Faux Bottle Cap Christmas Tree

I was at work this morning when a couple of Youth Group girls from the church I work at asked me for some craft ideas for a Christmas Party they were hosting at a Home for Seniors with Disabilities.  They had already planned the carols they were singing and an activity, but needed a craft or two that a nine or ten year old could handle (mental age of most of the residents).  Did I mention our youth group has garnered awards for their social justice and service programs?

Besides the Candy Cane Reindeer craft, I came up with ornaments made with these wonderful free digi's I got online.  They are circles with images and greetings inside, and two of them were Christmas themed.  I printed enough of them for each resident to color and glue onto paper doilies on which the girls had already attached ribbon hangers.  But when I was playing with the right size, I printed up a bunch of circles that were too small for their needs.

So being the miser that I am (although I prefer the terms "frugal" and "upcycler"), I thought what a great size to pop into bottle caps and make a Christmas tree.  Problem was, I hadn't been saving any bottle caps!  Then I thought, I don't necessarily need the bottle caps, let's see what they look like by themselves.

Hmm, pretty plain, if you ask me.  So I used some metallic glitter glue around each of the circle images and by golly, they look like bottle caps!  I dimensionally popped them onto my green cardstock tree frame, gave my tree a leg (or limb) to stand on and adhered it to this awesome patterned paper from Me & My Big Ideas paper stack.  I added some jute lace ribbon, which was recycled from packaging on a gift I received (thank you, Liz, for the chocolates and the ribbon).  Of course, every tree needs a star, but my brown rose with glittered leaves looks perfect perched on top.

Here's a close up of the two images I used.  I just wish I knew the designer so I could give credit where credit is due!  If you happen to know the artist who made or offered these, please speak up.  If I come across her work, I'll come back and ID the images.

Meanwhile, take a cocoa break and breathe deeply.  relax your shoulders, stretch your neck, and be in the moment, right now, and enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas.

Merry Crafting!