Christmas project 7… flower pot santa

My mum tells me I used to love Bill and Ben the flower pot men which may explain my fascination with all flower pot dolls. This cutie is a fashioned from a painted upturned flower pot (red and then glittered), a large wooden ball, 4 small balls for the hands and feet, cord, curly hair, a small santa hat and some decorations.

Start by painting the pot your desired colour. Once dry give a quick coat of varnish. Work out the appropriate length to cut the cord for the arms and legs by draping over the pot. Sorry it is not a precise science. Tie a knot in one end and thread on your beads. The cord for the arms is tied around the cord for the legs to anchor.

Glue on the curly hair, some eyes and draw on a mouth. Glue on the Santa hat and then decorate as desired. I’ve used pom poms for buttons, the brim and top of the hat. You can turn this into an angel by painting the pot gold, adding bow twisted at the middle (use wire-edged ribbon) for the wings and leaving out the santa hat.

Katrina

Christmas project 6 – bauble xmas tree

Well I actually made this in October for my mum’s birthday so haven’t been able to post it in case she saw it. A few years ago I made a bauble tree its core, a foam cone has now disintegrated and as a result the poor tree collapsed. The cheap plastic balls also were starting to show their age.

Mum asked me to refurb the tree but I had a better idea, make a new one with modern colours (pink, purple, blue, green etc) for her birthday. The result it pretty good.

To make, start with a small pot or bucket, add oasis core to fill the pot. If you want a nice symmetrical tree you should also add a cone insert however I recommend spray painting either gold or silver before inserting. This is so if you can see it between the balls it doesn’t stand out. Then starting from the bottom start gluing the balls around the tree. At the top add your choice of decoration. I decided on a star but as my tree is also a bit “organic” I also added a couple of cute decorations and some pink ribbon. To finish off I purchased some “diamonte” stick on letters to spell Joy.

Katrina

Christmas project 5… 12 days of christmas

OK by now the organised amongst us have our trees and christmas decorations up, gifts purchased and wrapped, xmas cards and letters done and hopefully sent. But, what if you have a difficult person to buy for? How about doing the 12 days of xmas – you can make it as inexpensive or elaborate as you wish.

What’s not to love about receiving a present a day for 12 days and it isn’t even christmas yet. I should note, that although I understand that traditionally the 12 days starts on xmas day I’m a big fan of making the 12th day xmas eve so that it doesn’t get lost in the xmas excitement.

There are some truly fabulous websites that give you ideas on what to make, gift tags to print and complete. And, as it is getting closer to xmas you probably find a lot of stuff you need in your pantry, at the supermarket or liquor store. Simply decide whether you will try to match the gift to the verse for that day or do it by quantity e.g. 12 of the same thing for the 12th day and of course, you don’t need to use the traditional verses there are parody’s, an Australian version and others. Get googling and think creatively.

Here are some of my favourite sites:

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/christmascrafts/ss/12-Days-Of-Christmas.htm

http://www.squidoo.com/twelvedaysofchristmasgiftideas

Or if that all seems too hard, how about buying a xmas jig saw puzzle and posting a few pieces to a relative who’s lives out of town each day. It will keep them amused right up until xmas.

Katrina