Cornstarch Packing Peanut Snow Crafts

You know those cornstarch packing peanuts? The ones that are used for protecting fragile things people send in the mail? Well, guess what. I have a giant bag of them... Uh huh. Yet another thing I collect. Sigh... 'Bout time I use the darn things, don't ya think? 

Yeah, me too.

Ok, so here's what you do...

And what you get when you're done is a snowy packing peanut Christmas tree! Seriously, this is so easy and all you need is a tiny bit of water. NO glue, man! Amazing.

Nice, eh? Almost as pretty as the real thing if I do say so myself.

Okay so... what else can you make with these packing-peanutty things? Hmm, well The Boy made this Hill of Snow Lantern with his packing peanuts.

Here it is, all lit up with a Sylvania DOT-it LED light. I love his so much I tried to make one of my own.

My attempt at the Hill of Snow Lantern was less successful than his. Mine kinda looks a giant baby bottle nipple. Not exactly what I was going for... But you know what they say...

No two hills of snow are exactly the same. That's right my friend.

♥M

Disclosure: The link contained herein is an affiliate link. I will benefit financially if you opt to purchase the associated product.

Junkmail Snowflakes - Possibility #2

Hiya.

It's Tuesday.

You knew that?

Oh.

Did you also know about my little junkmail-snowflake-making rampage? Well... I regret to inform you that it goes on. I know... Call me obsessed. I can take it.

Here's my junkmail snowflake experiment du jour. Jars. I stuck the snowflakes to jars. See?

Junkmail Snowflake Lanterns

All I did was cut out teeny snowflakes using THIS method. And then I took some watered-down Mod Podge (roughly 1:1 water to Mod Podge) and brushed the Podge onto the back of each snowflake (or half-snowflake). Then I stuck the snowy flakes onto jars, and bam: junkmail snowflake lanterns.

I suggest brushing the snowflakes with Mod Podge while holding them in hand. Otherwise they will become forever stuck to whatever surface you have them on. They'll stick to your hands too, but if you use the Podge judiciously and brush it on with a tiny paint brush, you'll avoid the flakes becoming permanently affixed to you.

Here's one with a candle glowing inside. Aaaah, the warmth... Makes me want to bellow to the heavens... Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your... What? No bellowing, you say? 

Oh. Okay. Perhaps I could serenade you on Thursday then? Wouldn't that be great? Don't let me forget, okay?

Well you have a lovely day now. Bye bye until Thursday. ♥M


Junkmail Snowflake Possibility #1 is back HERE, btw.

Tutorial - Winter Wonderlantern

The snow has fallen. Christmas is just around the corner. Craftblogland is alight with the spirit of the season. Today I thought I'd add to the glow by sharing a very simple but pretty lantern...

Tutorial: Winter Wonderlantern

For this project, you will need:

• A small lampshade
• White tissue paper
• White wrapping paper
• Mod Podge
• Plastic wrap/cling film
• Paintbrush
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Exacto knife

1. Wrap your small lampshade with plastic wrap. Be sure it is well covered, but NOT too tightly. Tuck the plastic wrap ends inside the lampshade.

2. Water down some Mod Podge in a bowl you care nothing about. The Mod Podge should have the consistency of maple syrup (yummm, maple...). Slather the Mod Podge all over your plastic covered lampshade using a paintbrush.

3. Take a piece of white tissue paper and cover the lampshade.

4. Make sure there aren't any gaps or holes. If there are, cover those too. Using your paintbrush, smooth the tissue paper down onto the lampshade. There will be creasing and crinkling of the tissue paper, but that adds to the charm of the lantern.

5. Using the white wrapping paper, cut out a ton of snowflakes. You will be covering the shade with the snowflakes, so you'll have to estimate how many your particular lampshade will require. I cut out approximately 20 - 3 inch (7.5 cm) snowflakes for my lampshade.

6. Apply the runny Mod Podge on the tissue layer. Apply the snowflakes on the shade, going over the snowflakes with your Mod Podgy paintbrush.

7. Cover the entire shade with snowflakes. Give the shade a few minutes to dry out a little.

8. Apply another coat of Mod Podge over the entire snowflake layer. Take a second layer of tissue paper and place it over the snowflake layer. Once again, using your paintbrush, smooth the tissue paper down onto the lampshade. Allow the whole thing to dry well.

9. Once it is dry, remove the paper lantern from the lampshade. To do this, make a slit down one side of your lantern with an exacto knife. Don't cut through the lampshade. Untuck the plastic wrap ends. Gently remove the paper lantern. Carefully peal away the plastic wrap from the paper lantern. The plastic wrap should come off fairly easily. No struggle required. Trim the top and bottom edges of your lantern as in #9.

10. For a calla lily look, cut away the top corners of the lantern along a curve.

11. Your lantern should look as mine does in #11.

12. Gently curl the sides in by rolling them inward with your hands.

You are done! And you have your very own Winter Wonderlantern!!!

Now, enjoy enjoy!

Please be SAFE! Always put your candles in glass votives or jars before placing them in the lanterns.

Now if you like this snowflake craft, you will be awestruck when you see this Wonderland by Aunt Peaches, one of my favourite bloggy voices and crafters!

And if you haven't seen it yet, get a load of Lupin's Snowflake Curtain. Isn't it spectacular? If I had the time, I'd put one in every window! So so pretty!

And with that, I wish you a fantastic day and some happy crafting! ♥

Tutorial: Webbily Halloween Lantern

Whenever I'm busily crafting, I forget about everything else. Even those marginally important things. Does this happen to you? You know, like you wake up on a Saturday morning, you go down to your crafty dungeon, housecoat on, bed-head, teeth unbrushed and before you know it, it's 7 pm, you haven't eaten all day, you look like the bride o' Frankenstein, you haven't laid eyes on your family, your child has been fed 3 times, grown a couple inches, been played with, bathed, put to bed. The world has turned, and you were along for the ride, but you didn't even notice because you and your glue-gun were happily concocting cute felt do-hickies with pretty pink bows on top.

Okay, I exaggerate. Slightly. But that old adage couldn't be more true. Time flies when you're having fun. Maybe the idea is to keep a semblance of balance and remember to eat and say hello to your family? And wash? Maybe? Who's to say...

So today's tutorial is a Webbily Halloween Lantern (clever segue, Michele)! Do you want to know how? Easy breezy! Walk this way.

Tutorial: Webbily Halloween Lantern


Find an empty cereal box.

Take it apart. Cut away the tops and sides leaving you with lovely cardboard rectangles.

Draw a spider web on one of your rectangles. Cut it out using your handy-dandy exacto knife.

Paint one side of the board black. A few coats may be required. Let the paint dry. And paint the other side white. Again with the drying paint...

I didn't take photos of the next part. It involves painting the inside of a jar with white paint. Very simple. Put some acrylic paint into the jar. Swish the paint around until you've covered the entire inner surface of the jar. Dump the excess paint back into your paint container. Flip the jar upside down onto some newspaper to allow any more paint to drip out. When that is done, clean off the outer surface of the jar just in case any paint decided to go there. Allow the paint to dry.

Now take your spider web cut-out and your glue gun, and hot glue that spider web onto your jar. Guess what? You're done.

Now make a few more, and you have yourself a little Webbily Halloween Lantern display!

You might also like to combine it with last week's Falloween garland...

for some extra Halloweeny-ness!
























Enjoy, and have a great day!