Christmas crafts

Painting three ways - projects from Woman's Day magazine

Emily Somerville- Ryan creates some festive cheer with these simple yet magical crafts

1. Present beads

What you’ll need:

Resene testpot paints, wooden beads, assorted ribbons, paintbrushes, twine.

Colourfull beads for your wrapping thread

Instructions:

Buy an assortment of wooden beads and ribbon, or recycle spares you have at home.

For the holly ribbon, paint two beads in Resene Roadster. Once dry, thread with bright green ribbon and tie around your present. For the leaves, tie a smaller piece of green ribbon between the beads. Mix and match ribbons for added depth.

For the stripy beads, we painted them with Resene Quarter White Pointer. Once dry, carefully paint tiny red stripes in Resene Roadster over the top of the white with a very fine brush. Leave to dry then tie to the centre of your present bow with a thin piece of twine.

For the green beads, we painted them in Resene Crusoe. Once dry, paint on spots in Resene Japanese Laurel. Thread in a trio, knotting your ribbon or rope at either end to hold the beads in position.

Choose a contrasting ribbon to your beads if want them to be the star of the show.

2. Balsa wood forest

What you’ll need:

Resene testpot paints & Resene varnish, paintbrushes, pencil, craft knife ruler, balsa wood, masking or washi tape.

Make balsa wood trees

Instructions:

Buy two strips of 5x100x915mm Balsa wood. Measure 24cm from the top and 5cm from the edge and draw a line from each corner to this point, creating a triangle.

Cut out your triangle and repeat so you have two triangles. Rule a line half way up the centre from the bottom edge on one, and from the top to halfway down on the other. Cut, and then slide them together to create your tree. Repeat to create the other two trees with heights of 22cm and 18cm.

We used washi masking tape to mask our designs and painted our trees with Resene Crusoe , Resene Quarter White Pointer and Resene Roadster, finishing with Resene Aquaclear waterborne urethane varnish.

3. Twinkling tea light lanterns

What you’ll need:

Resene testpot paints, Resene washi tape, glass jars, craft knife, ribbons, pencil paintbrushes, tea lights.

Make tea tree lanterns

Instructions:

Recycle old jars into festive lamps. Stick some washi masking tape from Resene onto a cutting board and draw on your desired pattern.

With a sharp craft knife, cut out your shape and stick in place onto your jar. For the striped jar, stick 18mm tape directly onto your jar at 18mm intervals.

Paint the unmasked part of the jar with two coats of paint. We used Resene Quarter White Pointer for our white lanterns and Resene Roadster for the red striped lantern. Once dry, carefully peel off the washi tape.

Place a tea light candle in the bottom of the jar and tie a ribbon around the top to add some Christmas cheer.