Create Your Own Christmas Carol Ornament

This project is best for older kids. The paper strips are small and the ornaments are made of glass. That said, I had a good time making mine!

Supplies Needed:

Clear glass ornament

Printed Christmas carol lyrics

Scissors

Yarn or ribbon

Printer and ink

Google search for the lyrics of the Christmas carol of your choice. Here’s a good place to start. I chose Joy to the World. Copy and paste the lyrics into a word document and change the font size and color. I found that 18 point font is about the right size. Print two copies of the lyrics.

Cut the lines into strips and trim off the extra white paper. Bend, but do not crease, the first strip and slip it through the mouth of the ornament, center first. Repeat with every strip. The strips will open up and lie against the inside of the glass ball. If, after two copies, you don’t think your ornament is full enough, print another copy and keep adding strips.

Hang your ornament and enjoy!

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Create Your Own Gingerbread Man Garland

This is another kindergarten project that’s fun for all ages. When my sister was in kindergarten she made a gingerbread man garland that still hangs on our tree every year. My sister would be perfectly happy if that garland ended up in the trash and each year she tries to convince our mother to leave it off the tree, but her arguments only cause our mother to choose ever more prominent placements for that piece of kindergarten artwork.

Supplies Needed:

Brown paper (a bag will do)

Scissors

Yarn

Glue

Glitter

Beads

Sequins

Crayons

Markers

etc.

I believe my sister’s teacher used a die cut to make the gingerbread men, but you can create your own tracer by copying and pasting this gingerbread man into a word document and resizing. You want the gingerbread men to be about 4 inches by 6 inches. They should fit neatly into a sandwich bag for storage. An adult will want to cut four of five gingerbread men for each garland. Kindergarteners and 1^st graders will quickly become frustrated if they have to do it themselves.

Cover your work space! Glitter! Ahh!

Decorate each gingerbread man differently. Use any or all of the materials for each.

When everything is dry (this could take awhile), an adult can link the gingerbread men by stapling a length of yarn to the backs of the gingerbread men’s arms.

Hang on a tree or over a door and enjoy. Maybe it will still be around when you’re in your 20s!

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Create Your Own Patterned Candy Canes

I can’t take credit for this simple and easy project; I saw it in a kindergarten classroom this week. The idea is that the children practice making pattern using red and white beads. When they finish, they have an ornament to hang on the tree or in a window.

Supplies Needed:

Chenille stems

Red beads

White beads

String one bead onto the chenille stem and wrap the end of the stem around the bead to hold it in place. This may be a job for an adult.

Decide what pattern you will use. You could keep it simple and string one red bead, one white bead, one red bead, one white bead, and so on. Or you could be really tricky and string one red bead, one white bead, two red beads, one white bead, three red beads, one white bead, and so on. The limit is your imagination.

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Create Your Own Snowman Ornament

I love making Christmas ornaments. This weekend it snowed enough to stick to the ground, if only briefly, and I thought about all the wonderful things that snow allows you to do. And then I realized that there are no snowmen on my Christmas tree! That was an easy problem to solve. Today, create your own snowman Christmas ornament.

Supplies Needed:

Salt Ceramic (see instructions here)
*Salt
*Cornstarch
*Water
Pipe Cleaner
Googley Eyes
Beads
Ribbon
Paint
Small Paintbrush
Scissors

Ask an adult to make some salt ceramic for you. Directions can be found here.
When the salt ceramic is cool to the touch, mold it into three balls: a large, a medium-sized, and a small. These will be the bottom, middle, and head of your snowman. Your entire ornament should be no longer than four inches. Salt ceramic is heavy and your tree would be able to hold an ornament that is much larger. You can make a larger snowman if you want it to stand up. Just make sure it dries standing.
Twist the bottom of your pipe cleaner into a knot. Push the pipe cleaner through the large ball, then the medium-sized ball, then the small ball. Twist the top of the pipe cleaner into a hook. Cut off the extra and set it aside.

Choose two googley eyes and press them into the face of your snowman. Add a bead for the nose. Then press three more beads into the middle ball. These are the snowman’s buttons.

Cut the piece of leftover pipe cleaner into two pieces. Push these into the snowman’s body. They are the arms.

Tie a piece of ribbon around the snowman’s neck.

