Pine Tree Gift Tags

        The following gift tags have been altered and colorized by kathy grimm for our visitors to print, cut and stick onto gifts for the holiday season! Do not resale or distribute these from any other website they are the freeware property of our belsnickle blog.

Christmas gift tags in red and green for all your wrapping needs this season, 2024.

Craft a Cotton Batting Frog on A Lily Pad

       A cotton batting ornaments of a frog seated on a lily pad. You could give him an additional crwon to make him a prince if you like but I prefer to keep him all-natural. His flesh is painted but his sharper features are drawn on using a permanent ink pen instead. You can always repaint ornaments like these if the lights on your tree fade the colors out.

 

The painted cotton batting frog from three angles.

        To make a frog ornament similar to this one you will need the following craft supplies: masking tape, tissue paper, white school glue, cotton batting, acrylic paints, and a permanent black ink pen.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Shape the tissues into a frog shape first. See the detailed photos below for guidence.
2. Shape a simple lily pad for the frog to sit upon. See the photos below.
3. Tape a long wire in it's center securely to the bottom of the lily pad so that this ornament may be twisted to a flat Christmas tree branch. This wire should be painted to match those colors of the branches you wish to attach him to. Paint the wire white for a white tree or green for a green tree. This will help to hide the attachment.
4. Fray out a small stack of cotton balls.
5. Using the white school glue and the cotton layer small sheets of the cotton onto all of the surfaces to cover the masked frog. This will take many layers to ''flesh out the frog.'' Be patient and allow each layer to dry before applying more glue and more cotton batting as you proceed. 
6. Once you have fleshed out the shapes with batting apply a final heavy coat of glue and paint the frog using acrylics.
7. After the paint dries use the permanent ink marker to color his eyes and lips.
8. If the paint fades in time, it's o.k. to repaint the frog.

The frog shaped using masking tape and tissue paper; as seen from three sides.

The masking tape covered lily pad is taped to the frog and a wire underneath is taped on to allow
the ornament to be attached to a tree branch from underneath. Four different viewpoints are 
photographed above. Click to see all pictures larger.

• Frogs, toads and pollywogs for Spring . . .
• Search for frogs in my coloring collection

Longing For Home

 Longing For Home

Come away! come away! you can hear them

calling, calling,

Calling us to come to them, and roam no

more,

Over there beyond the ridges and the land

that lies between us,

There's an old song calling us to come!

Come away! come away! for the scenes we

leave behind us

Are barren for the lights of home and a

flame that's young forever;

And the lonely trees around us creak the

warning of the night-wind,

That love and all the dreams of love are

away beyond the mountains.

The songs that call for us to-night, the have

called for men before us,

And the winds that blow the message, they

have blown ten thousand years;

But this will end our wander-time, for we

know the joy that waits us

In the strangeness of home-coming, and a

faithful woman's eyes.

Come away! come away; there is nothing

now to cheer us--

Nothing now to comfort us, but love's road

home:

Over there beyond the darkness there's a

window gleams to greet us,

And a warm hearth waits for us within.

by Edward Arlington Robinson, "The Wilderness." 

Celtic women sing "Going Home''

Messiah has come for us all . . .

They journey over the hills of Palestine
 to find a baby King in Nazareth...

Christmas

OVER  the  hills  of  Palestine
The  silver  stars  began  to  shine;
Night  drew  her  shadows  softly  round
The  slumb'ring  earth,  without  a  sound.

Among  the  dewy  fields  and  rocks,
The  shepherds  kept  their  quiet  flocks,
And  looked  along  the  dark'ning  land
That  waited  the  divine  command.

When  lo!  through  all  the  opening  blue,
Far  up  the  deep,  dark  heavens  withdrew;
And  angels  in  a  radiant  light
Praised  God  through  all  the  list'ning  night.

Again  the  sky  was  deep  and  dark;
Each  star  relumed  his  silver  spark;
The  dreaming  land  in  silence  lay
And  waited  for  the  dawning  day.

But,  in  a  stable  low  and  rude,
Where  white-horned,  mild-eyed  oxen  stood.
The  gates  of  heaven  were  still  displayed
For  Christ  was  in  the  manger  laid.

 

"Messiah" sung by Francesca Battistelli

A Feel In The Christmas Air

A Feel In The Christmas Air
James Whitcomb Riley

THEY'S  a  kind  o' feel  in  the  air,  to  me,
When  the  Chris' mas  time  sets  in,
That's  about  as  much  of  a  mystery
As  ever  I've  run  agin! -
Fer  instance,  now,  whilse  I  gain  in  weight
An'  gineral  health,  I  swear
They's  a  goneness  somers  I  can't  quite  state-
A  kind  o'  feel  in  the  air.

They's  a  feel  in  the  Chris'mas  air  goes  right
To  the  spot  where  a  man  lives  at! -
It  gives  a  feller  an  appetite -
They  ain't  no  doubt  about  that! -
And  yit,  they's  somepin' - I  don't  know  what  -
That  follows  me  here  and  there,
And  ha'  nts  and  worries  and  spares  me  not -
A  kind  o'  feel  in  the  air !

