How to Assemble a Pom-Pom Bauble

The finished pom-pom bauble.

       This ornament craft is perfect for little ones to hang on the lowest branches of a family Christmas tree. It won't break and it's soft to handle. However, it takes an older child or adult to make it, if you should use a hot glue gun as I did here.

Supply List:

• pom-poms in rainbow colors
• aluminum kitchen foil
• masking tape
• wire
• hot glue and hot glue gun

Step-by-step instructions:

• Crush a Christmas bauble shape using aluminum kitchen foil. Make it any size you like.
• Twist and attach a wire for hanging the bauble and tape this on the top of your aluminum form.
• Cover the aluminum ball completely with masking tape. This will help the glue adhere to the surfaces correctly and also protect the glue gun from contacting the metal surface and causing the project to heat up.
• Now glue the first set of pom-poms next to each other around the middle of the bauble. (see photo)
• Then proceed to add another row of pom-poms in a different color and so on until the entire bauble is covered.
• Hang from the children's Christmas tree this ornament that won't break if it falls!
  

Far left, aluminum foil ball shape. Next, covered in masking tape.
Center, the first row of pom-poms is applied with hot glue.
Far right, the next two rows are added.

Non-breakable Christmas Ornaments:

• DIY non-breakable beautiful Christmas ornaments
• DIY Christmas Tree Ornaments. Glue Gun and Scrap Fabric

Make a Popsicle stick top hat for the tree...

Finished top hat made using craft sicks.

       Top hats on Christmas trees are as old as Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." This one is made by cutting a large Popsicle stick into 3 equal parts, then gluing these side by side. For the brim of the wooden top hat, glue two thinner sticks next to each other and then the top part of the top hat to the brim. Glue an additional cross piece on the backside of the top hat to give the ornament strength. Paint the entire hat black and then trim it with a paper ribbon and some Christmas berries and twig. Glue a ribbon on the backside to hang your Victorian top hat to the Christmas tree.

Supply List for One Top Hat:

• one large Popsicle stick
• 3 thin Popsicle sticks
• red paper for top hat ribbon
• twig and red berries for trim
• ribbon for hanging

See Also Top Hats, Top Off More Christmas Trees:

• Make a Snowman Top Hat Tree Topper
• How to make snowman hat ornaments from empty k-cups 
• Charles Dickens On Christmas
  

DIY Clothespin Airplane for The Christmas Tree

Our finished toy plane also has stripes on it's wings.

       What little child wouldn't love to craft a vintage Popsicle stick airplane for the Christmas tree like this one?

Supply List:

• thin Popsicle sticks (6 per plane)
• one wooden clothes pin
• wooden parts for the propeller 
• wood glue
• acrylic paints
• String for hanging
• utility scissors or hack saw to cut the Popsicle sticks

       Look at the photos below to determine the places to glue the sticks in order to shape an airplane. You can also hang the wooden plane using transparent fishing line to make it look as though the little plane is actually flying through your Christmas tree!

Left the propeller can also be made using similar shaped buttons.
Center, see the side view of our little wooden plane.
Right, the back side view of the ornament.

More Versions of Popsicle Stick Airplanes:

• 4 different model airplanes by Jesus Crafts
• A Fleet of Fighter Planes made from Wooden Craft Parts
• This vintage plane is for teen wood crafters...

Handmade Pastillage Christmas Ornaments

Pastillage ornaments: horse, rooster, cherries, Santa

         These handmade Christmas tree ornaments were crafted by Eugene Frohse from St. Louis Mo. He was born in Russia in 1873; he immigrated to the United States when he was 17 years old. Because he died in 1976 at 102 years of age, I'm assuming that the ornaments I have were crafted sometime in the 1950s or 60s. The color of the pastillage is amazingly vivid after all these years! 

       I purchased this collection from an estate sale and only one of the ornaments was broken. The original price tag, the description and recipe were included on the box. You can see more of his work online.

• Vintage 1950s Eugene Froshe German Sugar Ornament - Dog on bed 
• For a pastillage recipe go here.
• How and when should you use pastillage and what is the recipe?

See More Collections of Ornaments:

• A German bee's wax ornament collection here
• Vintage turned wooden ornaments here
• A collection of woodland themed ornaments that I hang on my tree

Two dogs made using Pastillage. Made to display on trees during the holidays inside bakery.

Pastillage or inedible icing ornaments: cat, goat and squirrel.

Give more of yourself...

Wise men seeking The King...

       Do you all remember that when the Wise Men came to the saintly stable and unpacked what they had on the backs of their camels, they gave gifts - gold and frankincense and myrrh? The old proverb is that myrrh was to purify the stable, that gold was a fit offering to a king, and that frankincense was for the worship of God. I do not know whether the Wise Men were wise enough to think this out, but I know they gave the best they had, and I like to remember it. For many, many years, as Christmas time came around, I have told my Sunday-school children in our church what presents the different creatures in the courtly stable gave - how the sheep gave wool for Mary Mother to knit into stockings, how the cows gave milk for Mary Mother to drink and to give to her baby, and how each of the hen biddies brought an egg, because she had nothing else to bring; how each one brought the very best he had. And in all this we see the great lesson, a present which is worth anything carries with it a part of the giver. It is his time, perhaps; it is his careful thought, perhaps; it is his money, perhaps - but it is a part of himself.

       One of my dearest friends, and one of the best friends of the country, the late Senator Hoar, used to say that Christmas Day was not fully celebrated for us unless the minister at church had read Milton's Christmas Hymn:

It was the winter wild,
While the heav'n-born child
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; 

Nature in awe to him
Had dofft her gaudy trim,
With her great Master so to sympathize.

       It was the Council of Nicae which fixed the winter solstice, and the days when the sun begins to return to the world, as the time for celebrating the birth at Bethlehem of the Sun of Righteousness. Those people knew a great deal more about it than I do, and for my part, I am very glad that my Christmas holidays come when every day is longer and brighter and gives more hope for daily life. E. E. Hale

Milton's Christmas Hymn

Snowmen With Children on Antique Postcards

       Fun, restored antique Christmas cards with children and snowmen playing in the snow together. Some holly, old farm houses, brooms, pipes, and old-fashioned clothing also pictured. Have fun crafting with these and mailing them to your friends and family!

Three little boys looking for a snowball fight.

Four children circle a snowman who wears a crown of holly.

A little miss shares secrets with a snowman.

"May joy and happiness be your's at Christmas"

Snowman with sick broom and admiring female fans.

Paint a cheerful Christmas bell for the tree

Left, a simple wooden flat of a Christmas bell. Right, copy a swirly design on top
to give the bell more interest.

       Classic bell shapes are common enough around the holidays. Add more interest to these bell designs by including a peppermint clapper inside and painting a fancier pattern about the bell.

• Color "Ding Dong, Christmas Bells Are Ringing"
• Read About the Liberty Bell and Other Bells
• Listen to "What The Bells Say..."
• I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day

You could also include a bit 
of glitter on your version
as well, to dress up 
this design.