Craft tiny sea horse ornaments for the feather tree!

Miniature sea horses made from cotton batting
in four colors: pink, lavender, coral and blue.

        These sweet little sea horses are not found under the sea...but hanging from our family feather tree. Paint them pinks, lavenders, and blues and sprinkle with glitter too!

Supply List:

• acrylic paints in pastel colors
• white cupcake liners
• translucent glitter
• white school glue
• hot glue gun and glue
• one chenille stem per sea horse
• puff paints for eyes

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut a chenille stem into approx. half length.
2. Unravel several cotton balls and set these aside.
3. Shape the bottom end into a spiral. Shape the opposite end into a hook for the head of the sea horse. Both of these ends will be reworked later but having them bent early will help you to understand the proportions of the sea horse as you work.
4. The belly of the sea horse will require you to build up more batting than you will need at either end.
5. Layer white glue and batting fuzz around the belly first.
6. Now unbend the hooked head and gradually twist batting around the chenille end to bulk up the head area. Bend this end back in place and compare it with the photos of mine. When you are satisfied with your results let the head dry and harden.
7. Now do the same for the spiral tail. You will need far less cotton batting for this end. Make the application of cotton far less and gradually smooth it down from the underside of the sea creature's belly.
8. Bend the spiral tail back into place and let it dry completely.
9. Add pastel color washes to your sea horse.
10. Cut small rippled sections of the white cupcake liner for the dorsal and pectoral fins and glue them in place with hot glue. 
11. Paint the fins
12. Paint on the eyes using puff paints to make them more dimensional
13. Smear on a bit of white school glue and sprinkle on glitter.

DIY the prophet Jonah and Whale

       Modern Christians often teach that it was a whale who swallowed Jonah in order to transport him safely between the waters surrounding Tarshish to the port of Joppa. However, the Bible says that he was swallowed by a great fish. Which may have been a whale, presuming that whoever wrote the book of Jonah did not know the difference between fish and swimming mammals.

My finished ornament of Jonah and the giant whale. This ornament is made from cotton batting, dryer lint and toothpicks.

"Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'  The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit. "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.  "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, 'Salvation comes from the LORD.'" And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. ( A 550 mile journey from the port of Joppa!) Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it." Jonah 1:17 through Jonah 3:3 (NIV)

       Whether or not you believe that he was saved by a swimming mammal or giant fish, this symbol will certainly remind any believer who would like to include the stubborn old prophet, Jonah, on their Jesse Tree this Christmas that he was also recorded to be in the lineage of King David and therefore in the family of Christ as well.

Above is the plastic, green sperm whale my brothers played with when we were kids. Keep in mind, it is important to learn to sculpt three dimensional objects by touch. Examination with both the hands and eyes, will help your brain to relay information back to your hands quicker and with more accuracy. This is for educational purposes mind you. After you have learned to sculpt sample prototypes, you must make your own unique models for profit because of copyright laws.

Supply List:

• newsprint
• masking tape
• white school glue
• dryer lint (grey)
• paper mache' pulp
• plastic sperm whale (toy)
• small black beads for eyes (two)
• wire
• wooden toothpicks
• few white cotton balls
• Exacto knife
• acrylic paints for Jonah's body 

Right, featured: "A Sperm Whale Encounter" by Howard Hall, students may observe the size, and coloration of sperm whales.

