Tutorials

Easy Christmas Star with German Glass Glitter

Today I'm working on a sweet and simple Christmas craft using sparkly silver German glass glitter.  This year's Christmas tree is a little bit on the Charlie Brown side- it's a young Douglas fir, p...

How to Clean and Restore Putz Houses

Today I'm fixing up some vintage putz houses that are in fairly rough condition.  The idea here is to tidy them up and make some gentle home improvements without really changing their designs.  Ma...

How to Make a Feather Tree

Feather trees were a late-19th century German invention- a creative alternative to wasteful, messy, and exceedingly flammable real Christmas trees from the forest. They were most popular in the ye...

Let's Make a Halloween Village! DIY Putz Houses

The flat-pack putz house kits are not just for Christmas! Today I am using them to craft a spooky gothic village.  If you missed the tutorial for assembling the DIY putz house kits, you can find i...

Putz House Assembly

These chipboard houses are the perfect blank slate for a Christmas village of your own style.  The kits come flat, with the pieces already cut out and scored, and each one comes with a translucent ...

Nostalgic Cotton Batting Santa Ornaments

If you have ever wondered how to make spun cotton figures from scratch, this is a great introductory project to the nostalgic art of spun cotton. For these small-scale antique style spun cotton dol...

Bump Chenille Ornaments

Let's make some vintage bump chenille Santa ornaments!  This is a classic vintage Christmas craft.  Sometimes called Clay Face Santas, you could buy Made-in-Japan chenille ornaments like this at t...

Tips for Drawing Vintage Faces on Spun Cotton Doll Heads

Every now and again I find vintage Made in Japan spun cotton doll heads, and I find them to be so charming.  The faces were clearly done by hand so no two are alike.  It used to be that you could b...

Vintage Christmas Matchboxes! Holiday Papercrafting

Are you giving a candle as a gift this Christmas? How special would it be to include one of these Christmas matchboxes for the recipient!  You can get a pack of 10 matchboxes at Dollar Tree, and e...

How to Make Nostalgic Waxed Moravian Stars

  If you long for a simple, old fashioned Christmas like the ones from long ago, this is a wonderfully nostalgic craft to learn.  These traditional Moravian stars are made from strips of paper wov...

How to Make a Pine Cone Snowman on Skis!

  Today's craft is very much based on some wonderful 1950s skiing figurines! There were many types- some were elves, some were snowmen, some had spun cotton bodies, and some had pine cone bodies. ...

How to Make Spun Cotton Angel Ornaments

It's the holiday season! I love making angels of all sorts. This variety is made using 20mm doll heads paired with 60x45mm spun cotton cones, and they have little loops added to the tops of the hea...

New Craft Kit! Vintage Elf & Toadstool Decoration

It's the holiday season! I have a great new craft kit this year.  If you like a holly jolly vintage Christmas you'll love making this elf with whimsical toadstools! You'll just need a low temp gl...

Making a Miniature Book Nook: Cozy Apothecary

As we enter cozy season, I've been very drawn to doing crafts in a small scale.  Today's project is not really a tutorial, but a creative exploration. I'm working on a tiny room box filled with mi...

How to Make a Foraged Witch Broom for Halloween

This is a super easy project, and nearly free!  Treat yourself to an autumnal nature walk, and bring along a bucket or a box and some snippers to collect some items.  The materials you collect wil...

Transforming Toys into Halloween Decorations

At Christmastime, I like to decorate with a lot of natural materials: glass, wood, metal, and things made of cardboard or paper.  But for Halloween, I aim to please my inner child. And what does s...

Miniature Dollhouse Candles made from String Lights and Straws

Sometimes when you can't find the exact thing you need, you just have to make it yourself! With spooky season approaching I've brought my Halloween dollhouse down from the attic, and I've been ou...

Victorian Figural Ornament Made with Roving and Cotton Batting

Hi ho, and Merry Christmas!  Earlier this year I shared a start-to-finish spun cotton snow baby figural ornament tutorial using cotton coil or medical cotton.  Today, I'm doing a version using rovi...

