Dollar Crafts...Dresden-style Christmas Ornaments!

We're Celebrating German-style This Year!

A couple of years ago I decorated my home office with German-style decorations.  I made tree ornaments and an advent wreath to go along with the cute painted wooden trees and houses I arranged along the top of one of my desks.  This year I am decorating my entire family room in a German theme.  And I will be using the same theme for my neighbor gifts.  It's kind of fun to change things up once in awhile.  I will post pictures of the finished room in a day or two, but first I want to share with you some German-style ornaments that I made for  about $1 each with gold glittered ornaments from Wal-Mart.

Dollar Dresden-style Ornaments!

Dresden Foil Embellishments

Dresden trims are embossed, die-cut embellishments which are stamped from metallic foil-backed paper.  They have been produced in Germany since the early 19th century, and were popular with Victorians to create wonderful ornaments using scrap images, tinsel and Dresden trims.  The trims and scrap are still available today from online sources like D. Blumchen and Company.  They can be kind of expensive, but I thought I could replicate the look somewhat using what I could find in my crafting supplies and using some 98 cent glittery ornaments from Wal-Mart.

A fun example of a Dresden ornament I found online.

Another online example.

I could find scrap graphics online to print for my ornaments, but I was lucky to have one of those William-Sonoma Christmas wreaths with the cardboard scrap figures of snowmen, angels, nutcrackers and Santas.  The picture is kind of small and blurry, but this is the wreath.  Each figure was attached separately to the background and really easy to remove.

Victorian Christmas Wreath

Dresden-style Ornaments...



Angels on a golden swirl ornament.

The bells are Dresden trim...my only pieces were a few bells.

Angel mounted on a glitter birdcage.

I liked it as a frame.

I added gold glitter to the scrap pieces.

My Favorite Snowman!

A jeweled snowflake.

I put the boy on the wreath trimmed with tinsel.

Tree mounted on the gold birdcage.

I have a few more finished pieces and some in the works.  This is a fun and inexpensive craft that looks rich and fancy.  I really enjoyed making these.  Wal-Mart has the glitter ornaments in red and silver...as well as the gold.



 Happy Scrapping and Glittering!

Some German-style Scrap...

Kodak Moments...Sascha's Costume Parade!

Kodak Moments!

Neither boy wanted to be Tonto.

Every Halloween we attempt to line up our wriggling, impatient little ghosts and witches for a quick photo.  Back when film and developing was expensive we didn't have as many pictures of our children as we do in this digital Instagram...quickly post it on Facebook...world.  Since I have been working on family stories, I realized that I have very few pictures of my older children dressed for the costume parade and Trick or Treat...and none of me and my siblings.  Sometimes I wish I could go back in time with a digital camera and recapture all my missed moments.

Cute Little Devils!

Digging through albums, boxes and computer photo files I discovered that the majority of my Halloween snapshots are of my youngest daughter Sascha.  She's had various interesting looks over the years...so I thought it would be kind of fun to put all her strange and unique costumes on my blog for her to see and maybe be embarrassed by.  These are mainly from her high school and college years. 

She called this look "Priestess of Cain."

Danged if I know...lol!

Sailor Moon...this is pretty recent!

Gomez Addams

Demented "Alice."  Not shown...bloody knife in White Rabbit.

Lol!  Still haunting the halls of Lone Peak High.

I miss those days when my children were young and holidays were a joyful madness.  They each had a "scathingly brilliant" costume idea that they forgot to tell me about until just before the big day.  Remember the scramble to find the right accessories the store has been out of for days?  It's amazing what the kids could come up with if you just told them "No, I will not stay up all night and sew your costume!"  Where was Martha Stewart and her brilliant no-sew last minute ideas?

I miss the class parties and costume parades.  Sadly schools are moving away from holiday celebrations and costumes have to be "politically correct."  At my granddaughter's middle school, they can't dress up in costume, but they can wear "tutus" over their jeans.  I bet there will be a lot of really creative little fluffy skirts on Halloween.  Will any boys be bold enough to join them?  We'll see.



Long live costume parades!

Have fun and take pictures!

 

A Few More Costumes

Weird Al...Halloween 2014

Sascha couldn't decide between Afro Al or Alanis Morrisette Al.

Devil Child

Note to self...do not glue devil horns on with rubber cement!

I have no memory of this!

Haunted Mansion Shadow Box!

Haunted Mansion...How it appears in dreams.

 

Can you believe how quickly the month of October has passed?  It's practically half over!  I will soon be packing up my Halloween crafting supplies and moving on to Christmas.  I have a lot of gifts and such that I have committed myself to making this year.  I want to start giving more meaningful gifts.  My most treasured gifts in the past have been those that are hand-made. 

 

I still have a few Halloween topics that I want to blog about...so I will try not to get into Christmas before the Haunted Mansion clock strikes thirteen!  I finally finished putting together the little Disney Halloween display in my office.

 

Haunted Mansion Holiday...

 Jack Skellington welcomes guests to his Haunted Mansion Holiday.

 

Shadow box was a wooden tray.

Handles became windows.

Not seen are the teal shutters on the outside...like at Disneyland. 

 

Putting the scene together.

I found the figures at Disneyland in the toy department of the Emporium.

I bought another set of Snow White figures for a Fairy Garden.

 

A fun little display to brighten my office!

 

Target Dollar Spot Craft....

I must have bought every one of these cute wooden signs at my Target.

I almost passed them by until I got the idea to decorate the unpainted back sides.

 

Wa La! Vintage Post Card Billboards.

I haven't done it yet...but you can make these into billboards that will fit into a Department 56 Halloween Village.  Just add a dowel or two and a base to make it balance.

Some painted stacked spools would work as well.

 

Two Posts in One Day!

I am on a Roll!

 

 

Note: Since horizontal postcards are harder to find...I have included a few of my favorites...enjoy!