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Tuesday, December 12, 2023

A Peppermint Christmas Tree Tutorial

A decorative, peppermint Christmas tree made from a cone for a mantle, shelf or table display.

       This peppermint candy tree is not made of real candy, but of clay that looks like candy. It is something that students who are in fifth or sixth grade or even older, may like to craft. It will take several days to complete it and lots of patience. 
       The supplies that you will need to accomplish this Christmas project include: a Styrofoam cone, a recycled yogurt cup, Sculpey oven bake clay, red spray paint, white acrylic paints, fancy gift wrap paper, a miniature wooden ornament for the tree topper, a toothpick, Mod Podge, and tacky white glue.

Step-by-Step Instructions:
  1. Roll out the oven bake clay into many small balls. If you make many of these the project will take longer to craft. If you make fewer of them, a younger student will be able to complete a simpler version of the tree.
  2. Place all of the clay balls on a cookie sheet and then gently press each one flat with you finger tips. Bake at 275 degree oven for 8 or 9 minutes. Check the instructions printed on the box of the Sculpy to make sure if these are the same as mine. Choose those instructions over mine if you should have a different type of clay.
  3. After these two steps, even older children may need adult supervision with the baking and spray painting.
  4. Wear oven mitts. Remove the flattened clay with a cake knife or thin spatula before all of the rounds cool completely. 
  5. Place the miniature, faux peppermints into a cardboard box and spray paint them red. Do this step of the craft outdoors because spray paint is toxic. Wait for the paint to dry completely and then repeat the same step for the unpainted sides of the clay pieces.
  6. Now apply small drops of tacky white glue to the pretend candies and stick these to the surface of the tall cone on it's sides only. You will need to do a side at a time allowing the glue to dry before turning the cone to glue more pieces on. Keep the cone on it's side for this process. Once you have all of the clay candies on the cone and the glue is dry, you may then turn the cone upright. 
  7. Using a very tiny brush, paint the white swirls onto each red faux candy. Let all of the paint dry.
  8. Meanwhile, clean the surface of a used yogurt container.
  9. Spread Mod Podge on it's outside surface and apply the decorative paper. Let dry.
  10. Glue the yogurt cup 'stand' to the bottom of the decorated cone.
  11. Glue a wooden ornament to a toothpick. Let dry.
  12. Poke the toothpick down into the top of the Styrofoam cone with some glue and let dry. Paint the wooden ornament in the colors of the tree, red and white.
  13. Seal the entire surface with Mod Podge
Left, the balls of clay, Center, the balls flattened. Right the clay is spray painted red.

Left, the topper is a wooden reindeer. Center the tree stand is decoupaged. Right, the cone should be glued to the top of the recycled yogurt cut to add height and finish to the decorative tree.

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