Holiday Edition

Beach Vacation Ornament

Supplies:
Miniature pail
Styrofoam sphere (choose a size that fits inside the pail)
Glazed sea shells ("How to")
Tacky glue
Nautical ribbon
Twine
Decorative button

This is a great ornament to commemorate a beach vacation you took over the past year! First, glue the Styrofoam ball inside the bucket with Tacky glue (I used a 5 cm sphere), this gives you a base to glue the shells on. Then glue the glazed shells into place; I layered them on top of each other so that no Styrofoam was showing. Now you can decorate the bucket! I found this button at Marco Shell & Craft Co and strung it around the bucket with twine. Then I tied ribbon onto the bucket handle; I love this sea creatures print! Hang the pail on a tree branch by its handle. Don't forget to write the year and/or location on the bottom of the bucket so you will remember this vacation when you trim the tree for years to come!

Cork Tree

After sea shells, wine corks are my second favorite material to craft with! But you don't need to drink this many bottles of wine before you can start your project! I asked friends and coworkers for corks. I also went to wine tastings at local wineries to ask for their extras. While out in Fresno, California I hit the jackpot and brought back an entire bag from Engelmann Cellars and LoMac Winery! You'll notice these corks in the picture below.

Supplies:

Styrofoam cone (8 x 3 inch)

Low temperature hot glue gun

Wine Corks (I used about 75 corks total)

Short strand of battery-operated lights (20 count LED)

Miniature tree topper

Ball head straight pins

Some supplies pictured

Mount the lights around the Styrofoam cone with pins. Start at the top of the cone and pin in a spiral all the way to the bottom, with the battery-pack at the end. This will keep the lights in place until corks are positioned. You won't see the pins once they are covered by corks. [Hint: I used straight pins that have a small ball on the end (I tried regular straight pins at first but the wire would slip right off). My strand of lights was made up of three wires twisted around each other. I placed a pin every 1-2 inches in between the twisted wires. Make sure you don't pierce the wire!]

Glue the tree topper on top of the cone with hot glue, I found this one at Michael's.

Now you can start gluing the corks. Hot glue can eat away at Styrofoam, so make sure you are using a low temperature hot glue gun. Note in the picture that I glued a row of vertical corks around the base of the cone to give the tree an level base to sit on. After this row I became more sporadic with where I glued the rest. Make sure you allow the lights to poke through between the corks. 

Finally, put some batteries in and watch it glow!