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DIY Secret Santa Box
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DIY Secret Santa Box

Materials

  • Rectangular cardboard box *Preferably on that opens on the short ends instead of the long ends. *
  • X-Acto knife
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • ruler/measuring tape
  • scissors
  • spray adhesive
  • Christmas ribbon, optional
  • Christmas decorations; optional
  • Red wrapping paper or bulletin board paper

Instructions:

1. Draw a half circle on the side of your boxes.

2. Use the measuring tape to measure out how high you would like the top of the mailbox to be

3. Draw a half-circle on two of the four sides, opposite of each other to create the two rounded sides of the mailbox

4. Use an x-acto knife to cut out the shape, this will leave you with the two rounded sides higher than the other two sides

5. BEFORE attaching the top; trace the two rounded sides of the shape onto the red bulletin board paper, leave about a 1 inch excess around the shape and cut it out

6. Spray the backside of the red paper with spray adhesive and attach it to the cardboard shape folding over the excess

7. Repeat with the other sides and top

8. After the entire box is covered with the red paper, measure out the Christmas ribbon to attach to any imperfections; this adds great detail but also covers anything that isn’t covered perfectly

9. Add fun details like a slit in the front for mail to go through by cutting a rectangle shape with the x-acto knife and covering the cut areas with more ribbon

10. Cut a larger shape in the back of the box, only cutting three out of the four sides so that the mailbox can be opened and the letters and/or names can be picked out

11. Add any other fun details to make it look special like letters, stickers, etc.

Three options for the rounded top:
1. use corrugated cardboard and attach it to the top of the shape using hot glue

2. use a long flat piece of cardboard and score it with the x-acto knife to create your own corrugated cardboard and attach it to the shape using a hot glue gun

3. If you have a very long box, you could leave one of the sides uncut, use the x-acto knife to score it, and then fold it over to the other side and attach using a hot glue gun

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DIY Guardian Angel Mobile
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DIY Guardian Angel Mobile

Materials:

  • Cardstock
  • 14" embroidery hoop
  • 6" embroidery hoop
  • Twine
  • Various sizes of wooden beads
  • Flat jewelry wire
  • Brads
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • Scotch tape
  • Handsaw
  • Sandpaper
  • Scissors

Instructions:
1. Take your 6” embroidery hoop and trace the interior edge. Trace a circle for each angel you want to create.


2. Cut the circles out, then cut them in half.


3. Take one of the half circles and bend it in half without creasing and tape the straight edges together to create the back seam of an odd cone shape.


4. Cut the tip of the cone off, making a small opening at the top.


5. Glue the remaining half circle to your cone with the straight edge perpendicular to the back seam of your cone. Now your angel has wings!


6. Feed a long strand of twine through the hole at the top of the body and glue the twine in place at the front of the cone.


7. Feed a wooden bead on to the strand from the top to give your angel a head. Place a drop of glue to secure in place.


8. Create your halo and feed onto your strand from the top and secure onto the angel’s head with a dab of hot glue.


9. Feed a large wooden bead onto the bottom end of the strand and tie a knot underneath to secure.
a. *You may have to add beads to help with the weighting so don’t secure any of the wooden beads until finished. *


10. Repeat steps 3-8 until you have completed all of your strands for hanging.


11. Separate the inner hoop from each embroidery hoop and cut them in half, creating perfect arches.

12. Lightly sand the edges of your cuts.

13. Tie long strands of twine around the center of each arch.

14. Glue the top of one of the strands to the bottom of one end of the large arch.

15. Glue the remaining two strands the bottom of both ends of your smaller arch.
*Gluing these on at different lengths will create more movement. *

16. Wrap the bottom edges in twin to hide where you attached your strands.

17. Hang and add any wooden beads needed to balance the weight and enjoy!

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DIY Santa Sweater Cones
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DIY Santa Sweater Cones

Materials

  • Papier-mâché cones
  • Red sweaters
  • Cotton balls
  • Spray Adhesive
  • Fabri-Tac
  • Fabric scissors
  • Food-safe clear treat bags
  • Ribbon or twine
  • Optional:
  • Hot glue and glue sticks

Instructions:

1. Take your sweater and pull it around the shape of your cone then pull taut.

2. Leave a 1” seam allowance for the back seam and bottom (the opening) of your cone, use your fabric scissors to cut the excess sweater fabric away from your cone.
*This should look like a triangle when laid flat. *

3. Lay the fabric flat and on a protected surface, spray with spray adhesive with the tip of your cone lined up with the tip of the fabric, line the center of the cone up with the edge of the fabric.

4. Roll the cone onto the fabric, smoothing with your hands as you go for a wrinkle free application.

5. Using Fabri-Tac, run a line of glue underneath of the raw edge of fabric on the back seam and tuck it under for a clean hem.
*You can use hot glue instead of Fabri-Tac if desired. *

6. Next, use Fabri-Tac to finish the opening of your cone by running a line of glue along the interior of the cone at the top edge and folding the excess sweater fabric into the cone, pressing as you go to secure the bond.

7. Take your cotton balls and begin to pull them apart gently, just enough to fluff them up.

8. Then Fabri-Tac the cotton balls along the exterior top edge of the opening to create the cone’s “fur” trim.

9. Fluff up one last cotton ball and glue it at the tip of cone.

10. Flip upside down, fill with treats and enjoy!

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DIY Christmas Clocks
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DIY Christmas Clocks

Materials

  • Round plain clocks. I went with a 13” in diameter black and white clock.
  • Stuffed animals of your favorite Christmas friends – Santa (of course), Rudolf and a snowman. You can chose to do one or do all three!
  • Extra fabric to match your stuffed animal.
  • Hot glue/glue gun
  • Scissors
  • A small needle with thread
  • Fabric glue
  • OPTIONAL: Ribbon or other embellishments

Instructions:
1. Take your clock and lay it on a flat surface.


