Last of the Christmas Projects

I wanted to share the last of my Christmas Projects, our Holiday cards.

First, the photo greeting card that I created using My Digital Studio.  I like to make a photo greeting card for a few of our family and friends that I would normally give a photo with our Christmas Card.

Now for our Christmas Cards.  I failed to think through how much paper I needed and thought I had more on hand, so I ended up with two designs so I could make full use of my available materials.  Both card designs are very similar in layout and use the Rejoicing in Christmas stamp set.  I also used a color palette on all cards that coordinate well with the Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper.

The first design uses Early Espresso for the base of the card.  I used some Cherry Cobbler seam binding and gathered it as I adhered it to my Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper.  I just used Snail adhesive to gather the binding as I glued it down.  I embossed my image onto a piece of Cherry Cobbler using Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.  I stamped my sentiment onto a piece of Very Vanilla card stock using Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad and then punched it out using the Decorative Label Punch.  I distressed the edges using my Early Espresso Stamp Pad.  After that, it was just assembly time using some Stampin' Dimensionals.

The second design is similar to the first using a similar layout and the same Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper.  This time, I used Stazon and stamped the image onto watercolor paper.  I then used my Aqua Painter Pen and watercolor pencils to color each image.  I used Cherry Cobbler for the card base and layered my image onto a piece of designer series paper and then added a second matching strip that I crinkled as I adhered it to the card front.  As with the seam binding, I crinkled the paper strip as I adhered it to the card using Snail.  I embossed a star in the left corner using the Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.  I added the sentiment to the bottom left corner using Early Espresso Stampin' Pad.

And the last Christmas project- a Reindeer Bag full of Christmas cookies (held by the lovely Tessa).  I rounded the top of a regular brown paper lunch bag to resemble a reindeer snout and then folded it over.  Using the scrap pieces, I made some ears that I glued onto the bag at the fold.  I cut antlers freehand from Early Espresso card stock and glued it to the back of the bag.  I used my circle punches to punch a nose from Real Red and eyes from Basic Black.  Around the edge of the nose, I added some Dazzling Diamonds.  On the eyes, I added a bit of white to complete my Reindeer.  This guy is holding a candy cane in his mouth because I forgot to put it in the bag. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

A Few More Ornaments

Here are a few ornaments that I made after the 12 Days of Christmas, using similar techniques as described in previous posts.

This ornament is made using the Deck the Halls Fabric and Top Note Die Cut for the Shot.  I created a little ribbon wreath by tying small pieces of ribbon and fabric strips onto a small ring.  Once the ring was full, I added a bow at the top and some Rhinestones.  I sewed the wreath to the ornament.  I used lace for the ribbon hanger.  All materials are from Stampin' Up!.

The next ornament is Candy Cane Lane fabric cut with the table setting die cut and then glued to a mason jar lid, embellishing with buttons, brads, and ribbon.  I used different prints on the two sides.

For the next ornament, I cut fabric circles using my circle die cut and made rosettes using buttons for the flower center and lace for the hanger.

For this ornament, I cut several small circles from fabric.  I applied some glue to the fabric and used a small skewer to poke each piece into a Styrofoam ball, alternating the fabric prints.  I used a large needle to thread a piece of fishing line through the top for use as a hanger.

This ornament is supposed to resemble a lollipop.  I cut a strip of fabric using the Table Setting Die Cut and then spun the spiral together like a lollipop.  I made two pieces like this and then sandwiched a skewer between the two pieces.   I added some Dazzling Diamonds to both sides to make it look like some sugar.  I then covered it with a clear bag and secured it with some satin ribbon.   I threaded fishing line through the fabric and the bag to use as a hanger.

The next ornament also uses a Styrofoam ball.  I poked a skewer into the ball and covered it with Tombow Liquid Glue.  I sprinkled Champagne Glass Glitter all over the ball.  After the glue dried, I added a clear bag and secured it with a strip of fabric. 

And, the final ornament for 2010.  Another top note fabric ornament.  For this one, I applied some of the iron on fabric adhesive to a piece of coordinating fabric and then punched it out using the ornament punch.  After, I ironed onto my fabric ornament and added some stitches around the edges of the small ornament.  I used lace for my hanger and added a button to one side and a brad to the other side.

