Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A Christmas Project

In the late 1980's my husbands sweet Aunt gave these animated Christmas decorations to the girls and they adored them! For several years now, they have stayed in the attic - even through the holidays. I did not have the heart to give them away because of the sweet memories they bring.

Last year I found a magazine that had a Santa Chef used as Christmas kitchen decor. This year I found this picture. It is my inspiration for what I am trying to achieve with my old Mr. and Mrs. Santa.

Here they are stripped down a bit. I took off Mrs. SC's shall and removed the gifts from her hand. On him, I removed the bag of toys and undid his belt, which I can remove completely by cutting the attachment. Each one is about 2 feet tall including the stand.

Here is one of my problems - the candle sticks. I kind of wanted to keep them animated - but if I have to, I will cut the electrical chords since the wires go up into the fake candles.

Also - another obstacle..Santa has on mittens - no hands! Kind of hard to cook in mittens, unless they look like oven mits!Anybody have any suggestions for me?

3 comments:

Barbara Jacksier said...

Mrs Claus looks so much better. More hip! How about hot gluing a rolling pin or chalkboard (with the day's menu) to the front of Santa's candle? Good Lucj

vivian said...

Ok Julie.. finally getting back to you! didnt mean to keep you waiting! I'm so slow sometimes!!
I think it would be easy to change them..
for santa, take his coat off and make him a christmas colored flannel shirt, add some suspenders and an apron. You could give him a chefs hat, or leave his hat as is. for his mittens you could make little oven mitts, or just leave them, but I would make a small cookie sheet with little gingerbread men on it and balance that in his two hands.
Mrs. Santa, you could just give her a mixing bowl and wooden spoon, or you could make her a whole new dress and frilly apron like in the picture you like.
as for the candles, I think I would just leave them as is. or you could make a small sack of sugar or flour to put in front of it. barbara jacksiers ideas are good too!
you can do this Julie!! cant wait to see the finished product!!
hugs
vivian

Anonymous said...

If you cut the wires use tape to lable each end. When you have finished re-doing the dolls, re-connect the wires using electrical tape and you will still have your animation.
Lizanne