better which means they are probably more fun as well..

No stress!

Decorating in an imaginative way is a form of crafting,

so even if you think you're not crafty, you can be.

This holiday basket was created with two inexpensive items.

I bought a small basket, any you have around the house will do.

At Wal-Mart I purchased a package of small ornaments for less than $2.00.

I took the ornaments out of the package, put them in the basket

and now I have a simple but festive centerpiece.

My mother-in-law had a tiny ceramic bathtub that she filled with miniature ornaments.

It was just adorable sitting in her bathroom, and she thought she wasn't crafty!

Here's another simple, but gorgeous crafty decorating idea.

I found a string of white lights in the garage and placed them in a large jar

that I had on top of my cabinets. Instant Christmas decoration!

The lights look gorgeous and provide a simple decoration for the kitchen or anywhere in the house.

The best thing is I didn't have to buy anything.

You can also do the same thing with a basket of pinecones.

Simply drape some lights in and around the pinecones.

Here's a picture of my jar. My digital doesn't do well focusing on lights,

so you'll have to use your imagination.

In real life there are a bunch of twinkling little lights in that jar.

The ladies at our Christmas party thought it was just the best idea. lol

My next craft is a bit more involved, but still quite simple.

A couple of years ago, the ladies at my church were asked to make centerpieces for our Christmas dinner using small trees.

We could use any theme we liked to decorate them. I decided to decorate mine with a country Christmas theme.

Items you will need:

A small table top tree

miniature wooden items to decorate the tree

felt

thread & needle

acrylic paints

small paint brush or sponge brush

snow paint to flock tree

hot glue gun

ribbon

scrap fabric

musical button

(all items are easy to find at any craft store)

I bought some small wooden items like stars, small signs, sleds, etc.

I painted the stars and snowmen using acrylic paints that you can get at any craft store.

On the tiny signs, I used a fine line permanent marker (Sharpie)

to write things like "school's out," "snowballs for sale," "flakes welcome," "got snow," etc.

I drew some tiny mittens onto some felt and cut them out. I used thread and a needle to tie them together and make a hangers.

The little sleds I purchased were perfect as they were. All was done freehand and just using my imagination.

Before decorating the tree I used some "snow" paint on the tree. I can't remember what it's called, but it comes in a jar,

and you simply paint it on the tree. It gives the tree a snowy appearance.

I also purchased a musical button with a Christmas carol, and I hot glued that to the side of the base of the tree.

I cut a circle from an old piece of fabric large enough to cover the base of the tree. pulled it up around and tied it with a piece of jute string, you could use yarn also. I hot glued all my tiny ornaments onto the tree and topped it with a bow.

You can either make a bow, buy one, or top the tree with your own creation.

By the time I finished I had a musical country Christmas tree centerpiece.

You can decorate a tree in just about any theme you can think of.

Craft stores have huge selections of tiny items for just about any subject.

This would be a great craft for kids to be involved in as long as you supervise the hot glueing.

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