Tag Archives: Baubles

Dec5

Christmas Tree Decoration

Posted on December 5, 2013 by thestick81

Maybe I should rename this blog ‘101 alternate uses for Christmas Baubles’, lol. Here is something we put together this afternoon. It took about 45 minutes and stands over a meter tall. As usual, I struggled to take a photo of it, I really need to learn how to use my camera properly.

The sticks are those ornamental ones you buy from home decor shops, I think these ones actually came from The Reject Shop as around $4 a bundle. We cut them to size with secateurs and glued with hot glue, I reinforced the corners with zip ties. The stem is glued on – it is not weight bearing! Then starting at the top we glued the bead string to one side, worked out the length needed to reach the other side, cut the string, threaded on some baubles, and glued the cut end to the other side. Repeat, working your way down the tree. To create the zig zag look, the strands are 12cm/5cm apart down each side.

Once upright, I shortened each string on the baubles by just tying another knot in them. Glued on the star (came with the pack of baubles, $8 for the lot), and we are done.

What you’ll need

The tree frame

Mr8 helping glue

Glue the beads to what will be the back of the frame

Work your way down.

Christmas Tree Wall Art

Bauble Tree.

Dec5

Paper Plate Angel Garland – Christmas Craft

Posted on December 5, 2013 by thestick81

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Paper Plate Angel Garland – Christmas Craft

These are very easy to make and can be as fancy or as simple as you like.

I usually avoid glitter when doing craft. Sure it’s pretty, but after we use it, that stuff turns up all over the place for the next month. ‘The herpies of the craft world’ a friend of mine called it, I think she was right. But today I caved, because an angel needs her sparkle! Honestly, there was no template, just trial and error until I got the shape I was after. You can see the steps in the photos below. Double sided plates for the body would have made pretty dresses, but I couldn’t find any of those, so we stuck with white. Of course you could get the kids to colour them or even use a different colour glitter on the body too. But I was all glittered out after the wings alone!

Cut your plate something like this, that’s right, no pattern, trial and error was all I went by

Secure with tape or staples.

Apply a generous amount of hot glue to the bauble

Place on top of the body. Tie a ribbon around the neck once glue has dried to cover any mess.

Run some glue (we just used a glue stick) along the edges and sprinkle with glitter

Once the wings are dry, attach to the body.

Hang from a string

Christmas Angels

Paper plate craft.

Nov28

Easy DIY Christmas Table Centrepiece

Posted on November 28, 2013 by thestick81

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These were so quick and easy to make and I could not be happier with the results.

I picked up this wool a while back with nothing particular in mind, I just loved the colours. The styrofoam tree shapes are available just about anywhere at this time of year. These came from a $2 shop. However, there’s no reason you couldn’t just make a cone shape from cardboard and achieve similar results.

I tied a tight knot in one end to stop fraying, then pushed through the wool and down into the middle of the cone. Then gently began wrapping the knit around the top of the cone, before fastening again a few rows down so that it doesn’t spin off. Continue down the full length of the cone until you reach the bottom. Cut with enough room left over to tie another knot, then secure with a 3rd pin. Done!

What you need

Close up of the pre knitted wool

Pin fastening to the top, and again at the side

Fasten at the bottom

Wool Christmas Trees

Christmas Table Centrepiece.

Nov18

DIY Marble Effect Baubles, Family Christmas Craft

Posted on November 18, 2013 by thestick81

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DIY Marble Effect Baubles, Family Christmas Craft

Everyone was making all sorts of cool glass baubles last Christmas, but by the time I tried to source the actual baubles to do anything with, they were sold our or $6 each – errr, nah. But I found some in Spotlight in August this year and grabbed them so I didn’t miss out again!

I got the 2 different sizes available at spotlight, but for this project we just used the smaller ones. The process really is so simple it barely requires explanation. The beads are just plastic pony beads, you can find them in either the craft section or the ‘girls’ toy section of most variety stores. The ones that turned out the best were about 2/3 transparent beads and 1/3 solid colours. We did one with just transparent beads, but it ended up all kind of mixing together and turning brown, which was disappointing. If you don’t have a well ventilated kitchen, it would be a good idea to do these outside on the bbq, but the beads surprisingly don’t let off much fumes compared to other melting plastics I have played with. I had the oven set to just over 220c. You will need to keep checking on them every 5 – 10 minutes and turning as desired to create the marble effect. We used a silicone muffin and chocolate tray to position them after each turn and plastic tongs to handle them with. I ended up adding some extra beads to a few half way through the process, and just used a tea towel to hold them while they were hot.

