Craft Your Own Set of Spun Cotton Icicles

      If you are anything like me, you will be reading this post at 4:30 in the morning while surfing for one last craft to make for your tree. The only difference between us is perhaps that I am looking to teach it and you are looking to receive it. 

       Although I've managed to keep my pocket book under control and I don't spend as much money as most Americans do at Christmas time, I still dream of decorating my home with items that would cost a small fortune in real life. And this dreaming starts about mid June for me, every year, without fail.

       I walk through the rooms of my home and I can't help but fantasize about draping evergreens loaded with tinsel, ice and extravaganza. However, I'm not just thinking about them in my own home, I am also thinking about them in everybody else's and I guess this is what makes me a little strange.

       What is this madness all about? I'm not quite sure but I think it has something to do with my childhood. My father was quite a daydreamer, something like Walter Mitty. He pursued architecture, religion and history throughout his life in that very order. He had the kind of curiosity that only children understand.

       My mother was the opposite, full of common sense and a little restrictive. She had to be as long as he was alive. But, since my father has died, she has become just as romantic as he was. As we age we begin to realize that what others did for us must be repeated in ourselves in order for their memory to remain alive. I think this is why my father cared so much about history. He just wanted to keep repeating the best parts of it so that the people he loved would never be lost or forgotten.

      So here is my next contribution. During the late 1800s through the first World War, cotton batting ornaments were most popular and although you may not be able to purchase a set of these spun cotton icicles realistically, you can handcraft them with just a bit of time and patience.

I handcrafted a set of six cotton batting icicles for my tree.

Supply List:

• Both white cotton batting balls and a white cotton batting sheet
• iridescent glitter
• red holly berries
• faux pin needles (cut an artificial branch)
• masking tape
• wooden skewers
• newsprint
• white school glue
• white tacky glue
• scissors
• wire to shape a hooks

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  I purchased wooden skewers for this project from the grocery store and then broke them in half. You may make your own icicles any length that you desire. But, do use a strong stick, pencil or skewer inside the core of your icicles. These will prevent the ornaments from breaking, should these receive a bit of rough handling over time.
2. Crush newsprint and layer masking tape on top of it to shape your icicle's form.
3. I used cotton batting wire to shape hooks on top of each icicle for hanging. Glue and tape these firmly in place before you begin wrapping the icicles with cotton.
4. In this case, I recommend that you wrap the first layer with a sheet of cotton batting and white school glue. Wrap the subsequent layers with unraveled cotton balls.
5. After you have layered both cotton and glue, ending with a light coating of glue always, let the icicles dry thoroughly in a warm area.
6. Poke a hole into the surface of your icicle and fill it with tacky white glue and faux berries/pine needles. Let dry.
7. Unravel white cotton balls and apply glue in a spiral pattern down the length of your icicle. Wrap and twist a last layer of batting to form the pattern demonstrated in the photos below. 
8. Wipe on a final coating of white school glue and sprinkle a generous amount of iridescent glitter onto the wet surface. Let the icicles dry and then hang them on the tree for an impressive winter display!

Pictured above are the wooden skewers wrapped and ready to be turned into something special.

The first layer of batting is made of a cotton sheet, normally this is used to line blankets and quilts with.

After your icicles dry, poke a holes into their surfaces and paste in faux pine needles and berries.

To add the final touches, wrap and twist cotton batting down the length of each icicle with glue. On the far right you can see that I've also sprinkled glitter onto the surfaces of my icicles.

See More Versions of Spun Cotton Icicles:

• Two trees from smile mercantile
• A most unusual bottle brush tree. Spun cotton ornaments too.
• Merry The's Christmas Collection

Fold Victorian Wire Ribbon Rosettes

My Victorian wire ribbon rosettes, three versions.

      Rosettes made with wire ribbon are made to last. They are considerably more durable and more expensive to make than the sample rosette projects that I have posted about in the past.

• Paper Rosette Ornaments and Garlands
• Cut and Paste Victorian Clown Paper Rosette Ornaments

Left, wire edged ribbons. Center accordion fold from above. Right, accordion fold from the side.

       Wire ribbon may also be recycled easily. If you have dated looking bows and trims made with it, these can be taken apart and upcycled into something new. The Victorians often crafted with ribbon rosettes and so rosettes are frequently associated with the Victorian Era Christmas tree.

      Wire rosettes implement the accordion fold. This is the same fold that school children learn in order to shape basic paper craft projects. (video of accordion folding below)

Left, 3 wire, accordion folded rosettes. Center, cutting and pasting metallic paper rosettes. Right, gluing together the rosettes.

Left, back side of a completed rosette. Next, edge of a finished rosette. Center Victorian printed image. Right, pasted acrylic gem.

