Smoky Mountain Christmas and TastyLinks!

Some of my vintage Shiny Brite and Polish ornaments in oversize beverage glasses from Michaels. I almost fell over when I found them. I made the bow...yeah...I'm crafty like that.

Fresh greens in a vintage Colonial era Indian Chicken feeder, faux pointsettia in another Colonial era Indian piece, mini flocked trees, a handcrafted dove candle holder from Mexico and a Madge original collage canvas.

Vintage plastic Santa candy holders with vintage Christmas light bulbs, flickering candles and flocked miniature trees.

Just in case you didn't get the memo...I've been appearing live on Thursdays and Saturdays on Jewelry Television's Jewel School from 9am to Noon EST on TV and on the JTV.com website. I'll be back on tomorrow...saying a little prayer the snow doesn't make it misery getting to Knoxville...and sharing two new projects with my lovely hosts Sheree Henry and Katie Rooke.

We have bedecked our halls with boughs, bows and balls this season. I'm feeling the Smoky Mountain Christmas.

Here's what the craftacular Crafty Bloggers Crew have whipped up for your entertainment this week:

The Crochet Dude
Drew takes a walk down memory lane and shares why crochet and the holidays are forever fused together for him.

Mixed Media Artist
Have you heard of kirigami? Come and see how much fun this paper-cutting technique is!

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Margot's daughter Avalon whips up another FAB project for ILoveToCreate teen crafts! Check out her Blue Christmas card!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Not all projects run smoothly from start to finish. Read about Eileen-s experience with a tote bag made from a kit.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Need some quick and easy ornaments or gift tags? Stitch up back stitch motifs in white floss on red fabric - simple and holiday-rific.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is very pleased with how her new college crafting club is moving along!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside we have a mega giveaway of tons of Westcott Scissors and books, tutorials on sewing recycled book page ornaments, stamping and sewing die cut fabric coasters, 9 techniques for working with pastels and a honey, banana, nut snack recipe.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi celebrates the 50th Anniversary of a British soap opera with a new set of fridge magnets.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's going Christmas green and created a recycled Christmas card banner out of old cards she's saved. Check out her easy tutorial and make one yourself!

About Family Crafts
For your amusement, Sherri shares a fun spin on the classic 12 Days of Christmas song with gifts to go along with each verse!

Free Holiday Craft Project Frosty the Floam Man!

(Click on images to view close up)

Frosty the Floam Man
Free Holiday Craft Project
Copyright 2009 Margot Potter

I had to make some on-air samples for a recent QVC appearance featuring the uniquely interesting substance known as Floam. (You can watch part of the video here!) I gathered up three oversized Styrofoam balls (courtesy of the fine folks from FloraCraft), a mini top hat created by my lovely daughter, some annealed iron wire and my collection of vintage buttons (you can buy these by the pound on eBay) and created this charming snowman. He’s currently standing guard in our entryway over a blanket of faux snow being cautiously regarded by our faux crow. I’ve got a thing for snowmen. What can I say?

Here’s how I made him, feel free to improvise with the materials you have on hand.

Materials
3 graduated Styrofoam balls (5”, 6”, 7”)
3 red buttons (vintage or new)
1 green button (vintage or new)
2 black buttons (vintage or new)
7 8mm hematite faceted beads (or other beads)
5 3.5 oz. tubs Floam in white
20 gauge annealed iron wire (or other rusty style dark craft wire or actual sticks)
Red craft felt
Mini Top Hat (black)
Tiny Tinsel Pin
Aleene’s Foamtastic Craft Glue

Tools
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Memory wire shears (annealed iron will wreck your wire cutters)
Fiskars scissors

1. Cover your Styrofoam balls with Floam. Let them dry on a non-stick silicone craft sheet. It could take a day or two, check the bottoms to adjust any drippy Floam. I made these intentionally lumpy like a real snowman.

2. Cut six 5” sections of annealed wire with memory wire shears. Put three into the center of the largest Styrofoam ball and slide on the second ball. Repeat for the next ball to create your snowman base.

3. Glue buttons as in photo. Glue on beads to form a smile. Allow glue to dry.

4. Cut a long 2.5” strip of red craft felt, repeat. Attach the ends with glue or a safety pin. Use scissors to cut fringe on both exposed ends. Wrap around the snowman’s neck.

5. Attach your mini-top hat (instructions for hat are here or you can buy a pre-made one at the craft store) using a u-shaped segment of annealed iron wire to thread it into the head of the snowman. Add your tiny tinsel pin to the front of the hat.

6. Create wire arms by wrapping a second 3” section of wire around the longer wire arms. Mine are approximately 6” long.

7. If you want your snowman to stand freely, glue him to a thick piece cardboard or wood.

Giving Thanks Blog Hop Free Project AND Blog Giveaway!

(Click on image to view close up)

Continuing with the Thanksgiving theme and the Giving Thanks Blog Hop, I'm cross posting a project I created for the Beadalon blog. Enjoy the project AND if you'd like to win the plethora of paper crafting swag seen in the pic at the bottom of this post, just leave a comment explaining the significance of these particular names together (this is a trivia question) and I'll announce a winner randomly selected from the folks who answer the question correctly on Friday.

Fall Harvest Place Card Holders
Margot Potter for Beadalon

Colourcraft copper wire is coiled into a faux flower and ‘planted’ in a painted miniature clay pot. Make up a bunch of these for any occasion, simple change the color scheme to suit your event. These would be delightful as wedding favors!

Materials
Miniature clay pots
Sage green raffia
18 gauge ColourCraft copper wire
Decorative ribbon
Ranger paint dabbers in gold, copper, lettuce and sunset orange
Liquid Fusion
Hot Glue Sticks
Small glass pebbles
Glue dots

Tools
Paint brush
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Round nose pliers
Wire cutters
Nylon jaw pliers

1. Paint your pots and allow to dry. Paint a second coat if needed.
2. Glue decorative ribbon around edges with Liquid Fusion.
3. Cut a 5” segment of ColourCraft wire. Bend one end of your wire with pliers to create a small stand that fits inside of your pot.
4. Use round nose pliers to start a flat wire coil and continue using nylon jaw pliers. Make this a loose rather than tight coil.
5. Cut off a 10” length of raffia.
6. Hot glue your wire base into the pot, add a small glass pebble and more glue and your raffia. Allow glue to dry.
7. You can use “glue dots” to secure these on the table and prevent them from tipping over. Add your own festive place cards. I use a fabulous Fiskars squeeze punch to get this scalloped edge square shape on cardstock.