Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Simple Pleasures and Christmas Treasures

So now that my daughter’s 2 years old, I get to start doing really fun stuff with her during the holidays. I was blissfully enjoying a cup of Peets coffee with Coffee-mate’s smooth and delicious Pumpkin Spice Creamer the other day when a thought popped into my head. The bright red top kinda looks like a Santa hat. I bet you could make a cute Santa Claus out of that creamer bottle; and an idea was born.

As I’ve been trying to find interesting, engaging activities for Mariah and me lately, I felt inspired to take on this creative Mt. Everest. Ok, so it’s really more like going over Beverly Glen...in traffic. But anyway, we set out to go for it. Mariah was able to help paint and pull the cotton balls apart. It turned out so cute, I thought I’d share it with you. If you’re looking for something to do and you have some crafty things lying around, you can do this without making any purchases – which is my favorite way to go!! It’ll either produce a cute inexpensive piece to add to your Christmas decoration collection, or it’ll provide some laughter and something to do with your munchkin, on a date night or roomie-time.
Here’s what I used:
·         Coffee-mate Creamer bottle (washed and dried inside and out)
·         Hot Glue Gun (Perhaps regular glue would work, too)
·         Acrylic Paints: red & skin color (beige, brown- whatever your pleasure)
·         Pens: blue & black (Eyes)
·         Play-Doh: red, white and a touch of yellow (Nose)
·         Felt: White and brown (Hat & Coat trimmings plus belt)
·         Cotton Balls (hair/beard & tip of hat)
·         A small square of gold cardstock (Belt Buckle)
Here’s what I did:

1.      Paint the bottle with red paint. Going back, I would probably have removed the label, which shows through mine, even after 3 layers of red paint. Leave the top part down to the neck of the bottle unpainted. Once your red paint dries, paint the neck and above whatever color you want Santa’s face to be. I mixed white with a small amount of red and yellow-brown to make beige. Don’t worry about having a perfectly smooth line, because it’ll be covered by the cotton balls.
 
2.      Cut felt: 2 thin white strips for the coat, 1 thick white strip for the hat and one brown or black strip for the belt.

3.      Make the Play-Doh nose: I mixed white, red and a tiny bit of yellow to make a nose slightly smaller than a pea. I kept it in the Play-Doh container until I was ready to affix it to keep it soft, in case any size adjustments were necessary.

4.      Place hot glue onto a thin white felt strip and glue it down Santa’s middle from neck to foot. Take the second thin white strip and glue it around the bottom, lining up the ends in the front center. Position the belt where you want it and glue it around. I made mine an inch longer than the bottle so that I could feed the gold square through the belt and have a little extra hanging off. Make 2 slices in the gold square for feeding the belt strip through. Glue the overhang to keep the gold square on.

5.      Glue 1-2 cotton balls, stretched out, as hair to cover the back of Santa’s head. Slice a few more cotton balls into about 5 strips each. You’ll end up with cylinders about ¼ inch thick. Glue one at a time to form his beard. Glue on a small thin strip for the moustache (leaving a little room below for the mouth area). Draw eyes (I used a thin black Sharpie and then a blue paint pen). Glue the cotton ball eyebrows on. Glue a small piece onto the tip of the hat.

6.      Hot glue the nose right on top of the moustache. Finally, glue the thick strip of white felt around the top, so that it rests over the top of the eyebrows and covers the top of the hair.
 
And you’re done – Santa Claus is coming to town!!! If you want, you can even refill Santa with your favorite creamer for any Christmas gatherings you have coming up. Tip his hat, and Enjoy!
If you do make a Santa creamer and want to share it, please email me a pic at wjhappened@yahoo.com. If you want me to post it, include that in your email too!
 
 

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