Fuse Bead Napkin Rings

Materials:
*Fuse beads
*Cooking spray
*Narrow drinking glass or wide shot glass (preferably one that is not tapered)
*Aluminum foil
*Waxed paper
*X-acto knife
*Cookie sheet

Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
*Spray the inside of the glass with a generous amount of cooking spray.
*Wad up some aluminum foil so that it fits in the center of the glass you have chosen with enough space around the foil for the beads.  Cover the foil in waxed paper, then place in the center of the glass.
*Carefully pour in beads around the waxed paper wrapped aluminum foil, making sure that the beads are sticking to the wall of the glass in a single layer, like this:

*Place the glass on a cookie sheet.
*Pop in the oven for about 10 minutes.
*Take out of the oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes.  I found with these napkin rings that it was easiest to pry them out when the beads were still a little warm.  However, this can be dangerous since the glass was still very hot, so if you choose to remove the napkin rings before they have fully cooled, proceed with caution.
*The napkin rings may stick to the glass a bit.  If this happens, use a butter knife to peel away from the sides of the glass.
*The waxed paper covered aluminum foil should have mostly prevented beads from reaching the bottom of the glass, but you may end up with some beads that do so anyway.  If this is the case, carefully cut away excess plastic at the bottom with an X-acto knife.
*If made wide enough, these napkin rings should be suitable for any size cloth napkins.  However, the beads may be a little rough in places, particularly in spots where they were cut with the X-acto knife.  Pull them over napkins carefully so as to avoid damaging your napkins. 

If you enjoyed this craft, you may also like my Fuse Bead Decorative Bowls.

Fuse Bead Snowflake Magnets

Materials:
*Fuse beads kit
*Magnetic backing
*Adhesive (if your magnetic backing does not have an adhesive or has a weak adhesive)
*Scissors
*Iron

Directions:
*Select the appropriate peg board for the snowflake you would like to make.  Choose a color scheme for your snowflake, then arrange the beads on the peg board in the pattern shown below:

*If you would like a stronger magnet, you may want to fill in the empty pegs with a neural color so that you will be able to add a larger piece of magnet to the back of the snowflake.
*Cover your beaded project with a sheet of waxed paper and iron the first side, then remove from the peg board, flip over, put waxed paper on top and iron the second side.  You can find more detailed directions here.
*Cut off strips of magnetic backing and adhere them to the back of the snowflake.  If using glue to adhere the magnetic backing, let dry before placing the magnet on the refrigerator. 

If you are looking forward to spring, check out my fuse bead spring magnets.

Simple Snowflake Garland

Materials:
*White paper
*Scissors
*Ribbon
*White thread
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*To make the snowflakes, take an object with a circular base such as a glass and trace around the base to make circles.  Create as many circles as the number of snowflakes you would like to have on your garland.
*Cut out a circle.  Fold the circle in half, then fold the resulting semicircle in half.  Finally fold the quarter circle in half so that the original circle is now folded into eighths.
*Cut designs into the folded paper to create your snowflake.
*Once you have cut out all of the snowflakes, take a length of ribbon as long as you would like your garland to be and lay it on your work space, with the back side of the ribbon facing up (if the ribbon has a back side). 
*Align snowflakes along the ribbon until you find an arrangement that you find pleasing.
*Cut out pieces of white thread and glue one end of the thread to the snowflake and the other to the ribbon so that the snowflakes will hang down from the ribbon.  If planning on hanging the gralnad over an entryway, cut a length of ribbon the same length as the first and glue the ribbon pieces together so that the garland will look polished from either side of the entryway.

Winter Themed Decorated Journal

Materials:
*12 Andes Peppermint Crunch wrappers (or other wrappers to use as a background)
*6 Andes Creme de Menthe wrappers (or other green wrappers)
*Silver duct tape (or silver candy wrappers)
*Small scrap of brown paper (or brown candy wrapper)
*White scrap paper
*Hole punch
*Glitter glue
*Notebook
*Glue
*Tape
*Scissors

Directions:
*Arrange the Andes Peppermint Crunch (or other background) wrappers across the cover of the journal and glue down.  It's okay if the wrappers don't cover the very bottom of the notebook because the silver duct tape will take care of that.
*Take the green wrappers and flip them over so that the green side faces down.  Tape the wrappers together in a rectangular formation and tape them together, then cut out a tree shape from the green rectangle.
*Cut out a trunk for the tree from the brown paper (or brown candy wrapper) and glue to the tree.
*Position the tree near the bottom of the journal and glue down.
*Cut a strip of silver duct tape long enough to cover the bottom of the notebook.  Trim the top of the strip to make it look like uneven ground.
*Adhere the duct tape to the bottom of the notebook.
*Punch out a number of white circles, then arrange them along the cover and glue down.
*Add a dot of glitter to each of the circles.