2. Take your stuffed animal and decide which parts you would like to show on the clock. Since we want it to look like our creatures are standing behind the clocks, you can decide which parts need to come forward.


3. Now don’t be scared of this next part…Cut your stuffed animal! You can use hot glue, needle and thread or fabric glue to glue the parts back together that are exposing the stuffing.


4. Arrange the parts of the stuffed animal around the clock and secure with hot glue.


5. Take your extra fabric to create legs behind the clock. You can decide how long you would like these legs…the longer, the more whimsical.


6. Secure it all with hot glue and add any embellishments you would like.


7. OPTIONAL: You can use extra fabric that you have to wrap it around the clock to hide the rim of the clock.


8. Hang the clock and enjoy Santa, Rudolf or a snow man telling you the time!

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Homemade Stocking Stuffers
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Homemade Stocking Stuffers

Materials for DIY Peppermint Pout Chapstick

  • 1 1/2 TBS Beeswax
  • 2 TBS Almond Oil
  • 2 TBS Shea Butter
  • 1 TSP Red Mica Powder
  • Peppermint Essential Oil
  • Chapstick Container

Materials for DIY Hand Santa-Tizer

  • 1 Cup Aloe Vera Gel
  • 1 ½ TBS Tea Tree Oil
  • 1 TSP Vitamin E oil
  • 15 Drops Essential Oil
  • Empty Bottle

Materials for DIY Lump of Coal

  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 2 TBS Melted coconut oil
  • 1 TSP Charcoal Powder
  • Container

INSTRUCTIONS:

DIY Peppermint Pout Chapstick:

  1. Divide the beeswax, almond oil, and shea butter equally into two heat safe bowls.
  2. Place in double boiler. Stir until completely melted.
  3. Turn off heat and add essential oil.
  4. In one bowl add red mica powder.
  5. Pour first layer into chap-stick container. Let harden then pour in next color. Repeat this step until you reach the top.

DIY Hand Santa-tizer:

  1. Mix together and store in bottle.

DIY Lump of Coal: Charcoal Body Scrub:

  1. Mix all together and store in container.
Christmas Countdown
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Christmas Countdown

Materials

  • A medium-sized rectangular planter box
  • 3” wood blocks (you will need 5 total)
  • 2.5” self-adhesive vinyl numbers
  • Small wood plaque
  • Printer
  • Glue stick (or glue dots, etc.)
  • Scissors
  • Red acrylic paint
  • Green acrylic paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Christmas Characters (I’m using Santa and a snow man)
  • Hot glue
  • Glue sticks
DIY Countdown to Christmas - Home & Family

Directions

*Make sure that your planter can fit your 3" blocks

1. Turn the plant on its side, so that the open part is facing you.
(This will be the base of the Countown Calendar)
2. Using green paint, apply a dry technique to the top and sides of your planter
(Set aside to dry)
3. Paint your blocks red, all around
(Set aside to dry)
4. Print out a little sign that reads "Christmas Countdown"
(Make it the same size as your small wood plaque. You can print this in color and add any images you want.)
5. Cut the print out to the size of your plaque.
6. Attach the print out to the plaque with glue.
7. Position your two Christmas characters on either side of your base and attach with hot glue.
(Make sure they are spaced far-enough apart to hold the little sign and also to reveal the countdown numbers. But, also make sure they are close-enough to look like they are the little sign. You may have to play with the seating until you find the perfect distance apart.)
8. Position each of the character's inner hand on one side of the sign, each holding one side. Hot glue the hands into place.)
9. Using self-adhesive vinyl numbers, add the following numbers to one cube: 0,1,2,3
(This will be the first block. You only need 0-3 on this block since there will never be more than 3 in the first position.)
10. Add the following numbers to two more cubes: 0,1,2,3,4,5
11. Add the following numbers to the final two cubes: 6,7,8,9
12. Arrange the 3 cubes so that the number of days remaining until Christmas is displayed. Set the other cubes aside
(But keep them nearby as you will need to change them daily as Christmas draws closer!)
13. Find a good spot and start counting!

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DIY Santa Binoculars
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DIY Santa Binoculars

Materials

  • Paper towel roll
  • Red felt
  • Glue gun
  • Glue sticks
  • Ruler
  • Scissors
  • X-Acto Knife
  • Black glitter craft foam
  • Gold glitter craft foam
  • White faux fur
  • Rope, string, or yarn

Directions

1. Use an X-acto knife to cut paper towel roll in half (should be two equal sizes)
2. Cut the red felt to fit the length of the rolls
3. Wrap the felt around the roll and secure with hot glue
4. Cut faux fur strips, 2 inches wide and length of paper roll
5. Attach with hot glue
6. 2 inches wide and length of paper roll, attach with hot glue
7. Cut craft foam strip 1 inch wide for santa’s belt
8. Glue santa belts to rolls with hot glue
9. Cut out belt buckle from craft foam and attach with hot glue
10. Glue binoculars together with a line of heavy glue from the belt to the top of the roll and press together.
11. Cut rope, string, or yarn and hot glue each end to binocular interior.
12. Enjoy!

