Christmas Crafts

All my craftiness this year is gathered on the table just inside the front door! I really have not had the time to try out the ideas I saw in Atlanta at the Country Living Fair. These were all simple and quick...

I made the moss initial, the grungy candy canes and the primitive melting snowman.

The grungy candy canes are cut of striped fabric, stuffed and painted with a mixture of stuff to stain them. Then I baked them in the oven at 200 degrees until they were dry. I did not have a recipe for the grunge paint- just mixed some hot water, instant coffee, cinnamon and vanilla. I painted the canes with water first then painted on the grunge until they were dark enough for me. They smell good!

The snowmen are made grungy the same way. The nose is a twig-stitched on roughly with embroidery floss. I made the hat out of felt and the scarf is a wool scrap. The eyes are snaps and the mouth is a safety pin- I wish it was rusty. Maybe I will put some outside to rust and replace it.

I saw the moss initial at a cute little store downtown- I didn't even ask the price because I knew I was too cheap to pay for it! I have invested about $4 and all of the skin on my fingers in it! Had Hubby cut a C out of thin wood. Used 2 bags of reindeer moss from Dollar Tree. The rusty bells are also from DT. I used red seam binding to hang it and one of my grungy candy canes in a large size. The loss of finger skin comes from using a hot glue gun to attach the moss. It was not in small clumps (like more expensive moss is) so I used a fair amount of bad language during the construction. I have the stuff to make another one but, I don't see that happening anytime soon!!


I know it is Thursday night and I'm late to the party...I'm still going to link up to Leigh's Thrifty Thursday- here!