No Bake Gingerbread House: Make a Graham Cracker A-Frame Cabin!

If you're not keen on baking a whole batch of cookies, and just want to skip to the gingerbread house decorating, you can make the house out of graham crackers!  Here I'll share how to make this co...

Snow Cap Christmas Ornaments - Embellishing Mercury Glass Balls with Paint and Glitter

Today I am dressing up some thrifted glass ball ornaments with a festive snow pattern. I like the brushed-on snow design of Shiny Brite ornaments from the 1950s, so that is the look I am going for...

Make a Spun Cotton Santa!

This is a variation of a project from my book Spun Cotton Crafts. Get your copy here. In my book I share four different 'recipes' for crafting vintage elves.  Today I'm making a bearded elf, but d...

How to Preserve Fall Leaves with Glycerin

Through all my years of crafting, I'm surprised I never tried preserving fall leaves with glycerin before! So when the fall colors hit their peak here in the Pacific Northwest, I tried it out.  The...

Making a Halloween Doll with a Vintage Hanky!

In the last tutorial I shared how to make clay Kewpie doll faces from a vintage figurine.  You can find that project here. Today, I'm using the face to make a little 1920s ghost doll for Halloween!...

Making Clay Doll Faces from a Vintage Figurine

I recently found a really cute figurine, kind of Kewpie style, and I wanted to use the face for making some Halloween dolls!  I share this technique for making craft faces in my book Spun Cotton Cr...

Snow Baby Project Demo - Making a Spun Cotton Doll from Scratch

Today I'm excited to share a video demonstration of one of the projects in my new book, Spun Cotton Crafts!  The Snow Baby from page 106 is an easy-to-make spun cotton doll.  The design is not com...

Spun Cotton Boats: Handmade Cotton Batting Ornaments

These darling little boats were inspired by the sparkly Sebnitz ships of the late 19th century.  The small German town of Sebnitz was known for its marvelous handcrafted Christmas ornaments which ...

Make a Crepe Paper Flower Instead of a Bow! Vintage Style DIY Gift Topper

With Mother's Day coming up, and wedding season back this year, you might be wrapping some lovely gifts this spring!  A few years ago I designed these giant crepe paper flowers for a friend's wedd...

Making Vintage Style Clothespin Dolls! 1960s Kitsch Craft Project

 Today I'm making these retro ladies, inspired by some clothespin dolls my mom picked up at a holiday bazaar in the 1970s. I like the quaint look of the long dresses and hand-drawn faces. For this...

Spun Cotton How-To: Making Vintage Style Champagne Bottle Ornaments

Today I'm making some entirely hand-built spun cotton champagne bottle ornaments inspired by some antique factory-made versions from the 1920s.  Because the silhouette is fairly simple, I am build...

Vintage Christmas Pine Cone Pixies! Fun DIY Holiday Craft

Here's a fun project to use up those extra pine cones you've collected!  These adorable little pixies can sit on the edge of the mantel or a windowsill, or can be arranged on the presents under th...

Retro Paper Christmas Candles made from Cardboard Tubes and Paper Rolls!

Collect household paper tubes to make these whimsical vintage style candle decorations for Christmas! In this paper craft project I am upcycling tubes from paper towels, toilet paper, aluminum foil...

Winter Cottage Snow Globe Ornament - Sweet Christmas Craft

In this project I am creating a snowy winter wonderland inside a glass snow globe ornament to hang on a Christmas tree.  The empty glass ornaments come in round globes, bell shapes, and domes. To m...

Vintage Craft: Pine Cone and Felt Victorian Carolers

These pine cone and felt carolers are part of my vintage craft series: wonderful projects found in vintage craft books brought to life!  I collect vintage craft books, and flipping through them I a...

Braided Bread Dolls with Hard Boiled Egg Faces

Today I am creating a pair of lovely braided bread dolls inspired by a baking project I did with my mother when I was small. I can't remember now what kind of bread we used then, but I do remember...

