Christmas in July - The Crime Scene Tree - Week 1

Every July the crafty gang at Mystery Playground likes to do a little advance work on Christmas, even though it's prime beach weather. We post these crafts now so everyone has time to think about what they want to do in time for the holidays. Once September starts for me, I find little time for Christmas crafts in the hustle bustle. 

This year we are doing a special crime scene tree. Each week we will have another Christmas ornament craft until the final week of July when we'll show you how to make a Christmas tree skirt. We starting our tree ornaments today with The Suspect ornament. Because you always need a suspect. 

This is an easy craft since almost everything is already made and you're just putting it together. Perfect break on a Sunday afternoon. 

Here are the materials you'll need:

• 1 round and flat Christmas clear glass Christmas ornament -  I got mine at Michaels last year at the post holiday sale, but Hobby Lobby has them in stock right now. You can use another shape if you like, but a spherical ornament won't allow the suspect charm to hang right.
• 1 Stranger charm - I got these at Michaels ready made (if you comment below you could be entered to win one). You can also make this with other charms.
• Gorilla Glue
• Book pages to fill the inside (We use only damaged books, popular books.) 
• Chain and 2 jump rings
• A pencil
• Wire cutters

Step One:
Cut your book pages into strips. Curl them around a pencil. Open the top of your ornament and stick the book pages inside the glass like in the photo above. 

Step Two:
Take your chain and cut a 2-inch piece of chain with the wire cutters. Take your jump rings and attach it to the rings at the top of your Stranger charm. Hang the chain around the back of the ornament. Glue the back of the chain to the back of the ornament.

Step Three:
Wait until the glue dries. I told you this one was easy. 

You can use this technique to attach any charm to a Christmas ornament.

If you would like to win a Suspect charm to make your own at home, just comment below. 

Come on back next week when we will show you how to make Crime Scene ornaments. If you want to check out our mystery and book themed crafts from last year, you can see them here.