Tag Archives: Christmas tree

trim the christmas tree – paper spinning tops

I love those delicate oval glass Christmas tree decorations that have a point at the bottom.  I don’t know the name of the shape, but it reminds me of the toy spinning tops I played with as a little girl.This is the home sweet homemade version of this traditional Christmas ornament.  Made with paper.  Of course.

Step 1
I started by drawing an oval and creating a curved point at the top and bottom.  Since it is in two dimensions, I decided to make it more interesting by layering multiple sizes of the same shape.   So I drew two more spinning top shapes smaller in scale.  Cut the largest spinning top from a piece of cardboard, like a cereal box and paint both sides.

Step 2
Punch a small hole near the top and bottom points.

Step 3
Select some decorative paper and cut two pieces of the medium spinning top.  Cut two more pieces of the small shape from another piece of paper.  Art paper scraps work perfectly!  Roll the small and medium shapes around a marker gently so the rounded sides will bend upwards.

Step 4
Layer two smaller shapes together on one side of the large spinning top and glue them along the center axis.  Repeat on the opposite side.

Step 5
Add a hanging loop through the top hole and a bead or other embellishment through the bottom hole.

Voila!  Easy and pretty! wishing you a basketful of holiday inspiration.

The Art Of Making Christmas Cookies

Every year around the Holiday Season, my family makes Christmas cookies. Everything from gingerbread men and gingerbread houses, to sugar cookie angels and Christmas trees, etc. It’s actually a very serious tradition and I love doing it every year. I don’t bake anything…that would be a mess. I just decorate – which is still a mess – but it is a ton of fun!

Now, we haven’t made any yet this year. It’s just too early. Won’t do it for a couple of more weeks, but I’ve been getting in the ‘Christmas Spirit’ and my anticipation for Christmas decorations, music and cookies is growing. I was going to do another NaNoWriMo update today, but I haven’t written anything since the last NaNoWriMo post, so I need a filler.

It is a fun filler, though, as I have some pictures to share from last year’s Christmas Cookie Annual Event. This is why decorating Christmas cookies is so fun at my house:

I think if I ever need to see a therapist, I will hide these pictures and deny their existence.

Well, I have one last picture. Yesterday, I went with my parents to the Festival of Trees in Saskatoon. It’s a charity event where people design and decorate Christmas Trees and then donate them to be put on display and up for auction. You just walk around and look at Christmas Trees. Part of your entrance fee goes to the museum, where the Festival is held, and the other part is donated to the Hospital, so even if you don’t buy a tree (because some of them are very expensive) you still get to donate some money through your ticket price.

It’s really fun because I love Christmas, and so does my family. They usually have live bands playing Christmas music and there is also a Gingerbread House auction and some of the houses are AMAZING. I apologize for not taking any pictures to show you. Anyways, the reason I’m tell you all of this is because I bought a gingerbread man cookie at the Festival.

After my mom pointed out to me just what exactly it looked like, I had a little bit of trouble eating the rest of the cookie.

Well I think I touched bases on all things cookies. That’s all you’re getting from me ce soir! Thanks for reading and viewing!

this post was reblogged from wlouison’blog (#) .