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Monday, November 7, 2016
"Tiny Figure" Digital Print Paper for Christmas Crafts & Stationary
Sunday, November 6, 2016
A Happy Christmas to You!
"I Bring You Glad Tidings" Christmas Silhouettes
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Read About Christmas In Germany in 1916
Toy-making in Germany. How the rough figures are chipped from the wooden ring coming from the cross-section of a tree. |
- My First Christmas Away from Home by Alexandra Butts
- Experience the Authentic German Christmas in Philadelphia!
- What It's Like to Have a Traditional German Christmas Celebration by Caroline Gerdes
Monday, August 15, 2016
My Handcrafted, Cotton Batting Candlesticks
Supply List:
- old steel coat hangers with paper tube bottoms
- cotton balls
- masking tape
- wooden tooth picks or wooden skewers
- white school glue
- Christmas feather tree candle holders, clip on type
- Krylon Glowz, glow-in-th-dark white spray paint or another brand if you find it lasts longer
- Exacto knife or single edged razor blade (You may need one of these to cut the cardboard tube.)
- Gather the supplies. You may need to substitute alternative paper tubing if you do not have the old type of hangers that I used. If cannot find the appropriate size, simple use toilet paper tubes. Cut these length wise, curl them until they are the proper diameter to fit snug inside the candle holders and tape the edges together with masking tape.
- Remove the tubes and cut them varying lengths to mimic real candles. I choose to make some of my candles shorter than others in order to give them the appearance of use.
- Cover the exterior of your cardboard candle with a layer of masking tape. Leave to top end of your tube uncovered so that you will be able to insert a fake wick later.
- Now cover the masked cardboard candle with white glue and carefully wrap each candle with two lagers of cotton batting. Add extra glue in between the applied layers.
- Roll out long "snake like" pieces of cotton batting to create the twist of the candle. Apply more glue to the candle in a serpentine twist pattern, like you would see on a candy cane. Spin the these snake like pieces up the sides following the spiral glue trail. Let the candle dry upright inside the clip candle holders. Apply a generous fourth coat of white glue to the faux candles and let them dry.
- Next you will need to twist tiny cotton batting flames onto the ends of your wooden tooth picks. These can be abstract in appearance as they are to look like tiny flames from a distance. I twisted two separate layers of cotton batting on the ends of each wick.
- Spray paint your wicks separately from the candles. You will need to coat them with Glowz every year perhaps. Keeping the wicks separate from the actual candles will allow you to replace the wicks over time should you need to.
- After following the specific guidelines given for the glow-in-the-dark paint, let these wicks dry and insert one into the top of each candlestick that is clamped onto your tree.
Left, old steel coat hangers with paper tube bottoms. Right, Christmas feather tree candle holders, clip on type. |
Left, here you can see I've put my pretend flaming wick into the hollow candle. Right, is a hollow, cotton batting candle without a wick. |
more pictures of the completed cotton batting candles that I made for my feather tree this year. |
I know some of you think I have lost my mind with the scale of these candles, rest assured, I just took the pictures from downward angles in order to get closeups of the textures and shapes. The candles are not too large for the tree. These were measured against the real ones!
- Ice Skate Ornament
- Cute critters from Russia!
- Traditional, new wrapped figures
- Animated cotton figures: bunny, bear, snowman and fox
- Excellent handcrafted ornaments made with a variety of clay and cotton.
- Some lovely cotton figures newly made in this photo
Cut a "Jigging Puppet" from Wood
At a glance, the illusion of real legs is unusual and, with a little practice, you can give lifelike interpretations of many dances. |
Just a simple jigsawed cutout of 1/4 in. plywood, with hands and face outlined in pencil on the surface, this doll walks with the aid of legs formed by the first two fingers of your hand. Two shoes are carved from small blocks of wood and recessed to fit tightly on your finger tips. A short handle glued to the back of the doll, as shown in one of the photos, wedges between the fingers and supports the figure. Hands, arms, face, eyes and clothing are easily out lined with black paint.
Friday, August 5, 2016
How to Craft Your Own Kaleidoscope
Little girl playing with a home-made kaleidoscope. |
Visitors to London about 1816 were amazed to see people in the streets gazing skyward through pasteboard tubes. But these watchers were peering at no eclipse or comet. They were fascinated by a scientific novelty that had taken London by storm the kaleidoscope, invented by Sir David Brewster. First regarded only as a toy, it was soon adopted by artists as an aid in originating new designs. Sir David named his invention by combining three Greek words: kalos, meaning beautiful; eidos, form; and skopeo, I see. Almost anyone who has looked through a kaleidoscope will agree that the name is appropriate.
Make your own kaleidoscope, detailed instructions are below. |
What's in a kaleidoscope? |
Word Seach: Christmas Gifts From Mom, 1920
Color Pictures of Vintage Baby Dolls
Of course, you little girls and boys
All like good-things to eat;
And when the box of sweets is passed,
You think it quite a treat!
You say, "How many may we have?"
And when I say, "One each,"
You always ask, "Can't we have two?"
And how your eyes beseech!
And if I say, "Well, two apiece,"
(This never fails to be)
You always ask in that same way,
"Oh, please, mayn't we have three?"
And when I say, "Well, three apiece,
And not a candy more!"
A timid voice is sure to beg,
"Please, let us have - just four!"
Hand this little doll from your tree if you like. |
Vintage Santa Wave Gift Tags
The Gift I Didn't Get!
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
How to Build a Barrel Stave for Winter Fun!
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Color this Christmas Angel and Include It in A Journal
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.
The Colonial Christmases of Early Americans
Traditional, Colonial-style Christmas decorations at Williamsburg. |
Decorative Color Designs for Furniture
Many floral patterns and one white rabbit. |
Bouquets and singular blooms. |
Butterflies, owls, tulips, roses, and daisies. |
Attractive, vintage coat hangers for a child's nursery
Little Miss Muffet Jig-Saw Puzzle
"Little Sister" Book Ends
Craft More Book Ends:
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
"The Cherry Tree Carol"
Lyrics. Click. |
In Defense of Joseph . . . Angels did appear to Joseph to explain to him what was
transpiring in his life and he shared this with Mary and others. So in
his defense I have referenced the scripture. However, the carol is still
quite lovely, however inaccurate it may be. (smile) The implications here are that Joseph actually had frequent directions from angels.
"But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy
Spirit." Matthew 1:20
"When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
"Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.
Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child
to kill him." Matthew 2:13
And also the name of Joseph carries big news in scripture; any man selected by God and given the name is in for an unusual life story according to the Bible. The name literally means "to add to or give increase."