Crafty Christmas 2012 - Ursula Markgraf

Quickest Advent wreath

By Ursula Markgraf | December 22, 2012 - 11:00 |May 20, 2018 Tutorial

1 Comment

Today comes the last Crafty Christmas post. Here are the links to all the Crafty Christmas posts:

free crochet pattern to make gingerbread house tags

inspiration for making Christmas cards

making scented Christmas ornaments

my tiny gingerbread house

tiny origami stars

Today I do not have a tutorial for you but “just” some inspiration. This was my Advent “wreath” for this year. :-)

(If you like, check out my “wreaths” – do not take this too literal – from last years HERE and HERE. )

It looks rather different compared to the traditional German Advent wreaths. But you know what else? It is EASY and FAST to make!

And that is actually what I wanted to show you today: DIY and craft does not always have to be elaborate, costly, and take forever. It can also be quick and easy … and I think it looks pretty good, too. Especially right before Christmas quick crafts can be such an sanity saver! :-)

Do you agree? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Cuteness alert! Teeny origami stars

By Ursula Markgraf | December 21, 2012 - 11:00 |May 28, 2024 Tutorial

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If you know me, you know I like “tiny”. No idea why. So after yesterday´s tiny gingerbread house I have another “tiny” one today. Have you ever made origami stars? They’re adorable! What could make that even better?

Tiny origami stars!

Look at them! They are SO cute!!!

And more tiny origami stars!

And with a teaspoon for scale! I LOVE these.

Once you have figured out how to make them it is really easy. To me it always takes a bit to wrap my head around such stuff … But it really is not that hard. Now even my daughter loves making these.

And it is so easy to decorate with them. Just put some in a clear glas container … or on the table … It always looks good! I love easy decorating! :-)

If you want to make your own tiny origami stars – there are MANY tutorials out there. I used these:

video instructions and written instructions

And as you can see I made them using old music sheets. Flea market score! :-) I am a sucker for everything “musical”. Just look here.

But you can use ANY paper to make these. Old magazines, printed paper, newspaper … anything really!

Do you like origami stars?

If yes, don´t be shy and leave a comment! It makes my day! :-)

Interested in more crafty and creative fun? Why not try out some mixed media techniques and make some uplifting affirmation cards?

Do you want to see my tiny gingerbread house?

By Ursula Markgraf | December 20, 2012 - 11:00 |May 20, 2018 Other

10 Comments

After such a long post yesterday I thought I give you a little break today. ;-) So today there is not much to read – I just wanted to show off the tiny gingerbread house I made.

For years I wanted to make a gingerbread house myself but with two small kids it just always ended up being of the store bought variety. The one that you buy in pieces and put together. Which was okay. But this year – with a little trick – I got my gingerbread house. :-)

(See the tiny bird on the pile of wood logs?)

The trick? I just made it VERY small! *lol*

Very. Seriously. It is basically made out of cookie sized gingerbread. And as we make cookies all the time with the kids this was actually a really fun project.

Here you can see HOW small the gingerbread house is. The spoon is a tea spoon.

I had made a few blank ones as well that the kids decorated. It was so much fun!

What fun baking projects have you done this Advent? Share away in the comments!

And check back tomorrow for another “tiny” Christmas goody in the Crafty Christmas series. No I will not tell you just yet what it is …. ;-)

Easiest Christmas ornaments to make with kids

By Ursula Markgraf | December 19, 2012 - 11:00 |May 20, 2018 Tutorial

2 Comments

Here comes another post in my Crafty Christmas series. Another quick and kid friendly craft – how to make cute and SCENTED applesauce-cinnamon ornaments. You might have already seen this wreath in my tutorial on how to make crocheted gingerbread house tags. But this time we focus on the cute cookie-like ornaments. :-)

Now please – these are not meant to be eaten! They may look tasty! I am pretty sure they are not. But the good thing – they last several Christmases if you are not throwing them around too much. :-)

So how to make them? It is SUPEReasy. You can either google for applesauce-cinnamon recipes. Which I did. And then just ditch the recipes and throw together applesauce and cinnamon. Which I also did! *lol*

(I love google. But I get overwhelmed quickly.)

1. Make dough:

So, I did not add other stuff. If you do search you will find all kinds of recipes … some call for glue and other things. I literally just mixed together the cinnamon and the applesauce. Now, you do need ALOT of cinnamon so you might not want to use the best and most expensive one you have around. I used about 2 parts cinnamon and 1 part applesauce. But it does depend alot on what consistency your applesauce has so I encourage you to just play around and add a little at a time.

You wanna end up with something dough-like that is not too sticky. I only made a rather small batch but it made quite a bunch of ornaments!

2. Cut out shapes with cookie cutter

Now let your kids get “dirty”! ;-) Sprinkle cinnamon on the table to prevent the dough to stick to it.

(WARNING! Do NOT use flour for this AT ALL! I did that last year – I thought I am clever – and the ornaments with the flour ended up with some rather not so pretty mold on them. :-/ You do not want to have that believe me! Especially not if it is followed by a discussion with your 2-year old WHY on earth you are throwing out HIS amazing work!)

You can roll out the dough with a rolling pin – but you can just as well press it flat with your hands. That is what we did and the kids can help!

Then go nuts with your cookie cutters!

(Smaller shapes work best. Also very intricate shapes might break easily.)

3. Let your “cookies” dry

In order for the ornaments to harden I just put them on a plate and let them sit near the heater for a couple of days. I have read that some people bake them. I never did that.

I was never in a hurry AND if you let them sit and dry your house will smell AMAZING like cinnamon.

So if you happen to get sick from the smell of cinnamon – please do not do this project. ;-)

After the ornaments are dry (it does take a few days) you can draw some “icing” on them with acrylic paint if you like. Then hang and enjoy!

If you like this post you might also like yesterday’s post on how to make fingerprint Christmas cards … or just hop on my email-list to not miss anything! :-)

Comments are highly appreciated as well. ;-)

Sneak peak into our Christmas mail

By Ursula Markgraf | December 18, 2012 - 11:16 |May 20, 2018 Tutorial

2 Comments

Have you already sent your Christmas cards?

No?

Well, here comes an inspiration for some quick handmade cards that are really easy and fun to make. Especially if you have kids that you can ~~employ~~ have fun with. ;-)

Just get out some paint – preferably not the water proof one! – let the kids dip their finger in it and make some fun marks on the cards. Then connect them to make Christmas lights and write a short message … DONE!

This was actually not my idea. I found it last year somewhere on pinterest and a google-search pointed me to this tutorial as the original source. Hope that is correct!

When you read the tutorial you will notice that I did change up it up a bit. I just let my kids put colourful blobs onto the cards with their finger (not thumb) anywhere – and I connected them later with a dark grey pencil instead of drawing the line first. That way no “Oh no, you put the light ON the line”-incidents could happen! ;-)

So, have you sent your cards yet?

This is actually part of a small Crafty-Christmas series. Yesterday I posted a tutorial on how to make crocheted gingerbread house tags. Check it out HERE. And tomorrow … well, you will have to check back tomorrow … ;-)

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