Homemade Holidays - WFSB 3 Connecticut

Let crafting projects make you forget the stresses of the holidays and enjoy your creative time.

Fantasy Forest

Christmas trees appear like magic whenever you supply children with pinecones and shiny beads. The crafting classic takes a grown-up turn with needle-felted balls for ornaments and glittery wooden spools for tree trunks.

MATERIALS
Pinecone with a flat base
Wool roving: assorted colors
Felting needles and felting mat
Wooden spool
Crafts glue
German glass glitter: silver

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Clean the Pinecones Use a bottle brush to scrub pinecone. If pinecone is sticky with sap, place it on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil; bake in a 170ºF oven for 1 hour.
2. Make the Ornaments For each ornament, wind a small tuft of roving into a tight ball about twice the desired size. Place roving ball on felting mat. Using a felting needle, poke ball repeatedly while turning it. Continue needle felting ball until it decreases to half the original size. Fill a bowl with hot water and add a few drops of liquid dish soap. Dip each ornament into the soapy water, and then roll it between your palms until it forms a tight ball. Squeeze out excess water. Let it dry.
3. Finish the Tree For base, cover sides of wooden spool with glue, sprinkle with glitter, and let dry. Glue ornaments to pinecone, and glue pinecone to base.

thewoolacorn.com

Jeweled Hanger

For a decorative hanger as sparkling as the ornament it holds, take a look at the jeweled "ice." Shimmering with pale green beads and jewelry findings, the hanger twinkles when it's displayed on a lighted tree.

MATERIALS
Wire cutter
20-gauge crafts wire: green
Crimping tool or needle-nose pliers
Two crimp beads: silver
Three 6/0 seed beads: silver
14- to 16-millimeter faceted round bead: green
Teardrop bead: green

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut a 4½-inch length of green wire. Using need-nose pliers, bend a hook at one end of wire to loop over tree branch. Secure a crimp bead ⁷⁄₈ inch below top hook.
2. Thread five beads as shown in photo; secure with a crimp bead. Cut wire ⁷⁄₈ inch from crimp bead and bend into a small loop. Attach desired ornament to small loop and hang ornament.

justhangon.com