Christmas 2013

 

Christmas Crafting

Nothing says "happy holidays" quite like glitter and pinecones! To thank everyone for their continued to support for And Topher Too I wanted to share a few Christmas craft projects that I did this year. Enjoy!

How to make

Snowy Pine Cone Ornaments

• Gather newly fallen pine cones. (Be sure they are not crushed or too fragile.)

• Spray with High Performance Enamel white spray paint. 

• Once dry screw in tiny hook eyes. Thread with a 7 inch length of .125" satin ribbon. Tie ribbon into loop.

• Paint the the bottom of the pinecone (around the hook eye) with opaque white gesso. While wet sprinkle gesso with glitter. (For this project I used a chunky glitter that I think resembles snowflakes.) Repeat this step for the tips/sides of the pinecone. Hang to dry (I balanced a chop stick on pint glasses and dangled the ornaments from there).

• Finish your snowy pinecone ornament with a bow (wait until the gesso is completely dry). I used a lot of different bows on mine: black satin, red grosgrain, green grosgrain. Some of the ornaments were personalized with "2013" or an initial; for that I used the Martha Stewart glitter glue. To permanently attach the bow in front of the hook eye use hot glue.

How to make

Retro Tinsel Stars

• Purchase paper mache stars. These are from Michaels Craft & Hobby store but you can also buy them online.
• Prime with opaque white gesso. 
• Once dry paint stars with metallic silver acrylic paint. Let dry overnight.
• Working in sections, coat the star in clear PVA glue then sprinkle your preferred glitter over glue. Using your finger tip lightly pat the glitter into the glue. PVA dries fast so don't make your sections too big! I used Martha Stewart "tinsel" glitter.
• To personalize each ornament I added a black velvet chipboard letter. The ones shown here are from the Anna Griffin Darcey collection. Hot gluing the letter to the center of the ornament was a little tricky; be sure to think through how the letter's individual shape will sit on the convex point of the star's belly. 
• Once the letter is securely in place add the ribbon. Tie an 8 inch length of 1" ribbon into a pretty knot. Tuck knot between letter and ornament and hot glue into place.