DeLaffin Times: One of a Kind!

The other day when I was at Dollar Tree, I had an idea for a craft project for the kids to do. It all began when I saw these little guys.

Yep,tiny nutcrackers but I see a Nativity set just waiting to happen! Soooo...I bought a bunch of them and got out some scraps of fabric, some ribbons and twine, and hot glue guns and the grand-daughters got to work on the transformation. While they worked, I gathered some sticks and the bark stuff that crepe myrtle trees shed in the Autumn and a few wooden blocks to make the stable.

Grand daughters #1 and #2 worked on the dolls.....

Then Grandson #2 helped glue a few blocks together to give us the basic shape for the bottom of the stable. We didn't have enough blocks to make the entire stable so we used some sticks. Grand daughter #3 didn't want to make the dolls so she was in charge of the glue gun for the stick application.

The blocks were just to help stabilize the sticks (and to give the little 4 year old grandson a part in the project.) You could use 2x4s or a cardboard box. I like how this thing turned out with the sticks and the weird bark that we gathered. We also used jute twine to lash the sticks together as well as the hot glue. When I was 17 years old, my grandmother and I spent many hours making clothespin dolls. That is what made me think of this project. By using these little nutcracker dolls, I didn't have to buy the wooden beads for the heads or make arms or buy wooden stands so that they would stand up. Plus I got 2 dolls for $1.00 !

King #1 is all dressed now!

For the rest of the dolls, we decided to cut off the pointy hat.

The girl dolls also got a nose job.

We didn't think they needed this nose.or the facial hair so we painted over the face after pulling off the nose and replacing it with a straight pin that has a glass bead on one end. We used wire cutters to clip the straight pin to the right length before hot gluing it in the hole where the old nose used to be.

We tried a tiny pearl but it was too big.

This old clothes pin is what we decided to use to make Baby Jesus,

We sawed it off right above where the stick divides.

Then we padded the stick with a piece of felt before wrapping it in a piece of linen fabric.

We saved the "legs" of the clothespin to use for the bodies of our 2 sheep. We painted the pointed end with black paint and put tiny white dots for eyes. The legs were made out of some antique spindle shaped beads that I already had but you could make them out of tiny wooden spools or black pony beads.The ears were made out of a small piece of black pipe cleaner that was wound into a small spiral shape and hot glued in place. We used some chenille from an old scarf but you could use cotton balls or fleece.

They needed to be cut smaller to be the right scale for the little dolls.