CREATIVE CRAFTING

Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

I found this fun Halloween  Haunted House at my favorite site Sculpty.com. They have tons of fresh ideas for Halloween and I couldn’t resist this little house. It has a battery-operated “flame” making it safe for even small children to use. I only made one for now, but plan on making a few more for around the house and yard.

Here is what you will need to get started:
Clays:

Sculpey® III: Black – 2 oz — 1 block
Sculpey® III: Chocolate – 2 oz — 1 block
Sculpey® III: Elephant Gray – 2 oz — 1 block
Sculpey® III: Emerald – 2 oz — 1 block
Sculpey® III: Just Orange – 2 oz — 1 block
Sculpey® III: Pottery – 2 oz — 1 block
Sculpey® III: Spring Lilac – 2 oz — 1 block
Sculpey® III: Tan – 2 oz — 1 block

Tools:
8” Acrylic Roller
Clay Knife
Etch ‘n Pearl
Super Slicer
Additional Supplies:
Glass tealight holder and tealight or battery operated tealight
Super Glue gel

To get started with your Halloween House preheat your oven to 275 °F. Test temperature with oven thermometer for perfectly cured clay. Make sure you condition all clay by kneading until it’s soft and smooth or running it through the Clay Conditioning Machine for several passes on the widest setting. Do this until the clay is soft and plyable.

Step 1
Use acrylic roller or clay roller to roll Black clay to ½” thickness. Roll Elephant Gray to ¼” thickness. Roll Spring Lilac and Tan clay into ⅛”-thick sheets.

Got some little elves with time on their hands? Invite them to help out in a special holiday workshop, creating season’s greetings for everyone on your family’s mailing list. Using four super-simple techniques and such kid-friendly materials as glue dots and stickers, they’ll be turning out festive, personalized cards in no time.  These would also make cute Thank You cards from the kids.

You will need:
# Ink pad with nontoxic brown or bronze ink
# Plain notecards or card stock
# Craft glue
# Googly eyes
# Mini pom-poms, brown and red
# Brown marker

Use a thumb or fingertip to stamp 3 reindeer heads on each notecard. Glue on googly eyes and pom-pom noses (including a red one for Rudolph, of course). Finish by drawing antlers.

Courtesy of Family Fun.com

Ribbon Candy has always been a Holiday staple as far as I am concerned.  So this year when I found a way to make decorations out of polymer to look like ribbon candy, I couldn’t wait to try it.

I am using these on the tree, to decorate packages and a bowl of “fake” ones on the table in a candy dish.  I have no small children coming to my house, so I don’t have to watch for anyone wanting to eat them!

Click on picture for more instructions

So much for my 21 days of Christmas Crafting…my only excuse is shopping.

Design by Marie Redmond

Last year around this time I was just starting my exploration of Polymer Clay. I knew from the start that this was something I would enjoy for years to come. One of my favorite aspects of clay is the miniature scenes, characters, and villages one can make. I like doing things in a small size.

I ran across this on my favorite Polymer Clay site Sculptey.com. The complete instructions for this and other crafts are there for both novices and experienced alike.

Happy Holidays!

Here is a fun and easy craft for the kids to make for either grandparents, teachers, or friends.

The pavers might be hard to find this time of year, but you can use the same principle and use Styrofoam forms and use it as a window decoration instead.

Use your imagination…isn’t that why we craft?

Materials

* Keyhole-shaped paver (available at many home improvement stores) *
* Paintbrush
* White and black acrylic paint
* Orange modeling clay
* Superglue

* Fleece
* Pipe cleaner
* Two 1 1/2-inch pom-poms
* Rubber band
* Felt

Instructions

1.Rinse off the paver to remove any loose bits of dirt or cement. Paint it white and let it dry. If needed, apply a second coat and let it dry completely. (if using Syrofoam cover it with white felt or white cotton)

2.Lay the paver flat and paint on the eyes, mouth, and buttons. Let the face dry, then mold a clay nose and affix it with superglue (a parent’s job).

3.Cut a fleece scarf (ours measures 1 by 22 inches) and tie it in place. For the earmuffs, bend a 5-inch piece of pipe cleaner into an arc. Superglue the ends to either side of the head and the pom-poms over the ends (a parent’s job), then wrap the rubber band around the snowman?s head to hold the earmuffs in place until the glue dries.

4.To protect indoor floors, superglue a small piece of felt to the base of the snowman.

Polymer Clay will not be left out of this holiday craft run.

This cute little guy was so easy to make, a child could do it. I am going to give you a link to a site that I use quite often for my ideas. Normally I would write down the instruction and then put them on here, but they have everything laid out so nice and simple. I figure it would be better just to send my readers there.

Santa Penguin

But be sure and come back for more ideas on holiday crafting right up until Santa time!

Happy Holidays

Sorry, I am a little late with my Christmas decorations this year. But it is worth the wait. So many new ideas that I have been busy trying as many as I can possibly manage.

For those who are not regular readers, I am big on handmade gifts. Whether for the Christmas holidays or anytime of the year. Nothing says I care more, than something you made. So in keeping with that thought over the next several weeks I will try and post one craft a day leading up to December 25. Then I am taking a short holiday to get ready for Valentines Day.

So here is my first entry into the 21 days of crafting!

This pretty-as-a-package pincushion is the perfect gift for a crafty friend. Cover a foam square with fabric (wrap it like a gift) and secure along the edges with fabrics glue. Glue on beads and tie on a ribbon bow.

I also thought how great it would be to take this same concept and instead of a pincushion, pin candy or other special treats to the present. You could put it on a side table for when the grandchildren come over (just don’t put chocolate on there..what a mess that would be).

I will be the first to admit I get most of my ideas from online, magazines, Michaels or sometimes one of my friends has made something and I will “steal” the idea.

It is never too early to start preparing for Christmas. One of the more traditional holiday customs is the sending of cards to friends and family.

With the current economic conditions the cost of buying the cards and then the postage to send them can equal the cost of two or three meals for the family. While we all can agree that sending a greeting card is a great way to liven someones holiday, it is not always the most cost effective.

I have had to do a lot of tightening of the belt in the past, and still do, so years ago I came up with the idea of having our children make the Christmas cards for family. The grandparents loved them and the kids had a great time making them.

Of course now they are older and purchase their cards, while I still make them. I enjoy it; and each card I make and send has a lot of love built right in.

This is the one I am making this year. I purchased a package of card stock for my printer for under $5.00, with it I will print out patterns, embellishments, letters all from free scrapbooking sites. I also purchased from my local office supply center a package of plain envelopes and will make the cards to fit the envelope. I have a couple of stamps with the words JOY, MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, so I will use them for some of the messages.