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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

12 days of Christmas!


Only 12 days till Christmas!
My Chihuahua Apollo is at the ready. He thinks we are doing something fun like making cookies. He loves to glean the floor and get his sugar fix! Bad news for Apollo but good news for you is we are making Christmas cards. These are already sent out but I decided to include this tutorial. You could use the ornament as a gift tag instead of the front to a card. They turned out very simple and elegant! Hope you enjoy!

I choose a verse and printed it out in the shape of my teardrop. I have a Mac and can choose to place text in a shape. I think you can do this in most programs. If you cannot or don't know how you can just type your verse so it will fit in a shape when you go to cut it out by centering and then typing each line to create the shape like this:

Merry
Merry Christmas
A Very Merry Christmas
A Very Merry Christmas
A Very Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Merry

See the ball shape? I love that mine already went into the shape for me! Good luck because I am no computer tech person and that's all the help I can give you on that part! :)

Start with card-stock in colors you like. This year I went with pale green pearl and light berry colors. I used Martha Stewart  glitter. Her glitter is superfine and I can't rave enough about it. I used scrap booking photo mounts to create the little cap on the ornament. I used a paper cutter to trim my pieces of card-stock and scissors to trim the card-stock under the ornament. Tacky glue and that's about it for supplies. Pretty cheap and much more personal than store bought cards. OH! You'll also need twine or string for the hanging of the ornament. This brings me to a funny story. I had Depression Era Great Grandparents. I am thrifty by nature and blood. I hold onto supplies carefully, using only what I need to use. At Thanksgiving, while visiting my parents in Virginia Beach, I went to a restaurant supply place with my father. I saw red and white butcher twine and immediately said "I'm getting that". It's finer than what you find in craft stores, but I like it. These spools had thousands of yards on them. I am never going to use this much! My dad right away didn't want my mom left out and bought her one as well. Then my sister had to have one as well! So we have something like 50,000 yards of twine. You'll see in this tutorial how I have only cut pieces about 1/2" too long to trim. I mean, what am I saving this for? I had to chuckle because no matter what the family is frugal! So on with card making!

Use a photo mount to secure piece of twine to card about where you want the top of the ornament to go.


Use Tacky glue or white glue to secure the twine straight up to give a taught "hung look" to the ornament.


Peel top off photo mount and sprinkle with silver glitter and tap off excess.


Trim excess twine from top of card.


Apply a thin edge of glue to side of ornament.



Dredge in glitter and tap off excess.


Finished glitter edge.



I took the printed verse in the ornament shape and cut them out. I then mounted them on my card-stock and trimmed the card-stock leaving an edge as a frame. Glue to card just under the "cap" of glitter.


From scraps of card-stock hole punch or cut circles of red for berries. Also freehand some Holly Leaves and draw veins for leaves with pencil.


Apply leaves and berries to top of card.


The finished cards ready for mailing!
 I have made smaller versions of the ornaments to attach to the cookies we'll deliver to our neighbors this weekend.

I hope you enjoy the tutorial and have a wonderful day!

Until Next Time!

Chatty Cathy










Monday, December 12, 2011

Checked out but checking in soon!

If you are someone who reads this blog...is anyone reading this blog? LOL You may wonder why I haven't posted in a month? I won't bore you with details, suffice to say, I have been going through some medical stuff and keeping up with my blog is important- but the kids like clean clothes and food so choices were made :) I love you and will be posting soon. I will have some great tutorials coming to brighten your new year and the cold winter months.


http://personallyyouparties.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html

This is one of the projects I'll be making with a twist. I can never seem to make something "just like I see it" I always have a bigger idea. I liked the use of branches and pictures. Mine will have white painted branches that are textures to resemble birch. I also will be using some MS pink glitter and accordion folded edges on the pictures. It's going to be super cute!

Another picture that I am spring-boarding off of is:


http://www.marthastewart.com/269562/crepe-paper-spring-birds

I love the birds and branches! I also love crepe paper! I plan on making one of these little arrangements to place in my entry to welcome guests!


http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/toadstool.jpg

Anyone who knows me knows I love miniatures and especially little toadstools! I have in my craft stash some adorable red and white ones I bought years ago. Problem is I need varying sizes. I came across this post in MS site and bingo! I am going to use Paper clay to make mine. I have a great glass cloche for it to go under! Just a little spring scene to brighten the weary gray months of winter!

Enjoy the links and check back to see the tutorials. I have plans on posting them first week of Jan.

Until next time!

Chatty Cathy