Tag Archives: art

How to Decorate With Used CDs

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Creating crafts from CDS is a great way to get rid of all of those shiny free disks you get in the mail. It’s also a great way to reduce, reuse and recycle those tunes and programs that you know you will never lay your eyes on again.

Perhaps one of the most famous CD crafts project tat exists is a sleeveless knee length cocktail shift, created entirely from CD’s and small gold jewelry hooks. Talk about a great way to create a futuristic outfit for New Year’s.

CD disks look really attractive in any project that has a dangling element to it. Some of the kinds of cd crafts that you can make include Christmas decorations and dangling door hangers. You could even make a chandelier out of it.

All you need to do to personalize a CD is cut an image out of a newspaper (or find one on the Internet that suits your theme or purposes) and glue it or decoupage it over the original record label. For instance if you were making a Christmas decoration, you would use an image such as a snowflake, snowman or Christmas tree. You can use hearts for Valentine’s days and pumpkins for dangling Halloween crafts. These types of CD projects can be dangled from a front door to celebrate the season.

Another way to conceal the label is to simply glue two used CDS together so that the labels of both face inwards. Some individuals hang these CD projects (called “flashers”) in trees to discourage birds and squirrels from plundering a garden.

CD crafts are easily turned into objects that can hang or “dangle” by attaching a looped ten-inch piece of ribbon to the CD with glue. Industrious types might want to try drilling holes into CDs to create attractive hanging mobiles that hang from ribbons or threads.
Decoupage suits the creation of these types CD crafts, especially if you want to try making your very own homemade shiny coaster set. You can also personalize these durable protective table coasters by pasting images over the label of the CD. For instance, an image of the U.S. flag pasted into the center of the coaster would suit a party celebrating Independence Day.

Used CDs also make great candleholders. Glue a candle onto the shiny side of a CD. Surround it with a wreath made of fake or real flowers or branches. You can also decorate the CD surface by securing beads to it with glue. The reason that candle CD crafts are so pretty is that the shiny surface of the acts as a mirror that doubly reflects the glow of the candle.

Whether you are looking to entertain your kids or simply looking for a way to recycle used discs, the Internet is a great source of inspiration for ideas about using these disks to make geometric works of art of all kinds.

How to Decorate With Christmas Poinsettas

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When it comes to home holiday decorations, the poinsettia is a familiar mainstay on mantelpieces and dinner tables. However the tradition of using this plant as part of home holiday decorations originated in Mexico, not in North America.

In Mexico, the poinsettia is are called by many names: “flor de fuego” (fire flower), “flor de Navidad” (Christmas Flower), and “flor de la Nochebuena” (Flower of the Holy Night). North American culture has since adopted this flower, which comes with red, white or pink leaves, as part of traditional home holiday decorations. In Europe the tradition of using poinsettias as part of Christmas décor is a Spanish influence; a hangover from when Spanish conquistadors brought the gorgeous plant over from Mexico for royalty to admire. Exactly how it became associated with Christmas is not exactly known but the flower is a familiar site in every way around Christmas time. In fact, a gift of a Poinsetta is a sought after gift.

Most people just use the plant itself as a decorating accent and place it on the mantel, a dining room table or on a plant stand of its own that gives it some majesty and prominence in the room. No matter where you put them nothing says Christmas quite as vividly as a poinsettia. You can also take poinsettia flowers and make them into a beautiful wreath for your front door. However it is better to make this out of silk or plastic poinsettia foliage as one made from real leaves might be expensive.

The poinsettia makes a great decorating accent, particularly if you are planning a color scheme that is all white or all red as part of your xmas décor. However if you have pets or children in the house you may want to avoid using poinsettias as part of your home holiday decorations because it is a very poisonous plant. In this case you can easily buy life-like plastic versions of this special Christmas flower at craft and retail chain stores. Another benefit to using the plastic or silk versions of poinsettias is that you can keep them dust free and clean. Poinsettias can also be fussy flowers. You need to take care of it if you want it to live long.

If you don’t like the idea of keeping the actual plant around there are is no shortage of linens, ribbons and other décor that have a screen-print of a poinsettia on them. You can also get ceramic and glass decorations in the shape of a poinsettia.