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

Cut and Paste Victorian Clown Paper Rosette Ornaments

I chose to make the collars of my scrap clowns using cup cake liners; this allows me to price these little rosettes for less at craft fairs. I can also produce them quicker saving both time and money.

Supply List:

• pom poms
• striped and solid colored cup cake liners
• Victorian scrap of clown heads (portraits)
• thin metalic string for hanging
• white glue
• scissors

Directions:

1. Purchase or print Victorian scrap of clowns
2. Cut out the center unruffled portions of two or four striped cup cake liners. You can use more than this to make the ruffled collars of each clown; it's a matter of preference. 
3. Glue the tips of each ruffle to the outer edge of a single circle backed with the same papers. 
4. Glue two rosettes together, face sides out so that only the decorative parts are seen.
5. Clip, ruffle and reglue a smaller rosette from a solid colored cup cake liner to the front of each collar. 
6. Glue the Victorian clown scrap on top of this second layer. The cord for hanging should be sandwiched between these two final layers.
7. Glue on pom poms.

More ornaments made with paper rosettes:

• Paper Rosette Ornaments and Garlands
• Rosette Christmas Tree
• Christmas Paper Rosettes Tutorial
• Scalloped Rosettes

Cardboard Tube Santa Claus Craft

Far left, you can see that I've sealed the bottom of my tube with a cardboard end and painted this black. Center, I also added a bit of faux fur trim to Santa's cuffs with a glue gun. Right, I dabbed on a couple of layers of different shades of red to mimic the red velvet texture of Santa's hat. I used grey, tan, ivory and white to drybrush his beard.

Supply List:

• jingle-bell
• cardboard tube
• faux fur trim
• acrylic paints: red, yellow, black, flesh, white, ivory, pale blue, brown
• acrylic varnish
• velvet fabric scrap
• needle and red thread
• hot glue and hot glue gun
• scrap cardboard
• scissors
• pencil
• cotton batting stuffing
• wire or ribbon hook for hanging

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  Trace around the end of your cardboard tube on top of a piece of scrap cardboard. Cut this circle out and glue it onto one end of your tube. Let dry.
2. Draw and then paint a Santa figure onto the cardboard tube. Make sure that the sealed end is the base of the figure.
3. Stuff the tube to the top with cotton batting stuffing.
4. Measure the circumference of your tube by wrapping a piece of yarn or thread around it's end. Cut this to size. Now lay this piece of yarn out straight on top of your velvet fabric scrap. Cut out a tall narrow triangle adding approximately 1/4th for a seam allowance to it's circumference. This triangle should be about the length of your cardboard tube; it's measurement doesn't need to be exact. The triangle doesn't need to be perfectly drawn. It will look cute even if it is not perfect.
5. Sew up the two longest sides of the velvet triangle with the two ends facing together. Leave the shorter end open. Turn the triangle inside out. Whip stitch a small bell the it's end.
6. Glue the open end of the triangle to the open end of the tube with hot glue.
7. Varnish the paper tube and let it dry.
8. Now measure and glue the faux fur trim and hot glue this piece over the edge of Santa's hat.
9. Attach a ribbon or wire hook through the velvet hat for hanging.
   

Santa's red velvet hat is simply a triangle with it's two longest sides sewn together. If you cut your triangle too large, simply gather it to fit around the end of your tube before using the hot glue to attach it. The edge of this cap will be covered eventually with faux fur trim and it won't be visible.

• A child's version of this same craft project is here.

More Santas Made Using Cardboard Tubes:

• How to make a toilet roll Santa using felt
• Cardboard tube Santa made with crepe papers
• DIY Toilet Paper Roll Santa Claus Candy Box

Make This Spun Cotton Antique Looking Wreath

This spun cotton wreath looks vintage but it's not folks. I made it yesterday!

      This little antique looking wreath is so easy to make and it can look very different depending upon the small embellishments that you have on hand to attach to it. 

