Crayon Candle

     Here's a great way to use up any crayon odds and ends you have lying around the house.

Materials:
*Beeswax or paraffin wax
*Crayon(s)
*Aluminum can
*Cookie sheet
*Paper cup
*Cheese grater
*Candle wick
*Votive
*Popsicle sticks

Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
*Grate a small amount of wax into the paper cup.
*Place the cup in the microwave and heat for about 2 minutes, or until the wax has melted.  Alternately, you can put the wax into an an aluminum can on a cookie sheet and melt in the oven.
*Pour the wax into the bottom of the votive and quickly place the metal part of the candle wick in the center of the votive on top of the melted wax.  Let harden.
*Grate enough wax to fill the aluminum can.  Add a piece of crayon to the can.  It doesn't have to be a very big piece to make some nice pastel colored candles.  For example, for the blue candle I used a piece of a sky blue crayon that was about half an inch long.
*Pop the aluminum can into the oven and heat for 10-15 minutes, or until fully melted.
*Stir the wax with a Popsicle stick and the pour into the votive.  I had some difficulty getting the wick to stand up after pouring in the hot wax, but I was able to remedy this by using four Popsicle sticks to hold it in place.  I placed the Popsicle sticks across the top of the votive to form a square enclosing the wick and this held it upright.  Leave in place until the candle has hardened.

Scrap Wrapping Paper Memory Game

     Here's a great way to recycle some cereal boxes as well as wrapping paper.  Note that these instructions will make 48 memory tiles, but you can easily modify them to make more or fewer.  With this version of the game, you have to match up both the pattern and the color, and game play works the same as with any other memory game.  (If you aren't familiar with the game, you can find instructions here.)  Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Brian for his assistance with this project.  It is a rather time consuming endeavor and I'm grateful that I had another set of hands to help me with tracing, gluing, and cutting out circles.

Materials:
*Six different patterns of wrapping paper or distinct characters on wrapping paper
*Solid colored or holographic wrapping paper
*4 cereal boxes
*8 sheets of paper, each sheet a different color
*Small (about 2.5" in diameter) and medium (about 3" in diameter) circle templates
*Pen
*Scissors
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Trace the small circle onto the patterned or character wrapping paper such that you end up with 48 circles, 8 of each pattern or character, then cut out the circles.
*Trace the medium circle template onto the cardstock, making 6 circles of each color, and cut out the circles.
*Trace the medium circle template onto the cereal boxes, making 48 circles in total, and cut out the circles.
*Trace the medium circle template onto the solid colored (or holographic) paper to make 48 circles and cut them out.
*Glue a piece of solid colored (or holographic) wrapping paper to one side of each cardboard circle and a piece of cardstock to the other side of the circle until you have covered both faces of each circle.
*Glue on your patterned or character paper such that you end up with two or zero tiles of a particular pattern matched up with a given color.  Here's what all of my tiles looked like when I finished:

Wrapping Paper Ornament Bookmarks

     These pretty recycled wrapping paper bookmarks can double as ornaments.  You may want to make some to give as gifts for next year's holiday season.

Materials:
*Wrapping paper
*Large and small circle templates (I traced around a large and small drinking glass)
*Cereal box or similar cardboard
*Gold paper
*Patterned paper (optional)
*Mounting tape
*Scissors
*Ribbon
*All purpose adhesive
*Pen

Directions:
*Trace and cut out a small circle of wrapping paper in the pattern of your choice.
*Cut out a large circle either from a corresponding wrapping paper or sheet of patterned paper.
*Center the small circle on top of the large circle and adhere together using mounting tape.
*Cut a large circle from the cardboard and adhere to the back of the large circle you cut from wrapping paper or patterned paper.
*Cut out a piece of the gold paper shaped like the top of an ornament and adhere to the top of the bookmark.
*Snip off a length of ribbon about twice as long as you would like the ribbon bookmark to be and knot together the ends.
*Glue the end of the ribbon without the knot to the back of the bookmark.

