PagesPat's Ponderings

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Day 9 DIY Holiday Crafting & Decor - More At-Hand Gifts

 

When the world was right (before COVID) and there were events known as Craft Fairs, I used to sell a ton of decorated candles. So any people love candles, so I make several for Christmas presents for my neighbors and/or people who visit and bring me a holiday gift that I wasn't expecting. 

The candles are very easy to make. All you need is decorative tissue paper, wax paper and a heat gun. I cut a sheet of paper about 6 inches longer than the circumference of the candle (how round the candle is). Placing the candle on the paper, I hold the ends so the paper is tight against the candle and apply the heat gun. The wax from the wax paper melts onto the tissue paper.

Moving the heat gun smoothly along the candle insures few chances of creases and seals the paper as if the candle was manufactured with it. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to decorate candles this way. Here's one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-R_MBFO_CU

I made this one for my next door neighbor who just got a kitten named Patches. A quick tip: If you plan on using a sticker like I did on this candle, make sure the candle is one that burns only down the middle or core and not completely.




Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Day 8 DIY Christmas Crafting & Decor - Christmas in Florida Shadowbox

 

I created this shadowbox for all my friends in Florida. I stained the wooden box a seashore aqua blue/green, then used acrylic paint to create the background with palm trees decorated with holiday lights. Using Tacky Glue, I added sand to the bottom before gluing my alligator-riding Santa Claus to the scene. After all, reindeer fly (and land) best in snow, which comes to Florida once in a century (or last year-wasn't that when the geckos froze and fell off the trees?).

Anyway, the rest of the shadowbox consisted of arranging seashells and florals and more seashells for that ocean look. To put Christmas back in there, I added a poinsettia border at the top, with a seashell in each corner. I love it! I'm thinking of doing one in shades of pink with a flamingo or two... What do you think?
Challenges  I am Entering:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
Creative Artiste - Anything Mixed Media Goes
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
Bleeding Art - Anything Mixed Media Goes
Creatilicious - Anything Goes
Mixed Media Academy - Dream On/Blue color palette



Monday, December 7, 2020

Day 7 DIY Christmas Crafting And Decor - Revamping Old Decorations

 

I bought a long tall snowman over ten years ago and when I pulled him out of storage I noticed he was looking a little worn out. He needed some "work" done to bring him back to his youthful self. I looked for a photo of him in his original form but couldn't find one. Let's just say he wore an evergreen wreath on his head, and held his hat in his hands. In his hat was a small snowchild amongst a pile of snowballs. 

The first thing I did was pull off his wreath. Sadly, it was not salvageable. There were a few tiny tears on his bald little head as well, but his new Santa hat hides them perfectly!

I peeled off his hat from his hands and put it aside for a different project and replaced it with this Dollar store wood sign, attaching it with a glue gun. Then I used a sticky roller to clean his body, sprayed it with adhesive and scattered fine glitter (which unfortunately you can't really see in the photo) over him (kind of like lightly salting a roast).

I can tell by his smile that he enjoys his new look. Of course, straightening his bent carrot nose helped immensely...(okay, the smile was there from before--poetic license).

As for that hat I put aside...
Honestly, I just added some greenery between the snowballs ,added the red bow in front and adhered a thin gold glitter garland to the brim of the hat. And now it's a separate decoration (I even put it in a separate room. I wonder if anyone will notice?)
No challenges entered today, since all I did was improve upon what I already had. I did recycle/upcycle, though...hmmm. I am so happy to find the recycling blog Use Your Stuff still around. I am always using my stuff, as I am a craftaholic and my store of supplies is overflowing. I try to only purchase adhesives when needed, although I have been seen in or near clearance items, thrift stores and dumpster diving (at least items left for trash collection) So I am entering Challenge #411 at Use Your Stuff Challenge Blog, which is a Mood Board challenge:

There were several decor items on the mood board, so I took inspiration from the type of items offered.
That's it for today, crafters. Merry everything and Happy always!!

 

Sunday, December 6, 2020

Day 6 Holiday Crafting & Decor -

 

Last summer a neighbor had her tree cut down and I asked the tree cutters for a chunk of one of the branches about 14 inches or so. He put it in my car for me, so I didn't realize how HEAVY it was until I took it out and put it into my garage. Soon after, my next door neighbor (who owns a chain saw) cut my log into 1 inch circles for my crafting. I finally was inspired to use the first piece.

I had bought an acrylic deer from my local Dollar store and had a stash of bottle brush trees stored away, so inspiration took a woodland turn. After painting the center of my wood circle white, I used hot glue to adhere my trees and deer.  


Challenges I am Entering:
Country View - Anything Christmas
Do-Al(l) Creative - Winter Wonderland


Saturday, December 5, 2020

Day 5 DIY Holiday Decor and Crafting - At-Hand Gifts

 Sometimes a friend or neighbor pops by with a gift for the holidays for you, and you're caught without something to give to them. It's happened to me, so now I'm always prepared with a half dozen small gifts that are handmade, personal yet can be given in the spur of the moment (or in the nick of time).

Here's something I found on Pinterest that is easy and makes a nice presentation (and really impresses a family with kids). I bought several Betty Crocker whisks from the local Dollar store and a hefty-sized bag of chocolate Kisses. I had some leftover cellophane bags and I was ready to "assemble" my gifts.