      I picked up some wire mesh scouring pads in a dollar bin at my local grocery store in order to wrap some of my cotton batting ornaments economically. Dresden ornaments were often wrapped profusely with Bouillion wire and I wanted a similar look in some of my handmade crafts as well. But, how to save money on my ornaments was key. Then, I saw them, from across the isle; it was love at first glance. Oh scouring pads, how relieved my pocket book is gonna be this Christmas, hurrah!

Supply List:

• white cotton balls
• old recycled curtain ring 
• wire mesh scouring pads (new in package)
• tiny pine cones and red berries
• tiny burned out Christmas light
• white school glue
• white tacky glue
• silver wire for wrapping and hanging
• silver beads
• old dull scissors

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Glue and wrap the curtain ring with unraveled, white cotton balls. Let this dry.
2. Apply a thin outside coating of white  school glue to the surface of your wrapped curtain ring and let this layer dry before continuing.
3. Use tacky white glue to paste down the tiny pine cones and red berries around a vintage Christmas light bulb. Yes, I really do collect and save these for projects.
4. Make sure the all of the parts of your spun cotton wreath have dried. Then clip apart the wire mesh scouring pad. You will find that it unravels into a tube like shape. 
5. I cut across this mesh wire tube so that I could wrap it once around my cotton wrapped wreath. I needed approximately 1 1/2 inches of wire mesh for my wreath. How much you will need largely depends upon the thickness of your cotton batting. If you don't use older dull scissors for cutting this mesh, your new scissors will become older dull scissors, no joke.
6. Now wrap thin silver wire around the wire mesh in order to firmly attach it to the cotton batting surface. Twist the wire around itself to make firm connections that will not unravel. The wire mesh does unravel a bit while you are working with it but it still gives a lovely antique affect to the ornament if you will work with it. Be stubborn.
7. You could purchase Bouillion Crinkle Wire if you would prefer this to my economical solution.
8. Lastly, wrap more silver wire around the wreath and string this with silver beads to make an attractive hanger.

Fun Christmas Wreath Eye Candy:

• What? This is really an original looking wreath!
• Wow, that's a lot of Santa.
• Love this recycled newspaper wreath
• Christmas wreath for math minded people, very fun.

DIY Jewelled Moorish Ornaments

Above, are glamorous ornaments for a Medieval Christmas tree!

      These Moorish shaped ornaments remind me of the jewel encrusted covers found on Gothic manuscripts. My versions, however, will not cost you a king's ransom to create. These little beauties are made from recycled egg cartons, plastic gems and a bit of black paint. Use your imagination and take your time with this project. The more gems the better I think.

Above, are Easter eggs that I made using similar methods.

Supply List:

• sharp scissors
• clean egg cartons
• black acrylic paint/brush
• plastic, flat backed gems
• tacky white glue
• seed beads
• wire
• needle and thread
• embroidery needle

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut apart the geometric shapes used to protect eggs inside of their paper carton. Use your scissors to clean up the edges as well.
2. Now you will be gluing these little shapes to create your own forms for the jewelry inspired ornaments. I used a very tacky white glue for this process in order to speed it up.
3. Make sure that your forms are thoroughly dry before painting these with acrylic black paints. It is important that you use acrylics because these dry rapidly. Papier-mâché egg cartons will  slowly break down in water colors if their is too much water or in oil base paints because the oils and chemicals will "eat" through paper that has not been treated with Gesso.
4. Paste on the plastic gems where ever you like.
5. String seed bead tassels to dangle from the bottoms of some of your ornaments. Thread seed beads through some of the wire hangers on others.

Cut shapes from paper egg cartons to assemble these Medieval inspired Christmas ornaments.

Details of Christmas ornament craft using plastic gems and recycled egg cartons.