God Bless, Merry Christmas and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

Christmas Tree Topper

As promised, now it is time to share the star Christmas Tree Topper that I made.  For this tree topper, you need to cut two five point stars using your Big Shot.  I cut mine from the cardboard inserts that come in Designer Series Paper.  I also cut enough fabric (I used the Deck the Halls Fabric) to cover both sides.  I ended up trimming the tabs from the fabric thinking that it would make it easier to assemble, but it left me with some short edges that are somewhat noticeable if you look closely enough.  I would suggest trimming the fabric tabs but do not cut them entirely off.  Use the Big Shot Adhesive to adhere your fabric to the star pieces.  Then, assemble each star using your favorite strong adhesive.  Once you have each star assembled, embellish with additional fabric, brads, buttons, glitter, etc.

Cover a toilet paper tube with fabric or Designer Series Paper and emblish the lower edge with ribbon or glitter.

After the stars are embellished to your desire, glue one star to the toilet paper tube using a hot glue gun and then add the second star using hot glue along the edges to connect the two stars.  You will also need hot glue on your toilet paper tube.  Now it is ready to add to the tree.

This star was a prize in my current contest.  I did the drawing and our winner is Kathy D.  Congratulations to Kathy!  Enjoy your tree topper.

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

On the 12th Day of Christmas, Stampin' Up! Gave to Me

Stamps of course.

For the twelve day, I've saved one of my favorite techniques.  Stamping on bakable clay.  I think I like this technique because it is so simple, yet beautiful.  Also, it is one of the first techniques I did with a rubber stamp.  Years ago, our church decided to give out Christmas Ornaments to visitors during Advent and I found instructions online to stamp onto unbaked clay to create an ornament.  These made nice ornaments because they aren't overly fragile which makes transport a little easier and they are very easy to make.

To make these ornaments, I used a pasta machine to roll out my clay.  I used Fimo but any of the baking clays will work ok.  Lighter ones tend to work best.  I've also found that line art stamps work well.  Once the clay is rolled out, you simply stamp using normal ink right onto the clay.  After, I cut to shape.  You can use a cookie cutter or a knife around the image, whichever you prefer.  Add a hole to the top to add ribbon or hemp twine for the hanger and then bake according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Allow to cool completely before handling and then add ribbon or twine as a hanger. 

For the ones shown here, I used Real Red 3/8" grosgrain ribbon and Hemp twine as my hanger.  For my stamped images I used Northern Hearts and Rejoicing Christmas.  For the Holy Family I used Chocolate Chip ink and for the snowflake I used Marina Mist. 

God Bless and Happy Stampin!

Charity

On the 11th Day of Christmas Stampin' Up! Gave to Me

Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Papers.

For the 11th Day, I'm going to share some Victorian Cones.  This was my first attempt at Victorian Cones and I used some simple instructions found online, cutting a large circle and then shaping my paper into the cone.  I found that I preferred the cone shape that resulted from cutting out a section of the circle to create a bit of a "Pac Man" shape. 

I filled my cones with shredded paper and Tinsel Trim.  I used Tinsel Trim and Real Red 3/8" grosgrain ribbon for embellishments and hangers along with some glitter brads and metallic snowflakes cut with the Northern Frost Die Cut. 

The cones are actually something I'd like to play with a bit more to see if I can achieve the perfect look as I'm not entirely satisfied with these.

God Bless and Happy Stampin!
Charity

On the 10th Day of Christmas Stampin' Up Gave to Me

More Punch Art Favorites.

For this ornament, I went with a simple and common Santa Punch art for the design.  I again used the Top Note but this time I used Candy Cane Lane paper to cover the chipboard.  Unfortunately, this Designer Series Paper is no longer available, but you can use the Candy Cane Lane fabrics which has three of the paper designs, as a substitute. 

As with my Nativity Punch Art Ornament, I found inspiration online for this Santa but have since lost my bookmarks, so if I've CASE'd your design, please email me so that I can give you proper credit!

Both sides were covered with the paper.  On one side, I used my Naturally Serif die cut and used the letters to spell out "Ho! Ho! Ho!"  I used silver floral wire to create my hanger and I tied some small strips of Candy Cane Lane Fabric to the hanger. 

