Christmas Eve and Handmade Ornaments

It's Christmas Eve!  I really can't believe it myself.  This year, the Christmas season has been filled with an unusual sense of both angst and anticipation in our family, and I've tried extra hard to not over-do things, so that I could simply spend every minute possible just soaking up as much family time as possible. A year ago, we were celebrating the completely unexpected addition of a newborn baby boy, Jeremiah, to our family - via legal guardianship.  And this year, we are preparing our hearts to say goodbye to him just four days after Christmas, as he will leave our family to travel across the country to begin his new life with his birth mother. It has been a difficult process, accepting this turn of events, but in the end, love has won out, and Jeremiah is a blessed little boy to have so many people who love him so much.  Needless to say, we will be clinging together as a family, making this year as special as possible.

Since I needed to make gifts as simple as possible this year, I made ornaments for teacher gifts and gift exchanges.  I thought I'd share a few with you.  These are quick to make and could be made at the last minute if you need a gift idea for a last-minute guest.   

For these cute musical heart ornaments, I started by cutting two facing hearts from music paper.  I cut Christmas words out of some Teresa Collins ribbon and adhered it to the front heart, then added an additional sentiment with my Dymo labeler.  I put the hearts together, right sides facing out, and began stitching them together with a zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine.  I left about a 1" opening, and stuffed them with Poly-fil, then completed stitching them closed.  I trimmed around the hearts with pinking shears.  I used Distress Ink to ink around the edges - on the one above, I just used a bit of Gathered Twigs, while on the one below, I used both Festive Berries and Gathered Twigs.  I took a length of jute string and stitched it on to the back of the ornament, using a straight stitch, going back and forth a couple times (you could also just put it between the hearts when stitching them together, but I like the look of the added stitching).  Finally, I spritzed the front of the ornaments with some Biscotti Perfect Pearls spray for a bit of shimmer.

On this third ornament, I used Tim Holtz's Sizzix die, Carved Ornaments 2, to cut the ornament from grunge board, with the Noel Movers & Shapers die in the middle to cut out the word.  I painted the ornament using the Snow Cap paint dabber and let it dry.  Then I applied Denim, Pool, and Snow Cap Mixative Adirondack alcohol inks, using Blending Solution to help move the inks around, on an ink applicator tool, on the ornament.  I used a silver leafing pen to color the letters of "NOEL" and the topper piece, as well as the edges of the ornament.  I used the Movers & Shapers holly leaf to cut several leaves, and I used the Tattered Pine Cone die to cut some pine branches - all from Core'dinations cardstock.  I sanded them, used the Snow Cap paint dabber on their edges, and dabbed them with Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  I wrapped a small piece of fake greenery around the bottom of the ornament and then began arranging the branches and holly leaves on the ornament.  I topped them with a pearl from Tim Holt's Ideaology line. Finally, I tied a piece of jute string and inked seam binding through the top of the ornament, and it was complete.

What do you do for last minute gifts?  Do you have a go-to handmade gift?  

LOVE Banner Tutorial - Valentine's Home Decor

I have really great memories of Valentine’s Day from my childhood.  My mom really went all-out for the holiday…from decorating the house with hanging tissue-paper hearts and banners, to breakfast on a table covered in red and pink decorations, and dinner with more surprises and fancy decorations…she really out-did herself.  As a mom now, I wonder how she did it all.  After all, she was a working mom; and as a stay-at-home mom, I am ashamed to admit that I, um, have NEVER put up a single Valentine’s decoration, or really done anything spectacular for my kids for the day.  I think I *did* buy some “x” and “o” shaped pancake molds one year, and they were a flop.  Anyway, this year, I am resolving to start doing a little more – and THIS banner is my start!

To create this banner, you’ll need these things:

• some recycled corrugated cardboard (try the box your project supplies arrive in!)
• Core’dinations Jenni Bowlin Red and Black Collection
• Nestabilities Labels 14, largest die
• Any Cricut font cartridge
• Sweethearts Cricut cartridge
• White pigment ink pad
• Perfect Pearls, Pearl color
• Distress ink pad
• Ink applicator w/foam pad
• Glossy Accents
• Hot Fix Rhinestones, Black
• Black 6″ tulle
• Ivory 6″ tulle
• Black 5/8″ poly ribbon
• Black 5/8″ organza ribbon
• Ivory 1/4″ double-sided poly satin ribbon
• Red 7/8″ grosgrain ribbon
• Twine
• Fabri-Tac adhesive
• Small spray bottle
• water
• sanding block

First, you need to prepare your corrugated cardboard backing pieces.  Cut 4 pieces of cardboard, about 5″ x 7″.  Then, peel the front off one side, revealing most of the corrugation inside.  Take the white ink pad, and rub it directly over the corrugated cardboard, so that the bumps of the corrugations are highlighted with the white ink.  Set the cardboard pieces aside to dry.