Finally, paint on the snowman’s mouth.
I chose to make a snow woman, as you can see. You could make a snow woman, a snowman, or even a snow animal by adding ears and painting on whiskers. Let your imagination guide you!

Let the snowman dry. Then hang it on your Christmas tree.

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Create Your Own Striped Christmas Cards

Today you’ll use the method you learned yesterday to make beautiful, handmade Christmas cards that your friends and family will love.

Supplies Needed:

Heavy Paper
Washable Paints
Paintbrush
Spray Bottle
Cookie Sheet
Tape
Pencil
Colored papers
Stamps
Markers
Glitter
Tape a sheet of heavy paper to your cookie sheet. Use your paint brush to dab blobs of red and green paint across the top of your paper.

Set your spray bottle to mist and sprits the paint with water until it runs down the page. I found that the red paint overpowered the green paint, so I added more dots of green and continued to spray.
Let your paper dry.

Now for the card making. I used blank note cards but you can use heavy paper, folded in half if you don’t have any blank note cards.

What you do next is completely up to you. Use your imagination to combine your materials and see what you come up with.
I began by tracing the shape of my note card onto my striped paper. I cut it out and then cut a window out of its center. I then cut a square of green construction paper and used a stamp to print a stocking in the middle. I sprinkled the stocking with glitter while it was still wet, then tapped off the extra. Finally, I glued all the pieces to the front cover of my note card.
If you have trouble cutting perfect straight lines out of the middle of paper, try cutting abstract shapes instead. Notice my green card with the snowflake and the Christmas tree.
If you’re careful with your striped paper, you can make five or more cards using the same sheet of paper.

Write your holiday wishes inside your cards, slide them into envelopes, and mail them to your friends and family. They will certainly smile at your thoughtfulness.

More Christmas card ideas to come next week. Check back tomorrow for Fantastic Fiction Friday.

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Create Your Own Edible Painting

Merry Christmas Eve! This is the last project before Christmas so enjoy. Paint a few of these while you’re baking other cookies for a little edible art.

Supplies Needed:

Sugar Cookie Dough
Rolling Pin
Parchment Paper
Cookie Cutter
Light Corn Syrup
Food Coloring
Paintbrushes
Small Cups

Bake your sugar cookies according the direction on the package. You can, instead, use your own recipe or buy undecorated sugar cookies already made from the grocery store. If you bake your own, let them cool completely before painting on them.

Pour some light corn syrup into several small cups. You’ll want about a teaspoon in each. Squeeze one drop of food coloring into each cup and stir to make your paints. To make the black color I just mixed one drop of each color (and two drops of red) to one of the cups. The other colors are standard food coloring colors.

Use a clean paintbrush, preferably one that has never been used, and paint your cooled sugar cookies. The paint is very sticky and you must wash the paintbrush in the sink between each color. For this reason, it would be useful to have a different paintbrush for each color.

Please note that the colors run together if you don’t wait for the paint to dry between each; however, the paint dries extremely slowly. I painted mine all in one sitting and I think they came out fine.


Also note that the Jackson Pollock inspired cookies are very messy to make. Place a cookie on a plate, set it in the sink, and then splatter paint like I did (shown in the picture below). Have a parent help you with this one.
Below are pictures of my cookie masterpieces, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright stained-glass windows, Jackson Pollock, and Piet Mondrian. I thought I had posted on Wright stained-glass but I guess not. So below the cookie, notice the inspiration.




I think they turned out quite nicely. Use any artist for inspiration or paint your own pictures using the fun recipe.

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Color Your Own Christmas Ornament

This project was more difficult than I expected so you’ll see pictures of the ornament I made but the directions will modify the project to make it simpler.

Supplied Needed:

White Tissue Paper
Crayons
White Glue
Water
Container with a pour-spout
Paintbrush
Glass Ornament
Glitter
Scissors
Tweezers

Draw a pattern onto the tissue paper using your crayons. I drew music notes but you would be better off drawing one larger picture like a Christmas tree or a bell. Cut out the picture. You should cut away as much of the excess tissue paper as possible. Remove the metal cap from your glass ornament and set it aside. Paint a thin coat of white glue onto the inside of the ornament where you would like the image to appear.

Push the picture into the ornament with your tweezers. Stick it to the glue so the drawing shows through the glass. Use the back of your paintbrush the secure the picture to the ornament. Make the image as smooth as possible.