For the santa, I used the following punches:

• Scallop Circle
• 1 3/8 Inch Circle Punch
• Crop A Dile (Large Circle)

To create the Santa, I cut a triangle in Real Red that was slightly larger than my head along with a rectangle in Whisper White.  The rectangle is not as long as the edge of the triangle such that when one edge of the rectange is lined u

p with the point of the triangle, it looks like the point of the hat is folded over.  I used my Crop-A-Dile to create a small little puff ball at the end of the hat using Whisper White.  For the face.  I punched a 1 3/8" circle from Very Vanilla that I colored with my Blush Blossom marker.  I used a pink marker to create rosy cheeks.  For the beard, I punched a scalloped circle from Whisper White and then trimmed part of the top off and glued it back on, scallops down, to create the mustache.  I added a nose punched with the Crop-A-Dile, also colored with the Blush Blossom marker.

On the 9th Day of Christmas Stampin' Up! Gave to Me

Nativity Punch Art.

My general preference with Christmas is to keep the Christ at the center of our holiday so I like to make decorations and ornaments that keep that focus on the true meaning of the holiday.  I decided to do a search on nativity punch art and found a few nativity scenes that brought me some inspiration for this particular ornament.  I've since lost some of my bookmarks so I no longer have all the links to give credit for inspiration.  If you see something similar to what you have created, please post me a comment or send me an email so that I can give you proper credit.

For this ornament I used my Big Shot to cut a Top Note from chip board and then I covered with Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper.  On one side, I used the portion of the DSP with the words "hope" and "love" on it.  I added a single rhinestone from the Basic Rhinestone jewels at the end of the "e" in love.  For the hanger I used Chantilly 1/2" lace, knotting the end and having it show on this side.  The knot looks a bit like a small rosette. 

On the other side, I added my manger. I used one of the pieces with more brown shades and then added some Very Vanilla with distressed edges.  To this, I added my manger.  I just cut my Chocolate Chip into the desired shape, adding two legs.  I created straw by cutting thin strips of Crumb Cake and then ran them through the Crimper.  To create the Baby Jesus, I used my Blush Blossom marker and colored a small section of Very Vanilla before punching out a circle using my 3/4" Circle Punch.  I then used my Versamark Marker and used my Gold Emboss powder to create a gold area to also punch with my circle punch using the 1 1/4" punch.  Using my 1 3/4" punch, I punched a large More Mustard circle to create my blanket.  I folded the circle and then tucked in the face with the golden halo behind.  Then I just laid the baby in the manger.  I added  a star using the Basic Rhinestones.

This ornament recently found a home on a friend's tree.  I really do like the design and hope to create some more.

God Bless and Happy Stampin!

On the 8th Day of Christmas, Stampin' Up! Gave to Me

Snowflakes Big and Small!  How many of you loved the felt snowflakes that Stampin' Up! sold last year in the Holiday Mini?  I know I did.  In fact, I still have several that I use for decorations at Christmas.  I think I also may have mentioned my love for snowflake Christmas ornaments in one of my previous posts, so I naturally was very excited to see the Northern Frost Die in this year's Holiday Mini.  I loved that it offered different shapes and designs all in that strip.  I had images of garlands and ornaments right away!

I used some thin aluminum sheets that I bought at the local craft store in a blue, pink and silver.  I cut several in each size and color.  Since the die offers three sizes, I connected a large, medium and small snowflake together using fishing line.  Each chain of snowflakes had 1 snowflake in each color.  I tied a small bead to the bottom of the last snowflake and also used fishing line for the hanger.  I cut some strips of Candy Cane Lane Designer Fabric and tied that to my fishing line.  The result?  A simple but beautiful ornament. 

Word of caution... hang them high on your tree as they will attract your cat if you have one.  Our cats seem to be particularly found of the Christmas tree and whacking any ornaments within reach. and they found these to be very entertaining.  And speaking of cats and Christmas trees, I keep hearing a noise from our living room.  All the kids are asleep and Tim had to run to our church to pick up my phone, crazy cats!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

On the 7th Day of Christmas Stampin' Up! Gave to Me

 

Beautiful Designer Fabrics!  I've waited far too long to post about Designer Fabrics.  I LOVE the Designer Fabrics and I've really been enjoying making ornaments with them and I'm looking forward to making some more projects using these fabrics.  All the ornaments I've been making are CASE's of ones in the Holiday Mini or ones on display at Convention. 