 Supply List:

• acrylic gems
• 2 to 2 1/2 inch wired ribbon
• metallic cup cake liners
• scissors 
• stapler
• tacky white glue
• hot glue and gun
• Victorian scrap angels
• scrap cardboard
• gold cord for hanging

Directions:

1. Select a ribbon that you like, fold it front to back, on top of itself. I usually work with a length no longer then 20 inches. (pictured above)
2. Pinch and adjust the folds so that these look consistent. Then pinch one end of all the folds together and staple.
3. Now gently fan the unstapled side of the  accordion folded ribbon into the shape of a rosette. Staple together the two side ends of accordion folds. Conceal the stapled edges up inside the accordion folds or make sure that the staples are both on one side of the rosette. These will be less obvious on the back side of your ornament.
4. For the ornaments shown above, I also layered metallic paper rosettes on top of the wired ribbon rosettes. These were made by first cutting the centers out of cup cake liners and then gluing the rippled paper edges back onto a sturdy cardboard round. This round was covered with the same metallic paper discarded from the centers of the cup cake liners. Why not just crush the cup cake liner without cutting it apart you may ask? Because it looks better.
5. Then I used tacky white glue to attach a Victorian scrap angel to the center of the layered rosettes and pasted an acrylic gem to her halo.
6. Fold an additional metallic paper rosette for the back side of your ornament. 
7. Glue a gold cord between the layers of rosettes on the back side of your Victorian ornament and hang it on the tree.

Video by wonder studios.

 Folding More Christmas Rosettes:

• Christmas Rosette Wreath
• A Star Wall Hanging or Tree Topper trimmed with rosettes

Craft a Shabby Chic Pink Silk Bauble

Many people would look at this handcrafted bauble and think that it is Victorian but it's not; it is most definitely Shabby Chic. Why? you may ask? The Victorians were actually sticklers for symmetry. Those who are Shabby Chic fanatics sometimes love Victorian designs and hang these on their Christmas trees. But true Victorian Christmas collectors would never mistaken one for the other. In either case, both are over-the-top if you ask me!

      This pink silk bauble is extravagantly bodacious or eccentrically glamorous or just maybe a really ridiculous ornament. It was made by a Shabby Chic zealot and designed especially for a Shabby Chic Christmas tree. All you actually need to know is how to use a hot glue gun without burning yourself, in order to craft a similar project. I still burn myself after twenty years of using hot glue guns. 

       You may need to scour a few resale shops to find the silk covered baubles. Some years these are sold through drug store outlets, hobby and craft or dollar store, but this year these seem to be a bit scarce. 

       Glue the braid onto the sides of your bauble first so that it will be easier to position the broaches in the center of each half of the ornament. The egg shaped baubles are more versatile because they may be used for both Christmas and Easter decorating.

Supply List:

• buff pink velvet ribbon
• egg shaped ivory silk bauble
• an old broach and an old pearl earring
• heavy metallic braid, silver or gold
• hot glue gun
• both pearl head and plain pins

How to make Shabby Chic angel ornaments

Calvary Episcopal's Famous Church Bazaar

      Ready to wait in line? Calvary Episcopal's Annual St. Nickolas Advent Bazaar in Columbia Missouri is so famous that folks have to stand in line in order to get the chance to purchase one of their church mice ornaments! Ladies of Calvary Episcopal have been making these little critters for charity since the 1970s and, boy, they are cute. They also hold raffles for larger quilted crafts and serve a fine hot breakfast for visitors. After all, if you've got to wait in the cold to buy an ornament, you will surely need breakfast to warm you up afterwards.

 

See More Church Mice & Handmade Church Craft Ladies:

• The Jurby church mice exhibition
• Church Ladies Craft Fair from Good Day Sacramento

Lego Christmas Ornaments for Charity

Young students making a difference with their crafts.

  "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews 13:2

      Lego is a popular line of construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colourful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects.

      Lego began manufacturing interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Since then a global Lego subculture has developed, supporting movies, games, competitions, and six themed amusement parks. As of 2013, around 560 billion Lego parts had been produced. Read more...

• Lego Corporation
• Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego
• Free Lego Christmas Ornament Patterns
• Lego Ornaments by Chris McVeigh

Celebrate Santa Lucia for Christmas, December 13th

Saint Lucia martyred for her faith is called, "Light" She is the patron
 saint for the blind among many Orthodox Christians.

       Saint Lucia's Day is on the 13th of December, in Advent. Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feastday has become a festival of light. St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated most commonly in Scandinavia, where it is a major feast day, and even in Italy with each emphasizing a different aspect of the story. This feast is particularly seen the in Scandinavian countries, with their long dark winters. There, a young girl dressed in a white dress and a red sash (as the symbol of martyrdom) carries palms and wears a crown or wreath of candles on her head. In both Norway and Sweden, girls dressed as Lucy carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung. It is said that to vividly celebrate St. Lucy's Day will help one live the long winter days with enough light.

