Artline Monday - Christmas Eve craft

Christmas Eve is probably one of the most exciting days of the year so sometimes it is hard to get your young children to calm down especially in the evening.  I mean I don't blame them, I also get super excited about Santa being on his way but if you want to help them wind down a little before bed you could get them to make their own treat plate for Father Christmas.

There are two ways you can do this craft, either with a plain ceramic plate which you can keep to use each year (and it would make a lovely Christmas keepsake) or with a paper plate and it could become part of your Christmas Eve traditions to make a new one together each year.

Supplies for this Christmas Eve craft

If you are going to be using a ceramic plate you will need some of these pens for the design:

Artline Supreme permanent markers
Artline Supreme metallic markers
Artline 853 OHP pens
Artline 90 permanent markers

All of these pens work great on the ceramic surface!  We used a selection of them to make our own plate for Santa's treats.

Signing her name with the Artline 853 OPH pen

Summer drew Santa & I added the holly

 

All set for Christmas Eve

If you are using a paper plate then you can use any pens and markers and just get started designing them.  Here are some ideas Summer and I came up with last week...

Created by Summer age 7

My "a place for everything" plate design

Merry Christmas plate

Any festive scene or a drawing or message for Santa will be great.  The longer the plate takes to make the more time the children will have to sit still and relax so some helpful suggestions from you along the way could help to extend the craft! *wink wink*

I just want to take the time now to wish you all a very happy Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful time over the holidays!

Artline Monday - Christmas card craft

I can't believe Christmas is nearly here but there is still time to squeeze in another craft!  This week I have been making some sweet Christmas cards using my Artline pens.

Sheets of card, pens and markers

For this craft you will need:

• Two sheets of card per Christmas card
• A selection of Artline pens and metallic poster markers
• Glue
• Sequins 

The front of the card is quite simple because the inside is where we get really creative!  I drew a reindeer's face and antlers with baubles dangling off them using my Supreme brush markers and you can copy this design easily or come up with your own festive doodle. 

The front of our card

For the inside you will need your second sheet of card.  Fold it in half and then draw half a snowflake along the folded edge.  The snowflake is going to pop out of the card when it is opened so when you draw yours try to have two flat points which is where the flake will stay connected to the card.  I have marked mine with some small lines so you can see what I am talking about.

Draw half a snowflake

Carefully cut around the snowflake with either scissors or a craft knife.  Make sure you don't cut all the way around though, you want to leave your flat points alone which is another reason why I marked them out on mine.

The side you drew on is going to be the back of the inside of your card, open it out and gently pull your snowflake upwards so it stands away from the card.  You need to refold the line down the middle of the snowflake in the opposite direction so when you close the card it will shut with the flake sticking outwards instead of being flat inside it.

I coloured in my snowflake with a metallic blue poster marker and then I glued some sequins around it too.   Make sure you leave yourself enough room to write your season's greetings on the inside! 

Metallic blue snowflake

I opened up the card I drew the reindeer on earlier and coloured in a large section with my silver Artline 900XF pen and added some metallic pink and gold spots with my poster markers.  

Adding an extra touch of sparkle

Then I glued all around the edges of the reindeer card and stuck my white piece with the snowflake inside it to make one whole Christmas card.  Now when I open it up you can see my pop up snowflake with a nice silver pattern behind it for that extra touch of sparkle and festive fun.

Inside the card

I'm really happy with how the card turned out, I like how simple the front looks and then you get a nice surprise when you open it up!

Let me know how you get on if you have a go at making your own please, I'd love to hear about it!

Artline Monday - Make A Gift Day

Today is Make A Gift Day so it's the perfect time to share another Christmas craft with you!  This time I am making a festive snow scene for my neighbour's daughter who is obsessed with dinosaurs but you can pop whatever you like inside yours and the method will be the same.