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DIY Santa Centerpieces
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DIY Santa Centerpieces

Materials

  • Store bought Santa hats
  • Pillow stuffing
  • Jewelry wire
  • 1 - 2 inch diameter wooden balls
  • Hot glue
  • Vase
  • Floral foam
  • Red fabric
  • Black ribbon
  • Gold foam paper

Directions

1. Wrap vase with red fabric

2. Cut out a belt buckle from gold foam paper

3. Glue belt buckle onto black ribbon

4. Wrap ribbon around vase as Santa’s belt
a. Have a belt buckle on both sides of vase

5. Cut floral foam to fit vase and place inside vase

6. Stick baby’s breath or desired white flowers into floral foam to create beard
a. Again, fill it all the way around

7. Take Santa hat and fill with pillow stuffing

8. Take jewelry wire and put into hat to create shape

9. Connect hat to the vase by sticking jewelry wire into floral foam

10. Hot glue wooden ball to the inside of Santa’s hat for nose (on both sides)

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DIY Santa Photo Display
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DIY Santa Photo Display

Materials

  • 16 – Frames (or however many pictures you are using)
  • Wood letters spelling BELIEVE
  • Red spray paint (or desired color)
  • Spray adhesive
  • Silver leaf
  • 3 x 1.5 ft Plywood
  • Adhesive numbers
  • Dry brush
  • 2 in. wood blocks
  • 1 in. wood blocks
  • 1 in. screws
  • 7 - 3.5 in. gold screws
  • evergreen for decor
  • hot glue
  • french cleats or hanging wire

Directions

1. Spray paint frames red and let them dry
2. Spray frames with spray adhesive
3. Gently lay silver leaf onto the glue and pull excess
4. Continue until frame is covered
5. Use dry brush to brush away any extra leaf
6. Add adhesive numbers for the years
7. Add photo into frames

For Plywood and Letters:

1. Paint plywood red (or desired color) and let dry
2. Paint wood letters and let dry
3. Center/align letters to plywood as desired
4. Trace letters onto plywood
5. Mark points for placement of screws on plywood and on back of letters
6. Drill 3.5 in gold screws into plywood on marked points
7. Drill 1in indentions in the back of letters

For Display:

1. Attach frames to plywood by gluing them onto 2 in. / 1 in. wood blocks
2. Use various sizes of wood blocks to create different levels
3. Screw wood blocks into plywood for extra security
4. Glue evergreen around gold screws
5. Glue BELIEVE letters onto gold screws

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DIY Holiday Buckets
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DIY Holiday Buckets
DIY Holiday Buckets
Level:
Easy
How-To:
Storage, Home Decor
Seasonal Event:
Christmas

Materials for Angel Bucket

  • Popcorn Bucket
  • Stencils (download PDF)
  • Gold Rope
  • Hot Glue
  • Red Pom-pom
  • Foam Sheets

Materials for Reindeer Bucket

  • Popcorn Bucket
  • Stencils (download PDF)
  • Hot Glue
  • Foam Sheets
  • Red Pom-pom

Materials for Santa Bucket

  • Popcorn Bucket
  • Stencils (download PDF)
  • Hot Glue
  • Foam Sheets
  • Buttons
  • Red Felt Ball
  • Cotton Ball

Materials for Elf Bucket

  • Popcorn Bucket
  • Stencils (download PDF)
  • Hot Glue
  • Foam Sheets
  • Buttons
  • Pink Felt Ball

Download the Popcorn Patterns
Directions for Angel Bucket

  1. Deconstruct a popcorn bucket and trace on foam sheet.
  2. Cut out foam sheet, wrap around popcorn bucket, and glue.
  3. Trace stencils on foam and cut out.
  4. Glue on face, eyes and wings.
  5. Draw on mouth.
  6. Glue gold rope around the top rim for the halo.
  7. Fill with favorite popcorn treat.

Directions for Reindeer Bucket

  1. Deconstruct a popcorn bucket and trace on foam sheet.
  2. Cut out foam sheet, wrap around popcorn bucket, and glue.
  3. Trace stencils on foam and cut out.
  4. Add mouth and red pompom for nose on the snout.
  5. Glue snout onto bucket.
  6. Glue on the eyes.
  7. Glue inner ears to outer ears, and then glue onto antlers.
  8. Glue ears/antlers to bucket.
  9. Fill with favorite popcorn treat.

Directions for Santa Bucket

  1. Deconstruct a popcorn bucket and trace on foam sheet.
  2. Cut out foam sheet, wrap around popcorn bucket, and glue.
  3. Trace stencils on foam and cut out.
  4. Glue on face.
  5. Glue on beard, followed by mustache.
  6. Glue on red felt ball for the nose, and buttons for the eyes.
  7. Glue cotton to the tip of the hat.
  8. Glue hat onto the top of the bucket.
  9. Glue the hat trim around the entire top rim of the bucket.
  10. Fill with favorite popcorn treat.

Directions for Elf Bucket

  1. Deconstruct a popcorn bucket and trace on foam sheet.
  2. Cut out foam sheet, wrap around popcorn bucket, and glue.
  3. Trace stencils on foam and cut out.
  4. Glue on face.
  5. Wrap and glue belt around the button.
  6. Glue on belt buckle.
  7. Glue on mouth, pink felt ball for the nose, and buttons for the eyes.
  8. Glue on ears.
  9. Glue hat onto the top of the bucket.
  10. Glue the hat trim around the entire top rim of the bucket.
  11. Fill with favorite popcorn treat.

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DIY "Letters to Santa" Wall Hang
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DIY "Letters to Santa" Wall Hang

Materials

  • Baby Blanket
  • 2 Dowels
  • Fabri-Tac
  • Eye Hooks
  • Gold Rope
  • Felt
  • Fabric Transfer Sheets & Iron
  • Buttons
  • Yarn

Directions

1. Lay your baby blanket out flat. Place your dowels on the top and the bottom edges of your blanket. Roll the edges over them just enough to hold the dowels in snuggly and fabri-tac the edge down. The ends of the dowels should be poking out on either end.

2. Pre-drill a tiny hole into either end of the top dowel and screw in the eye hooks.

3. Knot your golden rope into both eye hooks. This is how you will hang it.

4. Cut your felt into 6x6 in. square sheets

Note: These don’t need to be 6x6. They can be whatever size you’d prefer

5. Cut a triangular slit from the top of your felt sheet to create the “envelope” look.

6. Cut more felt into triangular sheets just slightly larger than the holes cut into the envelope. These will be the envelope flaps.

7. Decide where you want your envelopes to be placed on your blanket and fabri-tac only along the edges of three sides. (You should be able to reach into the cut triangular edge as your “pocket”).

