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This article will give the reader three easy holiday crafts to make which make good presents. They will include a salt dough Christmas tree ornament, a picture on a small wooden board made with nails and strings, and a pinecone mobile.
For the salt dough Christmas tree ornaments the materials needed are 1-Cup flour, 1/4 C salt, 1/4 C hot tap water, a nice ribbon about 1m of it, varnish, paint, and paintbrushes. First combine the water with the salt mixing it well until you can't see the salt kernels, then add it to the flour and knead it together well for about 5-10min. Then put the dough into a zip-lock freezer bag and let it rest for 24 hours. Then roll out the dough for the wanted thickness and use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes wanted. At the top center of the shape punch in a hole with a toothpick or the back of the paintbrush and place the 'cookies' on a baking sheet. Then the salt dough can be baked in the oven at 100„aC for about 2-3 hours. The dough should be hard and a bit brown at the bottom of the form when it is done. Now let the shapes cool completely before continuing. Let your child paint their forms and let it dry again completely. Then the shape can be varnished with a clear varnish and should be given 2 - 3 coats. Then the ribbon can be threaded through the hole and then tied together, and there is the beautiful homemade Christmas ornament.
For the picture on the wooden board the materials needed are a small wooden board about 15cm in a square and 1cm thick, short nails (about 1.5-2cm long), colorful threads (wool or cotton), paint, varnish and brushes. Let your child draw a simple drawing on a piece of paper that they want to use as the design, using just pencil and simple straight lines. Make the paper the same size as the wooden board so it will fit. Then let your child paint a background on the wooden board, something like a blue sky and hills, or a sandy beach. Then varnish the wood 2 - 3 times. After the wood is completely dry, place the drawing on top of the board, and nail in a nail at every corner or rounded place letting 1cm of the nail stick out. After placing a nail at all the corners and following the lines on the drawing (the drawing should be very simple!) the paper can be taken off the wood. Now the string can be wound around the nails, following the pattern of the drawing, and tied together where the ends meet. There is now a beautiful lasting print of your child's painting which you can hang for everyone to see. At the back you can fasten a picture hanger so that the picture can be hung more effectively.
For the pinecone mobile the materials needed are 10-15 pinecones, black strong string, a glue gun, and some thin strong sticks or wooden stakes of length 10 - 25cm. At each end of the sticks about .5cm from the end, make small grooves with a knife. Take two pinecones, and a string of length of 10 cm. Glue the end of the string to the end of the pinecone, using lots of glue. Tie the other end around the end of the stick, putting the thread into the groove to prevent it from slipping. Repeat the last step, and tie the other pinecone to the other end of the stick. Now the whole process can be repeated. Now you should have 2 sticks with 2 pinecones attached on each. Now find the center of balance of each stick by balancing it on your finger, at the center make a small groove and tie a string to it. Then you can take a longer stick, and at one end tie this stick with two pinecones, and on the other end take a long string with a pinecone and attach it there. Now you can continue like this attaching more pairs together, as many as you want, always balancing the pieces until your mobile is the desired size. For the top piece, tie a string in the center and make a loop so it can be hung on the ceiling in some place of the house. A variation is to spray-paint the pinecones different colors to make it more cheerful. Enjoy your beautiful, sweet smelling mobile!
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