Peel most of the facing off the cardboard

Next, take a sheet of black text paper from the Core’dinations paper pad, and lightly sand the surface of it using a sanding block, revealing the contrasting color beneath the black.  Cut four pieces of paper, 4″ x 6″, and adhere one to each piece of cardboard using Fabri-tac (I like using this glue due to its great grab and ability to use with wet applications).  Next, place your pieces in a protective spray box (I have a homemade one), and spritz each piece with a homemade Perfect Pearl spray (instructions to come!) or your choice of shimmery mist.

Background misted with homemade Perfect Pearl mist

Now you will cut take a sheet of the ivory-colored large dotted paper from the Core’dinations paper pad, and sand the dots, revealing the lighter color.  Then, you will use the largest die from the Nestabilities Labels 4 set to die cut a label shape for each of the four banner pieces.  Glue them onto the foundation pieces.

Adhere Nestabilities Label 4 to background

Using the Cricut font cartridge of your choice (I used Alphalicious), cut the letters to spell “LOVE,” at about 3″ size (depending on their width, you may need to adjust, to fit on the label), out of a sheet of the damask Core’dinations paper in red, sanding it before cutting.  Use Distress Ink and an ink blending tool with foam pad to add ink around the edges of the letters, and then glue the letters to the labels.

Using the Sweethearts cartridge (or any cartridge with a heart shape), cut several hearts in 1.25″ and 2″ sizes, also from the red damask paper.  These will be used for embellishing.

Cut four 1.75″ x 12″ strips of the red damask Core’dinations paper and lightly sand them.  Take a strip of the paper, and lightly spritz both sides of the paper with water to make it more pliable.  Begin folding the paper to make pleats in it.  Put a strip of Fabri-tac adhesive down across the very bottom of one of the banner pieces, and lay the pleated red cardstock across it, pushing down and holding for a short time until the glue grabs and holds the pleats in place.  Lay another bead of  Fabri-tac down on top of the pleated cardstock, at the very top of the pleats, and cover it with a 1/2″ wide strip of the ivory dotted Core’dinations paper.  Trim both the red and ivory cardstocks even at the sides of the banner piece, and then use scissors to cut a slight wave pattern in the pleated cardstock at the bottom.  Repeat for all of the banner pieces.

Begin embellishing the banner pieces with the red hearts, hot-fix rhinestones, and handmade tulle flowers as desired.   Use Glossy Accents to add a glossy, dimensional accent to areas of cardstock or entire pieces of cardstock.  I used it on embossed (raised) areas of some hearts, or on entire hearts, and on the dots of the strips at the bottoms of the banner pieces.

Use Glossy Accents to accent embossing or add dimension

Twisted tulle flower with hot fix rhinestone and cardstock heart center

You can get creative with Fabri-tac and tulle in making flowers.  In the above flower, I covered a piece of cardstock with adhesive, then took a length of tulle and began twisting it and laying it down on the glue, going round and round until I covered the cardstock.  Below, I also covered a piece of cardstock in adhesive, but rather than twist the tulle, I simply gathered some between my fingers and pushed it down into the adhesive, then repeated over and over until I had a nice, floofy flower and the cardstock was covered.

Bunched tulle flower and distress-ink heart

You can see above that I rubbed a distress ink pad directly over my heart, so the ink hit only the raised, embossed areas.  I also inked the edges of the heart.

Continue to embellish the banner pieces as desired until you are satisfied.  Once completed, punch holes in the top corners of each piece, and thread twine through the holes of each piece, leaving about 3-4 inches between each banner piece and about 18 inches at each end for hanging.  Cut pieces of tulle and ribbon approximately 5 inches long and tie them around the twine all along the twine, as few or as many as desired, until you reach the look you desire.

Now…isn’t that LOVE-ly?!

*****

Note: This project was made for the Crafts Unleashed blog, as part of a "LOVE" home decor competition amongst the Crafts Unleashed design team this month.  Go check out the other projects, and vote for your favorite (hint, hint!!) here!!

disclosure