 Inspirational Medieval Design:

• Book Art - Jeweled, leather tooled, embroidered gilt  
• Medieval Jewelry from Wikipedia
• Arts and Crafts of the Middle Ages by Julia De Wolf Addison

Medieval Christmas Ornament Crafts:

• Little trinket with a brick stitch
• Stained Glass Globe Ornament
• Moorish Jewel Ornaments
  

Learn More About The Medieval Christmas: 5th to 15th Century:

• Medieval Christmas from History Learning Site
• A Medieval Christmas from Historic UK
• Seven Medieval Christmas Traditions
• Argus for the Christmas Table - was also served in the Medieval Era
• Boar's Head for Christmas? - was also popular in the Medieval Era

Craft a Golden Tassel Angel Ornament

This elegant Victorian angel ornament is made with a lovely golden tassel and cotton batting wings. Tassels were often used on ornaments during the Victorian Era.

Click to download largest file.

 Supply List:

• prefabricated porcelain doll head with shoulders
• gold tassel
• short white feathers
• white cotton balls
• two ribbon types, wired edges
• hot glue gun
• white school glue
• tiny embellishments: flowers, gems etc...
• cardboard
• scissors
• white chenille stem
• white or gold glitter

Left, here is a gold tassel. It is so shinny that I can hardly photograph it without a glare! The porcelain head is easy to find in a hobby shop. These kinds of items are popular around Christmas time. The cotton batting wings are not as easy to find. You can make these yourself though.

See how snug and finished the tassel skirted angel looks?
This is because all of the hot glue is hidden inside of the
doll's breast plate. Now all I need to do is wrap the out-
side of her bodice with a gold ribbon.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut one chenille stem in half and wrap each end with a bit of cotton batting; these will be the "hands" of the angel.
2. Cut to fit two narrow pieces of wire edged ribbon to wrap around the chenille stem. The wired edges should be wrapped around the wrist's of the angel. Glue these ribbons into place.
3. Fold the finished chenille stem arms in half and hot glue this stem up inside of the angel's shoulders. See photo right.
4. Now hot glue the tassel up into place just underneath the chenille stem arms. There should be enough room behind the breast plate to accommodate the tassel neatly. Be generous with the hot glue. 
5. Now wrap a gold ribbon around the breast plate all the way to the back of the angel's shoulder plate and clip off so that the ribbon is the size that you need to cover the top half of the angel's torso neatly. Hot glue this ribbon in place.
6. Hot glue the angel's hands to hold whatever embellishments you have collected for her arms.
7. Click and print out the wing pattern above to trace on top of your cardboard.
8. Hot glue white feathers along the lower half of the wings.
9. Unravel a few white cotton balls and glue a layer or two of cotton batting around the upper half of each wing covering the ends of the feathers. Repeat this step several times. Be sure to also wrap the batting around the edges of the wings.
10. End with a final layer of white glue on top of the cotton batting and sprinkle the wings with a bit of white glitter. Let the wings dry.
11. Hot glue the wings to the backside of the angel's breast plate at her shoulders.

Left, cut the chenille stem in half and glue a bit of cotton batting to the tips of the wire stem to create soft stubby hands. Center, the doll's head has a cavity and breast plate. I will fill this cavity with hot glue and push the wire armature inside it before I hot glue the tassel in place. Right, see I have measured the length of the arms to my own liking before wrapping these with a wire edged ribbon. Don't glue the arms into place until you have checked out the length of the stem and wrapped it in an attractive ribbon.

This little porcelain beauty is dressed; all she needs now is a set of cotton batting wings.

More Tassel Skirted Dolls:

• A green and yellow tassel skirted angel
• Corset art doll with tassel skirt
• Marie's tassel skirt
• Victorian Doll Tassel Ornaments

How To Make A Tassel From Scratch.

Stitch a Sampler For Your Colonial Christmas Tree

My eldest child stitched this little Colonial sampler when she was a young teenager. This was her first cross-stitch project. I mounted it on heavy cardstock in order to hang the needlework on an Colonial American Christmas tree.