8. Take your envelope flaps and fabri-take the top edge just slightly above the rest of the envelope. This should look like the envelope once you are finished.

9. For extra details, either sew or glue a piece of yarn underneath the top flap and a button onto the envelope to “seal” it.

10. You can also use fabric transfer sheets to label each of your envelopes!

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Bringing Christmas on the Road
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Bringing Christmas on the Road

Materials for a Cocoa on the Go Station

  • Caddy
  • Glass Bottles
  • Marshmallows
  • Cocoa Mix
  • Paper Straws
  • Tumblers
  • Foam Stickers

Materials for Christmas Song Bingo

  • Christmas Song Bingo Cards
  • Stickers
  • Goody Bags
  • Candy

Materials for Santa's Family Finder

  • Flat Transparent Snowflake Ornament
  • Mini Battery-Operated Circular Lights
  • Suction Cup with Hook

Download Christmas Bingo PDF 1

Download Christmas Bingo PDF 2

Download Christmas Bingo PDF 3

Download Christmas Bingo PDF 4

Download Christmas Bingo PDF 5

Download Christmas Bingo PDF 6

Directions for a Cocoa on the Go Station

1. Add cocoa and marshmallows to glass bottles.

2. Add to caddy.

3. Add paper straws.

4. Personalize tumblers with holiday foam stickers.

5. Bring the hot water in a thermos and enjoy cocoa on the road.

Directions for Christmas Song Bingo

1. Print off Christmas Song Bingo cards.

2. OPTIONAL: Laminate cards.

3. Make little candy goody bags for the winners.

4. Use stickers to mark off squares.

Directions for Santa's Family Finder

1. Add mini light onto ornament. Drill hole into center of ornament if you need the light to pop into place, and adhere with hot glue.

2. Add suction cup to the inside of car window where it does not obstruct driver’s view.

3. Turn light on.

4. Hang Santa’s Family Finder.

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Baby's First Christmas Photo Backdrop
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Baby's First Christmas Photo Backdrop

Materials

  • Cardboard Box
  • Paint
  • Paint Brush
  • Red Cardstock
  • Spray Adhesive
  • Foam Core
  • Hot Glue
  • Scissors

Directions

1. Paint box and let dry (We painted ours white).

2. Cut out rectangles from red cardstock. These will be your “bricks”.

3. Use spray adhesive to attach bricks to box.

4. Once the box is covered in bricks it’s time to add the trim!

5. To create the trim, cut a square that is slightly bigger than the top of your box. Go in 2-inches on each side of box, and cut out middle to create a square hole. Then cut 4-inch strips the size of each side and glue to edges of box to create cap. If you don’t want to go through making something like this, you can simply glue foam core around the top to create the trim!

6. Add faux snow to the top and bottom of chimney.

7. Optional: Hang a blanket as a backdrop and fill a Santa bag with toys for an extra prop!

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Santa Suitcase
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Santa Suitcase
DIY Santa Suitcase
Level:
Intermediate
How-To:
Home Decor
Seasonal Event:
Christmas

Materials for Santa Suitcase

  • Suitcase
  • Labels
  • Spray Adhesive
  • Scissors

Materials for Santa Boot-Prints

  • Santa Boot Label
  • Scissors
  • Tape

Materials for Santa Sign

  • Arrow labels
  • Foam Core
  • X-Acto Knife
  • Spray Adhesive
  • Dowel
  • Small Bucket
  • Styrofoam Ball
  • Mounting Tape
  • White Felt

Materials for To-Go Containers (Santa/Reindeer)

  • Chips/Cookie Tin or Mason Jar
  • Paper
  • Markers
  • Cookies/Reindeer Food

Download Santa Suitcase PDF
Directions for Suitcase

  1. Print and cut out labels (or make your own!)
  2. Glue labels onto suitcase with spray adhesive

Optional: Paint suitcase white, giving your kids a “blank canvas” to create any design they want on the suitcase

Directions for Santa Boot-Prints

  1. Print out boot-print label
  2. Cut out
  3. Place boot-prints on the floor starting at the chimney, leading Santa to the sign
  4. To secure boot-prints to the floor, use tape

Directions for Santa Sign

  1. Print out arrows and use spray adhesive to attach to foam core
  2. Cut out arrows using an X-Acto Knife
  3. Use mounting tape to attach arrows to dowel
  4. Place Styrofoam ball in small bucket
  5. Place dowel in Styrofoam ball
  6. Cover ball with white felt to look like snow

Directions for To-Go Boxes

  1. Use a cookie/chips tin for the jar
  2. Wrap tin with colorful paper
  3. Write a label on paper that read “Santa’s Cookies To-Go” or “Reindeer Food” and tie to the jar
  4. Tip: You can also use mason jars if you don’t want to use tins
  5. For the reindeer food you can use: Oats, Sprinkles, Edible Glitter (Optional)

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DIY Holiday Poppers
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DIY Holiday Poppers

Materials for DIY Holiday Poppers

  • Tiny gifts
  • Crepe Paper Streamers (Tan and White)
  • Cardstock (Brown, White, Red, Black & Orange)
  • Scissors
  • Hole Puncher
  • Red Pom Pom’s
  • Glue
  • Tape
  • Faux Snow
  • Twigs
DIY Holiday Poppers - Home & Family

DIRECTIONS FOR REINDEER POPPER:
1. Take the tiny gift and start wrapping it with the tan crepe paper streamers.
2. Once you have completely covered the toy, start to wrap it in a sphere shape.
3. Once you have created the desired shape, take a piece of tape and secure it in place. To create the Reindeers features, you’re going to want to have brown, tan & black cardstock and a red pom pom.
4. On the brown cardstock draw the shape of an antler.
5. Cut out and use the shape to trace and cut a second, matching antler.

Tip: If you don’t want to free hand an antler you can always print one online and trace over it. Glue the antler in place. For ears, simply draw an ear shape on tan or white cardstock and glue in front of antlers. Next you have the eyes! All you need to do is take your hole puncher and cut out two holes from the black cardstock. Glue in place. Last but not least, add your cute little pom pom nose!

