Glittered Pinecones

  My very last Christmas project... what a month it's been! Don't get me wrong - a very fun month, but a very busy month. There were so many great things shared out in blog land. No shortage of inspiration, that is for sure.

  Back in November, I compiled a list of Christmas crafts I would like to try. Well, I am happy to tell you that I was able try my hand at all four. One, however, was a flop for me & so I am left with the remaining three. This is the final project... talk about leaving it to the last minute!

  Thankfully, these glittery pinecones are more of a wintery craft so I will likely keep them out into January & February.

  (If you're interested in the other crafts I did this Christmas season, check out the Spool Tree Ornaments & Toilet Roll Treat Packets I posted about. The wrapped candy canes I tried were a bust for me. I couldn't get them to look right. Bummer.)

  If you would like to make some of these, here's what you need:

• pinecones
• spray paint (I used white & silver)
• white glue that dries clear
• glitter (I used 'crystal')

1) Spray your pinecones very lightly with even, sweeping strokes. Let dry. Turn over & paint the other side. Let dry.  I purposefully didn't want mine totally painted. I wanted a bit of natural showing through.

I did a batch of white & a batch of silver, although it's hard to tell the difference in this photo.

2) Once the paint has dried, make a puddle of white glue on a piece of cardboard or something you don't mind getting glue on. I used whatever I could find in our recycling bin. 

3) One at a time, roll the pinecone in the glue, getting a bit on the tips. 

4) Shake some glitter over the glue spots. Let dry. 

You can also roll the glued pinecone in a 'puddle' of glitter. I poured, then when I had quite a bit sitting on my cardboard, I rolled to use some of it up.

I did steps 3 & 4 on each pinecone so that the glue didn't have a chance to dry before I got to them. If you're only doing a small amount, you could glue them all & then glitter them all.

5) After they've dried, use them however you would like in your decor. I'm considering making a pinecone wreath for next Christmas!

Little tip: I found this idea on Pinterest & had one of those "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" moments.

Use a cardboard roll as a vase filler!

via Dandelions & Dust Bunnies

Genius, right?

So, hidden in amongst the pinecones is a cardboard roll. :)

My last craft project for the year. Exhale. :)

Enjoy your day!

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Cardboard Roll Treat Packets

  Do your kids ever save toilet paper rolls "because we might be able to make something with them"? Mine sure do! Most of the time, I sneak them into the garbage when they aren't looking. For the past couple of months, however, we have all been saving any kind of cardboard tube on purpose.

  My son & I had the idea that we could make some kind of treat packet for his classmates at Christmas time. We finally saved enough tubes & this week we got to work! Here's what we came up with.

  I had thought that I may want to do something a little more fancy with a cut out tag attached or something & then had second thoughts. Realistically, these are 7-9 year old kids who likely will just tear it open to get at the candy inside. :) 

  So, we made it look as special as we could without spending too much time on this project.

  Here's what we used:

1. small bags of candy
2. toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls cut smaller
3. pretty Christmas paper
4. string, yarn, twine, or heavy thread

  I hope I'm not insulting your intelligence by describing this for you, since it was so simple. 

  We started by stuffing the bags of candy into the rolls.

  Next, cut your paper into strips & adhere around the roll.

  Lastly, loop the string around the tube several times & tie in a knot.

  If your kids are in my son's class, please don't spoil the surprise, k? It was pretty easy & my little guy is excited to have treats that he helped make.

  Are you making something for your kid's friends? What do you have planned? I'd love to know about it. Please leave me a link & I'll come check out your projects.

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Home For The Holidays

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Made By You Monday

Light Bulb Snowmen - A REAL Tutorial

  At the end of November, I posted some pictures of a Christmas craft I had made with my mom & sister-in-law a few years ago - Light Bulb Snowmen.

  My sister-in-law, Jodi, offered to take some pictures of her next batch & she ended up providing me with a very nicely detailed tutorial. A very special thank you to her for that!! Right now, she's not a blogger, otherwise I would totally link you to her blog!

Here are her awesome instructions:

"Use an old shoe box and make holes to put bulbs in.  This makes the spraying and painting process so much easier.  

Spray lightbulbs with Acrylic sealer so paint will stick to glass.  

Paint bulbs with Acrylic paint.  I do 2 coats for best coverage.

The Finished bulbs.  I tried an iridescent paint paint, but realized I needed to do a first coat with white paint and then the iridescent as it didn't cover well on its own.  

This is the paint I use.  

I lay out all my felts and pom poms to coordinate.  The large pom poms are for ear muffs, the little ones for noses.  One colour will be the hat, the other the mitts and trim or whatever you wish!

I roll the bulb onto the felt to make a template for the hat. 

Put hot glue on the metal part of the bulb and wrap the felt around.   

This is the strip for the trim.  Again put a bead of hot glue on the hat felt and wrap the trim around.  

Tie string or yarn around the felt so that it is tight.  I coordinate my string to match my colours.  

Carefully cut the hat felt into strips.  Do not cut into the tie as you will cut it apart. 

It ends up looking like a funky toque!

Take a smaller piece of felt and fold it.  Cut a mitten shape out of the folded felt so that both mittens are the same size and shape.  