       When my girls were in their preteen years, my husband and I decided it was time to take them on a trip to visit both the Smithsonian Institute and Colonial Williamsburg. Although it was not an inexpensive adventure, we felt it to be one of the most educational vacations of their young lives.

       During their visit to Williamsburg, my girls were most fascinated with the lives of children, specifically girls, who lived in this recreated historical village. They wanted to know what the girls learned in school, what kinds of chores they were responsible for and what were their hopes and dreams.

      I backed my daughter's cross-stitch sampler with heavy cardstock and a lovely old piece of olive/ochre tapestry. I added braided ribbon and ivory tassels to the ornament as well. Contrary to popular opinions in America, design motifs in the Early American Colonial Era were not always rustic or primitive. In our Colonial Era, designs were sometimes very sophisticated and refined. Age does not always imply "lack" of knowledge or supply. Most of the ornaments that actually hung on the 20th century Williamsburg Christmas trees made by employees during the 1970s were from the pioneer era in America and were far more rustic than those that would have actually been designed by the English and German immigrants of the British colonies. (see 1rst volume of ornaments here) The later published Christmas ornament collection is designed to teach young students about American Folk Artists, some of these lived during the American Colonial times, some of them lived in the 20th century. (see 2nd volumes review here)

       This experience is what influenced my eldest to take up needlework for a brief time during her teen years. I purchased her a small sampler kit to reproduce, hence the ornament that you see at the top of the page.

Plate II.—Sampler by M. C. 
16th-17th Century.

       Colonial American samplers by young children often included alphabets, numerals and simple motifs; the letter motifs seem to be preferred by American Colonists in specific during the 1700s. Marcus B. Huish, author and collector writes, "Although a sampler without either alphabets or numerals would seem to be lacking in the very essence of its being, it is almost certain that the earliest forms did not contain either, but (like that in Plate II.) were merely sheets of decorative designs. For the need of pattern-books of designs would as certainly precede that of copy-books of alphabets and numerals, as the pleasure of embroidering designs upon garments preceded that of marking their ownership by names, and their quantity by figures. A sampler would seldom, if ever, be used as a text-book for children to learn letters or figures from, except with the needle, and the need for lettering and figuring upon them would, therefore, as we have said, only arise when garments or napery became sufficiently common and numerous to need marking. This period had clearly been reached when our earliest dated samplers were made, for, out of dated specimens of the seventeenth century that I have examined, two-thirds carry the alphabet upon them, and the majority have the numerals. It is rare to find later samplers without them, those of the eighteenth century containing assortments of every variety of lettering, Scottish ones especially laying themselves out for elaborately designed and florid alphabets. With the advent of the nineteenth century, however, the sampler began to lose its raison d’être, and quite one-half of those then made omit either the alphabet, or numerals, or both." Marcus B. Huish
       If you would like to make a similar sampler like the one Natalie stitched you can visit the shop at Colonial Williamsburg and order a sampler from their historic collection. These do change from year to year but there is always an assortment of them available.

• Cross-Stitch Love Birds Kit - adapted from a sampler by Jane Stead, 1779
  

      Learn more about "The oldest surviving samplers were constructed in the 15th and 16th centuries. Samplers often included the alphabet, figures, motifs, decorative borders and sometimes the name of the person who embroidered it and the date. The word sampler is derived from the Latin exemplum - an example. Expert Joy Jarrett shows us part of her rare collection and explains some of the history behind them."

Additional Sampler Videos:

• 1879 English Needlework Sampler
• Who's Your Daddy? Families in Early American Needlework
• Sewing family stories
• Antique Samplers Collection: Virginie Lykins
• 1825 New Jersey Sampler
• Buying American & English Samplers

Click to download the largest available free sampler patten from my blog.

