Mr. Frosty Ornaments

Posted on December 6, 2011 by jessa

Forgive me, but I’m on an ornament making kick right now. I want to be ready for the tree when we get it. Plus, my craft supply closet is overflowing, and I’m challenging myself to only use what I have for the rest of the year. And maybe all of January too. Seriously, it’s gross.

I was digging through my stuff and found these wooden discs, and I had enough to make a snowman..or four!!!!

Supplies: Wooden discs {various sizes}, sand paper, hot glue gun, white acrylic paint, ribbon, paint pens {for the face and buttons, use can use acrylic paint too}, Mod Podge or craft glue, foam brush and epsom salt

First, sand the edges of the discs so they are nice and smooth. Using the hot glue gun, glue together your discs like above and then paint both sides white. Once the white paint is dry, paint it again. Then glue the ribbon on to the back (for hanging).

Using the paint pens, or acrylic paint with a fine brush, paint on a face and a cute carrot nose.

Look at poor Mr. Frosty taking an epsom salt bath..he must have some sore muscles.

Once the paint dries, use the sponge brush to paint on the glue, and sprinkle on the epsom salt. I did both the front and back. Gently tap Mr. Frosty on the edge of the bowl to get off the excess salt and then set him in a safe place to dry.

Of course you can use clear crystal glitter instead of the epsom salt..but I **love** epsom salt right now {and I have a ton}. Your choice!

Linked to: Whipperberry

Snowflake Ornaments

Posted on December 2, 2011 by jessa

A while ago I mentioned here that I wanted to make most of the ornaments for my Christmas tree this year. There are a couple reasons for this, but the most important reason is..toddlers! Yes, the Sparkletots destroyed an ornament or three last year. Cheap, expensive, new or old, the kids did not care and no ornament was safe. It doesn’t help that our floor is concrete, any thing glass that gets dropped/falls breaks. Sooo, the goal for this year’s tree is Toddler Resistant Ornaments. They don’t have to be made of rubber bouncy material, but maybe just be a little less likely to break when dropped, or if they do break they don’t shatter into a million sharp pieces.

That’s where this stuff comes in:

Crayola Model Magic. This stuff is like clay, but when it dries it has an almost foam-like consistency, but still has the look of clay. It truly is magic. I have searched high and low for a recipe to make my own Model Magic, but haven’t found anything that can replace the original. Each bag makes about 13 to 14 ornaments.

Supplies:

Crayola Model Magic
Candy/chocolate mold {I used snowflake ones by Wilton}
flour
drinking straw
craft glue
glitter
ribbon

Start by dusting a very light coat of flour on your candy mold. If you put too much on it, the flour will get into to grooves and then the clay can’t get the cool texture. Grab some Model Magic and roll it into a ball, a little smaller than the size of a golf ball. Slightly flatten it in your hand, then spread some flour across the surface of the Model Magic. Press the clay into the mold, making sure to cover the whole area of the mold. Smooth out the back with your fingertip. Then ever so carefully lift up the edge of the snowflake. Go slow and try to get your fingers between the clay and the mold, to support the clay.

Lay the snowflake on a flat surface and use the straw to punch a hole in the top. I usually put the hole at the spot where I first lifted the snowflake from the mold, since it would often get a little misshapen there.

They take a day or so to dry. I flip them over the next day to dry the backs. Once dry use a paint brush to brush off the residual flour. I love the way they look at this point, and intentionally left some like this. But for the others I added sparkle!

For the light silver ones, I sprayed them with a coat of silver glitter spray (Krylon). For the others, I diluted craft glue with some water, then painted on a light coat of the glue with a brush. Then I doused the snowflake in glitter. Then let it dry, tie on a ribbon and hang it on the tree!

Linked to: Tatertots and Jello, At Home With K, Today’s Creative Blog, My Girlish Whims

Falling Snowflakes Canvas Art

Posted on December 1, 2011 by jessa

During the fall, I made some art for my wall using six square canvases and foam leaves. My original idea was to do this with snowflakes to represent falling snow, but it was September and snow in September would be silly (especially in Arizona).

Supplies:

six square canvases {I got a pack of 7 at Michael’s..use your coupon!}

foam snowflakes 1/2 to 1 inch {Either ones that stick, or you can glue them on. Here’s a good deal.}

glue

foam brush

paint {I used Snow (Titanium) White from DecoArt}

Stick the foam shapes on the canvas. I stuck them so the lower three canvases look like the snow is piling up at the bottom. If you are going to paint them white or a light color, try to use white or light colored snowflakes. They are easier to cover with the white paint. Then, with the foam brush, start painting the snowflakes and the canvas. Last time I made the mistake of painting multiple coats on the leaves, but not painting the whole canvas. This led to it looking funny in certain lights.

Can you see the white blobs around the leaves? It bothered me. So this time, I painted the entire canvas with each coat. I don’t see any blobs this time. Yay!

I’m debating on spraying them with a fine mist of silver glitter spray. Yes or no?? I love my little indoor winter scene.

Linked to: Designer Garden, Whipperberry, Remodelaholic, Nifty Thrifty Things, Under the Table and Dreaming, Blue Cricket Design, Mushki Loves, Organize and Decorate Everything, Tip Junkie, Centsational Girl, Tales of A Trophy Wife, I Gotta Create

Vintage Postcard Gallery Wall

Posted on December 1, 2011 by jessa

A couple of years ago, I ran across something on the internet about Soviet Propaganda postcards that the USSR issued during the Cold War to promote various causes. I was drawn to the colors and the artwork on these cards and instantly started collecting them. Although there are a ton of different types of these postcards, I particularly love the New Year’s/holiday cards, especially the one’s that are promoting the Soviet space program. There’s nothing better than Santa waving to a rocket ship!