Melted Pony Bead Decorative Bowls

     Here's an easy craft with very pretty results.  If you enjoyed my fuse bead bowls, you'll probably like this project as well.  I got my inspiration for the classic melted bead bowl from Rainbow Sparkled blog and for the wavy melted bead bowl from Art Camp blog.

Note: The melting beads can get rather smelly, so make sure your work space is well ventilated.

Classic Melted Bead Bowl
Materials:
*Pony beads
*Ceramic or metal oven safe bowl
*Cooking spray
*Baking sheet

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
*Spray the inside of the bowl with a generous amount of cooking spray.
*Take a couple of handfuls of fuse beads and drop them into the bowl.
*Smooth out the beads so that you have only one layer of beads.  The beads should for the most part migrate up the sides of the bowl on their own if you press on a spot with multiple layers of beads.
*Place the bowl on a cookie sheet.
*Pop in the oven and cook for about 25-35 minutes, or until the beads have melted sufficiently to your liking.  I took mine out after 25 minutes, so it still had a lot of bumps to it, but if you don't like that aesthetic you can melt it for longer and it should smooth out more.
*Let sit for about 10 minutes, then place inside the sink and very slowly add cold water.  Be very careful with this step, since the beads or the bowl could potentially crack at this stage of the process due to the temperature differential.
*Fill the entire bowl with water.  After doing this my bead bowl just popped out of the ceramic bowl without any difficulty, but it might be harder if you melt your bowl for a longer period of time.  Let cool before handling.

Wavy Melted Bead Bowl
Materials:
*Pony beads
*Aluminum foil
*Cooking spray
*Baking sheet
*Large drinking glass
*Oven mitts

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
*Line a circular baking sheet with aluminum foil, then spritz with cooking spray.
*Arrange beads on the circular baking sheet in a pattern of your choosing in a circular or hexagonal formation.  The result could look something like this:

*Pop into the oven.  I heated mine for 25 minutes and by the end of that my beads were thoroughly melted and formed a thin layer of plastic.
*While the beads are melting, cover the top of a drinking glass with aluminum foil and spray generously with cooking spray.
*Once the beads have melted, pull the pan out of the oven.
*Using oven mitts, center your melted plastic creation on top of the foil covered drinking glass, with the plastic facing downward (so that you will be touching the aluminum foil and not the plastic itself).  Quickly mold the plastic into a bowl shape.
*Place the melted bead bowl in the sink and trickle cold water over it.  Once it becomes cool enough to handle, peel off the aluminum foil.  The foil should come off fairly easily, but it might get stuck in some of the crevices.  Peel slowly in these regions.

Felt Owl Ornament

Making a felt owl ornament requires the same procedure as the felt owl pal.  The only difference is the ornament requires a piece of ribbon so that you can hang it from your tree.

Materials:
*Sheet of felt in the color of your choice for the owl's body
*Felt and/or fabric in colors of your choice for the owl's wings, belly, beak, and eyes
*Embroidery floss
*Needle
*All purpose adhesive
*Stuffing
*Chalk
*Scissors
*Ribbon

Directions:
*Print out an owl template approximately the size you would like your owl ornament to be.  Here's the one I made for my owl:

*Cut out the pieces of the template.  Using chalk, trace the pieces onto the chosen felts and fabrics.  You will need two copies of the owl's body, two large circles for the owl's eyes, and two small circles for the owl's pupils.
*Using a running stitch, sew on the owl's belly, then sew on the owl's wings.
*Cut off about 2 1/2" of ribbon and fold in half to create a loop.  Sew to the back piece of the owl's body.
*Using a blanket stitch, sew together the owl's body, leaving an opening large enough for you to add the stuffing.  Insert stuffing into your owl until it reaches the desired fullness, then sew closed.
*Glue on the owl's eyes and beak.

