(Spoiler: If you’re her mate, you’re getting one for Christmas. She has a necklace-making factory in operation.) As we’ve been making batch after batch, we thought they’d be fun Christmas ornaments for kids to make.)
Presenting kid-made Christmas ornaments from glue and paper straws!
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You will need:
Non-toxic craft glue/ PVA glue
Paper straws, cut into smaller lengths
Plastic paint palette
Sequins and sparkly things
Yarn
Beads
These Christmas ornaments are awesome for learning about patience and trial and error. The ornaments take about a week to dry- so unfortunately this isn’t any good as a last-minute project.
How to:
Squeeze about .5cm of craft glue into a circular mould. Each circle of our paint palette measures about 7cm in diameter.
You could also experiment with a muffin tin that you are happy to sacrifice for crafty purposes. I’ve never tried this project with a muffin tin, but I suspect it could work.
Let the decorating begin!
Add your paper straws. We created abstract designs. We arranged stars in ascending length to create Christmas trees. You might like to sprinkle sequins and stars into the glue- be sure that they are embedded in well. With some of the ornaments, we squeezed some gold paint on top of our designs. (IKEA Mala paint is our top choice here.)
I am a glitter grinch. My 5-year-old of course thinks it is the best substance known to Humankind. I relented and bought some glitter glue. (Surely if the glitter is in the glue, it can’t spread everywhere?!)
We experimented with using the white craft glue as a base and decorating over the top with the red glitter glue. This wasn’t so succesful. We also experimented with using the red glitter glue solely as a base. It did work, but the discs were more flimsy than the white craft glue.
Trial and error and patience
This is where the trial and error part of the project comes into play.
We generally subscribe to the philosophy of “more is more” here for craft projects.
Miss 5 learnt that this philosophy didn’t really lead to success for this project.
Too many decorations mean that the glue can’t dry underneath. So decorate sparingly.
Set your palettes aside to dry on a flat surface. This is the hard part. Now you must wait.
How will you know when the Christmas ornaments are dry enough?
Lightly touch the centre of the circle and then the edge. Obviously no glue will come away if it’s dry. Another sign is that your ornaments should pull ever-so-slightly away from the edge of the circular mould.
This next step is one for adults to do
Run a sharp knife around the edge of your pendant to loosen it.
Gently peel the pendant away from the mould. Depending on how many decorations you’ve embedded into the glue, you may need to use a knife to loosen the centre of the ornament from the mould.
Ready to hang!
Use a skewer to poke a hole through the ornament. String some yarn through the hole . You might like to add beads. Tie a knot and your kid-made Christmas ornament is ready to hang on the tree!
All right stop, collaborate and listen.
I’m fairly certain that Vanilla Ice was not referring to this kind of collaboration when he sang “Ice, Ice Baby.”
But I can’t help humming it when I think about the Craftmas collaboration.
15 creative ladies from across the globe came together to share their love of all things Christmas crafts.
It was the sparkliest, most delightful of collaborations.
I had the Hobbycraft team on my blog.
And now I’m delighted to share with you all the projects from all the ladies on all the blogs.
No Sew Garland by Art Camp over on Little Button Diaries
That’s my head! Reindeer Headband by Oh Creative Day over on Hobbycraft
A reindeer walks into a bar…. oh wait, no, wrong story.
A reindeer lands on an island.
How did this reindeer land on an island?
Well, that’s how this reindeer wall hanging came about.
Awhile back, I connected with an amazingly rad group of creative ladies over on Instagram.
We workshopped arty, crafty problems. We chatted through the highs and lows of motherhood. Use of the past tense here is misleading as we still do all those things now. Errrry day.
We marvelled at the fact that, despite being spread across the globe, we still felt entwined in each others’ lives thanks to social media.
We joked that, one day, we would buy an island together, hang out and solve the world’s problems, one creative project at a time.
Introducing the Island Creative Collective.
A group of 8 creative females who all possess a fierve love of cardboard.
So we created this free eBook as a festive ode to cardboard.
It’s our Christmas present to you.
The eBook contains the templates, tips and tricks you will need to make this reindeer wall hanging.
I hope he has his sunscreen on so that he can enjoy Island Life to the max.
How do I get my hands on this eBook?
Sign up to my newsletter to grab your free copy of The Island Creative Collective’s 8 Easy, Recycled Holiday Crafts,
Click to download your copy of the Island Collective Holiday eBook
What happens when a group of 15 rad, creative ladies are united in their love of Christmas craft projects for kids? Craftmas. The ultimate Christmas craftvaganza.
The sparkly, glittery brainchild of my crafty besties, the ladies of Little Button Diaries, Craftmas involves 15 bloggers from across the creative universe.
Like, seriously from across the universe. If you don’t believe me, just check out the collection of accents happening in this clip….
It’s a holly, jolly pleasure to have Gemma from Hobbycraft as my guest for Craftmas with a super cute, lightbulby Christmas project for kids. (Parental supervision is always recommended.)
More eggnogg, Gemma? Oh sorry. Focus. Over to Gemma.
Kids will love making these cute Christmas character lightbulbs, as they are so easy to do and include some of their favourite characters! Make sure you hang them up to dry without touching anything else or you’ll wipe the paint off the surface.
You will need:
Light bulb baubles
Acrylic paints
Googly eyes
Red felt
Black foam sheet
Yellow felt
Tacky glue
Scissors
Pencil
Paintbrush
Instructions:
Reindeer
Unscrew the top off the lightbulb. Top Tip! Optional: Paint the lightbulb with chalky paint if you have some. You can miss this step out but the chalky paint does adhere well to a lot of surfaces and provides a good surface to then paint on. Paint the lightbulb brown. Several layers will be needed to get a good finish. Screw the lid back on once dry.
Draw a set of reindeer antlers on to your black foam and cut out. Glue them onto the back of the lightbulb as shown.
Cut a large, nose sized circle from the red felt and stick on to the bottom front of the light bulb with the all purpose glue.
Stick on the googly eyes.
Penguin
Unscrew the top off the lightbulb.
Draw the penguin’s tummy onto the light bulb and paint in using white acrylic. (You can see that I did not get the drawing completely right here but this will be painted over).
You will need to paint several layers of the white on in order to get a good finish.
Paint the rest of the bauble black. Again, you will need to paint several layers on for a good finish.
Screw the lid back on. Cut out triangle shapes for the feet and glue on with the glue.
Cut some smaller triangles for the penguin’s beak. Put a small line of glue on the lightbulb where the beak needs to go and stick both triangles to the lightbulb along that line of glue.
Measure around the top of the light bulb on the metal screw fitting. You will need to cut a piece of felt this wide and high enough to fold back for the brim of the hat plus to make the fringed ‘bobble’ at the top.
Fold the fabric back to make the brim and then stick the fabric over the top of the screw fitting. When dry, cut a fringe into the top of the hat big enough to make the ‘bobble’.
Using a needle and thread, sew a running stitch around the hat and gather the top of the hat tight to make it into a hat shape with the bobble on the top.
Be sure to check out all of these creative InstaLadies and their Craftmas projects. All the inspiration you’ll need for a crafty Christmas.
This post contains affiliate links.
Clicking on the book title and image
will take you to Booktopia. Thanks ever so much for your support.
Our gift-giving style revolves around the saying, “Something you wear, something you read, Something you want, something you need.”
If you’re looking to give picture books for Christmas, here are 8 picture books perfect for the Christmas stocking.
I really struggled to photograph this book and I have struggled to find the right words to describe it.
It really is a beauty to behold. This is the kind of book that I imagine being passed down from my children to their children.
6 three-dimensional peep-through spreads are used in this edition of Cinderella.
The side panels fold out to retell this classic tale.
Perfect for: Fans of fairy tales and paper-engineering enthusiasts
Ruby Lee is my fave character of 2017.
She DESPERATELY wants to be the class messenger. However, Mrs Majestic-Jones always gives the role to Siena and Vienna, the quieter students.
