Craftiness

We have a family tradition of creating ornaments for the tree. Some years we make only one or two, and some years we make dozens. I believe that traditions are the thread that sews the family together. I did this with my mom when I was a little girl, and I have since continued with my son and daughter. I'm not sure who gets more excited about the new creations, me or them!

The number one tip I would give is to wash the ornaments with alcohol, glass cleaner, vinegar...which ever is your favorite quick drying glass cleaner. Allow to dry completely before capping. Below are this year's ornaments and the material list for each:

 Wreath:
Pipe cleaner
Red and clear beads
Alternate the beads onto the pipe clean and fasten the ends. Shape into a circle.
Ornament:
Black & white paint marker
clear drying glue
white iridescent glitter
yellow flocking powder
Draw the shape of the penguin onto the ball, along with the eyes. Paint the glue on the inside of the ball. With a small funnel, pour glitter onto the glue, trying not to get any onto the rest of the glass. Dump any excess glitter. Apply a triangle shape of glue for the beak and two "feet" shapes at the base of the penguin and apply the flocking powder. Do not shake off the excess of the powder until the glue has dried. I found the best glue for flocking is Aleen's craft glue. I used Elmer's paper glue for the glitter as it was all I had for clear glue. I can say I will use a different glue next time.

Pokeball:
Spray primer
Red paint marker
Black paint marker
Spray the entire ball with primer and allow to dry. Color the top half with red marker, draw a white circle in the middle, and outline all the white with the black marker.
This one was my son's favorite!

Green, Yellow, Pink, Blue, Orange flocking powder
Black, Green, Red paint marker
Clear drying glue
White irridicent glitter
Gold holographic glitter
Paint the inside of the ball with the glue in the shape of the snowpeople. Funnel the white glitter onto the glue and shake out the excess. Paint the black and red clothing accessories (hats, scarves, eyes, coal, holly berries...) and the green holly leaves and base color for the trees. Paint glue on for the hats, scarves, carrots, and the trees. Shake the appropriate color flocking powder onto the glue but do not shake off the excess until the glue dries. Allow to dry completely. Paint the glue into a star shape over each tree and shake on the gold glitter.

Silver holographic glitter
Clear Drying glue
Cotton tipped applicator
Using a cotton tipped applicator, paint the glue into a spiral, starting at the base of the globe and working up. Curve the applicator as needed to ease in application. Funnel the glitter into the globe, dumping out the excess.

This is an example of the trivit that I made for my female family members. Using a 6x6 tavertine tile, I painted the design and then wrote the saying with an indelible marker. Once it was completely dry, I sprayed it with a clear acrylic to protect it.