Christmas Garland, Mugs and Cocoa Bombs

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

FOR FOAM BEAD GARLAND:

• Foamies sheets - desired colors
• Wood beads
• Red paint
• Small paintbrush
• Hot glue gun
• Crochet thread or string
• Pattern templates

FOR ORNAMENT MUGS:

• Laptop or computer
• Cricut® machine
• Cricut® Standard Grip™ mat 12"x 12"
• Cricut Infusible Ink™ sheets - assorted colors
• Cricut Mugs
• Cricut MugPress™
• Tweezers
• Heat-resistant tape
• Ornament initial mug SVG file

FOR HOT CHOCOLATE BOMBS:

• 2 1/2" sphere candy mold
• Candy meltables - white, black, orange
• Microwaveable bowls
• Spatulas
• Toothpicks
• Craft sticks
• Parchment paper
• Mini marshmallows
• Hot chocolate mix



DIRECTIONS:

To print the templates, click on the "GET PATTERNS" tab above.


Christmas Foam Bead Garland

1. Paint the wood beads with the red paint and set them aside to dry.
2. Use the pattern templates to cut out the bead pieces from the foamies sheets.
3. Using the handle of the small paintbrush, roll the foamies pieces into beads. Start at the wide end and roll the piece around the paintbrush to the pointed end. At about 1" from the end, hot glue the inside of the piece to secure the bead shape.
4. Use the pattern templates to cut holly leaves.
5. Cut a piece of crochet thread or string to 6'. Knot on end with a small loop for hanging.
6. String the foam beads, alternating sizes and colors. Add one of the red wood beads every so often.
7. When the piece is fully strung, hot glue the holly leaves to the red wood beads.



Ornament Initial Mugs



• To download the SVG files, to load directly into Cricut Design Space click on the links below.
• ORNAMENT MUGS Click Here
1. Open Design Space.
2. Upload the SVG file into Design Space.
3. Insert letters into each ornament. Use the Slice feature to remove the letter from the solid ornament shape.
4. Cut with the Cricut machine and mirror all cuts.
5. Using tweezers, carefully peel up different colored pieces and combine onto one sheet of Infusible Ink backing.
6. After all the pieces are placed together, wipe down the mug and place over mug, taping edges down with heat-resistant tape.
7. Press with the Cricut Mug Press, follow instructions and let completely cool before unwrapping.



Snowman Hot Chocolate Bomb

1. Clean sphere mold and dry with a papertowel.
2. Melt white candy wafers in a microwave safe bowl. Melt for 60 seconds at 50% power (the wafers will be partially melted). Stir and melt 30 seconds at a time at 50% power until smooth. Use a small silicone spatula to coat the sphere mold in a even layer of candy.
3. Chill mold in the fridge for ten minutes.
4. After chilling, add another thin layer to the mold and chill.
5. Gently turn silicone mold over onto parchment paper and pop candy spheres out of mold.
6. To make one bomb you'll need two halves of the sphere. Fill one half with 1 tablespoon of hot chocolate mix and mini marshmallows.
7. Warm a microwaveable plate for 60 seconds. While the plate is warm, take the other half of the sphere and lightly rub the edges onto the plate.
8. Do this for only a few seconds, just enough to soften the edges. This will melt the edges of the sphere and work as a "glue" to attach the two halves together.
9. Place the two halves together and smooth out the candy where the two meet.
10. Place bombs gently into molds for an easy way to decorate.
11. Melt a small amount of black and orange for the snowman's face. Follow the same melting directions. Use a toothpick to add eyes, carrot nose and smile.