Green Lantern Ornament

"Always winter but never Christmas." -C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

It's Friday!!  In celebration of making it through the long work week, I have an easy ornament to make.  You could choose to make the other lantern's and decorate your whole tree this way.

Materials:

-Green Ornament

-White Paint

-Paint Brush

Directions:

1. Paint the outline of a large white circle in the middle of the front of the ornament. 

2. In the center of circle draw an oval and fill it in.

3. Around the oval draw the outline of the lantern.

4. Fill in the outside of the lantern with white paint. Let dry.

Three materials and four steps?  This is an easy craft to wind down the work week.  

Book Page Vases

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, but we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." -Laura Ingalls Wilder

These vases are simple to make and a fun center piece.  Plus, you get to drink some wine to make them.  I never complain about that.

Materials:

Wine Bottle

White or Black Spray Paint

Book Pages

Scissors

Pencil

Images to Trace

Mod Podge

Paint Brush

Directions:

1. Spray paint the bottle your desired colored.  Let dry.  I suggest putting the bottle upside down on a dowel and sticking the dowel in a potted plant or a container of rocks to hold it upright.  This helps with the whole spray painting process.

2. Find an image to trace and trace that image onto the book page. 

3. Cut out the image.

4. Put a thin layer of Mod Podge onto the vase where you are going to place the image.  Place the image onto the Mod Podge area and cover with an other layer of Mod Podge.  Be careful not to take the Mod Podge too far out, because this will leave behind a residue.  Let dry.

5. Touch up with paint as needed. 

These vases found their way to my mother and aunt, so I can say they do make a great gift. To make your own flowers check out my August Book Flower post. 

Jedi Rebel Ornament

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." -Hamilton Wright Mabie

There are 379 days left until the next Star Wars movie comes out.  And yes I looked that up on the countdown calculator for the movie's release. Get ready now by making your Rebel Alliance ornament, so everyone knows which side you are on.  

Materials:

• Ornament
• Puff Paint

Directions:

1. Using the puff paint, paint an upside down arch onto the ornament.  
2. In the middle of the arch draw a line straight up.  On both sides of this line draw a line down to form a long, but thin triangle shape.
3. Detail this in with the star image in the center of the triangle.
4. On each side of the arch create wing shaped objects to match the picture above.

Comic Book Clutch

"The one thing women don't want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husbands." -Joan Rivers

This clutch was not a Christmas present, but did find its way into a care package I sent to one of my Grad school friends this past summer. It is super easy yo make, and could use any picture (or collage) if comic books are not your thing.

Materials:

• Page from a comic book (or a collage or other photo)
• Plastic page cover
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Magnet
• Construction paper if needed

Directions:

1. Slip the image into the plastic page cover. Add a sheet of construction paper if needed to fill in any uncovered area.
2. Trim the edge you are going to fold over so the edges are rounded.
3. Fold into thirds and crease.
4. Sew staring at the bottom corner so that the two pieces are together, but the third flap is laying out.  Continue sewing up past the end of the two pieces and onto the flap to sew the flap into the plastic and continue around the curves and down to the other corner. This completes the basic clutch.
5. To create an easy clasp, attach a magnet to the inside of the flap and the inside of the pouch that line up and connect. 

A simple, quick gift that could be personalized to many people on your Christmas list.  The craft could also be altered, and instead of sewing it into a clutch design it could be sewed into a wallet.

T-Shirt produce bag

"Trash: there are no rugs left to sweep it under." -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

With the Holiday season upon us, I thought it was a nice time to reflect on our own practices for just a moment.  I think often times we will recycle, and you see me reuse on my blog often, but what about reducing. This time of year we often time do not consider the waste that occurs be it from wrapping paper (which can be reused), the huge feasts, or even the crazy amount of packaging wasted on a single toy.  One thing I need to become better at is reducing the number of grocery bags I use.  I own canvas bags, but should truly be better about using them.  The one thing I hadn't done until I made this craft was use a reusable produce bag.  This makes sense to use for my produce and a few of these bags might just come in handy.

Materials:

• Old T-shirt
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine with thread that matches the shirt.

Directions:

1. Cut the shirt into a rectangle. Cut the side towards the bottom of the shirt so that the two corners are curved. This should result in two pieces.
2. Sew the two pieces together, leaving an opening on the edge with a straight side.
3. Cut a big slit in the shirt towards the top about 6 inches long, and an inch in from the straight edge.  This should run parallel with the straight edge.
4. Move down about 4 inches and start cutting two inch strips, leaving two inches in between in rows parallel to the straight edge.  I recommend using a piece of chalk and drawing the parallel lines on the shirt and them making the cuts in a check board fashion altering which section is open in the row. 
5. Wash and enjoy your produce bag.

Again this year I am going to try and post a different craft each day counting down to Christmas!  As part of promoting reducing during this time of year, I am going to try and post as many crafts as I can that I have already made or are made from recycled products.  In some cases, both!  Most of these crafts could make good Christmas presents so keep watching for the posts.  

"Clash of Kings" mini-throne

"A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic, you'll learn that soon enough... and the parts that look like magic turn out to be the messiest of all." -George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

I finished A Clash of Kings at least a month ago, but hadn't made a craft for it until now.  This throne is an often find I found while searching the internet.  The original post was made for a phone, but I wanted to make mine a bit bigger to serve dip in for Halloween.  Check out the original post to see the idea, or follow along with my tutorial to make one for yourself.

The Iron Throne

Materials:

• Foam block
• 2-3 packs of cocktail swords
• Hot glue
• Cardboard
• Knife
• Scissors
• Dark silver spray paint
• Rocks or something to weigh down the front.

Directions:

1. Start by cutting the foam block in half, and carve out a square from the inside of the foam.
2. Cut out a back for the chair, and hot glue that on top of the back part of the carved out foam block.  That completes the base of the throne.
3. Cut out strips of card board and glue and fold to create the swords on the lower part of the throne.
4. Glue/stick cocktail swords to the top of the throne and the front of the throne.  
5. Glue lots of swords to the back of the throne.

   

   Back of Throne

6. Use any left over swords to decorate the sides and the front of the bottom part of the throne.  I only had two packs of swords and ran out, so I drew a sword or two onto the sides using the hot glue gun.

   

   Pre-Painted Throne

7. Spray paint the throne and let dry.
8. If your throne will not balance because the back is to heavy, add rocks or some other item to counter weight.  Just tuck them right into the foam.

It is a fairly easy craft that ends up looking impressive!  I think this is how I am going to give out those plastic rings (along with candy) to the trick-or-treaters. More swords would have made it even more awesome.

Pumpkin Painting

"I am so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers." -L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gabels

Well trying to get inspired for Halloween, I came across this great painting tutorial on Pinterest.  Jennifer Rizzo's tutorial is one of the best I have come across.  If I can paint something that looks something like a pumpkin, then I think anyone can.