Jonah tossed about above the blow hole of a super large whale.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Touch and examine the model whale carefully. Spend time looking at its properties while running your fingertips over the surface of the whale.
2. Now crush and mask with tape a similar shape.
3. Use a knife to dent the surface area for a bead on either side of the whale's head. Glue these beads into place. You many use a small amount of tape to keep the eyes in position while the glue dries.
4. Mix together the paper pulp according to the directions on the package. 
5. You may add a bit of glue to your water while you dampen the pulp to give it extra strength.
6. Let the paper mache' stiffen and dry out before layering glue and dryer lint onto it's surface. Keep your work in a dry, warm area so that it will harden quickly. 
7. I worked in some white areas with a bit of unraveled cotton on the whale's belly because I preferred the coloration. 
8. Dig out a hole in the top of the whales head for it's spout. 
9. Cut wire pieces and roll glue with unraveled cotton between the palms of your hands. 
10. Twist these wire into curls. Then bind them together to mimic a fountain of water spray. (see photograph)
11. Glue this water spray into the 1/2 inch hole for it's spout. 
12. Cover any torn or disturbed areas around the spout with additional grey lint.
13. Now cut off, with your Exacto knife, the sharp tips of many toothpicks. These will become the teeth of the sperm whale. Glue them in place between the jaws. 
14. Next you will need to shape a small man from a half piece of toothpick and cotton wading; this is Jonah.
15. Between your fingertips, wad and roll a bit of cotton and white glue for Jonah's head. Then glue it the end of a broken toothpick and let it dry.
16. Now twist another bit of batting around the toothpick to resemble a basic body shape. You can glue a second, shorter toothpick to the upper torso to make his arms. Wrap the figure with cotton until it looks like a miniature human. Give him a beard.
17. After Jonah dries, paint his coat, beard and head with acrylic paints.
18. Glue Jonah to the wire water spout or to the inside of the whales jaws. 

More Jesse Tree Symbols for Christmas Ornaments:

• Our Family's Salt Clay Versions and specifically the fish for Jonah...

DIY Sculpted Shell from Cotton Batting

       This cotton batting sea shell will make a lovely heirloom someday. It has an impressive "cork screw" design.  

      You may choose to finish this project by gluing glitter inside the open cup or just leave the cotton shell unadorned if you prefer.

Supply List:

• cotton balls
• masking tape
• paper egg carton
• white school glue
• wire for hanging
• glitter (optional)

 Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut and trim shapes from a paper egg carton. You can glue and tape these shapes into paper shells.
2. Cover the sea shell shape entirely with masking tape.
3. Decide in advance, where you want the hook for hanging the ornament will be and tape a wire loop down to the masked form. Add glue to the tape to make the bond more secure. This wire will get buried underneath a few layers of cotton but you can find it again with a fine needle when you are ready to add a fine wire or thread for hanging.
4. Unravel a fist-full of cotton balls.
5. cover the surfaces with white glue; spread this with a fingertip.
6. Layer the cotton strips on top of the glued surface and press gently.
7. Let this first application dry a bit and repeat the process.
8. Now roll some of the cotton strips into long "snake like" shapes. 
9. Squeeze the white glue out into a spiral trail around the faux sea shell. 
10. Now twist and apply the cotton rolls into the glue.
11. Let this dry and then apply another layer of white glue, smoothing down the surface with your fingertip as you go.
12. Apply more cotton to the raised areas again and repeat the the glue layers until you are satisfied with the results.
13. Twist cotton and white glue around the wire for hanging and push it through a hook embedded inside the cotton.

Masked shapes made from recycled paper egg cartons.

• See This Shape as a Mosaic Shell Bauble

Drawings of California Sea Shells. Print and look at while
designing your own cotton batting sea shell crafts.

Mosaic Shell Baubles

       When I was a young girl, I often visited my grandmother who lived next door to a very unusual house. The home owner loved to decorate his front lawn with crushed bits of glass, shell, and porcelain pressed into cement forms. That's right, he had no grass. 

        Being a very young person, I thought this was quite the fantastic display. However, I am certain that his neighbors did not appreciate his taste so much. His creation was dismantled after the house exchanged hands but I still remember it fondly and I thought of him while crafting these ornaments for my white Christmas tree.

These paper baubles are fashioned from egg cartons.