Glass baubles

Ms4 filling up her ‘rainbow’ bauble

Ready for the oven

Blue green and yellow combo

In the oven

The finished products

Green and Red – Christmas colours

Marbles baubles

Tie die baubles

Christmas tree decorations

DIY Christmas decorations

DIY baubles

As they cooled down out of the oven, they did make a popping sound, which I thought was the glass breaking – but it was just the plastic separating from the glass inside a few of them. There you have it, marbled Christmas baubles.

Nov16

DIY Heart Shaped Christmas Wreath

Posted on November 16, 2013 by thestick81

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I actually started today out with the intention of making some bell tree ornaments, but the bells I had were too big. I then attempted another type of wreath and it was a big fat fail too. So after a few hours of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to make a different kind of wreath using the same principle as the bauble tree I made last year.

Run your cursor over or click each image for step by step instructions.

Draw or trace out the outline of the shape . I used silver card, but you could use any colour card. Something that has a little bit of flexibility, but is strong enough to support the weight of the baubles.

I used hot glue to stick each bauble down. You could use PVA or craft glue, but hot glue dries really fast, which is very helpful when you are dealing with things that roll!

I removed the strings and holders off each bauble, and glued them so that each top was touching the line, as a gauge.

Once the outside was complete, I did the same with a row of smaller balls on the inside.

Once the glue had completely dried, carefully cut around the outside and inside of the shape, as close as you can to the baubles, but still leaving just enough card to hook any tinsel on if desired.

The glue is quite flexible, so you can weave the tinsel in and around each bauble easily, it will just hold in place when the baubles sit back into position.

Poke some tinsel between the 2 rows to fill any gaps.

I hung a start ornament from the bottom just for some extra bling and dimension.

Bauble wreath

Heart shaped christmas wreath.

Dec2

Not your every day tree – Christmas Craft

Posted on December 2, 2012 by thestick81

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Not your every day tree – Christmas Craft

This idea actually came from a Woolworths Fresh Magazine idea, but I have also seen similar things on Pinterest and other blogs. I went slightly over the top compared to theirs – so unlike me.

We went for a walk around the local park lands and collected some sticks that I thought would be good for the job.

The branches

Then I gave them a light spray of white paint.

Spray painting the branches

Left in the sun to dry for a few hours, which resulted in this

The painted branches

The original idea I was looking at used a rusty bucket for the pot, but as I don’t have one of those laying around, I had to come up with something else. I found an empty plastic pot and decided we could work with that.

Covering the plastic pot with aluminium foil

I covered it in a layer of aluminium foil, before a layer of transparent cellophane just to give it a bit more shine.

Then a layer of cellophane to go with your colour theme

Once we were happy with the finish of that, we collected some rocks from the garden to fill the pot and hold the branches into position.

Filled the pot with rocks to secure the branches and to stop it tipping over.

Then it was time to decorate!

Decorating the tree

Outside, to try to catch the sparkle

With LEDs around the base

I am really struggling to get a good photo of this thing, just like the bauble tree, because the camera takes away all the sparkle. It really stands out in real life. I might have to read my camera manual.

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: The branches

: Spray painting the branches

: The painted branches

: Covering the plastic pot with aluminium foil

: Then a layer of cellophane to go with your colour theme

: The pot

: Filled the pot with rocks to secure the branches and to stop it tipping over.

: Decorating the tree

: Outside, to try to catch the sparkle

: The ‘Tree’

: With LEDs around the base

Nov30

Christmas Craft – DIY Bauble Tree

Posted on November 30, 2012 by thestick81

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I had been wanting to make one of these for years. And this year, we did! I purchased a large piece of card from the newsagent for $1.50 and cut out a half circle (i just used a piece of string to make a giants protractor). Secured with some tape and we are ready to roll

The little ones had the job of pulling off the strings and clamps, Mr 2 thought that way great fun.

I knew that hot glue gun would come in handy one day. This is the day. Mr 7 demonstrates.

Start at the bottom and work your way up. We did red purple alternations with every 5th ball gold. Trying not to put the same texture finish beside each other, but it becomes difficult to avoid

This is the back side where things don’t quite meet up. If I was to make another one, I would be more conscious of the size and make sure it fits the balls around perfectly – however, all is not lost as you can see next.

Once all the balls are stuck down start inserting the tinsel between the cracks. I actually ended up using 10 meters (30ft) of this thin tinsel. I didn’t imagine it would require that much. The tinsel hides any ‘mistakes’ very nicely.