Until one Monday, when they are absent.
Ruby Lee gets her chance to step up into the coveted role.
However, it is a difficult responsibility to undertake when you have a vivid imagination.
How are you meant to run messages when you also have to contend with the Spockled Frocklewockle/ Squinker/ Shurgle?
Perfect for: Fierce, little females in your life or any child starting school next year (lots of opportunities to discuss classroom expectations!)
I have to admit that my attention span and I struggle with non-fiction.
I did not struggle with this exquisitely designed piece of non-fiction that details the search for life on Mars.
What I love most about it, is that it is told from the perspective of Curiosity, a Mars Rover.
It really is a fascinating read that romanticises the Space Race.
Perfect for: Budding astronauts or any young readers with a Space obsession
My Color is Rainbow by Agnes Hsu and Yuliya Gwilym
My friend Agnes is a powerhouse. She emailed to tell me about this idea she had for a picture book.
Within a few months, I was holding that very idea in my hands.
Little White Arch is trying to find his place in the world. He wonders what his colour could be.
He meets many characters along the way who try to convince him of the merits of being their colour.
This is a lovely tale about not needing to be defined by any one single thing. An ode to diversity, acceptance and kindness.
Befitting the title, the illustrations are a riot of colours.
Perfect for: Anybody needing a reminder that you are perfect exactly as you are.
It feels wrong to describe this as a book. It is more of a tome.
Animals of the Southern Hemisphere are illustrated in Dieter Braun’s inimitable style.
Each illustration is accompanied by a weird and wonderful fact about the relevant animal.
We’ve spent many minutes poring over this book.
One look at the names on the cover of this book should be enough to tell you that this is going to be gooooood.
The Barnett/Klassen combination is gold.
A duck and a mouse are swallowed by a wolf. Woe is them, right? Wrong.
Life inside the wolf’s belly is actually pretty luxe. The pair dress impeccably for sit-down dinners complete with wine.
They play records and have a riot of a time. The duck explains that living in a wolf’s tummy, eliminates the pervasive fear of bring swallowed by wolves.
Life is peachy until a hunter tries to shoot the wolf. The duck and mouse team up to defend their home.
Watch Jon and Mac talk about their book here.
Perfect for: Anybody who loves a twisted fairytale or any young reader with a wry sense of humour.
Bob Graham’s books have this magical quality about them.
Poesy rings can be traced back ot the Middle Ages and were given for friendship and love.
A ring inscribed with “Love never dies” is flung into the wind by a tragic, tear-stained woman on horseback.
It is Ireland, 1830.
The seasons turn and we follow the ring’s adventure until we arrive in New York City in 1967.
Will love prevail and the ring find the finger of the rightful woman?
Perfect for: True romantics and lovers of beautiful prose
This is more of a kit than a book. Included are all the cardboard pieces needed to create a spinning globe, with adult assistance.
An explorer’s guide is included that is highly illustrated, featuring facts from all the corners of the globe.
Perfect for: Little people fascinated by the world and geography
The images and titles of each book will take you to the Australian based online bookstore Booktopia. As a Booktopia Affiliate, purchases clicked through from my blog result in a small commission. You do not pay any extra for your books! Commission is used to maintain Oh Creative Day. For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy here.
Not Australian? The Amazon links will take you to Amazon. I am also an affiliate with Amazon and will receive a small commission. You do not pay any extra for your books. Thanks for your support. Happy reading!
All of the books in this post were provided free for review purposes. I always post my honest opinions and never post books that I do not rate.
I recently posted some kid-made necklaces created from glue and paint over on The Craft Train.
Cut a large, nose sized circle from the red felt and stick on to the bottom front of the light bulb with the all purpose glue.
Unscrew the top off the lightbulb.
You will need to paint several layers of the white on in order to get a good finish.
Screw the lid back on. Cut out triangle shapes for the feet and glue on with the glue.
Fold the fabric back to make the brim and then stick the fabric over the top of the screw fitting. When dry, cut a fringe into the top of the hat big enough to make the ‘bobble’.
