Time for a DIY Christmas craft!
We are staying home this year for Christmas, and I'm excited not to have to get up and rush all around trying to fit in all the visits to various family members. That may be a tad selfish, but it's been a busy year and just want to see out the end of the year moseying around my home.
Lots of sucky things happened this year, nothing terrible, but I got to the point of being over the constant flow of problems. I'm really hoping 2018 will be the opposite of this year! I'm not going to dwell on the negatives and list them all here, I must try and think positive thoughts and perhaps that will help bring some more positive experiences into my life :)
I did get to the point of everything compounding and I dropped my bundle! My blog slowed down, and I've hardly been able to seem to find the time to be creative. It's slowly coming back and I really need to make art and creativity a priority. I have been creating here and there but I haven't been sharing a whole heap here or on social media. Not deliberately, just because of shifting priorities, and my time was taken up elsewhere.
Consequently, I've been thinking about where I want to be next year, and what form I want my creative business to head towards. I'm planning on doing a fair bit of work around this house decorating, so I can blog about my progress and share other things I'm getting up to creatively. I'll add new products to the shop when they eventuate. But I'm going to slow things down a tad and just share when I can. That may mean a lot if I'm going through a phase where I seem to be able to fit it all in, and others times it may slow down a bit, depending on life.
So I'm going to forget all the negative stuff that happened this year and enjoy the heck out of this Christmas!! A lot of ace stuff has happened too! So I am going to focus on those things.
Enough of that, let's get into some craft! I created this tutorial for
Alisa Burke's wonderful blog, but I like to share them here for my readers too :)
I just love super colourful decorations. So I delved into my fabric scrap collection (I can never throw out small pretty pieces of fabric- the always have a use!) and came up with these christmas tree decorations. I then accentuated them with glitter, because it’s the perfect time of the year for an excuse to use the sparkly stuff!
You’ll need:
Stiff card
PVA glue
Assorted fabric scraps
Silver glitter
Toothpick
Masking tape
Baking paper or sheet of plastic
Tiny amount of stuffing
First, we’ll make the cone out of the card.
Start by making a centre point (top anchor point) at the top of your card and measure 27cm (10.5”) straight down (bottom middle point), then mark again. Then, using your top anchor point, swivel your ruler to the sides and mark with dots using the same length. Join the dots up and you will have created a curve for the bottom of the cone. From the centre bottom point, measure an equal distance straight out to both edges. I chose 16cm (6”). Draw lines from your top anchor point down to those side marks for the outline of the cone shape, adding a flap to the side that will be used to glue the cone together. Cut out.
You can see using this method of creating a cone that you could make play around with different sizes.
Curl the card around so the flap lines up to the other side, glue, and use masking tape to hold in place.
Make a template out of some card for the scollops using the diagram as a guide. Place onto the wrong side of the fabric, outline and cut out. You can keep placing the template side by side to get longer lengths. As you go, check by wrapping your fabric strips around the cone to make sure you have enough lengths.
Lay fabric strips out over baking paper or plastic. Mix some PVA glue and water with a ratio of 1:1. Paint it on to the back and front of the fabric strips and leave to dry.
Once they are dry and stiffened, use your fingers to curl up the edges of the fabric.
Start by gluing a strip of fabric along the bottom of the cone before you start with your scolloped pieces.
Run glue along the top edges of the scolloped fabric strips and start wrapping them around the cone. Make sure when you go up a layer that the cone is covered by the fabric so that you can’t see the card underneath. Continue until the cone is completely covered.
Using 2 small scraps of fabric, place wrong sides together and lightly draw a star shape. Sew all around the star leaving the bottom two edges open. Lightly fill the star with some stuffing, and then sew the two remaining edges closed, leaving a small gap in the bottom middle. Trim around the star close to the stitching. Pop some glue onto the end of a tooth pick and insert it into the base of the star, and then place some more glue onto the other end of the toothpick and poke it into the top of the tree. (If there’s no hole there use your scissors to snip off the very tip of the cone so that there is.)
Using a brush, paint PVA glue onto the very edges of the scolloped fabric and the edges of the star and sprinkle silver glitter all over, tapping off the excess.
Then enjoy your colourful christmas tree decoration! I’d love to see yours if you make one!
Jules :)