DIRECTIONS FOR SANTA POPPER:
The Santa version is made the same exact way as the reindeer version, but instead or antlers and ears you want to create a beard, eyebrows, and Santa hat using red and white cardstock. And don’t forget the eyes and nose which you create with the hole puncher.

DIRECTIONS FOR SNOWMAN POPPER:
1. To create the head of the snowman, wrap the tiny gift in a sphere shape just like you did before.
2. For the bottom of the snowman, repeat the above step but making the sphere slightly larger. Next, apply a layer of glue onto each sphere and roll the snowballs in faux snow. Let dry. Repeat if needed.
3. Once they are dry glue the small snowball onto the larger one.
4. To create the hat cut a small rectangle into cardstock. Roll it up into a cylinder and glue in place.
5. Then cut out a circle for the brim of the hat and a circle for the top. Glue to cylinder and add on snowman’s head.
6. For nose, cut a small circle into orange cardstock. Cut out about 1/4th of the circle and roll it into a cone shape. Attach with glue.
7, Last but not least add some arms using twigs you have laying outside!

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DIY Holiday Baskets
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DIY Holiday Baskets

Materials for Elf Basket

  • Basket
  • Green Paint
  • Paint brush
  • Green glitter spray
  • Hot Glue
  • Glue sticks
  • Red fabric or Felt
  • Gold jingle bells
  • Optional: Thread and needle

Materials for Santa Basket

  • Basket
  • Red Paint
  • Paint brush
  • Red glitter spray
  • Black scrapbook paper or felt
  • Hot Glue
  • Glue sticks
  • Fur
  • Scissors
  • Gold embellishment for belt buckle

Materials for Snowman Basket

  • Basket
  • White Paint
  • Paint brush
  • White glitter spray
  • Hot Glue
  • Glue sticks
  • Plaid fabric
  • Large black buttons
  • Scissors

Directions for Elf Basket

1. Paint basket green. Make sure to paint the interior of the basket too.
2. Add green glitter with glitter spray
3. Let dry
4. Cut triangle shape trim from fabric or felt
5. Use hot glue and glue around the top of the basket
6. Glue or sew gold bells to the bottom of every triangle tip
7. Fill with flowers, treats, or presents
8. Enjoy!

Directions for Santa Basket

1. Paint basket red. Make sure to paint the interior of the basket too.
2. Add glitter with red glitter spray
3. Let dry
4. Cut and glue fur trim around the top of the basket
5. Using black scrapbook paper or felt, cut out a belt
6. Wrap around middle of the basket and secure with glue
7, Add gold embellishment for belt buckle
8, Fill with flowers, treats, or presents
9. Enjoy!

Directions for Snowman Basket

1. Paint basket white. Make sure to paint the interior of the basket too.
2. Add glitter with white glitter spray
3. Let dry
4. Measure and cut plaid fabric as snowman’s scarf
5. Wrap around the top of the basket and secure with glue
6. Add buttons down the center of the basket (2-3 depending on your basket size)
7. Fill with flowers, treats, or presents
8. Enjoy!

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DIY Christmas Door Hangs
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DIY Christmas Door Hangs

Materials

  • Fabric scissors
  • Wire cutters
  • Bendable rope wire in green (or any color of your choosing)
  • Red satin ribbon
  • Over the door wreath hanging hooks, small
  • Hot glue and glue gun
  • OPTIONAL: Christmas crafts embellishments such as greenery, holly, berries, felt, etc.
  • OPTIONAL: Printer and paper to print letters
DIY Christmas Door Hang - Home & Family

Directions

1. Measure the size of the door you will be using to hang it on.
2. Pick your holiday wishes… “Ho Ho Ho” “Fa La La.” Or whatever you prefer
3. Take your wired rope and start shaping it into letters. You can do this free-hand, or you can print out letters in a font that you like and use that as a template. Since you will want your words to stick together, use a script/cursive font. You can use hot glue to hold the cursive in shape.
4. Take your ribbon and run it through any part of the word that will hold up your letters. It’s best to take the ribbon all the way around the letter and back up (so it will be doubled).
5. Hang your over-the-door hook (use as many as you would like to hold up your sign) and tie the ribbon at the top or hot glue it with no ribbon.
6. Adjust as necessary.
7. This is where you can use your embellishments to create a fun look above your letters. I am making cute little Santa’s belts by taking craft paper over the ribbon to make a belt buckle.
8. Finish your embellishments and enjoy!

TIPS:
· Print out letters in a font that you like and use that as a template if you don’t feel comfortable free-handing. Even if you feel comfortable, you may want to use a template to make sure your repeating words/letters look the same.

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DIY Christmas Hair Bows
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DIY Christmas Hair Bows

Materials

  • Ribbon
  • Hot Glue
  • Felt
  • Fray block
  • Black puffy paint
  • Alligator clips
  • Barrette
DIY Christmas Hair Bow - Home & Family

SNOWMAN INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Cut 4- 5-inch strips of thin white ribbon.
2. Cut 4- 6-inch strips of thin white ribbon.
3. Connect the two ends by gluing them together with hot glue.
4. Place a dot of hot glue in the center of the loop and connect the other end so that two loops are created on the sides.
5. Repeat with all of the cut pieces of ribbon.
6. Glue the centers of the 5-inch strips together to create a snowflake shape.
7. Repeat with the 6-inch strips.
8. Connect the two “snowflake” shapes together.
9. Create a hat shape with a black piece of felt.
10. Create long triangle shape with orange felt to be the nose.
11. Glue the hat and nose onto the snowman.
12. Use the puffy paint to make dots for the eyes.
13. Attach the shape to a barrette or alligator clip using hot glue.