Sampler Pictures, History and Patterns Online:

• Samplers, The First Work of Small Hands
• Spot Samplers from Embroiderbee's Primary Hive 
• Cross stitch & samplers pinboard from Leslee
• A History of Samplers from Victoria and Albert Museum
• The A, B, C's of Schoolgirl Samplers: Girl's Eduction and Needlework From a Bygone Era

DIY Shabby Chic Scrap Piecework Baubles

      These Shabby Chic baubles are definitely French Cottage. I pinned this set for my younger girl who happens to adore anything remotely French or Austrian that was produced during the Victorian Era. I wrapped my Styrofoam balls with white glue and variegated, pastel colored yarns. Then I snipped and clipped my way through several vintage shawls, table cloths and dollies yellow and stained with age and wear. Most of these items came to me via an elderly aunt who hadn't the heart to throw them away. I think Hannah will be quite pleased with the end result.

More examples of Shabby Chic Scrap Piecework Baubles. On the far left you can see the beaded chain that I added for hanging the baubles. These piecework baubles have scraps of lace built up on top of yarn covered Styrofoam balls in pastel shades. The color combinations are quite elaborate; not merely shades of white and ivory.

These pieces are fun to work on; it's difficult to know when to stop though.

Details of embroidery and lacework pinned to the Shabby Chic Baubles.

Left, vintage shawls, antique lace and old table linens are the kinds of supplies you will need to acquire for this craft.

A dresser with a distressed
finish and mismatched
drawer knobs, in
Shabby chic style.

      The "Shabby Chic Style" started in Great Britain and evokes the type of decoration found in large country houses where there are worn and faded old chintz sofas and curtains, old paintwork and unassuming 'good' taste. The end result of shabby chic is to achieve an elegant overall effect, as opposed to the sentimentally cute Pop-Victorian. Recycling old furniture and fabrics is an important aspect of the look and was especially popular with modern Bohemians and artisans that made up a sidelined counter-culture movement during the 1980s when expensive quality decor became very fashionable with the upper middle classes. The original shabby chic interiors were usually considered in themselves works of art.

• Shabby Chic bottle brush trees
• More Shabby Chic Christmas Ornaments
• Shabby Chic Christmas Stockings
• Shabby Chic Christmas Decorating
• Heartfelt Couture Christmas
• Christmas Ornaments with vintage images - So Shabby Chic (Tutorial)
• Shabby Chic Ornament Tutorial from Shabby Patty

 More painted and layered Shabby Chic Christmas Baubles

Reproducing a Vintage Christmas Stocking

A new stocking for baby in blue or pink felt; how sweet!

      This little drawing of  a blue felt sock is of an actual vintage stocking that once belonged to my husband when he was a baby. It is so tattered and worn but somehow it makes it's way onto our Christmas tree every year. It is far too fragile to fill with gifts however. The stocking was made by some loving grandmother in the late 1950s I'm sure. My husband's sister had a similar one in pink I believe. During the 1950s pastel colored ornaments and stockings on shimmering silver tinsel trees were all the rage. I've redrawn and included a pattern similar to this homemade stocking for those of you who would like to reproduce it. 

       A pair of pinking shears was used to cut the felt stocking out originally. Use a pair of ordinary sharp scissors to cut the marked openings on the sides of two identical felt stockings so that you can weave a pale pink ribbon through the center of the stocking. If you are making a pink felt stocking for a girl, use a blue ribbon instead of the pink. The Christmas trees are also cut from white felt and tiny sequins and silver beads are sewn on to give them sparkle. The "Hello" on the bottom of the stocking is made from silver rick-rack. This word is stitched into place with silver thread. This little felt stocking would be a charming addition to any tree for a new baby.

Click to download the largest possible file.

Free stocking with the purchase of Ivory Snow.

Handcraft Marbleized Baubles for Your Christmas Tree

This tiny glass bauble would look nice on a Shabby Chic Christmas tree.

     People have been marbleizing glass baubles for years and why not? It is both a fun and a simple way to add a bit of pizzazz to ordinary glass baubles.

