Vintage Doily Window Ornaments: Part 2

A few days ago I posted on how to snowflake window ornaments from crocheted doilies. Here are a few of the finished results. My granddaughter, Olivia, and two of her friends had a great time sprinkling the glitter on the doilies. Of course, the island counter in the kitchen was one sticky mess.

A spray adhesive was used to apply the glitter. The technique was more like spray, sprinkle and shake. The excess glitter was collected off the craft trays for a future project.

My personal taste leaned more toward white sparkle and iridescent shred glitters, but the girls were all about pink and purple. No matter the color of glitter used, they were all beautiful. Each of the girls took home two snowflake doilies to hang in the bedroom window.

Picture Frame Christmas Decor

This easy holiday decor was made from a thrift store picture frame, minus the cracked glass, and and miscellaneous ornaments. Ribbon remnants were used to string the ornaments to the back of the frame. For ease, I used a general purpose staple gun to hold the ribbon-strung ornaments to the back-side of the frame.

The original color of the frame was silver, but I painted it red and then sanded areas of the frame to allow the under-layer of silver to show through.

This holiday frame has so many possibilities. You can hang on the wall or place on a shelf unit. A over the door hanger is another option (the kind you use to hang a door wreath).

The glass could have left in the frame and a window rub-off applique applied beneath the Christmas bulbs, i.e., Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas.

An affordable handmade gift for the holidays.

Christmas Elves: Wild Night on the Trapeze

Those darn elves found empty cardboard rolls and constructed a trapeze and net while the grandkids were sleeping.

My little buddy, loves waking up to see what the elves have done. I am going to miss all this mayhem when the grandkids outgrow their elves. I already have one elf who is retiring this year.

Vintage Doily Snowflakes

I am always in search of new craft ideas to do with the grandkids. Last night we mixed glue and water to make a DIY fabric stiffener for these doilies that will be used to hang in windows for the holidays.

My five-year old grandson got a bit carried away with the dipping process and we may have to let his doilies dry for another night.

Tonight, we will be using glitter spray on the snowflake doilies and then hanging them from the sliding glass doors using suction cup holders. The kids are excited and I will post the final glittered snowflakes tomorrow.

Hobby Lobby sells doilies in 12-packs at a reasonable price, or check out Ebay. Here is what you will need for this project.

• 50:50 ration of white glue to water. Mix well in an large mixing bowl until the consistency of milk.
• Cloth doilies
• Plastic garbage bag for laying out the doilies after they are immersed in the stiffener
• Spray glitter product (or you can spray the dried doilies with adhesive glue spray and sprinkle with glitter
• Suction cup window hangers
• Invisible thread for hanging the snowflakes

Submerge each doily into the glue mixture until fully saturated. Gently squeeze away any excess liquid and lay the doily flat on the plastic garbage bag.









Allow the doilies to air dry overnight. If they still appear to be damp, let them set out until completely stiff and there is no sign of moisture.

Gently lift the doilies from the plastic bag and flip them over to allow air to completely circulate to both the front and back sides of the fabric. You can either hang the doily snowflakes as is, or add sparkle by applying iridescent glitter to each side. (see my Part 2 post for using glitter).

The stiffened doilies also look nice inside a picture frame. Remove the frame's glass and cut and cover a piece of cardboard to fit the frame opening. Burlap material works well, or use brown Kraft paper or scrapbook paper. Hot glue the doilies in place.

Vintage Baby Shoe Photo Gift

This is one of the many holiday gifts that I am giving to family this Christmas season. I purchased two vintage baby walking shoes from a local thrift store (bells included). To give added weight to each shoe, I poured plaster Paris into a zip lock bag and tucked into the shoe. The plaster was still wet so it formed to the shape of the shoe.

Thrift store doily finds were tucked inside the shoe and hot glued in place. The photos are held in place by silver place card holders I had left over from a wedding event. A small pine and berries were seated in place with hot glue.

Decorative scrapbook punches can be used to dress up the photo backing. To add to the vintage flair, I place satin ribbon just below the shoe tongue. The doily behind the picture was Mod-Podged to make it stiff (lay it flat for 24 hours to stiffen) and then glued to the picture back.

These cute keepsake frames look adorable on a fireplace mantel or bookcase.

Magic Christmas Elf Idea: #12

Now here are some jumbo size playing cards! They measure 8 x 12 inches. As  you can see, the elves couldn't even hold them. I'm not sure if they were playing Hearts, Rummy or Euchre. The grand kids loved the over sized cards and can't wait to bring them to our family Christmas party.

And what are Freckles and Dimples doing with ties around their neck?

While the boys played cards, Giggles got a little crazy with ribbon. She had a trail of it everywhere and then decided to show-off her acrobatic skills. Didn't Santa tell her it's not nice to show your panties?

Magic Christmas Elf: Idea #11

Those dog-gone elves found a glass marker last night! The little stinkers had no shame in laying claim to their naughty deeds. In fact, I think they are enjoying being the center of attention.

The grandkids planted their magic seeds in the snow dirt the night before. As you can see, a giant candy cane sprouted up overnight.

Unfortunately, my daughter broke one of the candy canes and had to improvise. She wrote a note from one of the elves on napkins. Instead of a candy cane, the snow dirt produced candies.

The grow a candy cane idea has really caught on with fellow my elf loving friends. One person used sugar instead of the Insta-snow. It was also suggested to grow the candy canes in stages. Start with a mini one, then a traditional size, and finally a jumbo size. I thought that was pretty clever.

