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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

How to Make Sisal Bottle Brush Trees - From Scratch! DIY Craft Tutorial

Published July 14, 2017 Here's a fun craft project for Christmas: How to make sisal bottle brush trees - from scratch!  In this tutorial I'm using green sisal fiber, some floral wire, and a couple...

Christmas Craft Tutorial: Make a Retro Cake Pan Diorama!

These cake pan dioramas are a fun way to display small ornaments or figurines.  I have some little wooden ornaments, pine cone elves, and putz houses that are sometimes hard to see if I put them w...

Tutorial: Retro Spun Cotton Sugar Bell Ornaments

These retro sugar bell ornaments look almost *exactly* like the ones made in the 1940s!  Before styrofoam entered the Christmas market, spun cotton was a go-to material for imported Christmas orna...

Make Minty Bleached Bottle Brush Trees for Christmas!

In this tutorial I am sharing my technique for bleaching bottle brush trees. You will need to use craft trees made of sisal, which can be harder to find than plastic or pvc trees.  I use simple ho...

DIY Snow Globe Ornaments - Fun Christmas Crafts

  Published November 2, 2016 These DIY Snow Globe Ornaments have a great vintage style, and are so fun to make!  There are three style of glass ornaments: a globe, dome, and bell-shaped cloche.  Y...

Simple Paper Flowers DIY Tutorial

These simple paper flowers are made out of one-size petals applied to spun cotton eggs.  They look like little wild roses or spring blossoms.  These are the type of blossoms that I use to make my ...

Tutorial: Retro Silver Bells

Last year I decorated one of my Christmas trees with some vintage paper mache bells that were made in Japan in the 40s-50s, and I just loved how they looked hanging off the tips of the branches.  ...

Pipe Cleaner Craft: Christmas Garland Tutorial

Here's a great pipe cleaner craft for Christmas! This retro Christmas garland was inspired by a real one from the 1950s that I once had in the vintage Christmas collection in the shop.  What I lov...

Tutorial: Christmas Snow Globe Ornament

I've been wanting to make a Christmas snow globe ever since I started carrying these clear glass ball ornaments in the shop!  This design was inspired by a 1950s German ornament that I once saw ...

Tutorial: Cute Snowman Decorations

  These cute snowman decorations couldn't be simpler to make, and they are so darn adorable! Their bodies are spun cotton, and they have little bump chenille arms, plastic hats, and each one holds...

How to Make Spun Cotton Mushrooms

Here's a great way of making whimsical antique-style spun cotton mushrooms with loops for hanging up as ornaments. These would look adorable on a woodland Christmas tree, and make super unique gif...

Tutorial: Deer Diorama Ornament

These vintage-inspired Christmas ornaments are just the sweetest little treasures! You can collect all kinds of miniatures to put inside and craft your little worlds.  I make some with little spun...

Tutorial: Plaster Fairy Mushroom Picks

It seems that so many amazing crafts originated in Germany.  These plaster fairy mushroom picks were inspired by some vintage German-made ones, and would make great embellishments for lots of proj...

Paper Flower Tutorial: Storybook Paper Roses

I originally did this tutorial for 100LayerCake.com, and it remains one of my favorite projects.  Here I'll share the original post, plus some extra photos and details about how I make paper roses...