3D Cardboard Stars

If your like me and you love those metal stars for decorating but find them way to pricey, then here is an alternative that is really easy to make and costs almost nothing.

What you'll need is a star template, some cardboard, and some metallic craft paints.  Of course you'll need some scissors and some primer too but I just used what I had. I printed my smaller star on the computer but to make a larger one I added an inch to each point and valley, then connected the dots.

For my cardboard I used the side of a box of frozen chicken nuggets for the two smaller stars and a side of a beer box for the larger one. You'll want the sturdy cardboard these boxes are made of.   My stars are about 8 and 30 inches.
Open up your cardboard box and lay it flat so you can trace your star template on the back side.  The front of most of these boxes is waxed and hard to draw on.
Cut out your stars and then using something with a firm edge score each star from the V to the point ...repeating for all five points.

Fold on your scored lines so you have valley's between the points.  This will make sense once you start folding and see what happens.  When your done folding you will have the 3D star shape you want.
Now paint a couple of coats of your primer on the front of the cardboard.  Paint on what was the waxed or printed side of your box. I used a thick version of my DIY chalky paint adding a little more Plaster of Paris than I usually do.

For the metallic look I used two different colours, a bronz gold and a champagne.  I used a stencil brush and loaded it with both colours at the same time and pounced it onto the stars.

I painted the little ones with a white primer but thought it would be better to use a dark green for the base. This way when I dabbed on the metallic paints it had a bit of patina. For the smaller ones I added tiny bits of green trying to get the right look.

I love how the paint looks like hammered metal.

Once all the paint is dry the stars are really sturdy.  I just added a bit of twine on the backs with my glue gun so I could hang them.

I think they look really good and am pleased to say that I fooled a few people who actually thought they were metal until I told them otherwise.

Packing Away Christmas

I love my house decorated for Christmas but there is a great deal of work getting it out and packing it all away.  That's what I am going to be doing for the next couple of days.  With that in mind I  am on the search for some packing ideas that are a little more organized and secure for my packing options this year.


I really like this idea from Mom's Party Café where she glued plastic drink cups to cardboard and stored them in storage bins. It's a great place to keep all those little ornaments. 





















Because I hate untangling lights I was considering just leaving them on the tree, but I'm not sure that I wouldn't end up with a huge ball of "stuff" by next December. I think wrapping them around a hanger like this is a better idea. Then I could add a tag to each hanger about where the lights go.

There are a ton of storage boxes and bags for storing wreaths but I find most of them a bit on the pricey side.  And I'm addicted to wreaths so imagine how much I would have to spend.  I found this little idea on  Good Housekeeping, and because I plan on utilising a closet space for Christmas storage I think this one is perfect. I picture a whole row of wreaths neatly bagged and hanging side by side, right next to all the hangers with the lights on them.

I am going to add all my wrapping supplies to my new  wrapping station, when I get it done.
All I need are a few storage containers for all my angels and snowmen and other knick knacks.  One more for linens where I can keep them protected using these cedar balls from Amazon and I might just have this storage thing under control.





















Ornament Wreath DIY

How many wreaths do you put up throughout the year?  Do you use them just for the holidays or for all the seasons?  I try to have a wreath on my front door all year long.  I actually think doors look naked without them,  kind of like they forgot to get dressed before they went to work.

Ornament Wreath DIY

That's just my front door.  During the holiday season I like them anywhere I can fit one.  I never seem to have enough. 

With that thought in mind I had this big box of red and gold plastic ornaments that had been on our traditional Christmas tree for about seven or eight years and I've grown tired of the red and gold theme.

 

















I've seen a lot of wreaths made with plastic ornaments  using a hanger for the form and wanted to see how hard they are to make.  All you do is untwist the hanger ends, bend it into a circle, and thread the ornaments onto the hanger until it's full. You do need to twist the ornaments around the hanger though, don't cut it at the end to make it easier. You need the ends to twist back together to form your circle and create a hook for hanging.

It actually took me longer to cut all the little strings from the ornaments than it did to put  the ornaments on the hanger.  Total time for this project about 30 minutes.  Definitely one of the easier ones I've done.

And definitely worth it. This wreath is full and glamorous. It looks great from both sides so its perfect for hanging in a window or door where it will be viewed from both sides.

Fast , simple and beautiful. 

Mini Rustic Wreaths

What do you do when you have an empty space and it needs a little Christmas cheer.  Well I leaned a couple of small shutters against the wall and stood an Angel in front of them.  But that didn't look very merry so I made these little wreaths and they were perfect.

 

Rustic wreaths
 

These are rustic with a tiny bit of bling.  What a great combo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

twine and mason jar ring

All you need for these mini wreaths is some jute twine, and a mason jar ring for the frame. That's it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Jut tie a knot and start wrapping

Just tie a knot around the ring, and start wrapping. If you leave a bit of twine at the beginning you have something to tie the end with when you have it wrapped all the way around.

 

 

 

 

 

Now you have these little twine wreaths that are ready for some attention. I got out the hot glue gun and added a cedar tree sprig, and tiny red Styrofoam balls.  I have a box of bling and I picked out these little crystals that are still on their little hooks. They were left over from an old chandelier I repurposed.  A little tip: when you are hanging things from a shutter, just twist the end of a paper clip around,  then hook the other end over a slat. It works great and is barely noticeable.

 

 

 

 

 



A pretty wreath.



 

 

 

If one is pretty, two is better.

 

 

And three is perfect.

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Now this is a bight and merry corner, ready for Christmas day.



 

 

A Christmas Tree or Two

DIY Christmas tree from clothes hangars
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this little tree. I made it two years ago and it's just perfect to add a little green to my kitchen. 

