How to Turn a Leaky Fish Tank into a Winter Wonderland

I like to upcycle and I like it even more if my upcycling can encourage others to look at their otherwise useless items as something that might be useful. This year, my leaky fish tank and some other items have become the upcycle decoration project.

To make my upcycled Christmas craft, I used some things that were left over from other holidays. I had them stored in my craft cabinet and they came in quite handy. After all, who knew that ripped Sumo wrestling costume from Halloween was going to turn into a weather tool for a Christmas scene? Thankfully, this project leaves so much room for creativity that you can easily design your own similar winter wonderland or Christmas scene to fit your personality and junk collecting habits.

To make the Christmas craft fish tank project that I made, you'll need a fish tank, some old white cloth, fake snow cloth or leftover spider webbing from Halloween, an old tree from a small scale train set, small set of lights, fan from a blow up Halloween costume, glitter and/or small styrofoam balls from packaging pieces, plastic wrap, clear shipping tape and 2 broken ceramic Christmas houses.

Clean the fish tank. Naturally, you want to start with a nice clean tank. Since this tank leaks and you won't be putting fish in it, simply clean the glass with your favorite glass cleaners.

Create the snow drifts. I used left over and used fake spider webbing to create snowdrifts in the bottom of the fish tank. Simply spread the webbing around after removing the spiders and fluff it in areas where you want to create a snow drift. Of course, if you want your Christmas scene to resemble something like the movie ''Eight Legged Freaks'', then feel free to leave the spiders where they are.

Place the houses in the snow drifts. One of the best things about this project is that you don't have to worry about anyone touching the houses. That's why your cracked or broken Christmas houses work so well here. If they are a bit off balance, just use the snow drifts to help balance them out.

Decorate the tree. Use your small string of Christmas lights to decorate your little tree. Place them around the tree so that it looks like a regular Christmas tree, then pull the cord out the top of the tank. Do the same with the cord from the houses if there is one.

Put the fan in place. Though you can't see it in the photo, there is a small fan behind the Christmas tree. When the fan is one, it creates enough flow to circulate the styrofoam and the glitter, making it look like it's snowing inside the tank. Since the fan came from a ripped Sumo wrestler Halloween costume, I had to use and AC adapter to plug it in. The snow effect doesn't show in the photo because the fan was off to allow for a clearer photographic image.

Air proof the tank. My tank has a screen on top, so it need to be air proofed in order to keep the glitter and styrofoam snow inside the tank. To do this, I simply lined the screen with clear plastic wrap and taped it along the edges. I also sealed the area where the cords were hanging out with clear tape.

Get the power going. Plug all of the cords into a power strip so that you can turn everything off and on all at once. Turn the strip on and enjoy the Christmas scene.

If you want to add elements to your upcycled Christmas craft project, feel free to get creative. You can tie cotton to the bottom of the screen or whatever you use as a tank cover in order to make clouds. Hang small angels from the screen so that it looks like they are flying around. There is literally no limit to what you can do for this project. It also serves as a wonderful outdoor decoration as long as you cover the top to waterproof it!