Craft a Salt Clay Angel from A Mold

The above Brown Bag Mold was copyrighted in 1986 by Hill Design.

       I crafted the molded angel ornament above from salt dough. The mold was produced by "Brown Bag Cookie Art" in 1986 (Angel With Lute) This company is still producing a line of stoneware molds every year I think. Here is their online address. You can also collect Brown Bag Molds online at Ebay so it helps to know the name of the mold you are looking for at least.

       You can find the salt clay recipe that I use personally at my arteducationdaily.blog if you'd prefer to try it. There are many salt clay formulas that students can use for a Christmas ornament craft projects that will produce lovely results. I also could have used paper clay in this mold and my angel would have been lighter weight. However, paper clay is significantly more expensive than salt clay. If you use salt clay, you do need to spray the mold with cooking spray before pressing the salt clay into the mold. You must then immediately remove the molded ornament before baking it at 250 degrees for two hours. I tap the edge of my mold gently on a wooden chopping board in order to un-mold the raw salt clay. This takes a bit of practice but the results are well worth it.

       After painting my angel with acrylic paints, I then applied a generous coat of gold translucent nail enamel for the finished appearance. You do not always need to use clear varnish on your salt dough ornaments. Experiment a little, try variations and layers of enamel that you ordinarily would not try on a few test pieces before varnishing your final molded ornament!

"Emily Warford Ivey shows us how to personalize our tree with simple 

and inexpensive homemade ornaments." Amanda Warford

An Adorable Snowman Craft Using Pine Cones

       This is one of my favorite pine cone ornaments! An aunt to our children gave each of my girls one of these handcrafted pine cone decorations for Christmas. The snowmen are made with paper clay, their arms are twigs and their noses tooth-picks painted orange. The craftswoman glued a tiny bottle brush Christmas tree to the center top of the pine cone before adding the snowmen. Then she  glued some artificial looking powdered snow around the tiny vignette and also onto the tips of the pine cone as well.

• Christmas critters from Pottery Barn
• Retro Style Glittered Pinecone Snowmen Ornaments
• Pincone mice and glittery pinecone birds
• Pine cone owls
• tiny pinecone elves

Recycle Peanuts Gift Wrap Into Tags and Ornaments

       Here is are two economical, quick and simple ways to decorate a child's Christmas tree or presents with all of his or her favorite characters from Peanuts. I will use these little paper ornaments to decorate a classroom Christmas tree with.

        Above is a photo of both the original Peanuts wrapping paper (right) and the cut-outs pasted onto a piece of blue construction paper (left). My children cut the shapes out two to three times after pasting the pictures to red, yellow, blue and green papers. Each time they cut out their little tags, they would leave a narrow boarder around the tag. This made their tags heavier and more durable as well as adding more bright colors to the tags.

These Christmas Peanuts tags may be used to decorate gifts with if you'd prefer. I will hang them on a Peanuts themed Christmas tree in our classroom after they have been laminated; this will ensure  that the decorations will last for several years.

   Above is a Christmas bauble made by layering Snoopy and Woodstock character wrapping paper onto a light weight plastic Styrofoam ball with white glue. After the glue dries, add a thick coat of acrylic varnish to polish off your Christmas ornament creation!

More Peanuts Ornaments and Christmas Advent Calendars:

• Peanuts baubles from The Vintage Umbrella
• Felt ornaments of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and Snoopy
• Peanuts Christmas - Story of Christmas: Felt Advent Calendar
• Giant Peanuts Gang Pinboard

Craft a Pine Cone Santa Head Ornament

I made this pine cone Belznickle many years ago. He is a family favorite and is usually displayed near the top and front part of our largest Christmas tree.

      At first glance, this ornament looks complicated but it is much simpler to craft than many people believe. It is a very traditional craft. Back in the 1920s, folk artists in the Appalachia mountains made entire Santa/Belznickle figures from pine cones that they had collected from some of the surrounding pine trees. Most of the Appalachia woodlands are made up of deciduous trees but there are also some fine pines and firs mixed into the woods as well. 

       Victorians, 1837-1903,  also crafted Belznickle figures from giant pine cones. Originals of these are rare and highly prized by collectors!

       I crafted this Santa head using fur trim and a bit of silk Christmas holly. I simply hot-glued these two decorative elements to the top of my pine cone and painted the lower half with snowy white paint, glued on a bit of glitter and varnished the cone. I chose a cone that was missing some of it's pattern near the top so that I could blend into the cone a face of my own making. I sculpted this face using CelluClay. I repeated the lumpy pattern found on the cone in the shape of cheeks, closed eye lids and the nose with the paper pulp mixture. Then I let the head dry for a few days until I could paint and varnish Santa's features with acrylic paints.

      Above is a photo of my CelluClay, papier mâché pulp, both before and after I have mixed it with water. The mixture should have a sticky thick consistency after stirring the water in. It is important to mix these two ingredients well in order to dampen thoroughly the glue that is added to the pulp at the factory. Mixing the correct proportions will take some getting used to. This is a process that you do by experimentation. Don't throw out the mixture if it is too loose, just add more pulp. If it is too dry add more water.

More Examples of Pine Cone Santas or Belznickles:

• Daryl McMahon Victorian Santas
• pine cone Santa gnomes
• Woodland Santa Pine Cone Ornament
• A contemporary belsnickle with pine cone legs and arms
• a drawn illustration of my ornament is here

Craft a Snowman From A Paint Stirring Stick

      When my girls were very small, they brought all kinds of quirky, cute little snowman crafts home during the holidays. This funny little guy has been hanging on one of our Christmas trees for fifteen some odd years. He is made from a paint stirring stick. One of the children's preschool teachers probably picked up a dozen of these at a paint store where they give them away with a purchase. Some stores give them away without a purchase. 

      The little ones then painted the lower larger half with white paint and the shorter, upper half with black. The teacher then hot glued a few simple trims on and each child dipped his or her finger into pink paint to fingerprint the rosy cheeks!

• Paint Stick Snowmen
• Re-Cycled Stick Snowman Snow Ruler
• Snowman Thermometer - I really like this concept for teaching kids about temperature.
• Wood Snowman Ornaments Christmas Craft
• A Snowman Fence
• A snowy owl ruler
• 20 paint stick DIY projects

More things to make with discarded wooden rulers and yard sticks:

•  Mamie Jane's Christmas Star Ornament - excellent.
• A wooden ruler desk caddy 
• Meet The Steel Ruler Mirror's Sister
• a vintage ruler rack
• an old metal cupboard upcycled with discarded yardsticks
• charming ruler frame
• You Rule! Yardsticks and Rulers Upcycled
• vintage business cardholders

Search also Kim Pearson's "Repurposed Crafts" pinboard for new ideas!