Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category

My Twinkly Christmas Dress

When it comes to Christmas dresses, I’ve found the choices to be rather slim – or brief, to be exact. Last year I needed something festive to wear to a children’s Christmas Party. The only festive outfits I could find were of the skimpy/after hours/in-private variety. Hardly appropriate! (“Mummy, why can I see Mrs Claus’ undies?”) SO, I found a second hand red dress, pictured on the left, and transformed it into the dress on the right:

It even lights up!

This is how I did it:

1. Stitched white fur trim to the collar, pockets and hemline.

2. Replaced the buttons with gold bells

3. Unpicked an opening in the hem and threaded plastic garden reticulation hose all the way around, inside the hem.

4. Decorated a pair of red shoes with bells and plastic holly.

5. Fortunately the dress had an extra lining skirt underneath. To this I safety pinned 5 novelty flashing Christmas necklaces.

And there you have it; a Christmas Dress that flashes in a child friendly/G-Rated kinda way…

More of my Christmas Crafts:

Santa Treat Bag

Santa Marionette

Christmas Cookies

More Christmas Baubles

This is my last post about baubles. Really. Here is a simple way to make a plain Christmas bauble into something special with round glass pebbles. These pebbles are normally available in small bags at discount or craft stores. The string used to hang the baubles will need to be replaced with fishing line, as the pebbles make the bauble considerably heavier. Due to their weight, the baubles are not suitable for hanging on a Christmas Tree. I attached the pebbles with a hot glue gun. Click here for full instructions (Pdf)

Before

 

After

 

Green glass pebbles

Adhesive Crystals on each pebble

Before

After

More of my glass crafts:

Sea Glass Lamp

Homemade Kaleidoscope

Stained Glass Snowflakes

Beaded Bookmarks

Here is a simple and inexpensive homemade gift to add to a birthday or Christmas card. These bookmarks are small, flat and lightweight, making them perfect for posting with cards. As our school year is almost finished we will be making them for our teacher appreciation gifts.

To make a Beaded Bookmark you will need an assortment of decorative beads, ribbon, needle nosed pliers and wire. The wire needs to be thin enough to fit through the holes but thick enough to hold it’s shape. I used 0.7mm (0.26″). The thin end of the bookmark is designed to slip inside the spine of the book. For this section I used small, tubular beads. If you cannot find tubular beads, try using small round beads. This will produce a slightly bulkier bookmark. Click here for full instructions (Pdf)





Or words to that effect...


More of my gift ideas:

Decorated Jar

Decorated Jar

Decorated Jar


Butterflies & Baubles

Things are looking decidedly pink at the centre. The month of October 2011 is ‘Pinktober’ for breast cancer awareness. Following Pinktober we will be raising funds for The Centre for Cerebral Palsy. As their poster features pink butterflies, we decided to combine the two themes. For the hanging centrepiece I made a giant pink butterfly from cardboard, cellophane and sequins. I also decorated some plain Christmas baubles to suspend underneath the butterfly. I used garden polypipe to make the frame to hang the objects from. The frame is held together with duct tape and wrapped in light pink crepe paper streamer.


Faber Castell Glass Markers work on glass, plastic and other non-porous surfaces. Simply draw on the surface and, as the ink dries, the colour brightens. Great for small children as they are non-toxic and very easy to use. They also snap together with novelty connector lids – a fact I find less interesting, but one that my children think is ‘awesome’. Local readers: I found these at Kmart, but you could also try arts/craft/stationery stores.
More of my pink crafts:

Peg Butterflies

Party Spoons

Wacky Wigs

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Watermelon Stars


Watermelon slices are easy to cut with cookie cutters. Even fruits such as rockmelon, honeydew or pineapple will work if your cutters are small enough. These are simple to make, but can look quite impressive arranged on a platter. To make:
1. Cut the green end from the strawberries so they sit flat.
2. Dip the other end into the chocolate (I have used White Chocolate Melts, but the colour is up to you)
3. Cut the watermelon slices with the star cutter.
4. Attach the star to the strawberry with a toothpick.

More of my edible crafts:

Flower Pot Cakes

Peacock Cake

Party Spoons

Patty Pan Chains

This is a super-quick, simple and effective activity for small children. In the example pictured below I have used red, silver and green patty pans so we can hang them on the Christmas tree. However, they don’t have to be for Christmas necessarily, the chains can also be used for necklaces, doorway hangings or fancy party streamers.

All you need is some coloured patty pans, string, drinking straws and a craft knife. I use the kids plastic craft string as it tends to be more rigid and easier for little fingers to thread with.

Cut the straws into pieces roughly 4cm long.

Using the tip of your craft knife punch a small hole into a stack of patty pans. Twist the knife back and forth until the hole goes through all the patty pans. Make sure the hole is not too big. It should be large enough to thread the string through, but small enough that the straw will not pass through.

Make a large knot in the end of the string. Thread a piece of straw followed by a patty pan. Keep alternating straws and patty pans until the chain reaches the desired length. For very young children you may need to hold the string while they thread the pieces on or vice versa.

Wobbly Christmas Presents

Lots of people have asked for more information on exactly how to make my ‘Wobbly Christmas Presents’. Don’t forget, these must be kept in the refrigerator until just before serving. Otherwise you will end up with melted presents instead of wobbly ones!

For full instructions and detailed pictures, please click the link below.

Instructions for ‘Wobbly Presents’

Christmas Cookies

Despite being edible, these cookies are more craft than cooking. Definately no baking involved – promise! All the ingredients are ready made, off-the-shelf products. All that is required is a bit of cutting and sticking.

The most challenging is the “Jelly Present” (pictured above) This is comprised of jelly sliced into a small cube and Writing Icing for the ribbon decoration.

Click the link, below, for full instructions on how to make each of these Xmas Cookies.

Xmas Cookies Pdf

Coconut Christmas Trees

Believe it or not, this is an upturned icecream cone covered in dessicated coconut. I used green food coloring for the coconut and stuck it to the cone with white chocolate. The decorations are edible cachous and glitter icing. Inside are chocolate buttons, but you could fill it with whatever you like. To finish, I used the white chocolate to stick it to a jam biscuit. The children had a go at making their own mini versions using small cones and coloured chocolate pieces. (below)

There are a few steps in the process, but the results are worth the effort. For my next batch I will making a ‘grown ups’ version with white chocolate rocky road filling.

Click the link for full instructions on how to make my Coconut Christmas Trees.

Click here for full recipe and instructions (Pdf)