Archives for December 2015

If you’re anything like me, you may be scrambling for gift ideas in these last couple of days before the holiday. Even though I’ve been making ornaments all month I still find myself behind in all that I wanted to accomplish.

One of the ornaments we made at the ornament party this month was this gorgeous Believe glittered ornament. Doesn’t it look complicated? Expensive? Impossible?

It’s none of those things! In fact, this technique is super simple, easy, and when done in bulk, could be quite inexpensive.

What you’ll need:

Clear glass ornament
Glitter (very fine glitter. My absolute fave is this brand)
Image vinyl (I have used stickers, too)
Tulle
Polycrylic Water Based Protective Finish
Funnel (paper, or do like we did and use a baggie with the corner snipped off)
Syringe
A cup to set the bulb in to drain (we used disposable cups)

**A note about the protective finish-these come in pretty big containers and will last a long time. I know my friend Melissa uses this on her wooden signs as a finish, too, so the stuff will work on a lot of different future projects.**

First step: Use the syringe to add some of the Polycrylic Protective finish to the glass bulb. Swirl to coat the entire inside and turn upside down over the cup. Allow to drain well.

Fill a funnel or your baggie with the glitter and pour into the ornament. Shake glitter over the entire surface until well covered.

Once the bulb is covered inside, dump out the excess glitter. Prep the outside of the bulb by wiping it with rubbing alcohol. This will allow the vinyl or the sticker to adhere.

Apply the vinyl or sticker rubbing it smooth.

Put the cap back on and add the tulle, fashioning it into a bow.  Hang or give.  Enjoy!

25 Ornaments in December: Number 11

When I received my assigned blogger for the Arkansas Women Bloggers handmade ornament swap, I couldn’t have been more pleased.

Jessica, from Life with the Bauer Bunch, is such a sweetheart and following her family blog is delightful; her children are adorable and sweet and I’m sure, perfect angels all of the time.

But, really, the thing I was most excited about; Nora’s hair. I mean…look. That curly blonde hair. Those cherub cheeks. I just want to squish her, which would be totally awkward for her since we haven’t met.

I knew that I had to make something that included around all three kids (playing favorites is SO not cool, right?). I also knew that blonde curly hair was a must.

This photo was my inspiration. At first, I thought Nora was laughing here but Jessica says she was throwing a fit. I can’t believe it-those cheeks! How could they ever be sad or tear stained? And, the boys look completely unfazed.

Here’s what I came up with:

Making them was fairly easy. Except, how exactly does one paint buffalo plaid? I’m not a great painter but I think it worked in the end with a little help from a fine-point marker. Also note that I added a pocket to Nathan’s shirt. Yes, Thom, that’s a pocket.

Supplies were few and easy to find: wooden doll figures from the hobby store, acrylic paints, clear finishing spray, screw eyes from the hardware, and some ribbon for hanging. Oh, and blonde curly hair also from the hobby store (in the doll making section).

I didn’t prep the dolls at all. Just mixed up some ivory paint with a little brown for skin tone, painted Nora’s head/face and dress, boy’s hair next, clothes last.  Dry time was quick. All were painted and dried within two hours max. Thom drilled tiny holes in the top and screwed in the little eyelets. He also finished the dolls with a clear sealant for a shiny, sealed finish.

Fluffed and shaped for that classic Nora style. Drew on facial features with a pencil and later painted.I may have played around with them a bit before packing them up.

I couldn’t resist recreating the Bauer kids pose one last time-but instead of crying, Nora is knocked over by her own sweetness. It’s okay, kiddo, I’ve got ya!

…and knock out 9 ornaments for 25 Days of Ornaments. Okay, let’s just be realistic and go for 25 Ornaments in December.

My old blogging pal (and declared bloggy sister-after a beer or 4) Julie co-hosted an Ornament Party last weekend with her friend Alicia. Lucky for me and my stalled 25 Days of Ornaments, ahem, 25 Ornaments in December, I received an invite.

I was nervous going because it was a whole day crafting sesh with women I didn’t know (other than Julie) and I’m what you’d call a lazy crafter-I have a tendency to start a project and set it aside, only to resume/finish months later. Alright, maybe not that dramatic. But, close.

What’s an ornament party you ask? Gather 9 of your craftiest friends, each prepare an ornament and buy/bring enough supplies for each participant to make, eat, drink, and be crafty.

You go home with 10 handmade ornaments and a full belly and achy smile muscles.

I’m highlighting a few ornaments I made and will be sharing a couple of the others later with a how-to post. Also-one of my little crafts didn’t make it-the Snowman Lightbulb got smudged so badly on the way home that he just could not be helped.

(numbered for easy 25 Ornaments in December reference)

4. Snow Globe ornament: darling plastic snow globe filled with glitter snow, a tiny bottle brush tree and moose(?), and adorned with a sparkly silver tinsel garland.

5. Pinecone Elf: Julie showed us how to assemble this cutie. Gather pinecones, felt, a wooden ball, and some hot glue and get to elf-makin’.

6. Wood burned ornament: !! A wood burning tool is on my birthday/Christmas list so I was SO EXCITED for this craft. As you can probably tell-I need practice. But it was simple and fun.

7. Paperclip Angel: did you know that these butterfly paperclips are a real thing? Check them out in the office supply section-they come like this. No bending or sore fingers.

8. Glittered Believe ornament: you’ve seen these fancy-schmancy ornaments on Pinterest, right? SO easy to make. I can’t wait to make a hundred more. Or, one more. Yea, one more.

9. Gah! A spring candy cane. Not the season, Spring. Like, a bed spring or something. From the hardware store. Pair with cute gingham ribbon and a red button, and whoa! Cuteness.

10. Another Globe ornament, but with a FLOATING twist. Love love.

And, a look at the project I brought to share: Ugly Sweater Ornaments. Not to be confused with the LOVELY Ornament Crafters with their handmade goodies.

Our hostesses Julie & Alicia:

Will share the sweater how-to in another post along with some more FUN ornaments this weekend.

Happy crafting, friends!

Confession: I’ve been listening to Christmas music since the beginning of November and now there are a whopping TWO stations playing holiday tunes. The spirit of the season hasn’t dissipated yet, despite working in retail and the early start to the holiday shopping season.

As a way to force myself back into the craft room I’ve decided to do a 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments challenge; I’ll be crafting an ornament a day and gifting them to friends {and strangers, maybe!}

I’ll be trying to use supplies I have on hand {although, that’s not going so great as I was at Tuesday Morning yesterday and today, and I am a sucker for their scrapbooking section}.

These button Christmas tree ornaments are super simple and the supplies readily available.

Supplies:

Assorted buttons in varying sizes & colors (green and/or white)
Star button and assorted sized brown buttons
Ribbon or string (I used some thrifted silver metallic cord similar to this)

How to:

Begin with the brown buttons; stack according to size. Loop ribbon or string through the largest button-one button hole and then the other (for buttons with four holes I looped through kitty-cornered holes). Repeat with buttons according to size large to small. Continue with the green and/or white buttons forming the tree, again, largest to small.  Top with the star button.  Tie top of ribbon into a knot and cut off excess.

Hang and enjoy all season long!

I even made a snowman ornament inspired by Pinterest. Are you following me over there?