A December to Remember

To make a Stocking Christmas Tree ornament: Draw a pattern for a stocking on a piece of paper. Cut it out and pin to a piece of folded over material. Cut both layers. This should give you two pieces.

Now put the inside parts together (the side you want to show when it's done) and sew up along the sides, leaving the top part open. Fold it inside out and attach a ribbon to the corner. You can fill these with tiny candies for people to find on Christmas morning!
Mim , 14, CA

A gumdrop tree : You'll need--

1 styrofoam cone
4 large bags of gumdrops
glue or pins
1 piece of ribbon

1) glue or pin the gumdrops to the styrofoam cone
2) cover the whole thing
3) tie the ribbon at the top to make a bow
Jena, 13, NJ and Beth C., 11, Arkansas,USA for Quick Crafts.

Christmas Ornaments: Well, first you get some clear, round Christmas ornaments, fake snow, glitter, small bells, Christmas stickers, and craft pipe cleaners.

After that you take the top off the ornament and fill it with a little of snow and glitter. Then you put the lid back on.

After your done with that, you cut about a 2 to 3 inch of pipe cleaner off. You wrap it around the top of the ornament once, then twist it about 2 times. Then with hot glue you glue a bell in the center of where you twisted it.

Afterwards, you put your choice of Christmas sticker on the front.

Tip:The pipe cleaners would look good in red or green.
Tip:It is easier to stick on the stickers if you cut slots into the corners of it.
Tip:For easier drying, put them into an empty egg carton.
Tip:If wanted you could put a Christmas light in them.

Tiffany B., 11, Connecticut, U.S. of A. for Quick Crafts.

Star Oranaments:
MATERIALS -
2 stars cut out on oaktag
glue
cut up ribbon
little bit of cotton
tape
glitter (optional)

How to make the stars: 1. Put cotton inbetween the stars and tape them together.
2. Glue on enough ribbon and fabric so no oaktag is showing. Don't worry if they overlap; they're suppoesd to.
3. Fold a 3" piece of ribbon in half and glue it onto your ornament.
4. Glue on some glitter, and you're done! GreenJeanz C., 12, GA USA for Quick Crafts.

Yarn Christmas Tree: You will need:
1 roll of green or red yarn
A hot glue gun
1 styrofome cone
Decorative materials (beads,rinestones, etc, etc)

Start winding the yarn around the cone. As you wind, place glue on the cone. After you wind yarn all over the cone, cut it with some scissors. Now glue on decorations. You are done. Makes a great x-mas centerpiece with cotton balls around it like snow. Becky E., 13, Washington, USA for Quick Crafts.

Cool Bird Christmas Tree Ornament: Materials:
construction paper
a black marker or chalk
tinsel
glitter
yarn
scissors
glue
newspaper
hole puncher

How to Make It: 1. Draw a bird shape on the construction paper with the marker. If you are using dark paper, use the chalk to draw with because it shows up better.
2. Cut out the bird with your siccors.
3. Now, lay out newspaper on your table so you don't get glittler all over.
4. Ok, the fun part! Put glue on your bird and glitter to make it sparkly. You can attach tinsel for a tail.
5. Punch a hole in the bird's back and attach a string to it.
6. Now hang your bird up on the tree! Or give it to someone as a gift, but be sure the glue is dry before you wrap it.
7. Clean up your mess and put everything away.

MAKE A SNOWFLAKE
Here's a fun and cheap way to decorate your room or house this Christmas. Take a piece of white paper(computer paper is best), and fold it in half, and then in half again. Then, get some scissors, and cut shapes around the edges. Don't cut to much though! When you are done cutting un-fold your piece of paper. You should have a snowflake.