In your container, mix 1/3 white glue with 2/3 water. Pour the mixture into the ornament and shake it so the glue coats the inside. Dump out the extra glue mixture.

Pour some glitter into the ornament and shake. The glitter will stick to the inside of the ornament. Dump out the extra glitter.

Replace the metal cap and tie some ribbon or attach a hanger to your ornament.

Click here for more Christmas crafts.

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Create Your Own Palm Frond Rudolph

Today I’d like to recognize the insane snow storm that hit the north eastern US this weekend with this tropical Christmas craft. I do not live in the south (though I was not affected by the storm, either) so these photos are courtesy of my mother. Not to worry, though; I’ve made my share of palm frond Rudolphs. I won’t steer you wrong.

Supplies Needed:

Palm Frond
Googley Eyes
Red Pom
Glue Gun and Glue Stick
I’m not sure why there is white glue and a glue gun in this picture. You could use either so take your pick. Begin by collecting your supplies, including taking a palm frond from a palm tree. If the trees have recently been pruned, you may find the perfect frond on the ground just waiting for you to turn it into a masterpiece. If not, you’ll want an adult to help you retrieve one. Make sure the frond comes from the right kind of palm tree. See the picture below for help. (Yes, that’s my parent’s back yard... lucky, huh?)
Attach the goggley eyes and the pom to the palm frond. If you use hot glue you won’t have to wait more than a moment for it to dry but if you use white glue be sure everything is firmly attached before you handle your Rudolph.
If you wish to hang it, hot glue a loop of ribbon to the back. Hang and enjoy!

Thanks, Mom, for the lovely photos!

Click here for more Christmas crafts.

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Paint Your Own Christmas Ornament

Today’s Christmas craft is a simple one, guaranteed to produce beautiful and unique ornaments every time. And it can be enjoyed by crafters of all ages.

Supplies Needed:

Glass ball ornament
Glass paint
Yes, that’s it. Gather your supplies and cover your workspace with newspaper. I chose to use red, green, and white paints and I think my ornament came out well. You can use any colors and glass paint comes in more colors that you can imagine. Silver and gold would be good additions to any ornament. Go crazy!

Remove the top of the ornament, the part that allows you to hang it on the tree, and set it aside.

Hold the ornament so the opening is angled, though still with an upright tilt. Squeeze some paint into the ornament so it runs down the inside. Glass paint is rather thick and will take a while to make it to the bottom of the ornament. There’s no need to wait for it to finish its journey before adding the next color. Squeeze as many colors into the ball as you’d like, rotating the ornament each time for a paint-free space.

Now cover the opening with your thumb and gently tap the ornament against your other palm to speed the paint along. Turn the ornament so the paint runs across the entire inside and there is no clear space left. Add more paint if you need to.

Place the top back on and enjoy your one-of-a-kind ornament. Add a piece of ribbon as a hanger if you choose, or just use a metal one.
A side note: You can use regular craft paint for this project since you won’t be washing the ornament or eat off of it, however, eventually the paint will begin to separate. The ornament pictured below was painted about ten years ago, by my estimation, and you can see that pigment (that is the color) is separating from the binder (the liquid that the color is mixed with to create paint). I still like it though, and hang it on my tree every year.
Click the following links for a paper ornament project, and a candy cane ornament project.

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Create Your Own Paper Ornament

This Christmas ornament is easy to make and can be slipped into a Christmas card as a nice pre-Christmas gift for your friends and family.

Supplies Needed:

Green construction paper
Patterned wrapping paper
Tape
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Glue stick
Ribbon

Use your ruler and pencil to mark strips of various widths on your wrapping paper. Cut them out. Thinner strips will look better. I cut mine too thin.

Line up the strips in an order different than the sheet of wrapping paper. Try to alternate the colors. Attach the strips to a piece of tape.

Draw a circle on your sheet of green construction paper. Draw a smaller circle inside. Add a rectangle and a loop at the top to make it look like an ornament. Cut out the ornament and remove the inner circle. I cut out the inside of the loop with scissors but a hole punch would be easier.

Trace your ornament onto more green construction paper and cut out a second. Do not remove the inner circle.

Tape the strips of wrapping paper to the construction paper with the hole in it. The strips should show through the hole.

Use your glue stick to attach the back to the ornament.

Tie a piece of ribbon to the loop so the ornament can be hung. Place it on your tree or slide it into a Christmas card and send it to a loved one.

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