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Xmas Crafts - 1998
Click on any picture to see a larger, more detailed, version.
Styrofoam/Pipe Cleaner Xmas Tree
This one was something I saw at my friends' Wayne and Peggy's house. Their kids had done theirs - I'm not sure how old they were when the did them, but it's a fairly simple project.
You need about two 12-packs (I bought 8, totally overbought) of green 'bump' pipe cleaners. Sometimes these are called Bump Chenille. Here's a picture of one on my wrist rest, along with one segment I cut from another one. You're going to be cutting them all like this.
| You need a styrofoam cone too. Here's mine already partially made. I think this was a 6" cone. Something like that anyway - I don't think it much matters. It was cheaply bought at the craft store.
Once you have it, just cut those pieces of the pipe cleaner and starting sorta near the bottom, shove them into the styrofoam. You can either shove them at an angle or straight in and then bend - either works fine and is easy to do. If you make a mistake, pull it out and try again. Peggy's kids' trees looked totally different from each other, but both were really cool - you can't really screw this up, I don't think.
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(Don't forget to click to see the larger picture - it's much easier to see what's going on here.) I got to the top and wasn't quite sure what to do. So I took about 8 or 10 (I forget now) of my branch segments and twisted the tops together sorta... 
| ... then took my glue gun (just got that thing - I love it!) and dropped a big ol' glop of glue on the inside of it. Then it was just a matter of dropping it on top of the cone and pressing down! This is almost the finished result now! 
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Then I used the glue gun to put a bunch of red and gold beads on for ornaments. Peggy's kids had a gold star fashioned out of a glittery pipe cleaner - the craft store was out of that when I went there, so mine is without. I have a low-heat glue gun, so I was able to put a glop on the tree and let David (just turned 5) put the beads on it. Even when he accidentally touched the glue, by the time he got his fingers near it with the bead it was just very warm, not burning temperature. 
| I really had no idea what to do with my creation, but then it hit me! I had a ton of candy with holiday wrappings around (see later craft!) so I put it on a nice plate my mother brought back from Europe, put the Xmas candy around it, and it was quite a festive (and popular!) centerpiece when everyone came over for dinner! 
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Candy Sleds
This was another cool idea of Peggy's! All you need is a candy bar, a couple of candy canes, and some holiday-wrapped miniature candies! Wrap the candy bars in wrapping paper. Hot glue the candy canes to the bottom - like sled runners. Then hot glue the candy like little presents on the sled. The Dove pieces' wrapping actually looks like presents - so do the Ande's mints. Everyone loves Reese's though, so don't skimp on the candy :) I found some foil-wrapped Santas and snowmen too, so I put those as the drivers.
I used fruit flavored canes - obviously you can use any kind at all. This is more clear on the larger version - consider clicking and looking at it. 
| Table Clutter not required, btw. 
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I was part of an ornament exchange this year, with some other members of an email list I'm on. This isn't the one I sent out, but the supplies were bought at the same time. Unbelievable as it sounds, I didn't get any pics of me crating this. It's a little wooden sled, painted xmas colors. I thin took some little teddy bears I found at the craft store and hot glued them on, leaning back as iff they were riding on the sled. I also glued on some mini-presents I got at the store - I'm kicking myself for not buying more - I ran out too quickly when the cats discovered them and assumed they were cat toys. The little red bear in the back is facing backwards trying to grab the presents as they fall off the sleigh. That doesn't come out so well in the picture, I think. I then took two kinds of ribbon and laced it through the sled runners and out the back to make a sort of wind-blown effect. Finally, I hot glued a few little bells along the sides - this was David's idea, actually - I had the bells, but he put them together with the sleds.
Nere are a few pictures at different angles of the finished product.
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