Owlets in a sycamore tree ornament...

The completed baby owls stare out from their cozy candy
container. These are adorable on a woodland inspired
Christmas tree or a cotton batting themed Christmas tree.

        This woodland inspired ornament craft includes both natural materials and traditional cotton batting applications. It is made from a hollow cardboard tube so that Santa's elves may insert small toys or candy inside of it on Christmas morning.
       In order to complete this ornament with success, I am presuming that visitors here have been working with cotton batting for a while. If you are new to my blog and have never tried crafting with these materials I will include links to simpler cotton batting projects where I describe the techniques in greater detail within the text of the step-by-step directions.

Supply List:

• cardboard tube 
• white school glue
• masking tape
• acrylic paints: yellow, white and black
• tiny paint brush
• cotton balls
• dryer lint
• wire for hanging
• extra cardboard
• one walnut, cut in half
• black thread
• scissors

Step-by-Step Directions:

This tube was not masked properly, but I have
included the picture for you to see how the
walnuts look when glued in place.

1. Select a cardboard tube and cut it to the size you prefer. Mask all of it's surfaces with tape. 
2. Use the sharp end of your scissors to puncture two holes on opposite sides of each other at the top of your cardboard tube in order to thread a wire for hanging.
3. I covered a wire with cotton before looping it through these two holes at the top. (wrapping wire with cotton)
4. Use the sharp end of your scissors to poke two holes into the side of the tube where you will glue the walnut shells into place. These will become your baby owl's heads. Do not make the holes too big! When gluing in the walnut halves, you want a little resistance from the cardboard tube. These shells should be nestled into the tube with both glue and the firm application of dryer lint surrounding them. Saturate the dryer lint into place under the edges of the nut shells with glue and then let the tube dry over night. You need to make sure that your walnuts are set firmly into the tube before continuing with your process. The tube may take on a warped shape after drying but this will lend a natural appearance to the tree trunk idea.
5. Cut from extra cardboard a circular shape to fit and seal off the bottom of the tube tree trunk. You can do this by setting the tube on top of a piece of cardboard and drawing around it's circumference with a pencil or pen. Cut the shape out and tape it firmly to the bottom of your tree trunk.
6. Now apply with white glue and your finger tip, the dryer lint to the opening of the trunk.
7. Unravel your cotton balls and glue down a first layer of faux, white bark to the remaining sections of the tree trunk. 
8. Between layers glue in some wrapped areas of black thread and then glue and layer on top of this thread random layers of white cotton. (practice imitating bark for a yule log) This will application is intended to imitate the surface of a sycamore tree. (film of owls nesting in a tree trunk)
9. Roll cotton between your finger tips to make the eyes and beaks of your owls. Glue these in place and let the faces dry over night. (Practice rolling cotton between your finger tips while crafting peas in the pod.)
10. Paint the features of the owl eyes and beaks. I used a bit of white paint to complete a few feathery strokes in the crevice of the walnut shells. 

Close up pictures of my owlets in a tree trunk ornament.

A Fine Feathered Bird Ornament

       This feathered, pudgy bird would sit perfectly on a pine bough or hang easily from the most delicate branches of a fir tree, for it is as light as a feather! I chose to use undyed feathers in a variety of browns for my project because I have a woodland themed ornament collection. However, this little bird would look just as sweet with brightly colored feathers in blues, reds, or yellows sitting inside of a white Christmas tree or hanging from a fragile twig tree if you prefer.

Supply List:

• hot glue and hot glue gun
• paper mache pulp or a bit of air dry paper clay
• one styrofoam ball
• a bag of feathers (your choice in color and texture)
• acrylic paints ( I used black, white, grey and yellow)
• an ordinary pencil
• white tacky glue as well 
• scrap tissue paper
• masking tape
• wire for hanging

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  Crumple the tissue and form a second "half" ball on top of the styrofoam ball. Tape this down with masking tape, covering all of the tissue paper with the masking tape.
2. With either paper mache pulp (water added according to directions on the wrapper) or with air dry paper clay, shape the eyeballs, eyelids and beak and attach to the masked head with hot glue. 
3. Take your sharpened pencil and push into the lower styrofoam ball approximately half an inch and remove it from the tail area of the bird. 
4. Now fill this cavity with white glue, plus the feathers that you have selected for the tail of your bird. Prop this tailside up against a couple of books on a table and let it dry for a while to keep the glue from running.
5. Now layer and glue feathers to the lower half of the bird's body.
6. Paint the eyes and beak of the bird using acrylic paints and let the painted clay or mache parts dry. If you use paper mache for these features, you will need to wait for them to dry solid before painting them.
7. Glue the head feathers of the bird on last, smoothing them down a bit with white glue away from the eyes and beak.
8. Push a wire into the head of your bird along with a bit of white glue, to create a loop for hanging it from the tree. 

More links to bird crafts:

• Red cardinal craft for kids
• Yarn bird craft for kids 
• Yarn wrapped blue jay craft 

Bend and Twist a Cotton Batting Bird Cage

      This is without a doubt one of my favorite ornament crafts. It is much simpler to make than it appears. I will be hanging this little bird in a cage on my both my Easter and Christmas trees this year.