 Supply List:

• acrylic paints: one very light color combined with one or two very bright colors
• clear glass bauble with detachable metal catche and hook
• disposable paper cup
• Ribbon or fancy wire for hanging
• tacky white glue

Step-by-Step Directions:

1.  For this peppermint swirled, glass bauble I dripped red and white acrylic paints into my glass bauble and swirled these two colors around inside the ornament. 
2. Then I turned the glass bauble upside down and stood it inside of a disposable paper cup. I let this drain for an hour or so.
3. Then I removed the bauble and turned it right side up, cleaned off the lip of the glass and replaced the metal catche.
4. I twisted an old sprig of winter white berries around the metal catch adding tacky glue to the old vintage wire.
5. I looped a piece of matching winter berry spring through the bauble's hook and twisted it to make a fancy hoop in order to hang my marbleized bauble from my feather tree.

      You can also make similar marbleized ornaments with alcohol inks and

 compressed air. Ranger Ink has a video here to show you how to do this.

A Quilted Colonial American Christmas Angel Ornament

Left, you can see the store bought, angel stamp that I purchased for the ornament project. Right, the finished quilted Colonial American Christmas Angel ornament, trimmed in white eyelet lace.

       I made these foam stamped angel ornaments several years ago for family and friends. Although I purchased this little Colonial American angel stamp ahead of time, crafters may decide to manufacture their own versions by using a die cut stamp making technique. I've included a video below by Michelle Joy Wecksler that shows how to make these.

      You don't really need fancy inks or paints to stamp nice images onto cotton fabric; I used ordinary acrylic, red, paint for my stamped ornament version above. I backed the printed fabric with a layer of cotton batting plus an additional cotton backing using the same muslin. Then I quilted the three layers together. I followed the outline of the angel with my needle and quilter's thread until I reached the oval's edge of the muslin medallion. Then I repeated the same process for the backside of the ornament. 

       Choose the nicest of the two quilted medallions for the front of your ornament. Sew with a straight stitch around the edge of the medallion perimeter a piece of white eyelet lace. Turn this lace to the inside of the medallion's center and sew the back medallion piece face down on top of the front side, leaving a one inch opening for stuffing. Turn the oval medallion inside out and stuff it with a soft cotton batting. 

      Turn under the one inch opening with your needle as you close up the opening you used to stuff your ornament with a whip stitch. Clean up the puckered edges using a slip stitch with additional quilter's thread.

      Cut a simple white ribbon and tack this onto the outside of your cotton muslin medallion using quilter's thread.

I printed my Colonial American angel on top of white cotton, using a red acrylic paint that I purchased from my local hobby store. Right, you can see a detailed shot of the quilted stitches up close.

 Make your own die cut foam stamps.

      I've included examples of angels below that can be found carved into Early Colonial American tombstones. Sometimes similar primitive angels can by found in Pennsylvania Dutch frakturs. However, not all angels were illustrate so primitively on those manuscripts. Some folk artists preferred naive looking angels and others preferred angels that looked more realistic. Frakturs drawn during the Colonial American era depict both styles because they were produced by artists of various degrees of talent and/or taste. Personally, I prefer the primitive fraktur and tombstone angel designs.

Winged skull & winged soul effigies on Phebe (1757) and Timothy Peck
 (1790) gravestones, Morristown, NJ

Granite tombstone of Josiah Leavitt (1679–1717), Hingham Center
 Cemetery, Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts

Captain Andrew Drake (1684–1743) sandstone tombstone from 
the Stelton Baptist Church Edison, New Jersey

See More Early American Tombstones Depicting Angels:

• Field Stone Gravestones and Merrimac Valley Style Gravestones
• Christmas Angels by imageguy
• Death's Head, Cherub, Urn and Willow
• The Common School - Tiptoeing through the Tombstones
• Worchester's Own Gravestones
• Pinboard of Early American Tombstones
• Mary Price Gravestone 1766