Now, hang them-up! Maybe in your room, on the tree, or in another room in your house. You can change the shape or design by making more folds in your paper. So, have yourself a white Christmas! Johanna R. 11 Illinios

MAKE A WREATH You've probably made a wreath before in elementary school with your class. But if you have forgotten how I have the instructions. First, take a paper plate(the flat kind) and glue a piece of green construction paper to it. Then cut off the edges of the paper that reach over the plate. Now, get some red paper. Cut the paper into little circles. After this, glue the circles to the green paper. The leftover red paper you can cut into a bow shape and glue to the top of the green paper on the plate. You have two options now. You can either cut out the middle of the plate, or glue an ornament, or picture in the middle over the plate. After it dries, hang it up on a door somewhere! Merry Christmas! Johanna R. 11 Illinios

HOW MANY DAYS 'TILL CHRISTMAS? If your like me, you probably have trouble keeping track of how many days there are until Christmas. Well, if you do, or don't, I suggest you make this craft. Start by making a sign that says, HOW MANY DAYS 'TILL CHRISTMAS? You can draw it yourself or make it on your computer. Decorate it with borders, photos, or drawings. After that, make a chain with 25 links to it. Try to make a pattern of the chain, such as red, green, red, green, etc. Use tape or glue to stick the first link of the chain to the sign. Starting at the bottom of the chain on December 2nd rip off the first link. Keep doing this on every new day. If you forget how many days there are just count the links! So, how many days 'till Christmas?! Johanna R. 11 Illinios Lindsay M., 12, Georgia,US for Quick Crafts.

Holiday Peppermint Candles Materials:
Peppermint Sticks(all the same design i.e. just red and white for 1 candle)
Candles(that are smaller than the sticks)
strong tape
holiday ribbon

Directions: Take your tape and wrap it around the candle, sticky side out. Press the peppermint sticks on the outside of the candle(all the sticks need to be touching). Tie the ribbon around the peppermint sticks and.....Presto! Beautiful candles for the holidays!! Danielle G. Age: 13 Collingswood, NJ

Out of wrapping paper and don't have the time or money to run to the store? Here's what to do. First, find a peice of newspaper of JUST comics or a plain white (r colorful) sheet of large paper. Second, Wrap the present. If you chose the plain paper don't forget to decorate it Christmasy!! Kelly D., 14, Edinburgh, Scotland for Quick Crafts.

Angel:
1. Find a small cardboard tube like one from the middle of a toilet roll.
2. Wrap a long piece of cotton wool around the tube and stick on with glue or a strip of tape down the seam.
3. Collect a piece of cardboard and draw on to it a pair of Angel wings. Cut the out and decorate as you wish. Stick the wings on the the cotton wool seam using glue or tape
4. Collect a small plastic ball like a ping-pong ball and with a marker pen draw the Angels eyes, nose and mouth.
5. Collect some yellow wool and stick on to the top of the Angel using glue, this is the Angels hair.
6. Find a small piece of gold tinsel or something that could be used for a hallow. Make a small hoop from your material a place on the top of the ball, secure using a small piece of tap at the back of the Angels face.
7. Place the ball on top of the tube and secure with tape (this may be done before the cotton wool is wrapped round to hide the tape)
8. Add decoration to the cotton wool such as gold glitter. And you have a beautiful Angel

Kristen T., 11, Canada for Quick Crafts.

Cool Christmas ball that you can actually hang on your tree.
The things you will need are;
paper mache glue (or white glue)
crochet cotton (can be different colors)
balloon sparkles (optional)
pin or anything sharp

The first thing you do to make this craft is blow the balloon up to about the size of an average Christmas ball. You then dip a string of crochet cotton into the glue and stick it on the balloon. You keep putting crochet cotton on the balloon until you think it's enough. Shake the sparkles onto the balloon when you're finished putting the crochet cotton on. Let the balloon dry overnight. When the balloon is dry you poke it with the pin and pull the popped balloon out from in between the string. You can put some string through it and hang it on your tree. If you want to get really creative you can hang a bell or something in it.

From Bernice, 10, Idaho -- "After Christmas each year we collect all the decorative wrapping paper and Christmas cards we've recieved and put them into a pile. We cut them into smaller sqares and collage them onto a large piece of cardboad. Then we cut Christmas shapes out of the cardboard and attach red or green ribbon. It's a fun way to make inexpensive decorations for the next year, and each year your tree will look different!"