Vintage Craft: Tissue Paper Festooning! DIY Easter Garland Tutorial

This tissue paper festooning is part of my vintage craft series: wonderful projects found in vintage craft books brought to life!  I collect vintage craft books, and flipping through them I always ...

Snow Day Ski Friends - Vintage Style Spun Cotton Figures

  These whimsical figures are made from spun cotton shapes and colorful crépe paper, and are the perfect indoor activity for a cozy snow day.  In this project, crépe paper is used as clothing for ...

Retro Felt Angels - DIY Vintage Style Christmas Craft

I recently got a shipment of these wonderful spun cotton angel heads from the Czech Republic- in PINK!  This project was inspired by this wonderful display of bohemian angels that I found in a 196...

Beautiful Acorn Ornaments with Pine Cones and Glitter - DIY Christmas Craft

To welcome the fall season I thought it would be fun to share my technique for making these sparkling and gorgeous acorn ornaments!  I made and sold these in my shop for years, and they were a bes...

Making a Retro Glam Agate Slice Epoxy Resin Table

Every summer I try to learn a new creative skill, or make something with materials I've never used before.  Making this agate slice table with epoxy resin was an ambitious project, and I wasn't rea...

Spun Cotton Spring Birds with Coffee Filter Bonnets and Ruffs

I love combining spun cotton with pipe cleaners. It immediately makes a decoration look vintage!  For these happy spring birds I picked out paint colors that matched some pastel pipe cleaners, and...

Vintage Style Spun Cotton and Paper Lantern Ornaments

  I have always loved the vintage lantern ornaments that were made in Japan for export in the 1950s.  There were several different types made of paper, as well as the heavy painted glass bulbs for...

Tissue Paper Puffy Heart Valentine's Window Decoration - DIY Papercraft

For this Valentine's day project, I borrowed a papercrafting technique that I learned back in gradeschool!  Does anyone else remember applying squares of tissue paper with a pencil eraser to make ...

Fall Pumpkin Crafts: Turn a Pumpkin into an Autumn Fairy!

In the spring I made crepe paper flower fairies to welcome the season, and so with fall approaching I thought I would do a variation using pumpkins!  I think they would make such a darling centerp...

How to Make a Sugared Orange Spun Cotton Ornament

  In this tutorial, I am sharing my process for turning a plain spun cotton ball into a beautiful orange ornament.  Spun cotton ornaments of this type were popular in the 1920s and 30s, and fruit t...

Make a Crepe Paper Flower Fairy - DIY Craft Tutorial

These whimsical flower fairies are made of some of my favorite materials: spun cotton, crepe paper, and pipe cleaners!  I had some extra-skinny pipe cleaners that I used for the arms and legs, but...

DIY Paper Shamrock Corsage for St. Patrick's Day

Here is a shamrock pin for St. Patrick's Day that's so pretty, you'll wear it every year.  It's simple to make with just paper and pipe cleaners, but the result is very elegant.  You can use any gr...

How to Dye Pipe Cleaners for Crafts - DIY Tutorial

Extreme crafters rejoice: you can dye your own pipe cleaners!  I was wanting some pipe cleaners in various pastel shades for my spring craft projects, but I was disappointed by the limited selecti...

Simple Craft Project: Make a Delightful Pipe Cleaner Heart Garland!

  This is a wonderful low-tech, minimal-supply craft project that has a beautiful end result! By simply forming old fashioned pipe cleaners over a template, you can make a lovely chain of linked h...

Make Retro Diorama Ornaments filled with Miniatures - Vintage Christmas Craft Tutorial

Published December 8, 2017 I think one of the funnest ways to create handmade Christmas ornaments is to spend some time just collecting adorable miniatures so that I can paw through a pile of suppl...

How to Dye Bottle Brush Trees with Rit - DIY Craft Tutorial

When I started selling the minty bleached bottle brush trees a couple years ago, I immediately started getting requests for other colors.  PINK, in particular, is in high demand.  Dyeing trees is q...