Patticrafts » Christmas

Christmas Heart Photo Holder

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:11:35 +0000

Use red acrylic to paint the front, back and sides of a heart photo holder. Paint a second coat over the first to give a good strong colour and leave to dry. (pic a)
Use a fine paint brush and make a neat pattern of tiny white dots all around the edge of the heart, and the round base of the holder. (pic b)
Cut a 20cm length of gold cord. Cut several long pieces of red, pink and green ribbon - approx. 10cm – in different widths. Tie each piece of ribbon to the gold cord and then tie the cord around the spring on the photo holder. (pic c)
Cut a circle of white foam and fix to the middle of the heart. Cut brown wings, a tail and a red breast from self-adhesive foam and stick in place, adding a small yellow foam beak and a wiggle-eye to finish. (pic d)

Cuddly Elf

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:10:14 +0000

Cut out two body shapes from green felt and pin together (use our template). Cut a circle of pink felt and place over the head area. Use pink embroidery thread to over-sew the face in place while stitching the two body pieces together. (pic a)
Use green thread to sew the rest of the body together leaving a 3scm gap for the stuffing. Use a pencil to help stuff each limb as you sew. Finish sewing up the body and then draw or embroider the elf’s facial features. (pic b)
Cut a waistcoat shape from a rectangle of red felt. Slip over the elf’s shoulders and hold in place with a belt made from black embroidery thread tied in a knot. (pic c)
Sew a triangle of green felt in half to make a pointed hat, then stitch a tiny gold bell to the top. Place the hat over the elf’s head and hold in place with a few stitches at the back of the figure. (pic d)

Download the Cuddly Elf template ►

Super Stocking

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:08:53 +0000

Cut out two large stocking shapes from yellow felt (use our template as a guide). Cut two 3cm wide pieces of white felt and use decorative edged scissors to trim along one edge. Use green thread to sew the strips across the top of each stocking piece with running stitch. (pic a)
Cut out three holly leaf shapes from green felt. Sew these down the length of one stocking with long running stitches to form a neat line. (pic b)
Cut out small red felt berries and position these between the leaves in clusters of three. Sew in place with red thread and knot at the back. (pic c)
Cut a narrow strip of red felt and fold in half. Place the ends of the strip between the two stocking shapes at the top, and sew the pieces together with running stitch using red thread. (pic d)

Download the Super Stocking template ►

Christmas Tree Photo Holder

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:06:24 +0000

Hold a tree photo holder by the top and paint the pot with two coats of red acrylic paint. When this is dry, paint the front and back of the tree with dark green acrylic. (pic a)
Decorate the tree with lots of random dots of silver glitter and add a gold star to the top. Leave the glitter to dry. (pic b)
Take three pieces of gold cord and thread an assortment of coloured mini metallic beads onto them. You will need 16 beads on one, 12 on the next and 7 on the last. Tie the ends of each cord together to make three rings of beads. (pic c)
Slip the largest ring of beads over the tree so it sits on the bottom branches. Place the middle sized ring over the tree and hold in place with the peg at the back. Add the smallest ring to the very top of the tree. Decorate a few more trees in the same way and create a ‘forest of photos’! (pic d)

Christmas Character Decorations

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:04:08 +0000

Choose your character and remove the backing disc and acetate from the frame. Colour the whole shape with acrylic paint and leave to dry completely. (pic a)
Turn the frame over and use it as a template to draw parts of it onto the back of some self-adhesive felt such as the snowman’s hat, the reindeer’s antlers and Santa’s hat. Cut out these shapes and fix them to front of the frame. (pic b)
Cut out some tiny holly leaves from green self-adhesive felt. Arrange these on the frames on the edges of hats or the base of antlers. Use PVA glue to fix a red glittery pompom in the middle of the leaves as a berry. (pic c)
Finish decorating the frame with spots of glitter. Dot around the circumference of the middle of the frame or across the brim of the hat. Try marking out Santa’s beard with glitter. When dry, pop a picture of yourself – or your brother or sister – in the frame and replace the back. (pic d)