I’ve slowly bought them off of eBay and Etsy, here and there over the past couple years, and this year I figured I had enough to put up a little gallery.

The postcards are charming. Many of them are used, and though I have no idea what they say, I can only speculate that they are wishing happiness and warmth (brrrrrr, it’s cold there) for the new year. My oldest ones date back to the 1950s and the newest ones are from the early 1980s.

This one above is my favorite…

Or is it this one??

I put them over our mid-century desk and chair, where I had my Marimekko covered magnet board before. (Full disclosure: The desk is NEVER that clean!) I grabbed a bunch of white frames at Ikea, then used a leveling yard stick, painter’s tape and had Mr. Sparklepants help me tape off the different areas for the frames. Once they were up, I used poster tack to hold them straight. It was easy, but took time. I love the look. Subtle, vintage yet modern, Christmas.

Holiday Monogrammed Pillowcases

Posted on November 17, 2011 by jessa

Today I want to bring up something that everyone has dealt with, either over the holiday or anytime of the year…house guests. You know, the mother-in-law that always wants to “help” or the cousin that doesn’t want to do anything and sits in front of the TV all day. We’ve all had them and possibly been them. It can be awkward, because day-to-day things still need to happen, and no one likes being hovered over while you’re cleaning the toilets, right?

I discovered that the most helpful thing you can do for ~~yourself~~ them is to make your house guests a little space of their own. A place where they can retreat to and not make the bed or leave out their skivvies if they like. (icky)

Nothing says “mine” like a little monogramming. I made some personalized pillowcases for the house guests, using the freezer paper method.

Supplies: pillowcases, freezer paper, iron, piece of cloth, scissors, X-acto knife*, acrylic paints, textile medium (found at craft stores), foam brushes

*If you have a Silhouette or other cutting machine, use it! It will save you half the work.

1. Make sure you wash and dry your pillowcases. Read the directions on your textile medium; mine said not to use fabric softener.

2. While your pillowcases are washing, pick out your design and font for your freezer paper stencils. Keep it simple. Some fancy fonts will have a lot of little pieces to iron on individually, so I’d avoid that. If you are cutting out your stencils by hand, you can print directly on to the freezer paper using an ink jet printer and cut out the design using a X-acto knife. Just make sure it prints on the non-glossy side. I took the short cut and used my Silhouette.

3. Iron your pillowcases. I do it on the table instead of an ironing board so that I can see the entire pillowcase.

4. Start ironing on the freezer paper stencils you made. Start with the biggest designs first, for me that was the letters. Place the glossy side of the stencil down and cover with your piece of cloth, then slowly move the iron over it. The great thing about freezer paper is that if you find you don’t like the position, you can just peel it up and re-iron it!

5. Once you have everything ironed on, take a step back and make sure it looks how you want it to. If you are using a white pillowcase, hold it up to a window.

6. Start mixing up your paint and the textile medium. Remember to follow the directions on the textile medium bottle. Mine (Delta Ceramacoat) says to use a paint to medium ratio of 2:1. Place something like magazines or newspaper inside your pillowcase to prevent any paint from bleeding through to the other side. I didn’t see any paint go through, but just in case.

7. Using the foam brush, gently paint your pillowcase. Brush from the edge of the paper into the middle, so that you have less chance of seepage underneath the stencil. Do two coats for adequate coverage.

8. Once the paint is dry, carefully peel up the freezer paper. You’ll need to heat set your creation. I turned the pillowcase inside out and ironed the painted area for a good 20 seconds. Then wait for 7 days and wash the pillowcases on cold and air dry. Again, check your textile medium instructions.

There you have it! Fun pillowcases to help your guest feel at home and comfortable, and it’s something they can take with them when they leave!

**These pillowcases were originally shared over at Sweet Rose Studio for the Handmade Holiday Series. If you haven’t seen the series, you should hop on over, there are some amazingly creative ideas!**

Linked to: Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junky Interiors

Today’s Creative Blog, Remodelaholic

Magical Santa Key

Posted on November 9, 2011 by jessa

Many of the homes here in the desert don’t have fireplaces, including mine. We really don’t need one because it doesn’t get THAT cold. But not having a fireplace has definite drawbacks…no mantel to decorate, or hang Christmas stockings from…and how the heck is Santa going to get in if there is no chimney??

Inside this inconspicuous little box is the answer to that question.

The Santa Key! It’s a key full of Christmas magic that you hang outside your front door on Christmas Eve. Santa then is able to use it to get into your house and put presents under the tree.

Supplies: vintage looking key, spray adhesive, glitter, ribbon, decorative accents, hot glue gun

I found the key in the dollar section at Michaels. It was originally a rubbed bronze finish, but everybody knows that magical things have to sparkle, like fairy dust. So I took the key outside, sprayed it with spray adhesive and covered it in silver glitter.

Once my glitter was good and stuck on there, I brought the key inside and tied a ribbon on it..but it wasn’t fancy enough for Santa. So I made some poinsettias out of ribbon and sparkly rhinestones and attached them to the ribbon. Everybody knows that poinsettias are Santa’s favorite flower.