Christmas Crafts 2019

By:

Judy Csiky

Posted in:

Are you feeling the festive spirit yet? If you are looking for a few quick and easy Christmas crafts, look no further! In this blog post we will make 3 different decorations: decopatch baubles, a hanging star painted and dipped in gold dust and a stained glass candle holder to create that heartwarming and homey holiday mood. What's more, these simple Christmas crafts are perfect to do with children, although watch those sticky fingers and the glitter going everywhere!

1. Decopatch Baubles

Decopatch is fun, colourful and versatile and the materials come in many shapes and sizes. In its core, decopatch is about covering a cardboard object with colourful paper and all you need is some PVA glue or Decopatch glue, a pair of paper scissors and an old bristle brush to start.

Materials needed for decopatch baubles: decopatch paper, cardboard baubles, glue, a pair of scissors and a brush

I went with the baubles as they are the easiest shape but there are so many to choose from: angels, snowmen, a reindeer, a Christmas tree (just to mention some of the festive ones) and also horses, dragons, jewellery boxes and even a birdhouse!

It is important to use specialised decopatch paper because it is stronger. It needs to be able to soak up the glue and not tear which is what you can expect from ordinary wrapping paper and the like. I selected my two favourite decopatch papers and started cutting them up into coin-sized pieces.

Cut off some of the patterns nicely and keep them aside, you will only use them for the second layer. Cut up the rest of the paper without really worrying about the pattern on it as most of it will overlap anyway.

Then cover a large surface of the bauble with glue and start placing the bits of paper onto the glued area. Use your brush with even more glue to flatten the paper and smooth out all air bubbles and wrinkles. I noticed that the smaller pieces worked better as they did not wrinkle on the domed surface. Try to overlap them slightly and soak through the paper. Avoid touching the paper with a drying brush as it might pick up and move the paper around.

Work your way through the bauble, wetting new areas and covering them with paper. If it gets sticky or slippery to hold you can wait for the glue to dry and pick up where you left. Don't be afraid to use as much glue as you need as it dries to a clear finish and will be invisible whe your bauble is finished. Once your bauble is fully covered, hang it to dry. A couple of hours later you can add the pieces of paper you kept aside and place them where you like them. You can use this opportunity to cover up any gaps or not so great looking bits too!

I repeated the process with another bauble and reindeer patterned paper.

This was a quick and simple craft and the two baubles took about 15 minutes each to make. I used less than half a sheet of the decopatch paper for a bauble so you can easily do a full pack of 6 baubles with 2 sheets of paper and then you have a cute set of colourful handmade tree decorations!

2. Painting a star

The next project is a simple one but you can make it more complex and add your own twist to it if you like. I selected another decopatch accessory, a hanging star, however you can also use styrofoam balls as both styrofoam and cardboard are easily overpainted with acrylics. I went with Lumiere's Liquid Metallic set and Jacquard's PearlEx Metallic Pigments for some extra detail.

Materials needed for painted star: decopatch star, Lumiere Metallic Acrylics, PearlEx Metallic Pigment and a brush

I covered the star with the colour 'Halo Pink Gold' which had a beautiful interference effect then I left it to dry completely for about an hour.

Once dry, I painted another layer to make the tips wet and let the pigment adhere to it. Then I carefully lifted the star up and dipped the edges into the gold dust. I shook off the excess pigment and left it to dry again.

When the star is dry, you can dust it off one more time and if you notice that the pigment went over parts of the star where it shouldn't have, you can always touch it up with a bit more of the paint. The finished star looked really nice on the tree too!

3. Glass Painting a Tea Light/ Candle Holder

Glass painting is a lot of fun and there are many things to paint on including kitchenware and decorative glass ornaments which our Hove shop keeps a great selection of. I chose a candle holder for it's simple form. Glass paint comes in many forms but I chose markers as they are less messy than painting with brushes. I selected a glass marker in glitter yellow and a set of Uchida Ceramic markers as they are also suitable for painting onto glass.

Materials needed for painted candle holder: a glass, a Glass & Porcelain outliner and a set of Uchida Ceramic Twin Markers

I used the glass marker to create my outlines. I chose a simple mosaic pattern and filled in the boxes with red, purple and green. At this stage the design can look quite unimpressive as the marks are visible but dont' worry about it too much as baking will solve this . Create your pattern and put the candle holder in the non-preheated oven for the required time. This was tricky for me to tell as the glass marker asked for 20 minutes on 230 degrees while the ceramic markers called for 160 degrees for 30 minutes. I went with the higher temperature and it turned out perfect.

I wanted the design to be darker so I applied a second layer of the red, purple and green which also helped even out the brushmarks. I put the glass back into the over for another 20 minutes on high temperature and I was happy with the result.

And look how gorgeous the candle holder looks in the dark!

If you are doing this with children, make sure you help with the baking as the glass gets really hot in the oven. You should leave it to cool for at least an hour before touching it.

And here's a last picture of the three types of Christmas decoration we made. We hope you liked this post and that it helped put you in the mood to create some unique festive ornaments of your own. They are not only perfect for setting the mood for your home but they make excellent presents too! Enjoy the festive season and stay creative!