HOLLY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Cut a piece of felt into a rectangle shape.
2. Add a dot of hot glue in the center and pinch the center together to create a “bow” shape.
3. Cut two pieces of green felt out to create a “holly leaf” shape.
4. Cut two strips of red felt into ¼ inch strips, about 5 inches long to create the “berries”.
5. Tightly roll the felt to create a circle and secure with hot glue.
6. Glue the “holly leaves” and the “berries” to the center of the felt bow.
7. Attach the bow to a barrette or alligator clip with hot glue.

SANTA/ELF INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Cut a long strip of thick, wired ribbon.
2. Tie into a bow, keeping with “legs” of the shape long.
3. Cut two pieces of black felt into “boot” shapes the width of the ribbon.
4. Attach the “boots” with hot glue.
5. Attach a square of sparkly scrapbook paper to the center of the bow as the “belt buckle”.
6. Add furry fabric or cotton on top of the boots for detail; optional.

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DIY Paper Snowflakes
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DIY Paper Snowflakes
DIY Paper Snowflakes
Level:
Easy
How-To:
Home Decor
Seasonal Event:
Christmas

Materials:

  • Butcher paper (for large snowflakes)
  • Printer paper
  • High quality scissors

Optional:

  • Twine or fishing line
  • Hot glue gun or glue sticks

Instructions:

  1. Create a perfect square with your paper.
  2. Fold on the diagonal to create a triangle.
  3. Fold that triangle in half.
  4. Then, fold that triangle in half.
  5. Fold the longest open side of your triangle to the closed edge of your triangle and crease.
  6. Trim any excess material at the top to create a triangle.
  7. The triangle should now have one closed side, you want this to remain intact.
  8. You can draw a 1/4” border from the edge to ensure its intact if desired. *
  9. Draw your design onto your paper and cut!
  10. Unfold to reveal your snowflake.
  11. Use as décor!

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DIY Holiday Stone Decor
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DIY Holiday Stone Decor

Materials

  • Acrylic paint for the fence
  • Paint Pens
  • Tongue Depressors
  • Paintable Stones
  • Birch Branches (available online)
  • Hot glue
  • Scissors
  • 6" x 6" square frame (Discard glass)

Instructions:

1. Lay out your design on foam within the dimensions of the matte.


2. Paint the fence with acrylic paint.


3. Glue fence onto foam core.


4. Paint faces of stones.


5. Add noses.


6. Glue down flat stones.


7. Add branches.

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DIY Pop Up Xmas Trees
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DIY Pop Up Xmas Trees

Materials

  • Tomato cage
  • Honeycomb Tissue Paper Balls (assorted colors)
  • Decorative Balls (make sure these are in a different material than the honeycomb tissue paper balls ie. Glitter, gold, silver, etc.)
  • Scissors
  • Hot Glue Gun/Glue
  • Decorative Star
  • Rubber Band
  • Wire

Instructions:

1. Set up tomato cage upside down. Bring the legs of the cage together and tie with a rubber band. (Note: because you have the cage upside down, the legs will be on top)

2. Follow the directions on your honeycomb tissue paper balls to assemble.

3. Cut the string loop attached the honeycomb balls in half, and use it to tie the balls to the cage.

4. Continue to attach the honeycomb balls to the cage, filling as much as you can. (Note: Use large sized honeycomb balls until you are halfway up the tree. This will help fill it out much more easily.)

5. Once you can’t attach anymore honeycomb balls by tying, take the small honeycomb balls and attach to fill in small spaces with hot glue.

6. Wherever you have remaining open space, attach decorative balls with wire. The different materials will create a “pop” effect and really bring the tree to life.

7. Top with a star tree topper.

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DIY Village Advent Calendar
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DIY Village Advent Calendar

Materials

  • Foam Core
  • ½ in. Balsa wood
  • ¼ Balsa wood
  • Corrugated cardboard
  • Craft Paper (for concrete)
  • Pencil
  • Hot Glue
  • X-acto Knife
  • Spray Paint
  • Craft Paint
  • Krylon Glitter Blast (Spray Glitter)
  • Glitter/Mod podge
  • Foam Sealant (Daptex Plus worked well for us)

Optional Decoration Materials

  • Mini Christmas Trees
  • Mini Garlands
  • Miniature Bows
  • Mini Ornament Decorations/Beads
  • Mini Christmas Lights
  • Glitter Pipe Cleaners
  • Popsicle Sticks/Mini Picket Fence
  • Straws
  • Assortment of Craft Wood Shapes

Instructions:

*The fun is creating your own perfect houses for your advent calendar, but here are the steps that we took for ours!

1. Create two rectangular shapes with a pointed triangular top to the height that you desire. (This is for the front and the back.)

2. Create two more rectangles for the sides of your house. It works best if the height of this reaches to the base of the triangular portion of the last two.

3. Draw with the pencil where you would like your windows and doors to go onto the front piece of the house.

4. Use the x-acto blade to cut three sides of these shapes all the way through.

5. Turn this front foam core piece over and lightly score the last side of your shape. (Do not cut all the way through!) This creates the hinge of your door/window.

6. Using scrap pieces of foam core, glue together a 5 sided box shape to glue onto the back of your window/doors. This gives the ornament a place to sit inside of the advent calendar. Repeat this for every door and window.

7. Assemble all four sides of your house using hot glue.

8. Spray paint the house to your desired color. You can sprinkle on glitter while it’s drying for extra Christmas fun!

9. Spray paint balsa wood to desired color and cut to the length of your house. This will be the trim around the edge. Cut more pieces to fit different sides of the trim.

10. Cut window frames out of the balsa wood, but be careful not to overlap too much on the window so that you can’t open it.

11. Take two pieces of the corrugated cardboard and paint them to your desired color.

12. Flip these over upside down and lay tape down across the seam.

13. Flip the corrugated cardboard back over and lay it on the roof of your house. Hot glue into place.

14. Cut out a piece of foam core that is larger than the base of your house. This will be where it “sits.”

15. We cut a piece of craft paper to create a sidewalk in front of the house.

16. Use Foam Sealant in a can to create a realistic snow look around the house

17. Sprinkle your homes with glitter for more Christmas fun

Decoration Ideas:
-Create a chimney out of extra foam core.

