Advent Calendar, Day 5 - A Holiday Craft

[lunadelcorvo]

Well, I do a lot of 'crafty' things all year 'round, and December is no exception. I make my own wreaths, my son and I make snowflakes, paper chain garlands, and of course cookies galore! When he was little, and prone to grab anything shiny, we made dozens of salt dough ornaments for the lower half of the tree. (These may find a new lease on life what with an adolescent kitty in the house!) I even once typeset my own copy of A Child's Christmas in Wales which I sent out to friends and family. (Photos of some of these are below). But my best-ever holiday craft was the German Christmas Boxes I made.
These are some of the Victorian Christmas Box ornaments I've made in past years.
. I still use them, and I've sent or given many of them as gifts, too. So here's how to make them: Start with a pattern (you can find one below). You can trace this directly on to colored cardboard (foil or colored gift boxes from department stores are great for this, just flatten them out and voila!), you can use poster-board and paint, draw, or decorate them yourself, or you can do what I did and take the pattern into Photoshop and decorate it there, and print it in color on cardstock. If you want to use these for gift containers, you can put a tag on it when it's done, or leave a space for a name in the art on the cover. There's a preview of one of the designs I used below as well. Cut out the solid lines, and score the dotted ones. To cut, I recommend using an X-acto and a metal ruler. To score, use the ruler and something dull, like the rounded tip of a butter-knife, a pointed nail file, out-of-ink ballpoint, etc. Anything to make a firm 'dent' in the cardboard along your fold line without actually cutting through it. Don't forget to punch holes in either side for the string. If you want to do more decorating after it's cut out, like adding glitter-glue accents and such, do it while the box is flat. Once it's all dry, fold along your scorelines, and glue the tabs. You can use a teeny binder clip to hold the top corner, but you may just have to hang on to the pointy end for a few minutes until the glue sets a bit. Add a metallic cord or narrow ribbon, fill with treats or a small gift, and hang it on the tree!
Xmas Box Pattern	One of the Xmas box designs I made
More crafty bits from holidays past and present:
A stocking I made for the Niblet	Another stocking, this one for the Hubby
Salt Dough Ornaments (I'm very lucky to have my grandmother's a huge collection of vintage cookie cutters, which really helps with making these!)	Mantle in the old house's livingroom, with wreath & snowflakes I made.
And of course, Sante Mouse!
Enjoy, and happy holiday crafting!

Comments

[thewenchywiccan.livejournal.com]

Ohh, I'll have to share your boxes with Mom, she loves boxy 3d sparkly pretty ornament stuff. :D ♥

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Please do! You could scale that pattern down and make them as little ornaments too - I hadn't thought of that before.... I love your garland post, BTW. I wish I knew where to find the bits to make something like that, but around here you'd have to get it from a florist, I think.... I'd love to see piccies of your room all decorated (and yes, you totally should do it, just for you!)

[thewenchywiccan.livejournal.com]

:D *hugs*

[nygoldfish54.livejournal.com]

cool stuff! I lovvve Sante Mouse!

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Thanks! He was a much-needed replacement for our old family Santa Mouse, who has, erm, retired from active duty... And he was really fun to make!

[hope-guides-me.livejournal.com]

I wanted to share a picture of my recent holiday craft.

Daniel wants hand knit stocking hanging over our fireplace. We found this pattern together. I'd never knitted this anything like this before, but I love learning new things. This is his stocking. I still need to knit one for me and the boys.

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

OhMiGosh!!!!! That's GORGEOUS! Dude, seriously, I was like "Oh, cool, knitted stocking" and then I saw the pic and my jaw dropped! That is seriously impressive. I totally want to see the rest when you finish them. Thank you for showing me this, you should post them on your LJ!

(And you have a gorgeous fireplace, too!)

[hope-guides-me.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I took your advice and post this (as well as a few other finished projects) in my LJ.