Christmas Nutcrackers 2024

Everywhere I go this year I'm seeing nutcrackers. I don't think I have even one of them in my Christmas decorations. I'm not a collector of these things but this year I'm going to make a few. So that's this year's theme. I like to DIY my decorations whenever I can.

So I guess these things have been popular this year because they keep popping up on my pages. People actually have a group for collecting these seven foot tall plastic ones that they paint and post online. I don't have anywhere to store anything that huge so I'm not interested in those.

But I do see a lot of DIY ones on YouTube. Bargain Bethany has a huge nutcracker she makes out of Dollar Tree laundry baskets for about twenty dollars in materials. Go watch that here, it's amazing.

I'd like to make one but I don't want to tear them down or store them anywhere so I ran across a tutorial to make smaller ones. And they are so cute. They are made of all Dollar Tree finds! Araceli Chan has a great small nutcracker DIY that you can use to make your own little decorations. 

And that's the one that I used. I think I added a little more bling to mine though. I also drew and painted a face for mine while adding a few personal touches. I didn't want mine to look scary.

I love the way they turned out and they are the perfect size. I can easily store these without breaking them. Overall it cost me about five dollars to make one. I already had all the bling and glue in my stash. I recycled the base of the doll from a screw on plastic lid and I already had the white and gold spray paint for them.

All I had to buy was the plastic pieces from the plasticware section of DT. I used six different packages to make two nutcrackers. I used the shot glasses, mini round glasses, clear plastic tumblers, cordial glasses, wine glasses and medium round clear ornaments or any smooth plastic ornament 3-1/2" in diameter would also work.

You need a glue gun, tacky glue and a soldering iron for melting the pointy crown out of a tumbler if you're going to make that one. You also need some zip ties and some fuzzy yarn, acrylic paint, a feather duster or refill pack, ribbon and a lot of bling. And you might need two packages of the cordial glasses if you are going to make two nutcrackers. One package is only enough for one set of arms and legs.

Basically I just threw the decorating kitchen sink at these and made them with whatever I already had like metal ribbon and various assorted metallic bling strings. You can make the hands out of wooden balls or glue stick lids or just paint the bottom fourth of the shot glasses with flesh colored paint. Just use whatever you have and do whatever you think looks best.

I loved the way mine turned out. Even after spraying all the pieces with white, I had to give them two and three coats of acrylic paint. These would make pretty table centerpieces with greenery around the bottom or a nice decoration to include in a gift basket with some fruit and nuts! 

Create 10 Projects (Spoiler Alert)

IT'S ALL ABOUT RIBBON THIS YEAR!

It's almost here! You don't get any 12" x 12" paper, you don't get any bows and you don't get very many extras but you do get a lot of ribbon. You do get some heavy plain card stock. And I think Anna is going to show us how to make bows again this year. 

So I usually get my materials for the classes 2 to 3 weeks ahead to cut out the stuff we will need to make projects for each class. And I usually get all that done and I put a lot of stuff together. Basically I'm in craft heaven for a month or more, then I just make a few more things here and there afterward.

Class 1: The first class was for me the show stopper. I didn't think I would like those eyelet frame looking cards but after I made a few, I fell in love with them. I just didn't like the examples that were shown. But I found other uses for them too. I like cards and card dies and I really like the way the ribbon looks on the eyelet frames..

So I also come up with my own designs occasionally and those little ornament shoes in class 9 reminded me of a pattern I already had. I had made a larger shoe pretty much like them from a free pattern I got online. I decorated it with the eyelet frame dies. You can use these eyelet frame dies and cut them into pieces for other designs. I really like them.

Class 2: I love decorative tags but I don't much care for them when they are too big. These are too big. I would not use them on gifts because they will just get thrown away. They are cute but they are just too big to use like that. I would however use them as decorations on a large tree or as a garland to decorate a window or door.

Class 3: The Creative Calendar. First let me say that I don't care to stamp and emboss anymore. I would have to be really, really bored to drag out all my stamping materials and work with it. I also don't journal and use printed calendars any more. I have a digital calendar I like and I have a little perpetual block calendar I like. But I love easels. And this one has a beautiful butterfly easel. I made five of them already!

Class 4: The Stylish Hat: Don't know what I'll do with these but they are pretty. Can't see me mailing them or who to gift them to??? But they remind me of the cloth pincushions we made a dozen years ago. You can get pretty creative with these if you want. They bring out the designer in you. So I made two of them but what I really liked was the hat box. Not so much the one that came with (I made two of those) but I wanted to make a round hat box that would hold a hat with a LOT of decorations on them. So I did.

Class 5: French Fan Dies. This was just a beautiful die set. I enjoyed decorating with the pieces and threading the ribbon through the panels. I will probably display one in a butterfly easel in my craft cabinet. They are a little flimsy to be useful but they are so pretty for display. I would not decorate the backs since they won't be seen anyway. Very pretty and easy to make.

Class 6: Treat Box Dies. Another favorite class! These are so fun to put together and decorate. I loved making them. I had the recessed frame inset figured out way beforehand. I have seen these before from other designers and I actually have a pattern for a similar box. There's nothing new under the crafty sun, just another way to decorate it! Love them!! And since we're cutting things that aren't seen in the preview shots, it seems that Anna will demonstrate how to make a ribbon and bow decoration from the large die out of ice blue foil paper. 

Class 7: Theatrical Greetings Dies. Gimmicky, overdecorated, uses too much paper. That's just my opinion. The only use I can think for these is that they would be great for a wedding card... maybe. I will try to think of another use for them later. They do remind me of the stereoscope cards and holder on Pixie Hill by Nicola Battilana. And they remind me also of the old ViewMaster toys. It's the 3D effect.

Class 8: Corset Album Dies. Oh Wow... that's all I can say about a corset photo album. Maybe as a bridal gift with getting ready with the girls pictures but anything else? I wouldn't use it as a photo album. So because it's a garment all I could think of for a good use was a sewing box. So that's what I made with my dies this class. I don't know what I'll do with the album dies if anything. It's very feminine and I like it as a sewing notions box even though I wouldn't use it as a photo album..

Class 9: Origami Ornament Dies. This was one of my favorite die sets. I loved the shoe so I had fun with that. I also have patterns of them in different sizes that I've worked with before. And I already have an angel die so another one was O.K. I did make the frames and I think they are a good idea for people who like to put their kids and grandkid's pictures on the tree. I don't do that any more but I did make two of the frames. I don't like them glued back to back because you can only see one at a time.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the projects. It's hard for me not to like anything creative or making something frilly with paper. I plan to go to every Create event that I can for as long as Anna has them. I look forward to it every year!

And now I can just enjoy watching and participating in the classes without any pressure of stress. I learned from my first Create that you will not be able to keep up and you'll miss out on some stuff if you try. And I can cut out a few more things and make them as slow as I want. Looking forward to it!!!