-Decorate mini Christmas Trees with beads or tiny ornaments and place around the front of the house.

-Use pipe cleaner, mini garland, and mini wreaths to add Christmas decorations to your home.

-Craft stores sell really adorable mini figurines like bikes and wagons to add to your house!

-Create a picket fence out of cut up popsicles sticks painted white.

Protea Christmas Angels
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Protea Christmas Angels

Materials

  • Protea plant - leaves removed, stem retained (up to 4 inches depending on doll size)
  • Seed pod or walnut shell
  • Dried flowers
  • Dried leaves (for wings)
  • Dried "leucospermum"
  • Ribbon
  • Embellishments
  • Hot glue
  • Paint
Protea Christmas Angels - Home & Family

Instructions:

FOR THE DOLL BODY:
1. Bottom: the skirt is made from a protea plant with the leaves removed and stem left intact (up to 3 or 4 inches depending on the size of your doll.


2. Bodice: the vest is made from a seed pod that has been painted. You can use walnut shells or any seed shell that is the size you want.


3. Head: this is made in 3 parts: the head base is the flower, “leucospermum” (also from the proteas class). The face is made from an oval cut from the protea leaves and painted; the hair or crown is made from dried flowers.


4. All elements are hot glued to body.

FOR THE WINGS:
1. Glue prepared (dried/pressed) leaves to a sheet of translucent vellum.


2. Trim around leaf leaving a little vellum exposed (to prevent chipping).


3. Apply matte modpodge.


4. Swap.


5. Add pressed flowers, crystal or other embellishments.


6. Hot glue to angel body

FOR THE BASE:
1. Styrofoam “candlestick” base.


2. Add moss.


3. Insert a stem for supporting the angel (hot glue body to stem).

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Shirley Bovshow's Tips on Keeping Your Christmas Tree Fresh
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Shirley Bovshow's Tips on Keeping Your Christmas Tree Fresh

What Does A Professional Gardener Do To His/Her Christmas Tree To Keep It Fresh?
• One of the best kept secrets of the pros is to spray your tree with an "anti-transpirant" compound like " Wilt-Pruf."

• An anti-transpirant is a compound that seals the surface of the needles so that water can’t escape through it. It can help your trees stay fresh for an extra 3-4 weeks! • Wilt-Pruf is commonly used on landscape plants like Rhodedendrons and Azeleas to protect them from cold and hot drying winds throughout the year but it can also be used for Christmas trees too! Look at how I sprayed the tree earlier today…

  1. How Do We Know We're Picking The Best Tree For Sale? Look at your tree. It should be dark and not look anemic, like it’s losing color.
  2. Shake the tree to check for excessive needle drop.
  • Another test: take a branch between your thumb and forefinger and slide down. If needles break off easily, pass on it.

Any Special Trunk Preparation Before Putting Tree In Its Stand?
• Cut 1 inch from the bottom of the trunk to open a fresh surface area for water to be drawn in from. You do this because there’s "resin" on the bottom of trunk that covers the base and makes it hard for it to absorb water.
• Also, score the bottom of the trunk with a sharp knife to create holes for water to be absorbed easier. The Christmas tree lot will usually do this for you. • Place your tree in water within an hour of cutting the bottom to keep resin from sealing the area. Are There Ways To Prevent Trees From Drying Up At Home?
• Keep trees at least 3 feet away from major sources of heat (fireplaces, heaters, heat vents, direct sunlight).
• Use LED lights which don’t produce as much heat as regular Christmas lights. • Don't forget to water your tree! How Often Should We Water The Tree?

Shirley Bovshow's Christmas Tree Tips

• A 6 foot tree needs at least one gallon of water/day. Larger trees more. • I’ve created a "pain-free" watering device, you don't have to kneel down or get dirty under tree. It's just a 3-foot long PVC pipe with a funnel on top and taped together with red tape. So it looks like a candy cane!

For more with Shirley Bovshow, visit EdenMakers.com and follow her on Twitter @EdenMaker.

DIY Succulent Christmas Trees
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DIY Succulent Christmas Trees

Materials

  • Tomato cage
  • Chicken wire
  • Sphagnum moss
  • Pliers
  • Zip ties
  • Succulents

Directions

1. Start with a tomato cage and wrap it in chicken wire, leaving the base open for now.

2. Turn the “cone” upside down, so that the pointed end is pointing downward.

3. Line the inside of the cone with moss.

4. Top the cone off with the final side of chicken wire, securing it with zip ties.

5. Flip the entire tree over so the base sits flat on its surface.

6. Plant your succulents within the moss. If the root ball is too big for the hole, snip a bigger
hole through the chicken wire.

7. Water it by hosing it down once a week or when moss dries out.

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DIY Winter Wonder Lantern
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DIY Winter Wonder Lantern

Materials

  • Various sizes of Lanterns (I had 12 lanterns on my 9’ tree. Hallmark has a lot of cute options!)
  • Keepsake ornaments- Flat bottomed ornaments work best
  • LED battery powered light string
  • Bottle brush trees
  • Snow batting
  • Plastic faux snow
  • Sheet Styrofoam - (Buy or reuse some that comes in some shipping boxes!)
  • Chunky white glitter
  • Small hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • Green floral wire
  • Wire cutters
  • Scissors
  • Long nose pliers or tweezers
  • Popsicle stick
DIY Winter Wonder Lantern - Home & Family

Instructions:
1. Select your lantern and decide where you want it on your tree. Make an opening for it in the tree and decide what you will anchor it to later.