For all of these ornaments, my general approach was to apply Fabric Adhesive to my fabric and then sandwich some quilt batting between two pieces and iron it to seal.  I then cut out my ornament using the Scallop Square die cut.  I sewed the edges together and embellished using fabric pieces cut with Tasteful Trim or Circles Die and Big Designer Buttons or Vintage Brads.  I also used some wire to make some hangers, the Naturally Serif die cut for some felt letters to add to one of the ornaments and even some miscellaneous beads from my craft box.  The photos in this post are just a small sampling of the ornaments I've been making.  Like I've said, I've really enjoyed making these ornaments and I've been trying  a variety of embellishments.

In addition to the Scallop Square ornaments, I've also used my Circles Die Cut to create a large circle and sewed two together sandwiching Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon and Crochet Trim.

I've also been working on a few using the Top Note punch which I'll have to share later in the month.  I must say, these do make great additions to your Christmas Tree and I do plan to make some more to use for gifts this holiday season in addition to the ones on my Stampin' Up! Tree.

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

On the 6th Day of Christmas, Stampin' Up! Gave to Me

A Petal Card Punch.  This next ornament is a CASE of one I received in an ornament exchange I participated in a few weeks ago.  Jan Carlson made one that looked like a little gift bag.  This is also a great size to package a single little mini candy bar or Hershey's Nugget.

For this ornament, punch two petal cards.  I cut mine from Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper.  I embellished one card with a snowflake I cut using the Northern Frost Die and and thin colored aluminum sheets.  Then glue the two cards together at the side flaps and bottom flaps leaving the top open.  Use the Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole on each side of the bag and use Tinsel Trim or ribbon for the handle.  Add some strips of scrap paper.  You can also use the Jewelry Tag punch to add a little tag with a short sentiment on it.

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!

Charity

On the 5th Day of Christmas, Stampin' Up Gave to Me

Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper and Punches. My next two ornaments are very similar to the snowman from Day 4.  The first is very simple, I used my Designer Label Punch and punched several labels from two different Candy Cane Lane prints.  As with the body of the snowman on Day 4, I folded them in half and glued them together alternating the prints that were visible.  Before glueing the final parts together to "close" the ornament, I ran some 1/8" Real Red grosgrain ribbon through the middle to use as a hanger.

For my second punch ornamnet, I used my 1 3/4" Circle punch.  For each of these, I created a slit on each side of the circles and I threaded a strip of Real Red card stock through those slits and added some Basic Rhinestone Jewels.  The hanger was done in the same way I did before.

Remember, if you attend any of my events this holiday season, you can pick a handmade ornament from my tree.

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

On the 4th Stampin' Up! Gave to Me

I fallen a little behind in getting the 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments up so I'm going to get caught up!

On the 4th Day of Christmas, Stampin' Up! gave to me beautifully coordinated card stock.  This ornament is a fun little snowman using a variety of punches and a few scraps of fabric and trim.  I started with the extra large ornament punch and punched several ornaments using Whisper White.  I folded each one in half and then glued them together for a three dimensional effect.  I also fed some fishing line through the center of ornaments.  I punched two additional circles from Whisper White using my 1 3/8" punch to make the head.  I drew the face free hand using my Stampin' Write markers.  For the arms and legs, I actually used the Build-A-Bear punch, using my Stampin' Write markers to add the mittens and shoes.  I glued the arms to the ornament body and tied the legs on using the fishing line I had ran through the body.  The head pieces were glued to each other with the fishing line in between.  I also added some Clear Tinsel Trim.  For the scarf, I used some of the Candy Cane Lane Designer Fabric that I originally cut with Tasteful Trim.  Every snowman needs a top had so I cut two squares and two rectangle strips from Basic Black and assembled my hat, still sandwiching my fishing line in between.  I finished it off with some more Candy Cane Lane Designer Fabric.

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity