Reinbeers {Craft Tutorial}

One year, I wanted to make all of our friends something that was handmade, but useful.  I was able to crochet washcloths and all sorts of cool things for the ladies, but I was stumped about what to do for the men.  Then it occurred to me - men generally like beer!  I went out to the local liquor store and took a look around for some holiday themed beer, and when I saw these bottles, I knew just what I needed to do with them!!!!  

REINBEER!!!

This is a super simple craft, and it could be done using any non-alcoholic beverage that comes in a brown bottle as well (I'm thinking Root Beer!)

Materials needed:

Brown Pipe Cleaners

Red puff balls

Googly Eyes

Beer or Beverage of your choice

Hot Glue gun and glue sticks

Instructions:

Using hot glue, stick on the eyes and nose.

For the antlers, I took one pipe cleaner and folded it in half, then at the halfway point, looped it around the top of the bottle and twisted the ends tight.  Then I put one on either side of the "head" and attached smaller pieces of pipe cleaners to the top to make them look more like antlers.

That's it!!!  Such an easy and last minute craft that you can do that will please anyone!!!

Sock Snowman Craft

These were such a fun craft to make.  It is one of those crafts where you can really use your imagination and with the amount of socks that you can buy, the sky is the limit!!!

Here are the materials you will need:

White tube socks

Fun socks

Rubber bands or yarn

Ribbon and any other embellishment that you want

Rice

Puffy Fabric Paint in black and orange

How to assemble your snowmen:

Start with an empty sock and fill it with rice, tying the top of the sock.

Stand the snowman up and using rubber bands or yarn, tie tightly where you want the "balls" of his body to be.  You can also cut off excess sock above the knot for his head (but do leave some to fold back over the knot.

Cut the ankle off of a sock and use the tube as a shirt for your snowman.  Here I also used a strip of the sock to make a scarf.

Cut the toe off of a sock and use it as a hat.  This could be the same sock or a different sock for fun! Use the puffy fabric paint to dot on eyes, mouth and nose of your snowman.

I spent the most time on this snowman below.  I found the tuxedo sock and knew I had to make him really fun.  I did not trim the top of the sock, instead I filled it with extra filling to make his hat stand super tall.  I also sprayed him lightly with fake snow so it would look like he had been outside, and dusted his cheeks with makeup to give him rosy cheeks.

Overall, these were a super fun decoration and as you can see every snowman came out differently!  It was so much fun!

Christmas Wax Ornaments

This was such a fun craft- albeit a little messy, but who doesn't love a little mess when you're crafting??  These are perfect gifts for your little ones to make and give out as gifts and you'll never end up with two that are the same!!!

Christmas Wax Ornaments

Materials needed:

Crayons (Crayola brand seem to melt the best)
Pencil sharpener  (most large crayon boxes have one built in)
Clear GLASS ornaments (They MUST be glass.  we found out the hard way that the plastic ones will warp)
Hair Dryer
Ribbons (for adding a little something "extra" to make your ornaments special)
Glitter (optional)
Newspaper or paper towel (to put down for easier cleanup afterward)


Instructions:

Start by choosing 2-3 colors of crayons.  I wouldn't recommend using many more colors than this as the colors can get kind of muddy if you mix too many.

Peel off the wrapper from the crayons and using the sharpener, create some crayon shavings.

Add the crayon shavings to the inside of the ornament.  (if you want to use glitter, add at this point)

Using the hair dryer, slowly heat and swirl the ornament to spread the shavings.  (We found it worked best if you did it slowly and didn't completely liquefy the shavings, but melted them enough that they stuck all over the inside of the ornament.  Completely melting them was cool, but it definitely mixed the colors more than we had wanted.)

If you don't have enough shavings to coat the inside, let the ornament cool and then add more, repeating the heating with the hair dryer.

Add a Christmas Ribbon if you want to fancy up your ornament!

If you make some, I would love to see them!!!! :)

January Marks....

The start of 2014's Christmas Crafting Season!  (Yes, this is a season for me that lasts all year long)  

In November and December when I start showing off sneak peeks of Christmas gifts I have made, I always get the same comment:  "I don't know how you do it all!"

Well, this year, I thought I would share my technique for crafting for your gift list instead of buying.  My secret is that I really start in January!  Now, this is not to say that I get it all done in January and have the rest of the year to do whatever, but instead that I start planning and every month I set a goal for what to accomplish off of my list that I make in January.  

Would you like to craft your Christmas this year?  Follow along with me as I provide my tips, challenges and inspiration on my Facebook Group:  

This Crafting Life: 12 Months to Christmas!

January's Mission has already been posted!