      Mushroom birds come in all colors and are very fragile. You can find them in hobby shops and floral shops.

Blue mushroom bird in a cage.

      You will need to store your cotton batting bird cages in sturdy tin containers in order to preserve their shape and to keep the mushroom birds from being crushed.

Supply List:

• cotton balls
• white school glue
• wire cutters
• 2 wire gauges (one heavier than the other but approximately the same thickness)
• a "pick" of winter white berries
• mushroom bird, blue

Step-by-Step Directions:

1.  First you will need to unravel a few cotton balls. spread a bit of glue onto the wire and wrap thin pieces of cotton around the wire stem. After wrapping several wire lengths in this way, I roll them between my palms with more glue to make the application smooth. I work with lengths of wire approximately 24 inches long.
2. The spiral wire (pictured) is of a heavier gauge than all the rest of the wire used on the ornament. I do not measure out the length of it. I simple shape the bottom of the bird cage in a spiral shape until I am pleased with it's appearance. Then I take this same wire cut a short piece of it to hook across the bottom of the spiral to keep it sturdy as I wrap the rest of my birdcage.
3. The remaining parts of the project are wrapped using a lighter weight cotton covered wire. As you can see from the photos below, I took a piece of wire and wrapped it in the shape of an arch, approximately 8 inches in length, and hooked this wire to the underside of the bird cage's bottom.
4. Wrap a second wire identical in length the opposite direction and then add a bit of glue and wrap cotton to the top of your arch where the to wires meet. Every time your wires are hooked and/or touch you should wrap and glue a bit of cotton at this point in the process. Do not do this prior to this point because you will need to make adjustments to the arched sections to ensure these look the way you wish them to.
5. Now glue and wrap bits of fine cotton over the hooked pieces of wire on the edges of the spiral.
6. Next, you will need to wrap the bird on a swing. I used a wired mushroom bird for this ornament. Cover the wire on the bird with cotton batting and white glue. before you twist it onto a piece of "u" shaped wire. Twist the bird into a "seat"
7. Now hook both ends of this little "swing" at the top of your developing wire cage.
8. Again, cover these hooked areas with a bit of cotton and white glue.
9. Now you are ready to wrap another piece of wire around the outside of the birdcage and hook it around your arched wires to suggest a wall for your bird cage. I sometimes repeat this step if the bird cage is taller. But this particular one is shorter and I don't think it will look as nice to add more wire. 
10. Cover these hooked areas with a bit of cotton and white glue.
11. Bend a decorative pick of white berries over the top of the arch and again, cover these hooked areas with a bit of cotton and white glue.
12. Finish your cotton batting, wire bird cage with a fancy, cotton wrapped hook.

Left, wrap and twist spiral shape out of the heavier gauge wire. Next add a cross brace to the underside of the wire spiral using the same stiff wire. Center, hook over the top of the spiral an arch shaped piece to suggest the dome of a bird cage. Right, repeat the same step in the opposite direction.

Left, bend a "u" shaped wire to create a swing for your mushroom bird. cover the wire connecting the bird to the swing in cotton batting and glue as well. Center twist the bird's wire around the swing and adjust it to look as though the bird is seated onto the wire swing. Right hook the swing piece onto the connecting arched pieces so that the bird dangles below.

Left, now bend the cage's walls around the arched wire pieces. Center an old-fashioned white berry pick. Right, I've finished the ornament.

More Bird Cages to Hang From Your Tree:

• A light weight cage made from twine
• Birdcage Christmas Tree Ornament Craft Tutorial
• Christmas Tree 3D Ornaments Birdcage n Spindle
• Bird Cage Ornaments Pattern Set for a scroll saw
• Felt Bird Cage Ornament

Woodland Christmas Ornaments

       Woodland Christmas themes  often include bird fowl and small furry animals; here are just a few of the owls that I hang on my woodland themed Christmas tree every year. 

My little woodland owl ornaments are made of a wide selection of materials. Feathers, cones, seeds twigs crepe paper, mouth blown glass and even carved semi-precious stone are just a few of the materials used by those artists and craft companies that have contributed to my collection. I am particularly fond of owls.

Read about and craft this little cotton batting squirrel for your Christmas tree.

A little woodland squirrel nibbling on an acorn. This little guy is made from cotton batting and dryer lint. He's finished off with a little rabbit fur in back to imitate a tail.

 Here is another woodland ornament tutorial mimicking a hornet nest.
 
I saved a preserved European queen hornet to attach to my woodland ornament.

Karen Snow shares her woodland Christmas ornament collection.

More Links To Woodland Christmas Ornaments:

• Woodland Christmas Decor
• Nutty Little Christmas Critters
• Dangling nut head people
• Nutty Woodland Critters
• Teasel bear and reindeer
• pine cone owls
• acorn ornaments
• crochet mushrooms
• Handmade felt mushrooms
• pine cone elves 
• Traditional walnut strawberries 
• How to make star ornaments from sweet gum seed pods by Nico