Gathering my supplies

For this craft you will need:

• A clean empty jar with a lid
• Some fake snow or white or silver glitter
• Items to create your scene like small toys, pine cones or Christmas decorations
• Artline 900XF metallic pens
• A white Artline poster marker
• A piece of foam or a small sponge

I found this dinosaur in the bottom of a toy box in my children's room, he looked a little worn and unloved so I transformed him with my metallic silver Artline 900XF marker and now he looks much better!

Colouring in the dinosaur toy

I wanted to make my pine cone look a little special too so I added some gold highlights to the tips of it.

Adding gold highlights

Unless you want to be covered in marker it is a good idea to set anything you have coloured in to one side and leave them to dry for a while.

Waiting for the ink to dry

While they were drying I used the lid to draw a circle on my sponge so it would be roughly the same size as the mouth of my jar.  The sponge is going to raise my scene so it will be higher up in the jar than if I just glued everything directly to the bottom of the lid.

Drawing around the jar lid

Then I cut out my circle and painted the top of it white with the Artline poster marker so it would look a little snowy.

Painting the sponge

I used super glue to stick the sponge to the inside of the lid....

Gluing the sponge inside the lid

.... and then glued the tree, pine cone and silver dinosaur on top of the sponge.

Glue your items to the sponge to create your scene

I added some fake snow inside the jar, the amount you can see in this photo was too much so I had to take about half of it back out!

Add your fake snow, you'll need less than you think

Once the glue had dried and my figures were secure and in place I screwed the lid back onto the jar.

Screw the lid onto the jar

Flip the jar over and you have your snowy scene!

The finished snow scene

You can make these scenes with any size jar, from tiny mini ones to huge ones!  You just need to make sure whatever you glue to the lid will fit inside the jar and through the mouth of it before you start.  

If you wanted to make them into traditional snow globes you would just need to add some water and a spoon of glycerine to help the glitter float around.  You should also glue the lid shut so no one could open the jar again once it had been filled. 

Now I know how well the Artline 900XF metallic pens work on such odd surfaces I keep thinking of all the things I could use them on to make more Christmas decorations!  If I find anymore small forgotten toys I just might colour them in too, thread them with some ribbon and hang them on my tree!

Artline Monday - Mason Jar Christmas gift

Did you know that the 30th November is Mason Jar Day?  Well, I do love a little mason jar craft and as we're getting nearer to Christmas I thought I would share with you one of my favourite quick and easy gift ideas.

Supplies for my mason jar craft

You will need a mason jar (or a similar style jar), Artline poster and Supreme markers, hot chocolate powder, mini marshmallows, some sprinkles or chocolate buttons and a ribbon and gift tag. 

Before we begin you need to wash out your jar with some soapy water as we will be filling it with food and then leave it to dry completely.  When that is done you can start to decorate the outside of your jar.  I wanted to do a pretty snowflake pattern on mine so I started to draw this with my white poster marker.

Adding a snowflake pattern around the jar

When I was happy with how the design looked I added a few highlights with the Supreme metallic markers in blue, gold and silver.  They are quite hard to see when the jar is empty but they standout more once it is full.

Layers in the jar

I filled the jar in layers, the hot chocolate powder goes in first and should be about half of the contents.  Then you add mini marshmallows, the more the better and finally top the rest up with either chocolate buttons or sprinkles.

Decorating the tag

I carried on with the snowflake theme on my gift tag, drawing a large flake on the front and added some silver sparkle with the Supreme marker.

Writing my message

Then I wrote my message on the other side.  I used a white calligraphy pen because I love how white ink looks against kraft coloured paper and card and it matched the design I had drawn on the front of the tag.  You could also you the tag to write down the instructions for making the hot chocolate, 3 heaped teaspoons of powder mixed with hot water (or however many spoons the jar it came from says) and then generously top with marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles or buttons.

Finished with a bow

The last step was to thread the tag onto my ribbon and tie it around the top of the jar with a big bow.  

This really is a fun and easy gift to make, it is perfect for children to make for their friends or great for the chocoholic in your life!  As all of the ingredients are in an air tight jar they should last quite a long time, but if the recipient is anything like me this will be long gone by the start of the new year!

Please let me know if you have a go at making your own, I'd love to see it!