Reindeer Bauble

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:02:18 +0000

Cut out two head shapes and a pair of antlers from brown felt (use our template). Sew a large red nose to the lower half of one head with running stitch using white embroidery thread. (pic a)
Add two large white eyes and stitch a black pupil in the middle of each. Use white thread to add detail to the eyes and nose. (pic b)
Pin the front of the head to the other piece of felt. Pin the bases of the antlers in between the head shapes. Use brown embroidery thread to stitch the two pieces together while securing the antlers in place. (pic c)
Leave a 3cm gap in the stitching so that you can stuff the head. Finish stitching the head up and sew a loop of gold cord to the top of the head. Cut out holly leaves and berries from felt and sew to one antler, adding some jingle bells. (pic d)

Download the Reindeer Bauble template ►

Christmas 3D Decorations

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:59:23 +0000

Choose a polystyrene shape and colour it in using acrylic paints: red and white for Santa, brown for reindeers, gold for bells etc. Use two coats of paint to get a good, even coverage. (pic a)
Once the shape is dry, add detail using a fine paint brush. You could also add sequins fixed with strong glue for extra glittery decoration. Pierce the top of the shape with a cocktail stick (ask an adult to help) and thread some gold cord through the hole – add a tiny dab of glue to hold in place. (pic b)
Cut out two rings from self-adhesive foam. Make sure the inside of the ring is big enough to accommodate the polystyrene shape. Peel away the backing from one ring and fix lots of short pieces of ribbon to it. (pic c)
Add a loop of ribbon for hanging and place the second ring over the top of the ribbons. Make a hole near the inside of the ring to tie the polystyrene shape through so it hangs in the centre of the ring. (pic d)

Nativity Set

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:55:01 +0000

Take a set of wooden people and paint the faces with flesh tone acrylic. Paint the bodies of the three smallest figures with white and leave to dry. Meanwhile, paint the larger figures: brown and cream stripes for Joseph, and rich colours such as red and purple for the King. (pic a)
Paint different coloured hair on all the characters except the baby Jesus: his head will be covered with white as he’s wrapped in a blanket. Add facial features to Mary, the Angel and Jesus (the three smallest figures). Included moustaches and beards for Joseph and the King (the larger figures). (pic b)
Cut some rectangles of coloured felt to make cloaks; blue for Mary, orange for Joseph and red for the king. Use embroidery thread to sew running stitch along one long edge of each and gather up slightly so the cloaks can be tied around the necks of the figures. (pic c)
Cut wings from white felt and cover with silver glitter. Paint the angel’s body with gold glitter before gluing the wings to the back. Make halos from gold pipe cleaners and fix to the head of Jesus and the angel. Cut a crown from gold card for the king. Add silver of gold dots down his cloak for a regal appearance. (pic d)

Paper Angels

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:24:56 +0000

Trace around our template onto plain white card, making sure you mark the position of the slits on the circle. Cut out the shape, including the slits and guidelines, with scissors. (pic a)
Cut a small circle of gold card. Lift the head shape up from the circle and glue the gold card behind it to make a halo. Use felt tip pens to draw hair and features on the face. (pic b)
Decorate the front of the dress with dots of glitter and leave to dry. Turn the angel over and decorate the backs of the wings with more glitter. (pic c)
When the glitter is all dry, bend the shape into a cone and slot the wing pieces together so that they stick out on either side of the angel. (pic d)

Download the Paper Angels template ►

Crystal Cross

Patti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:23:18 +0000

Cut a piece of acetate sheet (like you find in toy packaging) to about A5 size. Tape the sheet over a cross and circle template (download ours) and used a fine tipped permanent pen to trace around the outline. (pic a)
Use a small paint brush to paint PVA glue around part of the outline of the cross. Sprinkle red stone crystals over the wet glue and shake off the excess. Continue gluing around the outline, sprinkling crystals as you go, while the glue is wet. (pic b)
Cover the outline of the circle with green stone crystals as before. Leave the outlines to dry and then fill in the centre of the cross shape with a mixture of yellow and orange stone crystals held on with more PVA glue. (pic c)
Fill in the whole background of the design with blue stone crystals and leave to dry for an hour. Use a pair of scissors to cut around the circle, leaving a tab at the top. Make a hole in the tab and thread satin ribbon through this for hanging. (pic d)

Download the Crystal Cross template ►