Muffins and Cupcakes anyone?

Unique little Christmas tree decorations, felt gingerbread muffins and snow cupcakes. The gingerbreads smell so good, they are dusted with spicy snow flurries and dabbed with a little bit of gingerbread oil. 

 

Close-up of each as I was packing them away

 

 

 

Just a few of each, as I like to have a variety of different items for sale on my market table.

 

Judy

Rusty Bed-Spring Snowman

I love how this snowman turned out.

Using only a rusty bed-spring, a polystyrene ball, clay nose, scrap of fabric and three little buttons, this snowman was created.  Even though our Christmas is celebrated at the hottest time of the year, I still love snowmen.  They have such a personality.  So this is another one to add to my collection.

Judy

Snowmen Peg Magnets

I am really on a roll with my little Christmas decorations.  Today I hand painted some wooden pegs - just the cheap spring loaded variety.

After a couple of coats of white paint, I drew the snowman faces on with permanent markers, yes I could have painted the faces on, but this was much easier

 

 

I then dressed them - rusty buttons, scarves, hats, anything I could find

Check out the tiny weeny buttons on this one!  I burnt my fingers trying to hot glue them down the front.

 

 

I then cut a little round magnet in half (so that it would not show from the front) and glued it to the back of each snowman

 

 

Now you can place them on the fridge or any other metal surface.  I tried placing them on my new rustic metal Christmas tree, however I could not fit the entire tree in the photo.

 

Hope you can get the idea from the following couple of photos.

 

 

 

 

I just realised when I was posting these photos, that I had forgotten to give the snowmen some blush on their cheeks ... I must go and do that immediately before I forget.

 

I am setting myself a challenge to try and make a small decoration everyday until the end of November ... I hope I succeed.

 

Take care

Judy

Snowman Tags

It is time to think of Christmas projects that the children can make.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it may be a good start - Snowman Tags

All you need for the snowman are three different sized white pom poms, a couple of small twigs from the garden and something for his scarf.  I used a piece of bakers twine.  I placed my snowman on a shipping tag, however you could just cut out a tag shape from cardboard.  I think corrugated cardboard would look fab.

NO instructions are required, just follow the photo .. it is that easy

I sprinkled a little mica flakes on the bottom of the next snowman tag, to give the illusion of snow and used a small piece of grapevine twig for his hat.

I think the children will like making these and they can decorate them as they like.  Maybe glue some cloves down the front for buttons, or make a nose etc.  This is just the basic idea and can be enhanced in many different ways.

Till next time

Judy

Little Christmas Ornaments

This post is showing a couple of little Christmas ornaments that you can make in advance and pop away ready for Christmas.

1.  Tea Light Snowman  - utilising a battery operated tea light - turn it into a snowman face. His nose shines orange when the light is turned on

Cut out a fabric hat to fit the top of the light, sew and stuff lightly.  Glue onto light and then glue a fur trim to the edge of the hat.  Make sure you leave the on/off switch at the back uncovered.
Tie a co-ordinating bow and then glue it to the bottom of the light.

Paint the face as desired, I used many different expressions on my lights, just by using a permanent marker.  Dot the eyes with a little white paint, and smudge the cheeks with red paint.

Glue a small magnet to the back of the light, so you can place it on your fridge etc

 

 

These battery operated tea lights are inexpensive and would make great teachers gifts.

2. Rusty Bell Reindeer -  Use any size rusty bell to make this reindeer decoration

 

Very simple, tie a string hanger through the top of the bell, and then thread half a bumps chenille stick through. Twist around the top loop of the bell to secure.  I then glued a small red pom pom on for his nose, used the black marker for his eyes, with a small dot of white paint for an accent.

A little bit of fur or jute for hair, a small button for decoration and he is finished.  This is easily a decoration that your children could help make.

 

 

Can you see how the shape of the bell, determines the mouth .. I am definitely going to try some more of these, however using bigger bells ...

I also washed some beautiful mohair fleece today, it is definitely a favourite medium to use for Santa's beards, and I am lucky enough to be able to purchase it locally.  The only trouble is that it has not been washed, and it is very smelly.  It requires numerous washes / rinses to remove all debris and smells, but here it is, drying on some bricks in my backyard.  Beautiful curls, just waiting to be used.

 

This is the same fleece I used for Santa's beard on the Ho Ho Ho Santa. - you just tease out the tight curls for a fluffy beard.

 

Till next time

Judy

Snowman Mania

I do not know why, when the sun is shining that I seem to be obsessed with snowmen.  I love the simplicity of them, their nice clean lines.

The following tags were made from old business cards, with blue paper glued to the front, and the edges dusted with sparkly snow flurries.  Three white buttons form the snowman, a little scrap of black felt for his hat, and bakers twine for his scarf. 

Now I need your help before I make more, do you like the tag with twigs arms drawn or not?

Next I used some paper tags with aluminium rims to paint some snowman faces.  I really liked how these ones turned out

Last, but not least, I have been using snowman buttons on jumbo paperclips for bookmarks.  Really sweet!

Do you ever get a craze on one thing, and it takes over your creativity for awhile?

Judy

Snowman Tree

My friend, Colleen from Colly's Christmas Crafts has designed a new Christmas tree decoration - Snowman Flakes.  These cute snowman ornaments have wire in their hats which enable them to be twisted around your tree branches.  Because I do not have my Christmas Tree up yet, I hung them in a tree in my garden.  They looked fantastic. 
All the cute snowflakes buttons can be purchased in store
These were quick and easy to make and the pattern will be available in my store, very soon. 

I will be putting these ones for sale in my store today

Enjoy

Judy

Snowman Fun

My friend and I visited the local Salvo's store and picked up some lovely glass sweet dishes.  We had been browsing through a Tilda pattern book and thought that they would look lovely as a base/holder for some little snowmen.

We used a basic snowman shape in two different sizes, stuffed them, gave them black bead eyes, and sculpted clay noses.  Wrapped them up in flannel scarfs and then glued them into the dishes.  We added some small polystyrene balls, and some fake snow, then sprinkled them with spiced snow flurries.  We were thrilled with the results...these would look great in your snowman display or as a table decoration.

It is amazing what you can use in your crafts...

More snow crafts coming ....

Judy

Snowman Peg Ornaments

Continuing with the winter theme, I have made a couple of snowman peg ornaments, this is a free pattern available on the The Olde Country Cupboard blog. These were very quick and easy to make, and I am sure to make some more this week. Tonight was just a trial run, you know how it is?

It is so hard to take a photo of white, the flash seems to bounce back off it, and as you can tell from my photos, I still have an awful lot to learn but please bear with me. I wonder when I will find the time to learn how to do it?

Does anyone in Australia put up a Christmas tree for "Christmas In July"? Wouldn't one look great adorned with snowflakes and snowman ornaments?

Food for thought!

Judy