 

 

 

 

Coffee Station ready for Christmas morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year I have it on my coffee station.  The little twinkling lights greet me in the morning when I go for that first important cup. 

This little fella is made out of coat hangars and dollar store garland.  To make it you need six hangars, some tape, a string of lights some decorations and I used 3 lengths of dollar store garland.  When you tie the six hangars together  you get the three shape and then you wrap that with lights and then garland.  You can find a really good tutorial here.  http://onelittleproject.com/diy-wire-hanger-christmas-tree-tutorial/






Little tree and little star

I chose to leave off the extra decorations because I liked the way the white tipped garland looked without them.   The star is from the dollar store too, and made a great tree top.  I hot glued mine together and it has lasted for 2 years in storage. I just put the whole thing into a big box to keep it nice  and clean.    The littlest led lights you can buy are perfect for this project.

 


 

I decided to use this holly garland at the bottom. I love how it looks like the tree is nested in it.

 

 

There are so many different tree ideas out there , so this year I decided to try a tomato cage tree.  It doesn't take a lot of skill to put this one together. Just invert a tomato cage and tie the prongs, (the ones that you would normally stick in the ground), together with some wire.  Wrap a bunch of lights around it and voila. You have a tree ready to decorate. Easy peasy right?  At this point you could just put it outside in an urn by your entry.  I decided to keep mine inside as a place to display  my DIY ornaments this year.

 

tomato cage tree

I'm having fun adding decorations to it but here's a picture of it so far to date.   The snowflake on top is made from clothes pins. I've added the alphabet block ornaments  and the  salt dough ornaments  that I made this year. 

How many trees do you have.  I think if I could I'd have one in every room.

I love the view from this window.

I love the cow bell hanging in this window.  It was a gift many years past, from the mom of a few of my daycare kids. And I say a few because I had the pleasure of caring for all three of her boys, who are quite big now.  She hand painted it with a different snowman on all three sides.  It is one of my treasured Christmas items and  I get fond memories each year when I unwrap it again for the season.

3D Paper Snowflakes

Keeping to the DIY Christmas ornament theme I seem to be on this week I thought I'd show you these 3D snowflakes I have been making. 

You can see how I make them using this tutorial by "One Good Thing by Jillee" found here.  It is one of my favorite blogs and her tutorials are very easy to follow.

These amazing snowflakes can be made any size you choose. The only limitation is the size of your paper.

3D paper snowflakes




 

They  are really fun hanging from the ceiling in a craft area like this.  Or from any ceiling.  They would be fantastic over your dining table during your Christmas dinner.





3D paper snowflakes
 

Or in a window. I used two sizes together here. This window is 36" wide, and these can be made big enough to really make a statement.





Extra large paper snowflake
 

And they work great as an alternative to a wreath on an interior door. 

Or you could use them as part of a mantel display like this one at One Good Thing by Jullee.
 Be sure to visit here so see how 

Salt Dough Ornaments

Salt dough ornaments are so easy to make that if you are a crafter at all you've probably made them at one time or another over the years.  Whenever I made them in the past I've used regular cookie cutters to cut out your standard Christmas shapes. Stars, bells, trees, and of course the ginger bread man. 

This year I wanted to do something different and found this little idea on pinterest. I typed in salt dough ornaments and there are tons of ideas and this idea came form mixing a variety of them together.  If you don't use pinterest I really think you should give it a browse.  The ideas are endless. You can follow my boards here where I keep the ones I really want to try some day. I might have to live to the age of 110 to get them all done though.

What started this project was a visit to the local Thrift Store where I found a variety of cut glass pieces very cheap. I got the lot $2.  Yep, only 25 cents each.  That's my kind of shopping.






































They all have cut glass bottoms and every one had a different pattern.  They kind of reminded me of snowflakes. Perfect to decorate traditional round ornaments.

I mixed up a batch of salt dough using a standard recipe of 
1 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup of water
and mixed it to a nice kneadable dough.  I rolled it out and cut rounds using a regular size mason jar ring.

Then I stamped each round ornament using the patterns on the bottoms of the cut glass pieces. They really give these little ornaments their character. I put a little hole in each one using a regular drinking straw and dried them in a warm over about 175 deg. for about 3 hours.

Then using this original chrome paint from Krylon I gave them all several coats of silver spray.  I like this paint because it doesn't smell as bad a some of the other metallic paints I have used and each light coat dries in about 15 minutes.

Once they were shiny enough for me, about 3 or 4 light coats, I let them dry really well.  Then using some red and green yarn I tied each one with a little bow leaving a loop to hang.

I 'm loving my little tomato cage tree and it is a perfect spot to display all my little DIY ornaments this year.

My favorite pattern was this tree shape with its little star at the top. 

I'll definitely be watching for other cut glass patterns at yard sales and thrift stores from now on, How about you?

Alphabet Blocks for the Christmas Tree

I have a huge bag of wooden blocks left over from running a home daycare for a gazillion years.  I can't remember where I first saw this or even when but I think you can  spray paint almost anything and use it on your tree. This year I have a tomato cage wrapped with lights for a tree, and I have been putting on decorations over the past few days.

Yesterday I started with this little pile of wooden blocks, and some spray paint.

























Then I added some of these tiny little screw eyes.  I pre drilled though because I was worried the blocks might split.

I sparyed everything with the Krylon spray paint "Original Chrome".  I could have sanded some of the sides smooth to get more of a reflection but I was hoping I could get a kind of hammered metal look. 
I added some little pipe  cleaner  hooks to hang them and here they are.


What do you think, does it look a little like a hammered metal finish.?   Some of those little dings are tooth marks. How could I get rid of those?

And there is just enough reflective quality to this paint that is glows instead of looking like a mirror.
So I'm off the make a few more, because more is always batter.