Supply List:

• paper egg carton
• shell pieces for mosaic crafts
• tiny shells
• porcelain figures of sea creatures
• tacky white glue
• white school glue
• wire for hanging
• aqua blue glitter (fine)
• masking tape

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut apart the small units of your paper egg carton and glue/tape these together in order to shape your paper bauble forms. I crushed newsprint into small "spikes" and taped these shapes to my egg carton pieces in order to replicate vintage bauble forms from the late 1800s. 
2. This process takes time, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be crushing and taping enough ornament shapes to open your own factory! Don't forget to crush and tape around wooden toothpicks in order to craft features that would ordinarily bend or bust off over time if not reinforced by stiff materials inside your bauble. 
3. Tape in a wire hook for hanging and reinforce it with a bit of glue as well.
4. Now you are ready to glue shells and shell mosaic pieces onto the bauble surface. Use a very tacky white glue for this procedure. If your ornaments are three dimensional like mine, this will take much time and patience because it takes time for the glue to dry properly. I know that many of you are thinking, "wouldn't hot glue be a better alternative?" Well, it wouldn't for many reasons. The most obvious reason being that you would definitely get burned many more times than you expect. Secondly, it is my opinion that hot glued work looks sloppy and it is not really permanent. I could continue to rant but that is enough for now.
5. Next, I pooled white glue inside the crevices of my shapes and sprinkled aqua colored glitter. This may take a couple of days to dry. Don't bother trying to smooth out this surface. In nature, it would not likely be so smooth. My intent here was to suggest a shallow pool or puddle of water where one might see a small sea creature, such as a tide pool.
6. I then purchased a couple of miniature sea creatures from a local hobby shop to swim about these mosaic shell baubles. I chose a tiny fish and an octopus that have the same shiny surface as the shell pieces.

I glued the shell mosaic pieces directly onto the masked surfaces with tacky glue.

Details of the finished mosaic baubles. The tiny octopus and clown fish are made from porcelain.

More Ocean or Beach Themed Christmas Decorations:

• Seaside Christmas Tree from Beach Cottage Decor Finds
• Handmade Christmas Ornaments by Martha Stewart and Easy to Make Shell Garland and and 12 Homemade Xmas Ornaments to Make from Completely Coastal
• white Christmas tree with netting and sailboats
• Beach Christmas Seashell Tree
• Bountiful Shell Inspiration from Fine Shell Art Blog
• Holiday Decorations from Southern Soul Mate
• Pinboard "Aquamarine for Christmas"

 M/S of waves crashing in over rocks, Bovey Tracey, Devon.

DIY Sea Shell Star Ornament

This sea shell ornament is as light as a feather, no really!

Supply List:

• metallic beads
• quilter's thread (white)
• plastic chocolate shell mold
• sheet of cotton batting (quilt liner)
• paper clay
• light weight beading wire
• star shaped cookie cutter
• white tacky glue

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  String metallic beads on a thin wire.
   
2.  Shape the length of this beaded wire around a star shaped cookie cutter and twist together the joined ends.
3. Thread your needle with quilter's thread.
4.  Position your beaded star on top of a sheet of cotton batting used for lining quilts. Now whip stitch together the beaded wire and batting. Follow the entire outline of the beaded star.
5.  Cut out your cotton star shape and repeat the process again with an additional layer of cotton batting liner. Cut around the second layer again.
6.  Now whip stitch around the parameter of of the star attaching a random selection of metallic silver and gold beads.
7.  Open your paper clay and quickly mold shells from your plastic chocolate mold. Let these light weight shell shapes dry.
8. You can trim the edges of the paper clay if you need to after the shells dry.
9. Use super tacky glue to attach the paper clay shells to the cotton batting star ornament.

More Textile Sea Shell Ornaments:

• Fabric Christmas Ornaments - Make Shells, Sand Dollars and Starfish
• Crochet Sea Shells and Star Fish
• ...from the deepest ocean

Crafting With Driftwood for Christmas

      When my kids were very young, my husband and I lived in San Francisco. On weekends we would go to the beach for long walks and then splurge on a few hot ciders at a local market in Half Moon Bay. Occasionally I would find an interesting piece of driftwood on the beach and if it was small enough, I'd take it home and make good use of it. 

      One Christmas I painted a small piece of driftwood like a Belznickle and wrapped it up for my husband. Although it was a strange ornament it didn't look out of place on our tree, which was decked out entirely with Belznickes. 

      My younger child absconded it for her own collected memories and she now hangs him on her tree every year.

Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides or waves. It is a form of marine debris or tidewrack. Above you can view the front, up close and back of my hand painted driftwood Santa.

More Driftwood Ornaments:

• A Recycled driftwood angel ornament
• Driftwood sailboat ornaments by Ruth McGovern
• Betty's Driftwood Santas
• Driftwood Ornament Ideas
• Driftwood Christmas Decor for a natural, beach style Christmas

      "A fun DIY video, how to build a driftwood Christmas tree . . I will post the full step by step tutorial on my blog (tomorrow Dec 16th) with more details and a link to buying the tree we made for this video. visit, http:// debisdesigndiary.com..If you enjoyed this video subscribe to my youtube channel for more DIY tutorials, I post new videos regularly to youtube! You can also find me on Facebook Facebook.com/debisdesigndiary" Here is the video DIY of the cute beach ball ornament Debi made.

Craft Tear Drop Shaped Chrismons with Shells

      Shells are often used in Christian churches to symbolize baptism. This is because in ancient times Christians were often baptized along side river banks, near oceans, lakes etc... Shells were readily picked up and filled with water to splash the person or persons who were being baptized. Both dunking and sprinkling were done depending on the age or fragility of the person being baptized at the time. There were no arguments concerning technique, only the point of understanding the act and the meaning behind it was considered important. Shells over the passing of time became so closely associated with the sacrament that they have been used in art and as Chrismons ever since. 

All you will need for this craft is a few shells with holes in them, glass beads and a fine strong wire. I twisted a long piece of wire through the hole in each shell and then strung a variety of gold and yellow beads, including some small glass fish, onto the wire hanger. These tear drop Chrismon ornaments make nice additions to your congregation's ornament collection not only because they add variety and texture to the mix but also because very little parish members can help put them together.

      The liturgy of baptism in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist traditions makes clear reference to baptism as not only a symbolic burial and resurrection, but an actual supernatural transformation, one that draws parallels to the experience of Noah and the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea divided by Moses. Thus, baptism is literally and symbolically not only cleansing, but also dying and rising again with Christ. Catholics believe that baptism is necessary for the cleansing of the taint of original sin, and for that reason infant baptism is a common practice. The Eastern Churches (Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy) also baptize infants on the basis of texts, such as Matthew 19:14, which are interpreted as supporting full Church membership for children. In these traditions, baptism is immediately followed by Chrismation and Communion at the next Divine Liturgy, regardless of age. Orthodox likewise believe that baptism removes what they call the ancestral sin of Adam. Anglicans believe that Baptism is also the entry into the Church and therefore allows them access to all rights and responsibilities as full members, including the privilege to receive Holy Communion. Most Methodists and Anglicans agree that it also cleanses the taint of what in the West is called original sin, in the East ancestral sin.

      Eastern Orthodox Christians usually insist on complete threefold immersion as both a symbol of death and rebirth into Christ, and as a washing away of sin. Latin Rite Catholics generally baptize by affusion (pouring); Eastern Catholics usually by submersion, or at least partial immersion. However, submersion is gaining in popularity within the Latin Catholic Church. In newer church sanctuaries, the baptismal font may be designed to expressly allow for baptism by immersion. Anglicans baptize by submersion, immersion, affusion or sprinkling.

      According to a tradition, evidence of which can be traced back to at latest about the year 200, sponsors or godparents are present at baptism and vow to uphold the Christian education and life of the baptized.

      Baptists argue that the Greek word βαπτίζω originally meant "to immerse". They interpret some Biblical passages concerning baptism as requiring submersion of the body in water. They also state that only submersion reflects the symbolic significance of being "buried" and "raised" with Christ. Baptist Churches baptize in the name of the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, they do not believe that baptism is necessary for salvation; but rather that it is an act of Christian obedience.

      Some "Full Gospel" charismatic churches such as Oneness Pentecostals baptize only in the name of Jesus Christ, citing Peter's preaching baptism in the name of Jesus as their authority. They also point to several historical sources that maintain that the early church always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus until development of the Trinity Doctrine in the 2nd century.