Magic Christmas Elf: Idea #10

Somehow the elves found the grandkids tote filled with experiment stuff. They really made a mess of the kitchen, but nearly as much mess as the kids did. They decided to play scientists after finding their elves. Dear me, I don't think I've ever seen so much Paprika on the floor or kitchen sink.

I guess even elves have to wear glasses to read. Freckles borrowed a pair of my glasses to read the experiment book left for the kids.

Not only did the kids' elves make a mess, they solicited the help of the Annabelle elves to open cupboards to find secret ingredients for the experiments.

There was salt, paprika, garlic powder, tarragon... and various other pantry goodies used to fill test tubes and bottles.

 

The kids had a blast this morning and were thrilled to put on their personalized scientist lab coats purchased earlier this year.

Magic Christmas Elf: Idea #9

Nothing like a Diet Coke Christmas tree. Those elves are so funny. I'm not so sure that mommy was happy about the ornaments taken from the decorated tree.

But, I bet mommy appreciated the elves help with gift wrapping.

Nothing like holiday entertainment while wrapping and decorating a pop can tree.

Magic Christmas Elf: Idea #8

Between being sick and the crazy holiday rush at work, I'm behind in my Christmas Elf posts. I'm trying to do some catching up this morning and apologize for multiple elf posts. I'm usually on top of the elfcapades, but not this year.

The Magic Mail Elf delivered a note to the kids the other night. It told them their elves would be leaving special gifts later that night. The grandkids discovered the note when they returned home from Awana club. They had a hard time going to sleep knowing a gift was forthcoming. In the morning, they found their elves in the shower with shampoo, conditioner, washcloths and Grinch soap.

Dimples had taken off his soccer shoes and shirt and neatly placed them on the bath mat outside the shower door.

These Santa bath towels were hanging outside the shower for each kid. They will use them this holiday when hot tubbing at NeeNee and Poppy's house. I am fairly certain they will use them to play Santa as well.

A Soaping Marathon Week

 

This last week has been a soaping marathon. We've turned out 125 soaps in a matter of days, PLUS packaged them all. This is the last batch for my grandson's third grade classroom. He picked out two scents, one for the girls (they get the red soaps) and one for the boys (green soaps). It was fun to watch him select fragrances. I had to keep reminding him that the scent wouldn't smell so strong once it was added to the soap.

I must say I've fallen in love with Mold Market's slab trays. Each slab uses 2 pounds of soap base.

The drizzled soap and sprinkled glitter (cosmetic grade) was an easy solution and the grand kids had fun with it.

Each soap is wrapped with clear plastic stretch wrap and placed in a cello bag. When my grandson saw the soaps being donated to our community Angel Tree, he said, I want my soaps to look like that.

So, the packaging is a "Grinch" theme that includes the following poem:

"Rub-a-dub-dub, there's a Grinch in your tub.

And he says lather up and wash off the grub.

Use this bar of soap to clean body & head,

Then put on pajamas and crawl into bed."

You can make 18 of these soaps for under $2 each and still plenty of leftover color for other soaping projects. Here are the supplies needed:

• (1) Mold Market #077 square slab mold
• (2) two-pound blocks of clear melt & pour soap base (reserve some of the soap to add the drizzled effect)
• Neon Bright Lime Green soap color (one-ounce size). I added a few drops of Kelly green color to deepen the shade, but this isn't necessary. You will have plenty of leftover colorant for other soaping projects.
• One-ounce fragrance of your selection. I used green apple and the red soap is a mix of lemonade and cherry. Use 3 teaspoons per 2 pounds of soap base. One ounce will scent up to four pounds of soap.
• If will need to order an additional color if you want to drizzle with a second color. I used Tomato Red. You can also order a block of white soap and melt a portion for the drizzling effect.
• Cosmetic glitter. I used Iridescent Shred.

I previously posted about this Grinch sleigh that my grandson will gift to his teacher. I will also include a copy of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas book for her to read to the classroom once the soaps are distributed to the students.

My grandson is VERRRRRY excited about his teacher and classroom gifts this Christmas. As for NeeNee, I'm done pouring soaps for the season.

Christmas Elf Countdown 2012: Idea #5

A jar of elf kisses is one way to announce your elf's arrival (or in my case, elves). Here are a few of scenarios to consider.

• Leave a trail of the elf candy kisses from the front door to the elf. Place the elf next to the jar.
• Position elves around the jar with some unwrapped kisses. Kids will enjoy picking out a chocolate treat during the Christmas countdown.
• Place the empty jar in the middle of the floor and scatter the elf kisses for the kids to find. You might want to take a count of how many kisses you have hidden. The kids can hunt for the kisses and place them in the jar.

I purchased the jar at either Hobby Lobby or Big Lots. To dress the jar, you will need ribbon, Christmas print for cap insert, gift tag and fabric.

I found a left-over bracelet from my granddaughter's birthday party (purchased at Oriental Trading) and stretched it around the jar.

There are a host of colorful Christmas kisses at this time of year. I opted to add a few 3/4" labels to bottom of some of the kisses. Thank you, Amanda at Parties To Go for the free downloadable labels.

A 3/4" punch is perfect for cutting the labels to size. Hot glue is the fastest and easiest way to apply the labels to the candies.

A soup bowl was used as the fabric template. I printed a green and white stripe pattern for the lid insert and cut to size. Hot glue a coordinating ribbon around the rim of the outer lid. Have fun with the idea and make it your own!