Holiday Art

This week starts Christmas break for our kids. No school until after the holidays. That can be a lot of downtime, waiting for Santa and all of that! So, we have an idea for you.

Tiffany Waters is a Mom of two. She's also one of the the most creative people around! She is helping us with a fun - and easy - project to do with our kids during this holiday break! We are using decoupage and Christmas wrapping paper and tissue paper to make a holiday canvas. The special touch for our project is the decoupage.

Tiffany explains, "it has several finishes. The finish we did on this is a shimmer, a gold shimmer. So, for the holidays, it gives a nice effect for the ornaments. And, on this one, we used just brown paper. So, now it has a nice look to it for that reindeer's face."

The first thing we need is a blank canvas. Tiffany says we can get one any any craft story. Then we pick a background, and that can be anything from tissue paper cut into little squares, to wrapping paper or even scrapbook paper. Using regular glue, like Elmer's, glue the background onto the canvas.

We had a special helper when we did our canvas. Tiffany's four year old son, Ty. He did a lot of the cutting and gluing for us. Tiffany says this is a project even our youngest children can get involved in.

"They can do this at any age. The decoupage glue is water-based. It's non-toxic to the kids, " explains Tiffany.

So, after we glue our background to the canvas, Tiffany says we should decoupage over the top of it. Use a paintbrush to spread the decoupage evenly over the surface. After that is finished, we can pick our art. Tiffany gave us a bunch of suggestions: a Christmas tree made out of cut-out hand prints, Christmas ornaments made out of wrapping paper and ribbons, even a Rudolph made out of a cut-out footprint and hand prints! You could do photographs, artwork, really whatever! Glue that into place, then decoupage over the top of that. After we're done with this layer, we can add ribbons, bows, cotton balls, feathers, Christmas lights, anything to decorate the canvas! Tiffany says most of that can be attached using a hot glue gun. If you're interested in using Christmas lights, Tiffany suggests putting holes in the canvas and stringing the lights through.

The decoupage is water-based so it makes for easy clean-up. And, this is a project we can do any time of year for any holiday or special event!