Holiday Crafting 2013

So I've been busy planning and teaching lessons for November and December and decided to post them here since I actually have a few minutes to do so : )

In November I wanted to do something with squirrels - I came up with a cute acorn squirrel but decided it would be too hard to teach because of the hot glue gun being the primary tool to make it - but it's cute and easy to make...

I cut the feet out of brown felt - they are one piece - and two ears.

I hot glued the two acorns together and then glued a pipe cleaner behind the body in the middle to create the arms.  

I used bumpy chenille for the bushy tail, glued the legs and ears and drew the face with a Sharpie.

Then I came up with a printmaking project with a Squirrel

Using large styrofoam plates I trim off the edges so there is just a flat piece of styrofoam.  

Students use dull pencils to draw their squirrel and leaves etc... onto the foam.

I used a directed drawing to help them with the drawing part and discussed using pattern on the squirrel in a few areas.  A stencil for just the outline of the squirrel might be helpful as well.

The very dark areas are created by taking the pencil and indenting the foam in the shape desired.

Next we inked the plates using a rubber brayer and yellow water based block printing ink.  

I chose brown paper for the background.

They use their hands to press very hard on the back of the foam to create the print.

If they want to they can create more than one print.

This is a fun project because students really like removing the foam and seeing the image they created underneath.

For December I am making Wooden Bead Elves, North Pole SnowGlobes, & Winter Angels

So the wooden bead elves are an idea from Pinterest, but I chose to use colored wooden beads to make him just a little more fun.  

At http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/crafts/christmas-kid-crafts/ 

The Snowglobes are also from Pinterest -  My So-Called Crafty Life.

I changed them a little bit too - I like putting a puffy snowbally pom pom at the top for the hanger and wrapping white sparkly pipe cleaners at the top.  

They are made out of plastic wine glass tops ground down with a Dremel tool, see the link for instructions.

I have been intrigued with the cute peg dolls I have been seeing on Pinterest so I decided to try and come up with an angel.

You start with a 2 3/8" Peg Doll and paint the bottom white, seal the head with Mod Podge so the paint doesn't bleed when you do the face.

The coat is a half circle cut out of felt, the hat a triangle, and the wings

 are a heart shape.

Using a hot glue gun I glued the hat into a cone shape and also glued in a length of pipe cleaner so I can shape the hat later.

I glue the coat, the hat and the wings onto the doll.

Then I added the Halo out of some tinsel garland that I found at Wal Mart for mini trees.

I finish with the buttons and bells and draw on the face with oil based paint markers.

I'm just going to have mine stand up as a decoration, but you could add a hanger easily for a Christmas ornament.