More About Shell Art for Advent:

• Baptism representations in Chrismon ornaments
• Seashell Angel Ornament

Handmade Pearl Ornament

For this Chrismon ornament you will need to make a small press mold using Sculpey clay. I've included a video below that introduces a product that may be used in a similar fashion to my own mold. This young craft artist refers to the mold as a push mold, but the two are close enough. You will also need to purchase a 'dried' sea horse as well. You can find these in craft stores like Hobby Lobby or in small tourist centers by coastal towns.

You will need many sea shells as well; one per ornament. I choose to leave my sea shells unpainted on the back side. I prefer to leave all of the nicks and anomalies on the shells. These seem appropraite given the context of the Chrismon. People come in all shapes and sizes and we are full of scars and mistakes on the outside. However, on the inside, Jesus puts a piece of himself, The Holy Spirit, and this is one of the two original interpretations of the pearl of great price; the pearl that Christ Himself seeks in us. The second interpretation is about the pearl we seek, The Kingdom of God, that is Jesus. Jesus transforms us through the power of the Holy Spirit and so it is appropriate then that the side of the shell with the pearl could be represented as precious or if you use the second analogy a valuable kingdom would also be represented as thus. For a chrismon, gold would be a logical choice given that all chrismons are either gold or white or a combination of the two.

Make a simple hanger with gold thread in advance of molding the sea horse so that you may press it between the clay horse and the gold cord along with a little tacky glue for added strength.

Choose gold thread that is strong but also narrow. This will not change the clean appearance of the finished ornament if you should get gold spray paint on it during the process of assembly.

Cut off the excess clay after pressing and removing the molded sea creature. Use an air-dry clay for this part of the project. Air-Dry clays such as those made by Crayola are good alternatives to Sculpey for the mass production of this Crismon. However, these should be used only when gluing the objects to sturdy items like sea shells because Crayola air-dry clay is fragile and will break in time. Sculpey is much stronger but it also costs much more and it must also be baked. When you bake Sculpey it shrinks slightly thereby making it necessary to remove it from the shell to reglue. The sea horse may then break. This is why I use two separate clays for this particular Chrismon craft. The air-dry clay will not shrink as it clings to the surface of the shell and I can also apply some glue to the back of the sea horse as I position the creature on the inside of my shell's surface. Allow a good 24 hours for the sea horse to dry. Then spray paint the entire inside suface, let it dry approximately twenty minutes and glue down the faux pearl within the curvature of the sea creature's tail.

       The Parable of the Pearl (also called the Pearl of Great Price) is a parable of Jesus of Nazareth. It appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. According to Matthew 13:45-46 the parable illustrates the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 13:45-46: King James Version (KJV)

⁴⁵ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: ⁴⁶ Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

      This parable is generally interpreted as illustrating the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven (pearls at that time had a greater value than they do today), and thus has a similar theme to the Parable of the Hidden Treasure. John Nolland comments that it shares the notions of "good fortune and demanding action in attaining the kingdom of heaven" with that parable, but adds the notion of "diligent seeking."

This interpretation of the parable is the inspiration for a number of hymns, including the Swedish hymn Den Kos­tli­ga Pärlan (O That Pearl of Great Price!), which begins:

O that Pearl of great price! have you found it?

Is the Savior supreme in your love?

O consider it well, ere you answer,

As you hope for a welcome above.

Have you given up all for this Treasure?

Have you counted past gains as but loss?

Has your trust in yourself and your merits

Come to naught before Christ and His cross?

      An additional interpretation of the parable is that the merchant represents Christ, and the pearl represents the Church. This interpretation would give the parable a similar theme to that of the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son.

      The phrase "Pearl of Great Price" has also been interpreted more widely to apply to things of great value in a number of religious contexts.

      The pearl itself is a beautiful, single entity, formed through suffering in the heart of the oyster (in the same way that believers endure lack of wealth or comfort) and like the Church, will be put on display in a coming day. Unlike precious stones which must be cut and polished to reveal their clarity and beauty, the pearl is perfect as it comes from the oyster.

Kim from Oborocharm's demonstrates how to make a push mold  in her Mini Push Mold Tutorial

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