Craft 7: Mini Poinsettia

What You'll Need

Mini 1.5" clay pot (available at craft stores)

Cotton stuffing

Red felt leaves (pattern is at bottom of post)

Green felt leaves (pattern is at bottom of post)

Pom poms, preferably yellow

Glue gun

Instructions:

1. Cut out six red small leaves and 4 green larger leaves for your poinsettia out of the felt.

(A pattern follows at the end of this post.)

2. Heat up your glue gun. Drizzle hot glue on the inside of the pot and put some cotton stuffing inside.

Side note: Do not invite toddlers. Repeat: Do not invite them. No matter HOW cute they are.

3. Carefully drizzle hot glue on the stuffing and attach your 4 green felt leaves.

4. Put hot glue on the green leaves and add your 6 red poinsettia leaves in an even circular pattern on top of the green leaves. Put three yellow pom poms on top of that.

Mercy, is that ever cute-- Morgan is giving hers to her American Girl doll. :)

The Lesson of The Wreath

The Poinsettia flower is known to have leaves which resemble a star. Can you see it? Look very closely and you'll see.

Can you think of the importance of Christmas and a star? God chose to use many things to point to baby Jesus... and one of them was a star which lead the wise men to him.

Poinsettia

Name Contest

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Christmas Crafty Days posts to bring you good tidings:

Hi, Ya'll!

As most of you know, I'm pretty gaga for vintage cloth and couldn't help myself... I've been making gobs of potholders and a handful of aprons with every spare minute I can find.

I rarely do this, but I'm going to give you a peek of my messy sewing room. Creativity involves mess at times, doesn't it? And when you're feverishly sewing, you just don't have time to be bothered with cleaning up too much. :)

Sooooo...I'd like to announce that I recently opened my own little boutique on etsy.com.

www.CookieCutterHouse.etsy.com

To celebrate my grand opening, I'm hosting a contest. I'd like some help in naming my new mannequin. Ain't she a beaut? She's so doggone happy that she's just BEGGING for a fun retro name. Help me, won't you?

Whoever wins the contest will receive one of my favorite creations:

a yellow rose vintage cloth potholder.

But wait! There's more:

Head on over to Short Stop this week and enter to win one of my handmade vintage cloth aprons! (Details on http://grshortstop.blogspot.com/)

Details:

Post your favorite name for my mannequin in the comments section.

One name per person, please.

Contest ends Friday, December 10th at midnight.

If multiple people choose the winning name, there will be a drawing of just those people.

On Saturday, December 11th, I'll be announcing the winner on this blog.

Happy naming!

Craft 6: Puffy Wreath

What You'll Need:

Fabric ripped into pieces roughly 1 yard by 1"

Mini grapevine wreath... 3-4"

Pom poms

Felt

Glue gun

Quilting cotton backing or something like it

Ribbon

Instructions:

1. Assemble your items. Rip your fabric.

2. Take 1" strips of your quilt backing and wrap it around the grapevine wreath.

3. Take strips of your fabric and layer them over the cotton. Slightly overlap each turn so that no backing shows. It's best if your strips of fabric are ripped and not cut so that they have a more natural or rustic feel.

4. Take your glue gun and tack the last edge down so that it won't unravel.

5. Pom poms! Take your glue gun in hand and show those pom poms who's boss.

5b. Or, alternately, cut a beautiful poinsettia flower out of felt and tack it to the wreath with hot glue.

Could this be any cuter? Take full credit, my friends.

The Lesson of The Wreath

Can you find the end to a circle? Go ahead, try.

There is no end, is there?

In the same way, the circular shape of the Christmas wreath reminds us of Christ's never ending love for us. It goes on and on and on and on...

Craft 5: Imprint Ornament

Shhhh! I'm posting this early for Monday morning fun because I'm having a surprise giveaway this week! Stay tuned!

What You'll Need:

Sculpey clay

Evergreen twigs

Straw

Round biscuit or cookie cutter... about 3-4" in diameter

An oven

Baking sheet

Foil

Instructions:

1. Get your Sculpey out. There are a host of colors in the realm of Sculpey. Dig it.

2. Gather ye some evergreen twigs. They don't need to be very big... about 4" or so.

3. Roll out the Sculpey so that it's about 1/4" thick.

4. Cut the Sculpey with your biscuit cutter.

5. Gently press an evergreen twig into the clay.

6. Determine where you want the top of your ornament to be and use the straw to make a hole there. This is where the ribbon will hang.

(Ornament with hole for hanging.)

7. Put your ornament on a sheet of foil and make at 275F for 10-15 minutes. It will feel harder and slightly rubbery.

Voila! An imprint ornament! Make a hundred and give them to unsuspecting grandparents.

The Lesson of The Imprint Ornament

The evergreen is a symbol of eternity.

When you allow God to imprint your life, you show his eternal-ness to others.

Craft 4: Beaded Monogram

A lot of my craft suggestions are just that: suggestions. I don't claim to have made up the idea of them. Some of them I remember from my childhood. You can find a craft like this on Martha Stewart's website also. I just like to share what crafts I like to do with my daughter. Enjoy!

What You'll Need:

Needlenose Pliers

20 Gauge wire (at craft stores)

Glass beads to fit 20 gauge wire

Instructions:

1. Using your needlenose pliers, cut a piece of wire about 15-18". Bend it into the shape of the letter that you want. Have fun! Add gentle twirls to the end of it. :)

2. Flatten the letter wire onto a table surface so that it lies flat. It won't lay perfectly flat, but that's okay.

3. Crimp one edge using your pliers.

4. Begin threading your beads onto the wire. I found that some of my glass beads would not fit on the wire, but most did.

I tried my hand with the letter "N"... Oh my, what fun!

The Lesson of the Beaded Monogram:

Your name is one of your most precious possessions. Treat it as such.

Isaiah 40:26

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

Craft 3: Name Garland

What You'll Need:

Card stock

Computer/printer

Glitter

Glue

Foil baking cups

Small paintbrush

Template (at bottom of page)

Hole punch

Instructions:

1. Print out the template for the project onto card stock, available at office supply stores. The circles are approx. 3.5" in diameter. I have provided a template at the bottom of the page.

2. Take your foil cups and flatten five of them.

3. Take your small paintbrush and carefully, but generously apply glue to the letters on your paper.

4. Here's the FUN part... sprinkle glitter liberally onto the glued surface.

Don't be grinch-like in your glitter application!

6. Then shake it off like a bad compliment. (Sorry... little humor there.)

Have fun with different colored glitter!

7. Glue the glitter circle to the flattened foil cup. When it is dry, punch a hole in the top in order to hang it.

The Lesson of the Name Garland...

Small and ordinary things become special when Jesus is in them.

Silver Circle Words