How to Make a Winter Village Candle Holder – Polymer Clay Menorah Tutorial

Happy Hanukkah! I searched high and low for a cool menorah last year, but most menorahs are either very traditional *cough*BORING*cough or exPONsive.

So I decided to make my own from polymer clay!

I’ve nicknamed this the “shtetl menorah” because “shtetl” is the Yiddish word for a small village or town.

This project can be easily modified for different candle sizes or styles — it doesn’t have to be used as a menorah.

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How To Make a Fabric Gift Bow

What better way to get #fabulouslyfestive than to festoon yourself (and others) with bows?
gift_bow_tutorial_fabric
This bow would make a great topper for a gift since it’s the classic gift bow design… but the bonus is that since it’s made from fabric, it can double as a hair bow, brooch, or bracelet!
 
Of course you can use the same procedure for making a bow out of ribbon, fancy paper, or go the upcycled route and use some old magazine or newspaper pages!
gift_bow_tutorial_fabric_02Step 1
Here’s what you need:
  • fabric (or paper or ribbon) cut into 3/4″ strips
    • three strips measuring 8.5″ long
    • three strips measuring 7.5″ long
    • two strips measuring 6.5″ long
    • one strip measuring 2″ long
  • 2″ square piece of felt
  • high temp glue gun
  • scissors
  • (optional) brooch clip, head band, hair clip, or bobby pin
When it comes to choosing fabric, you can use woven or knits. Woven fabrics will tend to fray, so keep that in mind. Lighter weight fabrics may need a layer of fusible interfacing so they don’t wind up too floppy- this may also help prevent fraying.
I’m using a scrap of holographic foil printed spandex for mine.
 
If you have a rotary cutter, it will make cutting the strips much easier than scissors.Read more…

How to Make a Retro Holiday Ornament out of Duck Tape

This post brought to you by Duck Brand®. All opinions are 100% mine.

Duck® Brand tape comes in so many festive prints and colors- polka dots, metallics, candy cane stripes, snowmen… it’s the perfect material for handmade holiday decorations!

Check out these decorations I made out of tape:

duct_tape_ornaments

All of the ornaments use the same basic shape. It’s just a piece of tape folded into a strip, as shown below.

duct_tape_ornaments_02duct_tape_ornaments_03

That’s it! If you can fold a piece of tape and wield a stapler and a glue gun, you can make all of the ornaments in the photo! This would be a perfect project to do with little kids, just put them to work folding those strips!

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