Christmas Crafts: Welcoming Door Hangers, Decorative Ornaments and Wreaths

If quick and easy is your middle name, and you want something a little different to hang on your front door or to give as a gift, try using a mitten. You need to decorate the mitten, of course.

Make a Welcoming Mitten That's a Door Hanger

If you have an odd loose mitten you can begin the project. I suggest that you buy a pair, make two, gifting one and keeping the other. Begin by stuffing the mitten with tissue so it keeps its shape. Run a wire through the top back of the mitten and bring it up and clamp it down flat. Make certain that there is enough material in the clamped area to give it strength. You now have a mitten with a hanger. Fill it the rest of the way with a few real cinnamon sticks or candy ones, greenery, and small ornaments connected together with wire. Put this on top of the tissue. Add a bow on the front and you have a special gift for a friend or a decorative welcome to your home.

Make a Peppermint Wreath

Simple is the key word in this article. So here is another simple idea. You can use heavy poster board cut in an O and glue on individually wrapped peppermint candies to form a small wreath.

Cut a small circle out of cardboard and cut the center out. Make it slightly narrower than the width of a wrapped peppermint. Glue the mints around and add a bow and glue a hanger on the back. You are done.

You can make larger ones using candy canes and Styrofoam circles by just pinning the candy canes down. You can also use small pins to attach wrapped peppermints. Expect them to be eaten by Christmas. When I taught I made a bulletin board and each level or trail to achieve had a prize that I pinned to the board. One morning I came in and someone had eaten all of the bulletin board candy. Your wreath will disappear just like my bulletin board, and everyone but the dog will deny doing it.

Glitter and Wrap Your Ornament

Larger glass ball ornaments can easily be decorated with glitter paint pens, ribbons, small pine cones, seashells, dried flowers, or even other small ornaments.

Using the juice glass or simply holding the ornament, dot it with glitter paint all over. A clear glass ornament is stunning for this but any large one will do. The key to a really beautiful ornament will actually be the ribbon that you use.

This is not wrapping ribbon, but wide cloth ribbon that you find in sewing shops. There are such beautiful choices that it will be hard to make a decision. The lacey gold is quite beautiful for this. Each ball will need about 3 feet of ribbon. You can mix and match it and use some thin ribbon with wider ribbon.

Loop the ribbon six times if you are using only one type and bind it in the middle with a thin wire. Open up the individual loops, but before you glue it to the ornament run a thin piece of decorative cord through the ornaments metal loop so you have a hanger. You may want to leave it a little longer and adjust later on for the appropriate length.

Use a glue gun to attach the ribbon and spread it out. Combine the smaller decorations with wire and glue them to the bottom of the larger ribbon. You can use the glitter paint pen to add more decoration to the ribbon or even as glue for small beads.

Etch an Ornament

Use the directions for etching glass to make clear glass etched ornaments. They are stunning. The link to the article is below.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/449851/make_etched_glass_and_painted_glass.html