I do like being able to do these Pinterest challenge posts with found items (or, at least, cheap items)! The marble maze was made from all found items. So was the paper hyacinth, the net (hah!) bag, and googly eyes project. Today's project was a combination of found items and cheap items:
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| http://onelittleproject.com/ peanut-christmas-ornaments/ |
It wasn't that hard to get in the mood to make Christmas ornaments, since our weather has been so FREAKING COLD that it was easy to believe we had skipped all the good weather and moved right on to December (in fact, today at preschool, I played Christmas music, gave them a Christmas tree page to color, and then let them watch a Christmas video, just because I could).
I bought a bag of peanuts at the Dollar Store (and if I had planned on making, like, a whole bag of peanuts worth of ornaments, I should have upgraded to better quality peanuts, as dollar store peanuts must come from the bottom of the peanut barrel), and used felt scraps, pipe cleaners, twine, and little pom poms that I already had. I did buy some new acrylic paint, but that was my only real expense, and they were only fifty cents apiece.
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| If I'd had my druthers, I wouldn't have used salted peanuts, but you get what you get when you buy your peanuts at the dollar store. |
I painted the peanuts first, obviously, and let them dry. I had to paint the snowman in two sessions, since I couldn't hold it and paint it all at the same time, and the penguin as well: first, the while belly, second, the rest of the body.
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| Ho, ho, ho.... |
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| Penguin belly |
While the paint was drying, I made Santa hats. Lots and lots of Santa hats (I painted three of each ornament and did this before I noticed that every single one of them other than the reindeer had a Santa hat).
It was tedious work, I'm not going to lie. But AREN'T THEY CUTE?!
If you have a lot of time to devote to making tiny Christmas ornaments, and it doesn't bother you that you are sinking a lot of work into decorating a peanut which may or may not some day become infested with something or found by a mouse or accidentally smashed, then you should make these.
Even my husband declared this a Pinterest win!
These are so cute! I'd love to make a batch of these for Christmas! Thanks for the inspiration! Next in A to Z Challenge: O is for Take every Opportunity to improve your life, improve your mind.
ReplyDeleteI thought they were pretty cute, too! I thought about adding an elf, but then I would have to find a piece of green felt and that's the end of that!
DeleteIt looks like an awful lot of time and effort but they are cute. Our daughter made a dough based reindeer one year that was really cute, but each year as I took it out of its wrappings there'd be little pile of dust from weavils living in it somewhere. Eventually it hit the bin.
ReplyDeleteLeanne | www.crestingthehill.com.au
O for Open your Eyes
Oh, they were tedious, all right. And weevils were the first thing I thought of! Maybe I should store them in the freezer until Christmas?
DeleteThese are worth remembering next December!
ReplyDeleteI have some extra hats I could send you. I got carried away... :)
DeleteWe'll talk in November... ;-p
Deletesnowing here today but I will be damned if Im making Christmas ornaments! zoe...yours ARE adorable!
ReplyDeleteI fear I have given in to the thought that spring is never coming.
DeleteThey are super cute but I would be a little worried about something edible eventually breaking down or drawing the attention of little critters. However, they're so cute. Weekends In Maine
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't see these becoming a family heirloom; I see it becoming a feast for some weevil or mouse or something.
DeleteThose are just the cutest, and I have a couple mini trees that they would be adorable on! You did a great job and I love them!! Did your furry felines show any interest in the peanuts? I have visions of Smokey and Toby turning them into their latest version of a hockey game! :-)
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, Nora paid no attention to the making of the ornaments. I did them at the lake house, and she had windows to look out of that are more interesting than at home.
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