Use the large pom poms for ear muffs.  Attach with hot glue.  

  Use googly eyes and the tiny pom poms for noses.  Attach the mittens with hot glue.  You may also want to attach a saying or mini decoration to the front of the bulb.  

  I attach a string to the mittens and wrap it around the back.  This makes it look like the mittens are connected. 

The finished product!!  Enjoy!"

Thank you again to Jodi for putting this tutorial together for me! Aren't these so cute?!

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your day!

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Skip To My Lou

Light Bulb Snowmen

  Today, I'm sharing another craft of Christmas past. I cannot take credit for this idea, but I did help make these. Several years ago, my sister-in-love & mom-in-love saw or heard about this idea & decided to give it a try. Well, I would say that they very successfully pulled the idea off.

  The idea is to up-cycle used lightbulbs & make them into cute ornaments for your Christmas tree.

Here are the supplies used:

• Light bulbs
• FolkArt Clearcote Acrylic Sealer *See note below*
• White paint
• Felt
• Pom-poms in different sizes
• Googly eyes
• Twine
• Pipe cleaners
• Mini teddy bears
• Letter beads
• Thread
• Hot Glue

**Update: To view my step-by-step tutorial with step-by-step photos, click HERE.**

They started by painting the light bulbs ahead of time. ** Update: my sister in law told me I missed a step. "You need to add that we sprayed the lightbulbs before painting them...with FolkArt Clearcote Acrylic Sealer otherwise the paint just peels off." Thanks so much, Jodi!! **

Then, the fun began. This is where I came to help.

• Cut strips of felt for the hats (or toques as we call them here in Canada) as well as the mittens. 
• Attach twine to the hats & make a loop to hang the ornament
• Add eyes
• Add pom-poms for earmuffs, noses, & buttons. (You can also add them to the tips of the hat, as I did in the second picture on the blue hat)
• Add a pipe cleaner around the base of the hat as in the second picture, if desired.
• Attach mittens to twine & glue in place (leave some room loose at the front of the mitten for the next step)
• Make them personal by adding a name or sentiment with the letter beads. String them onto some thread & glue the ends under the ends of the mittens.

Here's our little snowman/woman family:

  If you'd be interested in a more in-depth tutorial, leave me a comment & let me know. If there's interest, I can certainly whip up another one of these with some photo directions. Pictures would certainly help with the hat portion of the instructions as that can be hard to explain. 

  We bought a mini white Christmas tree for our family room this year. The kid's decorations (including these) & my nutcracker decorations grace its branches. We're lovin' it!

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

The Artsy Girl

Spool Tree Ornaments

  Wow! Is it really less than a month until Christmas? Are you busy getting ready? I sure am! This weekend, it looked like my craft room threw up... I had so many things on the go. It was such a mess! I can't forget how blessed I am to even have a craft room to mess up... The last two houses we lived in, I didn't have that luxury.

  Here's one of the projects I was working on. Vintage spool tree ornaments. I found the vintage spools at a thrift shop this fall. I had pinned this idea on Pinterest & knew exactly what I was going to do with them. They turned out so pretty!

Supplies:

• spools (vintage or new)
• glitter
• all-purpose white glue
• sheet music or other paper
• pearl beads
• buttons
• wire (I just used Christmas tree ornament hooks)
• small wire working pliers 
• hot glue

Instructions:

1. Start by running a small bead of glue on the edges of the spools. Roll in glitter. Let dry.
2. Cut strips of sheet music or other paper & adhere to the centre of the spools.
3. Glue buttons to the bottom of the spool with hot glue.
4. Shape your wire into curly-cues & add pearl beads. Add a twist on each end of the bead to keep it on the wire. Glue into top hole of the spool with hot glue. 
5. Call your friends & brag to them about your pretty Christmas ornaments!

They look so nice & vintage-y on our Christmas tree. 

A set of these would also make a fabulous gift... especially for a seamstress or fellow crafter. :) 

I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for more of these little goodies. 

I hope you're starting to enjoy the Christmas spirit & have had some time to start your preparations.

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

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The 12 Crafts Of Christmas

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Tatertots & Jello

Christmas Blocks

  Today I'm featuring another craft of Christmases past. These blocks have been in our family for decades in one way or another. My brother & I played with them as children... seriously. They were just plain wood blocks back then though. When I was a teenager, I found them in a box of old toys & decided to make them into Christmas decor. I painted them in alternating red, green, & navy. Then I stencilled the letters for "Christmas" on them.

  After I was married & decided to go a little more contemporary with my Christmas colours, I repainted them silver & added rub-on letters to spell Christmas & with the one extra block I had I spelled "Merry" with sparkly little letter stickers.

  I've enjoyed these fun Christmas blocks so much over the years! This year, they're sitting on the bar top between our kitchen & dining area.

  If you'd like to make set of blocks like these, you'll need:

• wood blocks
• paint
• letters (rub-ons, stickers, stencils, or stamps would all work)

I'm off to do some more decorating around here. My daughter & I did some more Christmas baking yesterday. Come back next week for another Christmas recipe & lots of other Christmasy things!

Enjoy your day!

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Shine On Friday