Christmas Crafts I just love Christmas for it allows me to create some of my best craft projects...the spirit arrives and takes my creative side away. I have added a few craft ideas for your enjoyment...I hope each of your creations become beautiful masterpieces of your soul.

You will need: Lightweight cardboard Brown paper bag Polyfill Man's black sock White acrylic paint Craft glue Hot glue Buttons for the belly Small beads, embossing powder or black felt pen Ribbon or strip of fabric Pin backing Draw two circles on the cardboard to make your pattern, about 2 inches for bottom and 1 inches for head. Fold brown bag in half, trace snowman, and cut out two pieces at same time. Paint with two or more coats of white paint. Make a small slit in the center of back bottom (this will be used to stuff a little poly fill in after glue is dry). Glue together around outer edge. Hot glue two buttons on belly. Put two dots for eyes and five dots for mouth. Use embossing powder for mine but if you have small beads that would look great. The hat is made with a man's black sock. Cut a strip from top about 1 1/2 inches x 3 inches and hot glue around top of head. Tie ribbon or a strip of fabric around hat and neck. Hot glue a pin on back. Add some glitter highlights for a little more sparkle.

Melted Snowmen Take a rock - any rock - preferably a slightly round rock, and paint it white. Paint on a snowman face, happy or sad. Add a little black hat made out of felt and two thin sticks for arms and you have a melting snowman. Looks great if you have a bunch of them together in all sizes. Snowman Poop: Put tiny marshmallows or white packing "peanuts" into a plastic bag, accompanied by this poem: Santa checked his list not once, but twice. He found you've been naughty not nice. Since coal is so expensive, Here's the scoop. He's filled your stocking with Snowman poop!!! Reindeer Poop: Basically the same idea as above, but use chocolate covered raisins, plain raisins, malted milk balls, etc. Use the same poem as above, just change Snowman to Reindeer. We take a carton of whoppers and cut a u-shaped door in the lower back side of the carton and put a pom-pom on the door (so it looks like a tail). We cut antlers out of brown felt and glued a large brown pom-pom for a head to the antlers. Then added a small black or red pom-pom for the nose. You can also add a ribbon to the antlers for a girl reindeer or a bow beneath the head for a boy reindeer. Then we add the "poop" poem to it Coal: Either use real coal, painted rocks, or if you can find some of the gum that looks like coal. Give with this poem: I heard you have been naughty not nice, And Santa even checked his list twice. So all the way from the cold North Pole all you're getting is a bag of coal. Magic Reindeer Food: Use a mixture of any of these: oatmeal, bird seed, rice crispies, plus a little bit of colored crystal sugar. Place the mixture in plastic bags and give with these instructions: Make a wish and close your eyes tight, Then sprinkle on your lawn at night. As Santa's reindeer fly & roam This food will guide them to your home. For your gift to the reindeer and Rudolph too Your wish may be real, your dreams may come true. Angel Dust: Put large iridescent glitter (also called buffalo snow at Michael's) in a small zip lock bag with the poem below and use a small angel rubber stamp for an accent with the poem. Within this little bag Placed with loving care, Is special angel dust My Guardian placed there. It is to share with special friends When they're down or feeling blue, To lift their heart and share a smile As special friends should do. BABY FOOD JAR GIFTS: Fill a baby food jar with water, some small pieces of black coal, and a small carrot. Label: Melted Snowman Place some dry beans in a baby food jar with a little pig sitting on top of the beans and write on top of the lid Pork N' Beans. Fill a baby food jar with dried beans and print 100% Natural Bubble Bath Directions: Cook and injest at least one hour before bathing. Fill a baby food jar with cheerios and print "Donut Seeds". Or use frosted cheerios and have it say "Powdered Donut Holes". Chocolate kiss rose-buds Get the kisses that come wrapped in red foil at Valentine's Day... They come in a package mixed silver wrapped and red wrapped. Put a silver and a red kiss base to base. Center a piece of clear plastic wrap over the tip of the red one and stretch it tight down over the kisses, gathering it at the tip of the silver kiss. Take a twelve inch piece of florist wire and twist the end around the plastic wrap to secure it. Wind with green floral tape, beginning at the twisted wire, wrap up and around silver kiss then spiral back down covering wire stem and tucking in artificial rose leaves about an inch below the bud and one or two more spaced further down the stem. Continue wrapping stem wire until the entire length is covered.

Tootsie Pop Christmas Bouquet For each bloom you will need 1 Tootsie Pop 4 peppermint candies in wrappers Thin wire 4 - 12" lengths of chenille (pipe cleaners) Attach the peppermint candies to the tootsie pop by wrapping wire around one end of the candy wrappers. (Pull tight using needlenose pliers.) Coil each strip of chenille tightly, leaving the bottom half straight. Hold tightly against the peppermint candies and wrap the straight end around and around the tootsie pop stick. As you wrap each chenille, try to fill in the spaces, so the tootsie pop stick doesn't show through. You can make 10-15 of these blossoms and stick the ends into a styrofoam ball, inserted into a clay pot or include them in a Christmas gift basket.

You will need: Several cardboard tubes (toilet paper rolls or paper towel tubes) An old cardboard box, shoebox, cereal box or just a sheet of cardboard backing Several sheets of newspaper Red and green paint Paint brush or sponge brush Red 1/4" pom poms Thick craft glue Stapler Pencil and scissors Two plastic lids to trace circles, one big and one small OR Compass Cut a strip up the middle of the cardboard tube, lengthwise. Then cut 1" strips crosswise. Paint the front and back of the strips green. When the paint is dry, staple the ends of the strips together to make the loops. Cut a 6" ring with a 3" diameter opening from the cardboard box. Cut small pieces of newspaper, about 2" x 1 1/2". Staple them to the outside edges of the ring. Paint both sides of the ring and newspaper green. When the paint is dry, "fringe" the newspaper, cutting from the outside edge to the inside. If you want, you can curl the edges by wrapping them around a pencil and holding for a minute. Glue the loops to the inside of the ring, like in the picture. Glue on pom poms. You can make a bow for your wreath out of a brown paper bag or newspaper. First, cut a strip of paper about 6" long and 2" wide. Paint both sides red. Staple the ends together to make a big loop. Then press the ends together with the other side of the loop to make an "8". Staple once in the middle. Cut another small strip of the bag or newspaper about 2" long and 1" wide. Paint it green or white. Wrap it around the middle of your bow and glue the ends at the back. Then glue it onto your wreath.

You will need: 7 CD's Hot glue and white craft glue Christmas florals, scraps from other projects, ribbon, etc. Acrylic paint - red, green, gold (optional) Use one of the CD's for the center of your wreath. Glue the other CD's around the edge, overlapping slightly. I used a combination of white glue and hot glue. If you prefer, you could use any circular form, made of wire or flat cardboard even. Paint a design on the CD's if you like. The large wreath here was painted with red around the outer rims of each CD, gold around the inner rims, and a squiggle of green in each center. The acrylic paint goes on rather thin, so I used two coats in some places. It might have worked better to use oil paint. Just about anything can be used to decorate your wreath. Use things that are colorful, sparkle, or just things that please your eye. All the things on this wreath were scrips and scraps from other projects - bits of ribbon, pine cones, coiled red chenille... I never throw anything away.

Aunt Annie's

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