Belznickle Blogspot

Saturday, July 8, 2017

Red, White and Blue Christmas

A vintage American shield graphic.

This graphic comes from a very old catalogue that is about 100 years old. I've cleaned it up of course. I hope that those of you who have red, white and blue Christmas themes on your trees this year will enjoy including it with a few tinsel trims among the the branches of a dusty green pine.

There are many other countries around the world that also have red, white and blue colors to represent their flag. So this new category here at my Christmas blog may inspire their holiday projects during December as well.

More eye candy about an antique, patriotic Christmas:

Two suggestions for temporary pendent trims of a chandelier making alternative use of the shield graphics.
These vintage suggestions come from a vintage Dennison company catalogue.

A Vintage Canadian/British shield graphic.

"This is our Christmas Tribute to military men and military families.

Thanks for your sacrifices so we can have the freedoms we do."

These girls have lovely voices; check them out. Watch out for those

BB guns however, "You'll shoot your eye out!"

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

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.

Select a cardboard tube and cut it to the size you prefer. Mask all of it's surfaces with tape.
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.
I covered a wire with cotton before looping it through these two holes at the top. (wrapping wire with cotton)
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.
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.
Now apply with white glue and your finger tip, the dryer lint to the opening of the trunk.
Unravel your cotton balls and glue down a first layer of faux, white bark to the remaining sections of the tree trunk.
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)
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.)
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.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

The Sheave of Wheat Chrismon

Above, you can see that I've painted the final
Chrismon with gold metallic paint but you
could leave it natural looking if you like.

A description of this Sheave of Wheat Chrismon it at Christian Clip Art Review.

This faux sheave of wheat is made by first covering the outside of a paper tube with wheat stalks before gluing on the choicest kernals onto it's surface. By doing this you will: stretch your budget and make the Chrismon lighter weight.

Note also that there is a difference between a sheave of wheat symbol and a singular wheat stalk Chrismon in symbolism. Although their meanings are related, these two symbols are not necessarily interchangeable. Many stalks bound together refers to a group of people.

Supply List:

hot glue gun and hot glue
preserved wheat stalks (pricey, I know)
cording to tie the stalk off
paper tube
masking tape
scissors
metallic spray paint (optional)

Step-by-step Directions:

First cut the length of a paper tube and shape it to the thickness you desire your sheave to have. Tape that shape in place.
Cover the tube entirely with masking tape.
Cut the straw parts of the wheat to cover the tube entirely using hot glue. It isn't necessary to measure these so much; they are easily cut even after applying them to the tube.
Select the nicest kernels and leaving these attached to an identical straw length to that of your "sheave" tube, proceed to hot glue these to the ornament every 1/4 of an inch around the outside of the tube.You will need far fewer of them to make your Chrismon sheave look full, had you simply bound a giant handful of wheat stalks. This way of making the ornament may be a bit fussy but it allows for the finished product to be considerably lighter weight.
Tie a rough looking cord around the sheave and trim.
Spray paint the Chrismon metallic gold to match the traditional color scheme of a Chrismon tree if you like. I actually prefer the natural gold color.

Left, the cording and preserved wheat stalks for my project. Center, paper towel tubing cut and
masked prior the hot gluing the straw on them. Right a finished Sheave of Wheat Chrismon unpainted.

Friday, June 16, 2017

The Open Bible Chrismon

A simple interpretation of the Open Bible Chrismon.

This contemporary Chrismon, an Open Bible is described at The Christian Clip Art Review. I used the traditional gold and white Chrismon colors to make this simple Open Bible Ornament.

Supply List:

corrugated cardboard
masking tape
hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
metallic gold spray paint
gold ribbon
white paper
stapler
printed paper that reads "Holy Bible" and verse from Luke 4:16
double stick tape

Directions:

Cut a cover for the Chrismon Bible ornament out of corrugated cardboard. Cover this in masking tape.
Trim off the masking tape.
Bend the book cover in half.
Spray paint this cover with gold metallic paint outdoors. Spray paint inside a cardboard box so that it may be tossed in the recycling bin after use.
Cut and staple several sheets of white paper that may be fitted between the covers of this Bible Chrismon ornament. Make sure that the printed pages are stapled at the inner-most fold.
Hot glue these stapled pages between the corrugated cardboard Bible cover after using double stick tape to position the pages open permanently.
Hot glue a long gold ribbon down the center of the pages seam. Make sure the ribbon looped at the top of the book is long enough for the Chrismon to hang easily from the tree.

Far left, cardboard book cover, masked. Next the cover trimmed. Center, paper pages lined up and stapled. Right, pages are taped open with double stick tape.

Karen Barber shares her Chrismon tree with the web.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Craft a Snow House for A Christmas Display!

Crafting snow houses was very popular during the Victorian era. Most antique snow houses are valued for hundreds of dollars; that is why I decided to make my own, of course.

This snow house began as little shed that was donated to a resale shop for charity. In it's original state it was quite unextraoridinary, dusty and unattractive. I purchased a wooden picket fence at a local hobby store for a few dollars and added a bottle brush tree and wreath. The snow baby was made by gluing a Sculpy face onto a popcycle stick and wrapping a simple gown of snow white cotton batting with white glue.

I wrapped the interior walls, roof, base and outside walls with sheets of cotton batting and white glue. The cotton batting icicles where crafted using the method found here.

The final touch, transparent glitter, gives the finished product a fresh looking layer of ice.

A tiny snow baby lives here along with a lovely bottle brush tree and wreath.

I covered my recycled Christmas house with masking tape prior to wrapping the walls with cotton batting.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Fauve Gingerbread Church Tree Topper

"Peace, Good will towards man.

I have decided to decorate one of my Christmas trees with cotton batting homes and churches. This will be my summer project. Perhaps I will be able to complete enough of these little structures to turn the tree into an entire village? (We shall see, if time permits.)

To top off my tree, I recycled a small wooden music box. I payed $3.00 for this charming little church in a resale shop. Often I see discarded items such as this these and wonder how can I transform them into something more appealing? It's seems so wasteful to just toss something with that much detailing on it.

Although the music box was broken the church still had all of it's green, tinted glass windows intact; plus a very cute, little steeple. It's sturdy wooden form also made it a perfect object to cover with cotton batting. I would not need to reinforce it's walls to prevent the glue from warping the church structure and with the removal of the music box, there should be plenty of room for top tree branches to fit inside!

So I gave it a try and here is what it looks like now. I think it will make a fine tree topper!

More Fauve Gingerbread for The Christmas Tree:

I purchased a small broken music box at a resale shop. I thought it would need just a bit of sprucing up before topping off one of my Christmas trees with it. Left, this old music box was manufactured in China. Center I removed it's base so that it could be neatly snuggled inside the tree branches of a Christmas tree. Right, here you can see the old music box inside. I removed it to make room for branches.

Left, I prepared the cotton balls by unraveling them. Center, the surface of the church was quite clean, so I began to glue my first layer of cotton batting to it's surface walls. Originally I thought I might paint the roof, steeple, doors and windows. However, I changed my mind quickly as I worked; the little church began to look like gingerbread and I found this very appealing. Right, here you can see the church is almost finished; all it needs now it just a few added touches, a couple of bottle brush wreaths and a cross at the top of the steeple.

Here is the completed project, I'm very pleased with the results and I can't wait to nestle the
little fauve gingerbread church at the top of my Christmas tree this year!

Monday, April 10, 2017

"All In The Family" Christmas Retro Gift Tags

These Eight Christmas, retro gift tags are redrawn, colorized and made printable by Kathy Grimm. Enjoy crafting your own personal, retro thematic Christmas designs with three color options: black, green and red.