Christmas Arts & Crafts #1

Christmas is one of those busy times of the year.  Not only are you busy privately but in work there is loads to do.  Making presents for the parents?  Decorating the room?  Here are a couple of ideas you can use!  More to come!

Glue Stars 

This is extremely easy to make and very nice to decorate the room or to give as presents.

All you need is baking paper, a glue gun and glitter.

Draw a star shape on the baking paper so the kids have a guide.   Then use the glue gun (help the kids!  This is hot stuff!) and trace the star using the glue.  Then fill the star with glue strands.

Before the glue dries you can sprinkle glitter on the stars.  They harden and get cool pretty quickly but make sure you check before letting the kids touch them.  Brush off excess glitter somewhere you want glitter to fall ;)  Then you can put them on a pretty ribbon and hang them up,  hang them on the windows or pack them up as presents.

Nespresso Angels

I am always looking for ways to recycle my Nespresso coffee capsules.  A couple of  years ago I came up with this idea.  Angels!

You need a ball for the head.  We used polystyrene balls but you can also use fimo or anything else that springs to mind.

The wings are made from feathers.  You could also use tin foil, coloured paper or something else you have lying around.  Be creative and try and recycle!

For the hair we used up some glitter pipe cleaners we had left over from something or other.  Although this wasn't out first choice it was something we had and could spare.  One of the good things about these angels is that we used stuff we just had left over from other projects.

The legs/feet were just thin ribbons.  These went up through the capsule (the used capsules have holes already in the top) and ball and also served as the band to hang up the angels.

The children drew faces on the angels and each angel was so different from another.  It was amazing.  The capsules can also be coated with glitter for an extra Christmassy shine!

Make sure you prepare the capsules before hand and clean them!  They start to smell otherwise.  Also make sure that there are no sharp edges left over when you remove the foil on the capsule to empty out the coffee grinds.  I have cut myself a couple of times and you don't want that to happen to the kids!

Snowmen Photo Holders

These cuties were Christmas Presents for the parents from the children.

The metal holders were ordered but you could also make them yourself if you really want to save money.  The wire needs to be thick enough though.

The snowmen are made out of Fimo (I am sure you can use other modeling clays).  A small ball for the head.  Bigger ball for the body.  Add a black hat, eyes and mouth.  To make them look more colourful we added scarves.

Make these as big or small as you want.  Make sure you have all the colours you need and let the kids choose from a variety of colours for the scarves.

Don't forget to make a hole in the snowman using one of the metal holders before you bake the fimo!!  Otherwise you can't add the stand!  The stand also needs a little glue to stay attached!

Add a photo to the presents!  We took pictures of the children with a santa hat on.  You can also use reindeer antlers etc.