Best Holiday Craft Ideas From An OC Artist
Karen Adams is an Orange County-based artist that incorporates the SoCal surf culture into her artwork, creating pieces you just won't get from anyone else. Check out her Surf Baby Collection for the aspiring surfer-to-be. The accomplished O.C. artist shared some of her creative holiday craft ideas below, perfect for gifting this holiday season.
Karen Adams
Underwater Ocean Wreath
Incorporate the beauty of the ocean to your holiday décor with a crafty underwater ocean wreath. You will need a wreath, wood cut outs of fish and seahorses, blue and gold spray paint, sparkly green ribbon, sparkly round and wavy floral sprays, battery-operated blinking Christmas lights and rhinestones. Once you have all of the fun supplies, start by spray painting the wreath blue and spray painting the wood cut outs gold. Next, place the rhinestones on the fish or seahorses as eyes, on the spine and tail, or on the fins. Then, wrap the ribbon and lights around the wreath, and place the sea creature cutouts on the wreath to look like a school of fish or a herd of seahorses. Lastly, decorate the wreath with the floral sprays to create a bubbles and seaweed look, and voila, you've got an underwater ocean wreath to spice up your holiday décor.
Live, Laugh, Love Ornaments
There's no better phrase than live, laugh, love to live by and bring holiday spirit to your home. To make these ornaments, you will need multi-colored rhinestones, ceramic flat and blank ornaments. One ornament should be round, one ornament a star and one ornament a heart. You'll also need ribbon and a small tree branch. First, use the rhinestones to spell out the words, "Live," "Laugh" and "Love" on each of the ornaments. Use the star ornament for the word "Live," the circle for the word "Laugh," and the heart for the word "Love." Finish up this cute holiday decoration by attaching each ornament with ribbon to the tree branch and hanging it in the doorway.
Mini Diorama Up-Cycled Ornaments
If you want to use recycled materials when making holiday crafts, check out this craft idea. You will need recycled coffee pods, miniature Christmas-related objects such as mini snowmen, Christmas trees, nutcrackers, etc., mini ribbons, bows, sparkly pipe cleaners, glue, glitter, and red and green paint. Start by painting the outsides of the coffee pods red or green. Next, glue the miniature Christmas decorations inside of the coffee pod. Then glue the edge of the top of the pod, and either dip it in the glitter, or edge it with a sparkly pipe cleaner. Lastly, wrap the ribbon around the top and hang it as a mini diorama ornament.
Hand-detailed Christmas Cards
Handmade holiday cards are an inexpensive, yet personal way to spread holiday cheer. To create Adams' hand-detailed Christmas cards, you will need black and white store-bought postcards of the beach (make sure there are palm trees), as well as white, green, red and blue paint, blank, folded cards and glue. First, paste the postcard onto the blank card. Then, paint tiny white dots as Christmas lights on the palm tree leaves and around the trunk. Next, go back and paint a few of the dots red, green and blue. Now, you've got a cute, personalized Christmas card with a beach theme to share with family friends.
Related: Best Places To Buy Local Art For Less Than $100 In Orange County
Christmas Wish List Magnet Board
If you are looking for a fun way to organize Christmas wish lists, this is a crafty, festive way to involve the whole family. You will need the following items: a 10X16 gold picture frame or a larger plexi-glass to match the frame, magnetic spray paint, large glass cabochons, self-sticking round magnets, holiday pictures and glue. Begin by spray painting the plexi-glass with the magnetic spray paint. Then, cut out the holiday pictures and glue them onto the bottom of the glass cabochon. Once dry, stick the magnets onto the back of the pictures to make decorative magnets. Then, secure the plexi-glass into the frame. Next, hang the picture frame and have your family members write a list to Santa, or have them cut out images of the gifts they want and place onto the handmade wish list.
Stacy Brecht is a professional writer, dancer, marketer and model in the Los Angeles area. Brecht also enjoys traveling, wine, fitness training, volunteering, movies and trying new restaurants. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.