       In Italy, the Saint Lucy's Day is a church feast day dedicated to Lucia of Syracuse (d.304), also known as Saint Lucy, and is observed on 13 December. A special devotion to St. Lucy is practiced in the Italian regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, in the North of the country, and Sicily, in the South, as well as in Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia.

       Saint Lucia is one of the few saints celebrated by the overwhelmingly Lutheran Nordic people — Danes; Swedes; Finns and Norwegians but also in USA and Canada and Italy. The St. Lucy's Day celebrations retain many indigenous Germanic pagan, pre-Christian midwinter elements. Some of the practices associated with the day predate the adoption of Christianity in Scandinavia, and like much of Scandinavian folklore and even religiosity, is centered on the annual struggle between light and darkness.

       The Nordic observation of St. Lucy is first attested in the Middle Ages, and continued after the Protestant Reformation in the 1520s and 1530s, although the modern celebration is only about 200 years old. It is likely that tradition owes its popularity in the Nordic countries to the extreme change in daylight hours between the seasons in this region.

       The pre-Christian holiday of Yule, or jól, was the most important holiday in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Originally the observance of the winter solstice, and the rebirth of the sun, it brought about many practices that remain in the Advent and Christmas celebrations today. The Yule season was a time for feasting, drinking, gift-giving, and gatherings, but also the season of awareness and fear of the forces of the dark. Read more...

       "Every Jultide season the Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers, a group of high school students, celebrate St. Lucia Day on the Saturday closest to the traditional date of December 13. The town of Lindsborg, Kansas was founded by settlers from Sweden in 1869. Townsfolk of both Swedish and non-Swedish decent honor the early pioneers with Swedish festivals throughout the year. For more see www.visitlindsborg.com."

More Links to Saint Lucia's Day Celebrations:

• Rhythm In Our Home: Santa Lucia
• Planning Your Home School Day During a Season of Burnout
• Santa Lucia Day in the Morning
• Candlelight
• Help bring Christ, the true light, to the blind this Christmas - Lutheran Blind Missions one of last publishers of Braille Bibles

How to Sew Sock Snowmen Ornaments

Left, is a sock snowman made by my younger child when she was eight
 or nine years old. Right, is the snowman that I made while working along
with her during the family craft project. I can recall her giggles while
making these even now. Her snowman hangs on our family tree and mine
on her own tree in her bedroom.

       Sock snowmen are so easy to craft that your children can craft these along with you. They make great introductory assignments for a children's sewing class too. 

       Always be sure to give young people new needles to work with and do not allow them to share their needles with any other person. Keep peroxide on hand for accidental pricks!

Supply List:

• clean, white tube socks (infant sizes)
• additional decorative Christmas themed socks (infant sizes)
• solid colored socks and fabric scraps
• pom poms
• buttons, beads and ribbons
• needle and white thread
• dental floss
• cotton batting for stuffing
• Sharp scissors 

Step-by-Step Directions:

1.  Cut the top half of each white tube sock where the heal meets the ankle. This is the part of the tube sock that you will use to sew your snowman's body.
2. Sew a straight stitch (with dental floss) across one end of the tube and then turn the sock inside out before stuffing it with cotton batting. It doesn't really matter if you choose the smooth side or the textured side to face outside for the body. This is a matter of preference.
3. Sew the open end of the tube closed using a slip stitch and the dental floss. The floss is stronger and will stand up to wear.
4. Thread/knot the floss on your needle again and then hand bast around the center of your stuffed figure, while pushing the stuffing to the left or right to form snow ball like shapes in the tube. Pull the basting firmly into place and back stitch over it so that it will not come loose. You may like to do this more than once in order to sew a snowman with multiple torso parts.
5. You can dress your snow person by cutting up more decorative socks for his cap, sweater and scarf. Whenever you attach an additional knit piece be sure to turn under and slip stitch the ruff edges, otherwise these will unravel over time.
6. Sew on buttons and beads to make interesting, quirky expressions.
7. Tack on ribbon for hanging these funny little guys on your tree.

These sock snowmen are made with rubber bands and rice. 

A little too heavy for the tree but delightful to decorate 

tables and chimney mantels with.

More Sock Snowmen:

• Sew Primitive Sock Snowmen Ornaments - tea bath dyeing
• Olaf Sock Snowman Tutorial
• Adorable Snowman Sock Puppet Craft

More Snowman Crafts for Christmas:

1. Snowman diorama (video)
2. Paper snowman mobile
3. The snowman crafts from Crafty Journal
4. Cotton Ball Snowman Craft For Kids
5. Snowman made with egg cartons (video)
6. How to make a snowman using large plastic cups (video)
7. Hot glue snowman ornament
8. Glow in the dark milk jug snowmen