Is  it  the  racket  the  children  raise?
W'y,  no! - God  bless  'em! - no!
Is  it  the  eyes  and  the  cheeks  ablaze-
Like  my  own  wuz,  long  ago? -
Is  it  the  bleat  o'  the  whistle  and  beat
O'  the  little  toy  drum,  and  blare
O'  the  horn?  -No!  No! - It's  jest  the  sweet -
The  sad  sweet  feel  in  the  air.

The Christmas Play Coloring Page

Description of Coloring Page: children dressed in costume as Mary, Joseph and an angel with a trumpet, Christmas play for school or church, Nativity, a doll plays baby Jesus, shepherd staff, paper stars, theater curtain

"The school play tells the story
Of the very first Christmas day.
Each actor's in his glory
And he knows just what to say!" 

 

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

 

''How beautiful are the lovely legends of this day; of the stories, songs and fairy lore that gather around it; the magnificence and the simplicity in which it is observed in celebrated high mass or in simple service in some missionary chapel; the lighted Christmas trees, the Christmas stockings, the happy family gatherings, the party, the dinner, the games, the sleigh rides-they are all natural signs of Christmas. And on this day the consciousness of mankind declares that peace on earth is only possible when good will is expressed to all men throughout the world.'' - John Holmes, Age 19

Craft Vintage Inspired Cone Figures

Finished vintage inspired, cone angel figures.

       Tiny cone figures were frequently produced by mass industry at the end of the 1940s, primarily by the Japanese or in Germany for the North American market place. Catalogue companies like: J. C. Penny, Wards and Sears sold cone figures by the thousands through the mail, while five-and-dime stores like Woolworth's and made small fortunes by supplying the same kinds of factory made, inexpensive holiday ornaments directly from store displays and shelves.

      My vintage inspired angels are made the old-fashioned way, by hand. Factory made ornaments became popular after the first and second World Wars. Prior to that time, most ornaments were either made at home or supplied by various cottage industries throughout Western Europe and The United States, wherever Christmas trees were most popular. I've posted some examples of these manufactured angles below.

       To make cone shaped angels, your will need the following supplies: cotton batting balls (for heads), decorative papers (tiny Christmas designs), scrap cardboard, trim for bottom of skirts (lace and rick-rack), acrylic paints for heads and arms, thin wire for arms, tiny novelties for angels to hold (see pictures), white glue and hot glue.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Roll heads from cotton batting and white glue. 
2. Cut out skirts from patterned Christmas papers. 
3. Shape and paste the paper skirts into cones. 
4. Glue the head on top. 
5. Stuff the cone shaped skirts with acrylic batting. 
6. Glue a cardboard disk to the bottom of the cones.
7. Glue the pom pom features to the top of the head(s), one or two.
8. Wrap the string around the pom poms and above the forehead areas to make the hair design.
9. Cut the wings from decorative papers and glue these on.
10. Wrap cotton batting around thin wire and let dry.
11. Cut small pieces of that wire for arms and attach these with hot glue.
12. Hot glue tiny gifts for angels to carry: holly and berries, bows for presents, snowflakes, bottle brush trees etc...
13. Smear on touches of white glue and sprinkle angle wings with glitter.
    

      Left, roll heads from cotton batting and white glue. Center, cut out skirts from patterned Christmas papers. Right, shape and paste the paper skirts into cones, glue the head on top. I stuff the cone shaped skirts with acrylic batting and glue a cardboard disk to the bottom of the cones.

Left, tiny cone angels hold: holly, bow and snowflake. Center several have bottle brush
 trees. Right, one has wings cut from a doily... and many have transparent glitter stuck
  to their wings.

Left, my tiny vintage cone angel ornaments. I hang these on my feather tree every Christmas. Right, old catalogue page shown. Elf-like figures. Pine-cone dwarfs, Santas, angels, snowmen. Cotton felt. Stand or hang from tree. Set of 15. From Japan. Shipping weight 12 oz.

 

 

Close up of a tiny vintage cone angle from the 1960s. This tiny angel has a metallic paper skirt and embossed gold wings. She carries two candles in her small chenille stem armature. Her head is made from cotton batting. She has a beaded collar and hair made from tinsel.

Close up of a tiny pink vintage cone angel from the 1960s. Her dress is made from painted pink cardboard sprinkled with silver glitter. She has white chenille stem arms and holds a tiny sprig of green to represent a tree. Her wings are embossed and pink, her head is a cotton batting ball and her yellow hair is made from a silky strand of yarn.

Left, are miniature angels with tulle skirts playing harps. Right the very same hold lights, seen in catalogue.

Pattern for making a cone angel and one version of wings.
Go here to see a craft of a praying angel wreath for older students.

More Examples of Vintage Figures from The 1960s:

• Pink vintage angel made with chenille stems
• Vintage, retro lot of Christmas collectibles 1960s
• Favorite vintage finds of the week
• Christmas Decorations for seven generations