Christmas Nativity Reliefs

I came up with this idea as a gift for the school's teachers at the PTO luncheon.  It's a simple nativity scene on board with gilding.  

Very sweet and simple...can be hung or just to stand alone.

We used them to decorate the dining tables and the teachers took them with them when finished!

Finally Finished with My Own St. Nick!

I have a collection of Santas that I keep on display during the Christmas season at my front door and needed a Christmas themed piece of art to hang over it.  I thought about it for years and toyed with either painting a canvas or a banner.  I decided on a banner because it's easier to store, so I started painting this banner two years ago and got as far as the red checkered boarder with green trim.  Last year I painted a Santa on that I wasn't thrilled about, so again, it sat in my craft armoire for another 11 months. 

 

After teaching my Craft Night for Moms and painting traditional Santas, I decided that I wanted him on this banner, so I painted over the original one and finally finished! 

Yippee for me!!

Mamas' Night to Craft and Get Crazy!

This was so much fun...7 moms carefully crafted an heirloom traditional style Santa Banner for their families.  It's funny to hear them start out stating they are not artists and can't imagine that what they will create will be anything they will want to display in their house...

but give them instructions, guide them along (and help them remove their paint brush from their wine glass every now and again!) they have created a charming Christmas Decoration!  The brush in the wine glass thing happens every now and again...I am guilty of putting my in my cup of coffee!

I decided to paint the canvases black to give it an old world feel and the Santa design reflects St. Nicholas with a basket of simple gifts and a tree design I found a few years ago on the internet.  You can see him hanging in the mirror below!

Ta da!  My friend Jacqueline is a whiz at making bows and made these huge ones for all!

Here's a close up...

This was lots of fun and everyone was so impressed with how theirs turned out!  Great job, ladies!

The Grinch

I guess Mr. Mean Green is very popular this year...I have painted a couple of these this year!

Cookie Cutter Christmas Trees!

This was so much fun!  The kids picked their colors and traced their cutter shapes in the shape of a tree, then got busy with the painting.  

It's always fun to see what color schemes they come up with and after making a few suggestions to them, how they apply those techniques to their artwork. 

Some went for all kinds of color...

and some went for a specific palette. 

 This project took longer than we all thought, so a few of the girls took theirs home to finish and outline...

We all agree that outlining them makes a big difference!  Aren't they wonderful??!!

Santa Stockings and Trees!

My little buddies (and best friends) Peyton and Austin came today to craft these Santa Stockings and wood Christmas trees. They can use the stockings as a door hanger or to hang somewhere else in their house.   

They did a great job, didn't they?!

The next thing we made were Christmas trees from thin strips of wood.  They decided how they wanted to paint them and got straight to work.  

 If a kid with a broken wrist can be this crafty, imagine what you can do!

Here they are!  Look how adorable they look!

Christmas Door Hangers!

I love painting at this time of the year...so whimsical and happy!  We painted them for a Mom's Craft night and I have shipped some of these out...

 and these as well!