Crafty Christmas Countdown: 10

 I never really got the fascination with nutcrackers, but I have to admit they present a real opportunity for personalization. I purchased this nutcracker painting kit, struck by the fact that he has cymbals instead of a sword or staff.

Wanting to do something a little different with the decoration, I decided on an ice king theme for the paint, focusing on light blue, silver, and white.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 11

 Have you ever bought those little paintable, plaster figures? They usually come six in a pack and are fairly cheap, cute, and easy to decorate. They're a favorite in our house. This year we bought a set with Santa and five reindeer and split them between the two of us. I'm fairly happy with how mine came out.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 12

Today, I tackled my annual tradition of a Christmas farm display. This year I added some new figures and built a cardboard structure so that our little farm can put on a living nativity.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 13

 I make no secret of my fondness for puppets. Especially for sock puppets. Every time I think I've run out of unique ideas, I come up with a new one. I'll admit, I found it a challenge this year to come up with a new Christmas themed puppet. Then, while looking for inspiration for another project, I came across this image.

Wilfred (occasional companion on Doctor Who if you're unfamiliar) was the perfect subject for a sock puppet. I was so excited for this build that I completely forgot to take any process photos.

This particular sock puppet required two socks. One serves as a base with a layer of quilt batting to add some softness to Wilfred's face. I cut the leg off of the outer sock, building the body instead from some green fabric.

 

 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 14

 Peg dolls are one of my favorite forms of crafting these days. At Christmas, I especially enjoy painting peg versions of my favorite characters. This year, I went with Emmet from "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas". He works quite well in the peg doll form.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 15

 Today's craft was another kit. This was a small canvas bag with a design printed on it. The bag came with a couple of washable markers but I used some fabric markers and a little bit of fabric paint instead, to give it a more complex look.

Then, while I was waiting for the paint to dry, I was messing around with some dough we had leftover from something else. On a whim, I cut out some dinosaur shapes and decided to see if they would air dry. They dried quite nicely and I turned the into ornaments with a decorative bead.

the stegosaurus makes me think of an iced animal cookie

 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 16

 Ever bought Kinder Joy eggs? These egg shaped containers have soft chocolate candy in one side and a little toy in the other. I've always wanted to use the toy side of the egg in a craft project. And finally I had the perfect idea: the Child in his pod. I started by cutting one egg half and gluing the cut piece to another half.

Then I painted the pod grey. 

I needle felted the Child. It was my first attempt at needle felting, so I failed to take any progress photos (my bad). Honestly, needle felting seems to be a make-it-up-as-you-go-along sort of craft. Here's my completed figure.

Then I glued him into his pod and added garland to make it more festive. He hangs nicely on our tree.