Showing posts with label snowman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snowman. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Crafty Snowmen

My youngest, who is in France for her Junior year of college, just informed me she is coming home for Christmas.  I am so happy, we were worried about the expense, but flights were relatively cheap for that time of year. I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself!  I thought I was not going to see her for a whole long year.  Now I can't wait to set eyes on her.  I was not even going to decorate for the holidays, but now I am ecstatic to do so.  She will walk into the house, when she comes home,  and it will scream "Welcome Home".  She is already planning her coming home meal too.  I have a lot of decorating to do, so to get in the mood for the upcoming Christmas season, I broke out some of my craft items and made some cute little snowmen ornaments, that can also be used as gift tags if you like.  I made some of these before (check out Crafty Crafter from 10/18/13 on this blog), these are a little different.

I set out a piece of foil, so nothing sticks to the counter top, and it also catches any messes.  I made a snowman stencil on my computer to use as a guide.  I recycle things in my house, so the cardboard I got from my cat food boxes, they layer these in between the cans of cat food, instead of throwing them out I save them and use them for crafts.  They are a perfect size for the snowmen, 7 1/2"  x  5 ", makes 2 snowmen cutouts.  I set the stencil on the cardboard and......
 Trace over it, then cut it out.  I also made little hats for snowmen.
 Two snowmen cutouts and two hats.  I also recycled old music books.  A few of my kids played a lot of different instruments so I have a lot of books.  I then trace the cardboard onto the music sheets. I traced these on the diagonal.
 I  used a pencil to trace them.  Use space on the music paper to your advantage to get more cuts out of one sheet.
 Two snowmen and hats ready to be glued together.
 I used a glue stick, but you can also use Mod Podge.   A popsicle stick run flat from end to end, helps the paper adhere to the cardboard.
 Two glued together.
 So when I am out and about and I see little inexpensive things like this, I pick them up.  This is a whole pack of 8 colored extra fine glitter for $4.99 at Marshall's.
 This is another pack of 5 colored extra fine glitter that I found on clearance for $1.00 at Marshall's
I used the glue stick and the black glitter for the hats.  I used a piece of waxed paper to catch excess glitter, so I could put it back into the tube, no waste that way.
 Hats covered in glitter, and I found snowman face rub ons at Michael's for the snowmen.  Just cut them out and rub on the snowmen, or you can draw the faces on. 
 Faces on, I then used the glue stick to cover the front of the snowmen, then sprinkled iridescent white glitter all over them so they glisten.  I used scrapbook paper for the scarves and glued them on.
 Embellished the scarves with sequins and used thin wired tinsel garland to embellish the hat and for the hanger.  I glued the hanger on with a glue gun.  I then cut the bottom of the scarf with decorative scissors to make it look like fringe.
 Cute little faces.......
Ready to be hung on the tree.  This is last year's Christmas tree, and yes it is a real tree, perfect 15 feet of the best smelling Fraser Fir!  All decorated in snowman.




Thursday, December 5, 2013

The Dreaded Christmas Lights!

I don't know anyone who loves this job, the Christmas tree lights, they are awful to do every year.  You roll them up nicely to use the following year, and somehow they still become a tangled mess when you go to put them on the tree! AND, not only that, half of them don't work!  So my work began on Sunday, it took me 3 hours, yes that's right, 3 hours to untangle and try to fix burned out lights.  I got about half of the 8 strands working and then threw in the towel and just bought new ones.
 Tree is up and decorated, YAY!
 This is the first year I have used white and colored lights, I LOVE IT! I am still pulling leaves out of this tree, don't look at the mess on the floor.
 These are a few of my favorite tree decorations.  I have this tree in my family room, it is almost all snowmen that I have collected over the years.  The Snowmobile is hand blown glass.  If I use anything other than snowmen I try to use unique ornaments, like this little guy in a space ship that is all hand blown glass.  I have a smaller artificial tree in the dining room that is all Santas. 
A co-worker gave me this snowman in a hand blown globe, the little guy in the sled is a new addition.
 Hand blown kitty cat is representin' our "cats in the house".  Glittery dirty snowman, I love dirty snowmen.
 My WOOLYS, I love them too!
 These 4 Christmas Balls are all antique, hand blown ornaments, that were my grandmothers or my mothers.  I try to be very careful with these, I have had some disintegrate in my hands because they were so old.  Paint and glitter are worn off or tarnished, but I don't care, I still put them out every year.  When I look at these ornaments, they remind me of both of them and Christmases past.








Monday, October 7, 2013

Skippack Days Are Here Again!

Skippack Village is a small quaint village, close to where I live, that has unique shops and restaurants and has many planned events throughout the year.  One of their biggest events is Skippack Days.  This event brings in all kinds of crafters that sell their goods, food vendors, lots of family fun, artwork and live entertainment.  The long road through the village is bustling that day, and oh what fun it is!  I didn't go this past weekend but I have purchased a few things myself in the past.  My sister went on Saturday and picked up some very unique handcrafted decorations for the upcoming seasons.  Take a peek at what she bought.

Handcrafted Wood Witch and Snowman Yard Stakes both are 4 feet tall.
Decorated Christmas Tree, With Climbing Snowman Trying To Put Star On Top
These are a few of my past purchases.
 Wool Dirty Jack - O - Lantern and Wool Pumpkin Head with Hat.
Paper Mache Pumpkin on Pedestal.  Paper Mache Witch made from a Pine Cone.
 Paper Mache Cat "Happy Halloween" Trinket Box. Embroidered and Painted Welcome Sign.
Small Grapevine Wreath with Hand Painted Cut Canvas Pumpkin Sign
Fabric Halloween Stars