Making snowflakes is a fun craft for the entire family!  This year on Christmas Eve, my entire family got involved in the fun.

All you need is square paper and scissors, and you can create the most magnificent snowflakes.  I will show you how to make snowflakes with 6 points.

Start with a square piece of paper.  Here I used 12×12 scrapbook paper.  Fold the paper in half, corner to corner, as shown in the middle picture above, creating a triangle.  Then fold the triangle in half.

Hold your triangle with the main fold on the left, main point facing down and the top of the triangle the straight edge.  Fold from the bottom point, one third of the triangle towards the center (see picture #1 above).  You will have two thirds of the triangle folded over itself at this point.  Next, fold the remaining third, coming from the right side, over the fold you just made (see picture in the center above).  Flip the paper over and notice the area on top where there is a straight edge of paper with points sticking out from it.  It has the appearance of “fries” sticking out of a triangle shaped fry box. (See the last picture above)

Cut the paper across the straight edge of the paper so you cut off the “fries”.

Now comes the fun part!!  In order to have dimension in your snowflake, you want the main folded area to remain longer and cut a shorter side where the open folds are.  See picture above.  This will become the main shape of your snowflake.

Now you will cut areas out to create the “holes” in the snowflake.  Be sure not to cut the entire folded area on either side.  If you do, your snowflake will fall apart.  See the picture above.  See the picture below to view the above cut opened up.

This is what the final snowflake looks like.

Here are the pictures shown again, but side by side, so you can compare the cut paper before and after.

Above is a 2nd snowflake with more narrow points.

This gives you an idea of what two different snowflakes will look like.

Have fun cutting!  See my next blog post for some fun and creative ideas on what to do with all of your snowflakes!

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…

Since I am darn near “MRS. CLAUS”, it is only fitting that I have my own lighted sign in our front yard.  These signs are so easy & simple to make, you will ALL want your own!

Start with a piece of plywood.  Draw on the wood what you would like the sign to say.  Be sure to space things evenly and make the letters the same size.  Use a drill to drill holes over where you have drawn the letters.  Leave enough space between holes so the holes don’t connect.  Use a drill bit size that will accommodate the size of Christmas lights.  After the holes are drilled, paint the wood with a dark color.  You don’t need to paint it perfectly.  Spray paint will work just fine.  Once the paint has dried, take a string of Christmas lights and push the lights through the holes.  Plug it in and you have your very own lighted sign.

Happy lighting…

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…

I like using traditional tree skirts on several of my Christmas trees, BUT, having 11 trees in my house, I feel the need to create fun “tree bottoms”!

I used brown hand towels to create “sand” on my “under the ocean” tree.  I then placed star fish, sea shells, and a lobster on top of the towels to complete the “Ocean” themed tree.

Both of these trees are covered in mesh, so I continued the mesh at the bottom of the trees.  I added areas of ornaments on the mesh for the pink tree.

This is the simplest tree bottom of all!!!  I bunched up white cotton felt under the tree, then placed 4 LARGE bling ornaments on the felt,

Here I used white cotton felt bunched at the bottom and topped it with beaded garland strands.

A traditional gold tree skirt covered with bunched up mesh, topped with gold strands of beads.

A traditional tree skirt topped with bunched up mesh.

All of these things make the tree look so beautiful from top to bottom, before you put your gifts under the tree!  AND, OF COURSE, you want to make your gifts just as beautiful and coordinate the wrappings with the tree they are placed under!

Happy tree decorating…

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…