Perler Fuse Bead Ornaments: Another Technique

Materials:
*Fuse bead kit (e.g. Perler bead kit)
*Metal cookie cutters
*Cooking spray
*Cookie sheet
*Parchment paper
*Scissors
*All purpose adhesive
*Metallic thread

Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
*Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
*Place the desired cookie cutters onto the parchment paper.
*Coat the cookie cutters and paper thoroughly with oil.  Since melted fuse beads can be very difficult to remove, I recommend using cookie cutters that you would not mind ruining for this project.
*Pour some fuse beads into the cookie cutters, making sure to fill in as much space as you can.  You may even consider adding a second layer of beads to make sure that you do not end up with any gaps in your finished project.
*Pop the cookie sheet into the oven and heat for 5-10 minutes, depending on how melted you want your ornaments to be.
*Once the ornaments are melted to your liking, remove them from the oven.  Carefully peel them off the parchment paper and drop them into a bowl of warm water.
*Let the ornaments sit until the metal and plastic are cool enough to handle, then remove from the water and dry off.
*Remove the ornaments from the cookie cutters.
*Trim off any excess or awkward looking plastic with scissors.
*Glue metallic thread to the back of the plastic to turn your creations into ornaments.

Bonus Idea: Miniature Model Ornament

     If you have someone in your family who enjoys making models, here is a great way to get this individual involved in the holiday decorating.  

Materials:

*Miniature model kit

*Thread

*Scissors

Directions:

*Assemble the model following the instructions given in the package.

*Tie a piece of string around the model to hang it from your tree.

Glitter Ornaments Take 2

    Last year when I made glitter ornaments, I had some difficulty getting the glue to dry.  When I went to A. C. Moore after Christmas, I noticed that the store had some glitter ornaments on display and I asked an employee how they made their ornaments.  The employee explained that there was a special type of adhesive that you needed to use to make them.  Unfortunately they had sold out of it, so I did not get a chance to experiment with it last year.
     When November rolled around and I started thinking ahead to Christmas crafts, I recalled the glitter ornaments and decided that I wanted to try making them again.  My aunt suggested that I bring some ornament making supplies down for Thanksgiving so we could all make ornaments together and I immediately thought that the glitter ornaments would be perfect for that.  I had yet to try the new adhesive, but when we started making the ornaments it turned out that it was really easy to use and we all had a blast.

Here we are, working on our ornaments

And here are the lovely glitter ornaments we made.  Notice how my sister's ornament is half pink and half silver.  If you're feeling adventurous, try making a two tone ornament.

     These ornaments are so pretty and easy to make that I made some more for my own tree a couple of days later.  When my friend and fellow math grad Sophie stopped by my house over the weekend and the subject of Christmas ornaments came up, I suggested we make some.  The ornaments came out wonderfully.

Here are the ornaments we made

     If you're looking for something fun to do with your family or friends this holiday season, try making some of these ornaments.  They are easy enough so that even those people who consider themselves inept at crafting can make them.  Or, if your loved ones aren't interested in crafting, you could give them out as gifts.

Materials:
*Plastic or glass ball ornaments
*Ultra fine glitter
*Glitter It adhesive

Directions:
*Layer your work space with newspaper.
*Uncap your ornament and pour in some Glitter It.  Swirl the adhesive around until it has coated the entirety of the inside of the ornament.
*Pour excess adhesive back into the bottle.  Let the adhesive drain out for about 15 seconds.
*Open a container of glitter and pour into the ornament.  Swirl the glitter around inside the ornament until it has coated the entire ornament, adding more glitter as necessary.
*Pour any excess glitter back into the container.
*Set the ornament aside to dry.  The package for the adhesive did not say anything about how long it would take to dry, but letting the ornaments sit for about 15 minutes before putting their tops back on seemed sufficient.

     Looking for more Christmas crafts, such as ornaments or advent calendars?  Check out the Christmas section of my blog.