2. Select your ornament or ornaments. Tip: Flat bottom ornaments work best.


3. Select your light string. Decide how you want to put your lights into your lantern. I sit the battery pack on the bottom, so I can get to it to change batteries or remove them at the end of the season. I like to string the lights up into the top of the lantern and I use hot glue to do that. Unless the top is made of pierced metal design and I can wrap the lights into that. You can also keep the lights under the snow batting, and they will show through the snow. Sometimes on small lanterns there is no room for added lights, so I just let it be lit by the tree lights.


4. Now cut a piece of Styrofoam to fit on top of the battery pack. Hold it up to their lantern to try to measure. I use small pieces beside the battery pack to glue to, so I can still remove the battery pack. Glue Styrofoam into place.


5. Now cut a piece of snow batting. Use the lantern as a pattern, sit the lantern on top of a layer of batting and cut around the lantern. This will ensure that the piece is big enough to cover the Styrofoam and the battery pack.


6. Place your snow batting into your lantern and get it where you want it. Then hot glue it to the Styrofoam. Use your popsicle stick to tuck the batting in around the Styrofoam.


7. Now the fun part! Pick which bottle brush trees you want to use and try to plan your scene. You can place your ornament in and see what you want to put around it! I wanted my lantern to look like the truck was driving through a forest. So I place a line of them across the back.


8. Pull your ornament back out and place your trees where you want them, if you want this to me a permanent display you can hot glue them into place. If not just poke them through the batting and foam.


9. Now you can place your ornament back in the lantern where you want it. You can even add more trees if you want!


10. Then I like to sprinkle the scene with the faux snow and a little bit of glitter for that magical touch!


11. Now that your lantern is complete, we can place it into your tree! Tip: Be sure as you are adding lanterns to your tree, you put them on all sides, not just on one side or you might have your tree tip over on you! Use your green floral wire and wire cutters to attach your lantern to your tree.

12. Now turn on your lights and see what a magical winter wonderland you have created!!

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DIY Christmas Bath Fizzies
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DIY Christmas Bath Fizzies
DIY Christmas Bath Fizzies
Level:
Advanced
How-To:
Beauty
Seasonal Event:
Christmas

Materials

  • About 13 Bath Bomb Mold & Packages
  • 32 oz. Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
  • 16 oz. Citric Acid
  • 1 oz. Lingonberry Seed Oil
  • 0.5 oz. Polysorbate 80
  • 9 mL Lingonberry Spice Fragrance Oil
  • Red Mica
  • Evergreen Mica
  • Super Pearly White Mica
  • 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
  • Witch Hazel in a Spray Bottle

Instructions:

Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour
These bath bombs are made with skin-loving lingonberry seed oil and Lingonberry Spice Fragrance Oil.
Author: Bramble Berry
Serves: About 13 bath bombs

  1. In a large container, mix together 32 ounces of baking soda and 16 ounces of citric acid. To get rid of clumps, you can push the powder through a sifter or break them up with your fingers. Citric acid has a tendency to take off nail polish, so wear gloves to protect your manicure. Thoroughly stir the ingredients together.
  2. Add 1 ounce of lingonberry seed oil, 0.5 ounces of polysorbate 80, and 9 mL of Lingonberry Spice Fragrance Oil to the powder.
  3. Use your hands to thoroughly mix in the wet ingredients.
  4. Test the consistency of the bath bomb mixture. The perfect consistency for molding is similar to wet sand and holds its shape when squeezed. If it’s too dry, use one hand to spritz the mixture with witch hazel and one to mix. Continue spritzing until the mixture holds its shape when squeezed.
  5. Fill the two halves of the molds, gently pressing the bath bomb mixture in each so they hold their shape. Mound a little extra in the center of each half of the molds. Wipe away any mixture in the seams of the mold, match the eyelets of each side up, and press together. Make sure to direct pressure to the edges of the mold rather than the center. Continue filling up the bath bomb molds until the mixture is gone.
  6. Allow the bath bombs to harden in the mold for at least 24 hours. Remove the bath bomb from the mold to ensure it’s completely hard. Before painting the bath bomb, you want to make sure it’s fairly durable.
  7. In three small separate containers, mix about ½ teaspoon of Red Mica, ½ teaspoon of Evergreen Mica, and ½ teaspoon of Super Pearly White Mica with about ½ tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol. Mix thoroughly until smooth. The consistency of the mica paint is up to you. If you want a more saturated color, add a touch more mica. If you want a thinner, less saturated mixture, add more 99% isopropyl alcohol. Test the consistency on a paper towel or piece of paper.
  8. Using a small paint brush, create three circles in the center of the bath bomb using the Red Mica mixture.
  9. Using a small paint brush, paint a leaf using the Evergreen Mica mixture.
  10. Finally, use a small paint brush to add small dots on the berries and lines on the leaves. This step really makes the design pop.
  11. Continue painting until all the bath bombs are decorated. Allow the bath bombs to fully dry. When you’re ready to use, drop them into a hot bath and enjoy. If you’re giving them as gifts, place them back into their mold – it doubles as packaging!

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Giant Christmas Stars
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Giant Christmas Stars

Materials for the Popsicle Stick Star

  • Large popsicle sticks
  • Hot glue or wood glue
  • Greenery (real or fake will work)
  • Christmas lights/wired twinkle lights

Materials for the Dowel Star

  • Dowels
  • Zip ties
  • Real or fake Greenery; optional
  • Christmas lights/twinkle lights

Instructions:

FOR THE POPSICLE STAR
1. Make a cross with two of the sticks and attach them with glue at the center.


2. Add to more in an “x” to make the sticks to look like a star.


3. there will be 8 points at the end of the star, use two sticks to make a triangle shape to connect to two of the points with hot glue.


4. Cover with greenery, attaching it with hot glue.


5. Add Christmas lights/wires lights by wrapping it around the popsicle sticks

FOR THE DOWEL STAR
1. Create a star shape with the dowels.


2. At the areas with the dowels connect, secure them together with zip ties.


3. Wrap with greenery if desired.


4. Wrap with Christmas lights/wired lights.

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