Dec 21st: Reindeer Ornaments

Do you like reindeers? I sure do. And do you know what I like too? Walnuts ^^ That's how I came up with this project.
So I'm one of those people who can't simply smash a walnut. When I open them, I do that really carefully so that the nutshell basically stays intact (or at least doesn't break into more than four pieces). When I was a kid, I used to glue them back together with a piece of thread in between and painted them golden or silver. I guess that's why I still don't like breaking nutshells :D
Well, anyway, I found another use for those nutshells I keep in my drawer: reindeer ornaments. They are really so simple to make and it's really fun when doing this in company.
So without further ado, let's get going!

You will need:
Walnuts
Thread or thin ribbon (I used those that you cut off the inside of new clothes)
Thick colored paper
Glue
Scissors
Markers and/or paint
Optional: a third hand

How it's done:
Crack the walnut carefully, eat the nut and keep the shell. Do that as often as you want *nom*
Once you've eaten all your walnuts ('^^), gather your crafting supplies and sketch out a nice design for the antlers of your reindeers. I made mine a bit chubby and they kinda look like oak leaves (which I like because it looks pretty natural).
Use your pattern to make two antlers from thick colored paper. Place them between the two sides of your nutshell and shove them around until you're happy with the placement. Put a drop of glue to the bottom of your antlers and glue them to one half of the shell where you want them to be. If you have a sort of glue that doesn't really stay until dry, get someone to hold the antlers in place while you spread glue around the edge of your nutshell and put the thread in. Glue the second half to the first one.
Then, paint on two black circles for the eyes and either a black or red nose. When the paint is dry, you can add little dots of white for light reflexes.
And that's it!

I hope you have a great day ^^