When I put the kisses inside the whisks, they all fell out, so I made sure to place the whisk inside the cello bag first; then holding the bag against the whisk, I filled the inside of it with kisses and wrapped a bit of twine around the whisk handle. The tags read: We whisk you a Merry Christmas". I made them from a digital paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles called Tree from her December "12 Months of Christmas" giveaway on her blog. I love her creative papers and if you make your own holiday cards, you can receive a free paper each month by entering 2 cards a the 12 Months of Christmas Challenge Blog. You may even win guest sponsors' prizes if you follow the optional monthly theme.

Another gift to have on hand is a cup of warm cheer, family-style. I had a few over-sized mugs leftover from a previous holiday event and I filled them up with packets of hot chocolate. I added sprigs of evergreens and a small ornament before bagging and tagging them. The tags read: May your home be warm with Holiday cheer and Peace abide throughout the year". It's a misquote from a Stampin Up rubber stamp, one I've used very often!

Stay healthy and craft, all! Until tomorrow...
Challenges I am Entering:
C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas Present




Friday, December 4, 2020

Day 4 - DIY Holiday Crafting and Decor - Christmas Wreath

 

Several years ago my daughter-in-law made me this beautiful wreath for a Christmas present. Since my front door, upon which I had always hung it, faces the east, the sun did some damage to it. This year when I took it out of its box, I decided to give it a facelift, and a beachy one at that!

After cleaning and replacing some of the white branches, I replaced a couple ornaments that had fallen off and added some floral touches that seemed to have run away. I pulled off most of the pinecones and replaced them with seashells I had painted my favorite color and sprinkled with glitter. I had collected the shells on a trip I took to Florida to visit my son, daughter-in-law and grandkids.


  Here's a close-up of one of the shells I painted and attached to my new-old wreath. And aren't I lucky that the colors of the wreath match the colors of my front porch?! If you don't have a chance to go seashell hunting, I found a huge bag of shells from a local thrift store just last month. It was Veteran's Day and everything in the store was 50% off, making my bag cost $2.38 - what a deal!!

That's all for today, crafters! Stay healthy and craft your hearts out...

Challenges I am Entering:
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes 
Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Related
Sisterhood of Crafters - Shaped Projects
Bleeding Art - Anything altered art/mixed media Goes 
Sparkles Christmas - Non-Traditional Colors


Thursday, December 3, 2020

Day 3 Christmas Decor - Outdoor Christmas Stars

I recently gave my front porch a much needed update. It literally had no design  features whatsoever. We've lived at the same address for over 25 years and the porch light was original (and rusting)! I started with my mailbox, painting it with shades of my favorite colors, teal and aqua. That led to painting the address plaque, which led  to renewing my welcome mat to painting the gas lamppost,,, Well, you get the idea.

So now that it's time for holiday decorating, I wanted to see what I could create using the same palette in my designs. The first pieces were large metal stars that I retrieved from my neighbors' offerings to the trash collection. Nothing wrong with them; they were just tired of them!

The star above incorporates my teal along with white and red. It looked rather plain, so I painted some doodles on a few of the sides and then attached a nice holiday cluster. I had planned the star below to be all teal and white, but it didn't look Christmas-y enough. So one panel was painted white, and since this star was embossed, I hand painted the swirls on all the panels that weren't white. Another holiday cluster went in the center and this one hangs on my railing facing the street. The other is on my outer wall to the left of my door. 

I used acrylic paints, not spray paint, for this project. The clusters were from Dollar Store. Can I just say that if you don't get to the Dollar Store before Thanksgiving, it's mighty slim pickings for DIY holiday projects. With so many YouTube videos, Pinterest boards and crafty creative people out there with extra time on their hands because of COVID, I believe the only store that are doing a booming business are craft stores and take-out restaurants!!

And on that merry note, happy crafting and stay healthy!

  



Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Day 2 Holiday DIY Crafting - Lighted Shadow Box

 

I love to create shadow boxes, especially holiday ones. Recently I caught a deal on those tiny string lights with the battery boxes, and got a couple dozen of them. The shadow box above is my first lighted shadow box I've created.

I used an 8x10 inch shadow box (I get all my boxes from thrift stores; most cost no ore than $4 each) and found the perfect background to set my scene. It's a designer paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles, from a paper kit called "Merry Mix 1"

I printed it twice and cut out the trees and adhered them with dimensional tape. After painting the inside bottom of the box white, I added fake snow and added the tiny truck and reindeer. I finished the inside with 3D snowflake stickers and the words Winter Wonderland and then attached the string of lights to the inside top of the box. I tried to staple the wire but the wood was too hard. I used hot glue but it was a pain getting it to stick to the wood.
Because the lights were so bright, I needed to shield them from view so I used some leftover scrapbook paper. I finished off my shadowbox with holiday bows in the top corners and it now sits in my living room. I like it so much I've made another shadow box which I'll show you later in the month. I hope you like it too! 
If you're looking for holiday card inspiration, check out The 12 Months of Christmas Blog sponsored by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. The Design Team will really knock your Christmas socks off with their cards.
Happy holidays, crafters!





Tuesday, December 1, 2020

DIY Christmas Crafting & Decor

 

I have been absent from blogging for a while and want to get back in the game. I thought starting the month of December with holiday DIY projects would be a good start. So today I made a small table centerpiece using a teapot/cup set and holiday flowers with pinecones and greenery. 

It looks nice on my round kitchen table with a red tablecloth, and is small enough to keep on the table along with the supper dishes and food while the family dines. The tea set is one of the first of a small collection I started years ago. They're all Christmas themed, and I've limited the collection to under eight. If I find a new one I really like, I give away one of my other tea pot/cup sets to keep my collection under control. 

Hope to see you tomorrow for another DIY project for the holidays. Leave some love if you liked my centerpiece...