Juice Can Santa

Aren't these cute....this is an easy Santa to make. I have used this project for the last 7 years and it works well with all ages you just adjust how much prep you do.

The Santa made from the tree branch is from a post last year.

I originally found this idea in an old 1982 Better Homes and Gardens "Holiday Crafts" issue. I bought it from a garage sale for 25 cents and was delighted to find not only this project but an old Mary Engelbreit Paper Doll design as well as an article about Salley Mavor and her original fabric pins...not to mention the angel patterns...but (..FOCUS Gail..) lets give you the how to on the Santas.




























Materials Required:

red, 2 shades of pink, and black felt or fleece
tacky glue
red pom pom
white pom pom or Styrofoam ball
white trim
juice can, soup can, toilet roll, pringles can....basically any cylindrical container
scissors




Take your red felt and cut a rectangle that has the same height as the container as well as long enough to go around the container plus 1/2 an inch.










Apply some glue to the container and start sticking the felt on as you go. With very young kids I'll have the felt already cut and ready to go.












For the last 1/2 an inch you want to overlap onto the felt at the start.














Now you need to cut the face...you want to use the light pink for this. I can't give you an exact size as your container will be different. It should have this shape though. You can also precut this for very young kids.
















Glue into place....don't follow my example as it is probably easier to put the glue on the back of the face and then stick on.










Take your white trim and cut enough for a beard.

I have used all sorts of trim for this...usually whatever is on sale or on hand....once we used a pompom trim and the kids absolutely loved it.









Glue into place along the edge of the face.












Cut 2 black circles for the eyes, glue into place. Glue on the red pompom.

Cut 2 circles of the darker pink for the cheeks and glue those on as well.











Cut out a mouth from your scraps of red.














When all glued into place it will look like this.











Now the hat. You need to cut a piece of red into this shape...the hat needs to be as long as the container and should fit over the top when put together.

Now you can use tacky glue or if you are making quite a few you can sew them or use the glue gun.

For kids I usually make the hat and they need to glue on the pompom or Styrofoam ball.

That's it....these look amazing as a grouping with a variety of containers...you can even use the tubes from your Christmas wrapping paper that you have cut to size.

Give it a try and I'll see you soon with another Christmas idea.

Tissue Paper Angels

I guess its time to start with the Christmas Arts and Crafts. First up this tissue paper Angel...inspiration from Miss. P. at school...Thanks Miss. P.

We made 2 different sizes...a large 24" Angel to fill in those large empty spaces and a smaller 12" Angel which you can display in groups or use on cards.

Materials Required: colored tissue paper for the dresses, 2 1/2 sheets for the large, one 1/4 sheet for the small Angel templates, sm.angel, lg angel head, lg angel arm, lg angel wing thin cardboard from packaging paint foil doilies, I get mine from the Dollar Store, for the large you need 8", the small needs 4" cardstock glitter, sparkle gems etc. for embellishing white glue scissors Print off the templates...now google docs shrinks my templates by 20% so you can either enlarge them by that much on the photocopier or just use and make slightly smaller angels. Trace the head onto some thin cardboard or chipboard and cut out. Now you can paint these if you want or cover them with some paper and draw/color on the faces. I painted mine...you only have to paint one side. Take the wing template and trace onto white cardstock or whatever paper you want to use for your wings. Also trace out the arm template onto cardstock and color using the same method you chose for the face. You need to color both sides. For my large wings I decided to keep them white but added some feather detail with some white glitter glue. For the smaller wings I covered them with the foil leftover from the inside of the doilies...stay tuned you'll see where we cut it out. Make a nice Angel face on your head...our Angels have their eyes closed (they're at peace I tell the kids....asking them to give it a try). We then shaded our neck area with some diluted brown paint. Now we have to give our Angels their fancy halo/hairdos. For the large Angel we cut away the center portion of the 8" doily (this is where you can use the excess for the wings)...make a cut from the outside up to the center and then cut out. Put some glue on a few points of the doily and put in place tucking the bottom ends behind her shoulders. For the small Angel fold the 4" doily in half. Then cut the start of a heart shape...so you have a slit at the top of the center of the doily. Put some glue on the center of the doily and then slide the head in so her forehead is partially covered. Turn your Angel over and glue the small angel arm piece along the bottom of the doily. For the large angel glue each arm into place. Then glue the wings in place on top of the arms.

Your Angels should look like this now. Let the glue dry a bit.

Take your tissue paper...for the small you need 1/4 of a sheet...for the large you need 2 1/2 sheets.

Put a line of glue along the neck and then scrunch one of the short ends of the tissue paper into place. For the large Angels repeat this step with the second piece.

Now you can fold the arms over like she is praying...you could glue them together if you want or add something for her to hold like a songbook or instrument. We left ours plain.

If you want you can add a piece of trim to the neck for a necklace. You can now embellish like crazy if you wish.

And that's it a simple Angel with lots of impact...the large ones look good on a door...

the small ones can be grouped together in a choir.

Give it a try and make some Angels.

I will be back soon with more Christmas ideas.

Candy Box Advent Calendar

Well here is my project with the leftover boxes from our Halloween treats....an advent calendar.

I wanted to capture a sort of "Grandma Moses" type scene incorporating the city skyline as the boxes reminded me of skyscrapers.

If this seems daunting you can easily adapt this to a 12 days of Christmas calendar or even the last week before Christmas calendar.

As always you can click on any picture to see larger.

Materials Required:

24 0r 12 Halloween candy boxes

large piece of corrugated cardboard for the base

paint

2 sided adhesive foam, glue dots or glue (even Velcro)

clothespins

elastics

2 copies of printout of hiding places

scissors

Take your candy boxes and open along the seam they used to glue them together.

Turn inside out and re glue the long seam....use some clothespins to hold in place while the glue is setting up.

We are turning our boxes inside out as they are easier to paint this way (will only need 1 coat).

On the computer or by hand make a list of 24 hiding places in your house. Make sure you have 2 copies....one to keep as a reference and one to cut up. Cut the list into strips and put one in each box...make sure to write the # on the box somewhere so you can keep them straight. You can put it on the back and redo it on the front once you start painting.

I prefer this type of Advent calendar because it gives me more freedom with the treats that usually go inside the boxes...this way I can make them any size...I can substitute in tickets to Christmas show or activity....I tend to use

ornaments a lot...even our old heirloom ones...the child selecting that particular box will get to hang that special ornament on the tree. The kids love it because they never know what they will get and they enjoy the treasure hunt with the hiding places.

After you have put the slip of paper with the hiding place on it in the box refold the ends and glue into place. Use some elastic bands to hold it together while the glue is setting up. If your worried the kids won't be able to open the boxes you could just use tape or just tuck the ends in and leave the box open on one side...easier to access for those little fingers.

Using the large piece of cardboard as the backing plan out where the boxes will go and sketch out your design.

It doesn't need to be to elaborate...you could just do a landscape background and turn the boxes into snowmen or penguins.

You can trace around the boxes to have a plan of where everything goes while painting. I originally had 25 boxes but changed it to 24...just painted over #25.

Start painting your scene...paint your boxes to match. Make sure to put the number of the box somewhere on it where the kids can find it.

Attach your boxes with adhesive foam, glue dots or glue. You can even use Velcro dots so you can take the box off to open it if you want.

I used 2 sided adhesive foam as I intend the box to stay stuck to the background...the kids will just open the boxes from the side.

You can coat your calendar with a coat of Mod Podge if you want for a shiny look.

And that's it. The kids can't wait!

Give it a try and the kids can even create their own.

See you next time.