Holiday Arts and Crafts
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Besides my love of baking, I love painting and crafting. That includes watercolor painting and making all manner of decorations for the holidays. After living in the city for years, and not having room for my supplies, I put that part of myself away for a bit.
When we moved to the house, and P showed an interest in arts and craft, I realized how much I missed it. It’s been lovely over the years to do not only watch P’s interest in a variety of arts, crafts, and music evolve, it’s also been nice to rediscover that part of my soul that I tucked away during my (much beloved) years in the city and time as a new parent (also much beloved). We even have a rotating art wall in our kitchen to share P’s artwork and encourage him to do more, because we love it so much!
This post is to share what we’ve been doing more recently. I hope to update it regularly with new artwork and crafts to see what you think.
We tried our hand at air dry clay. We used our cookie cutters to cut out the clay, then used a skewer to poke holes in them for string so we can hang them as ornaments when they dry. We let them sit for days, and days and days. Honestly, it seemed like forever for them to dry. When they were finally dry, we used art markers to add color and used jute twine for a rustic look. I love how they came out. What do you think? NOTE: for storage, put in a moisture tight plastic bin and include a few silica packets, like those that come in your shoe boxes, that soak up moisture. Store the dried clay in a dark, dry place until you need them again. ALSO, fun fact, if you put some silica packers on your dashboard (talking New England winter here), your window is less likely to fog up from all the moisture in the car.
Another thing we’ve been trying lately is watercolor painting. I love it. There’s something so satisfying about this medium, I’m not quite sure what, but perhaps the instant beauty, the pull of the paint through the water you’ve laid….not quite sure, but it’s a bit magical. It’s perfect for the holiday season. Abstract seems to fit my mold a bit better than anything realistic. Plus for the holidays it’s a bit more whimsical, right? At least that is what I’m going with…haha.
During COVID, we really needed things to keep us occupied. My father took a photo I sent him of a Grinch and Max, cut it out of plywood with a jigsaw, and dropped it off for us to finish. You can see from the photos, P and I used acrylic paint to paint the wood. We used Sharpie markers to outline the features and make them pop. I coated the entire thing, front and back with polyurethane to protect it from the weather. We attached plastic spikes to put them in the ground and voila! Outdoor Christmas decor. My husband wrapped the tree in the front yard with lights, but pulled some off, connected them to the Grinch, so he looks like he’s stealing them. We directed a solar floodlight at the pair, so you could see them at night. The effect is awesome!
Lastly, is some pretty home decor I created about a million years ago. I took some wood tree forms I found at Michael’s, painted them, wrapped them with ribbon, included little packages at the base, glued little ornaments on them….and BOOM, just the prettiest little Christmas trees for the mantle you can imagine. What do you think?
What would you like us to paint or craft next? We need your ideas! Please comment below.
