Santa's Winter Wonderland

This was inspired from the BH&G Holiday Craft Ideas 2013 magazine.  They offered so many wonderful craft projects this year, I find myself making one after another.  I put my own twist on this one, but it's based on the one in the magazine.  The directions are lengthy, so I will only offer the basics.  It's fairly easy to make. If you do crafts on a regular basis, I would rate this as Intermediate level.  The most difficult is making Santa.  He is created from styrofoam covered with Creative Air Dry Clay.

Supply List:

6" styrofoam cone for Santa's body
2"  styrofoam ball for Santa's head
Creative Paperclay or other brand of air dry clay (Note: Creative is non-toxic)
Wool roving for Santa's hair, mustache & beard
Silver chenille stem
2-3 bottle brush trees in different sizes
Small reindeer
Sparkle Mod Podge
Sno-Tex or Glistening Snow-Tex
Acrylic Paints in Sea Foam Green, Dark Blue, Black, Red, Fleshtone, & White)
Small ornaments
Piece of silver garland
Ephemera for tree toppers
Hot glue gun & glue sticks
Cake stand or other suitable base to glue your wonderland to

You want to start with Santa.  Cover the cone and the ball with a thin layer of clay.  Roll out 2 small pieces and shape into arms with mittens and attach to the body.  Pinch off 3 tiny pieces to be attached to the head as cheeks and nose.  Sculpt them best you can.  Form a cone for the hat.  With a needle make a hole in the tip of the hat about 1/2" deep. Let all dry for at least 24 hours or until entirely dry.

Paint the body with Sea Foam Green, paint the mittens dark blue.  Dapple white down the front and above the mittens for fur.  Dip end of brush in white and apply dots to the cap.  Paint the entire head in a fleshtone. Loosen some red paint and lightly apply to the cheeks.  Dip end of brush in black and make 2 dots for the eyes.  When dry, dip a stylus in white and apply a smaller dot to the right side of each eye. You can add eyebrows and highlight each cheek and down the nose with white paint.

Attached head to body with half a toothpick or a piece of wooden skewer and some hot glue.  Tear off some wool roving and make beard & mustache and hair.  Glue all in place.  Now add the hat.  Cut a piece of the chenille stem and curl one end.  Glue the other end into the hole in the tip of the hat.

Paint the entire Santa and the reindeer with Sparkle Mod Podge to give the pieces some sparkle.

With SnowTex, add a little snow to the top and the ends of the branches on the trees.  Add ephemera to the top of each tree as a topper.

Glue Santa, trees and reindeer to the stand. Tuck in some garland and glue in spots to keep in place.  Glue ornaments on top of garland wherever it suits you.

I applied SnowTex around the trees to give the effect of drifting snow.  I thought this was a nice touch.  I also added a little glass owl to the tallest tree.  You can decorate your wonderland any way you please.

A beautiful site; we're happy tonight ...

Fall Arrangement in a Pumpkin Basket

My first craft for Fall is this wonderful arrangement made with supplies purchased on sale from Michaels Arts & Crafts.  The basket and the florist's foam were not on sale, but all the floral stems were.  The basket was $14.99, but I used my 40% off coupon to help with that.

Supplies I Used:
1 large Pumpkin Basket w Grapevine Handle and Bittersweet around the rim
1 round florist's foam to fit inside
1 large feathery type stem as the focal point
A variety of stems that caught my eye, including foam berries, leaves & acorns
Excelsior to cover the openings & hide what lies beneath
A woodland owl as the main accent rather than a bow

Directions:
Remove all the tags from your stems so you're ready to go!
Place the foam inside the basket and seat snugly on the bottom.  Note: You may have to cut the foam in half and place one half in at a time to make it fit.
Start with your focal stem.  In my case it was the large feathery one.  I placed that in the middle and to the back of the handle.
Fill in with the next largest stem(s) and continue, ending with the smaller stems.
Once you have it arranged the way you like, take the excelsior and stuff in all around the stems so you hide the bottom of the stems and the foam.
Now, add your accent piece. Ta da!

Stand back, admire and let out a big sound of satisfaction!  Now go find that perfect spot in your house for it and be proud of what you just created!

Creatively yours,