Another Decorative Tree

Materials:
*Yarn
*White paper
*Glitter glue
*Scissors
*Foam tree
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Wrap yarn around the foam tree, gluing it down as you go.
*Cut quarter sized circles from a sheet of white paper, fold into fourths or eighths, and cut out small shapes to create snowflakes.  Alternately, if you have a die cutting machine you could create paper snowflakes that way.
*Arrange the snowflakes on your tree in a pattern that you like, then glue them down.
*Add dabs of glitter glue to make your tree sparkle.

Like this idea?  Check out my decorative tree from last year if you haven't yet.  Also, here are some links to my handmade stocking, hand towel advent calendar, and ornament posts from last year in case you are interested.

Snow Globe Card

I got the idea for this card from this video tutorial.

Materials:
*8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock in a color of your choice
*8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock in white
*Green cardstock
*Gold scrapbooking paper
*Cardstock scraps in a variety of colors
*Plastic gift bag or other heavy weight clear plastic
*White glitter
*Mounting squares or double sided tape
*Hole punch
*Scissors
*Pencil
*X-acto knife
*Glue

Directions:
*Fold cardstock sheet in the color of your choice in half.
*Open up the card.  On the left hand side, select the spot where you would like the snow globe to be and draw or trace a circle about 3" in diameter.
*Cut the circle out using an X-acto knife.
*Grab your clear plastic bag (for directions on how to use the packaging from a sticker pack or another sort of clear plastic bag with words on it, see below).  Pour some glitter into the bottom.  Fold over the top of the bag and seal it using mounting squares or double sided tape.
*Place your clear bag with glitter over the circular hole.  Center it, then tape it in place. 
*Cut out a piece of gold cardstock to make the base of your snow globe, then tape to the front of the card below the circular hole.
*Cut the white cardstock in half.
*Cut a tree shape from the green cardstock small enough to fit inside the circular hole, then tape to the white cardstock at the same location on the white cardstock as the circular hole is on the cardstock in a color of your choice.
*Use a hole punch to cut circles from the cardstock scraps.  Arrange the circles on the tree, then glue in place.
*Tape the white cardstock to the cardstock in a color of your choice such that when you close the cars the tree shows through the circular hole behind the plastic filled with glitter.
*Shake your card and watch the glitter shower down upon the tree.

Directions for using sticker packaging:
*Take your sticker packaging and determine whether the printed writing is on the inside or outside of the plastic.
*Take a dry erase marker and begin covering the printed text with marker, erasing as you go.  The text should rub right off.
*If you cannot get all of the dry erase flecks out once you have erased all of the text, rinse them away with water, then set your plastic aside to dry.

Glitter Ornaments

Materials:
*Clear plastic or glass ball ornaments
*Glitter glue or glitter and glue

Directions:
*Remove the metal top from the ornament.
*If using glitter glue, pour a small amount of glitter glue into the ornament and move the ornament around until the inside of the ornament is coated in a thin layer of glitter glue.  Make sure not to use too much glitter glue or it will take a long time for the ornament to dry and the glitter glue may roll off the sides, thus leaving gaps.
*Once the ornament has dried, put the metal top back on the ornament and hang on your tree.
*If using glue, pour a small amount of glue into the ornament, then slowly roll the ball around until the inside of the ball is covered in glue.  Don't shake or bubbles may form in the glue.
*Let some of the glue drain out of the ornament until only a thin coating of glue is left.
*Pour glitter into the ball and move the ball around until the inside is coated in glitter.  Pour any excess glitter back into the container.
*Set the ball aside to dry.  Once dry, place the metal top back on your ornament and hang on your tree.