Sunday, December 12, 2021

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 13

 I bought a couple of dresses on clearance. They confused me, though, since they are winter themed but have little cap sleeves.

The solution? Cut off the tops and make them into a skirt. I decided I like them better layered into a single garment than kept separately, so I offset the waist line on the two skirts around an inch and folded over the top to create a casing for some elastic.



Saturday, December 11, 2021

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 14

 Have you ever seen these canvas bag kits? They typically come with 3 or 4 markers and a fairly easy to color. It's a great activity for kids (or childish adults 😁). I usually dip into my marker stash to add a little more color selection.




Friday, December 10, 2021

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 15

 We're having a cubicle decorating competition at work, which is a perfect opportunity for me to use some of my weirder decorating ideas. Like my animal skeletons. Last year they were playing Santa. This year I made them some hats and scarves and they are building a snowman. 




Thursday, December 9, 2021

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 16

 Here's another dollar store decoration that just needed a little updating. This elf light is cute but a little rough around the edges.

I replaced the white pompom with a green one, added some decorations to the had and body, and gave it a better scarf. The light actually didn't work so I also pried that out and added a battery operated tea light. The new light was a bit bigger than the old one, so the elf now has a little stand.



Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 17

 I don't know about you, but I'm glad of the current trend towards gnomes. I find their weird quirkiness charming. So of course, I had to make some gnomes for the holiday season. I decided on a gnome garland for my room. First I made five tassels out of different colored scrap yarns.

Add pompoms for noses and t-shirt cones for hats. Then it was a simple matter of gluing them to a string. I decided to add bells to make it extra festive.

 





Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 18

 I had, among my craft supplies, one of those small Fingerlings monkeys in a bright shade of magenta. I decided she's much happier with candy cane stripes.



Monday, December 6, 2021

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 19

 It's puppet time, friends! This is a fairly simple one. Start with a small stuffed animal.


Cut a slit in the bottom of the animal and remove some stuffing. In the case of this dinosaur I had enough room for a couple of fingers.

Next find a box that your animal will fit in with enough room to move around but not so big that there's a lot of extra space. You want a box with a lid or top flap. Cut or collapse the bottom of the box. Then wrap the box like a present, leaving the top able to open. Glue a tube of fabric, like the leg of a sock or part of a shirt sleeve, between the bottom of the box and the opening in your animal. Now you have a little toy that can pop out of a present.