more Christmas ornaments!

Leslie, the Queen Bee of Alpha Stamps, designed some adorable Tiny Diorama Boxes and I immediately felt the need to design a collage sheet! A BIG THANKS goes to Kristin Batsel who was kind enough to photograph her vintage ornament boxes for me :)

After getting my hands on a hard copy of said collage sheet, I proceeded to craft my heart out and produced two little ornament box ornaments...

they are decorated both front and back...

I think they are pretty darn cute and will look adorable hanging on a Christmas tree!

 As this was a bit of a last minute project (and they didn't take a whole lot of time to create!) you will find my supplies list for both ornaments below :)

Supplies Used:

Tiny Diorama Box Facades Collage Sheet

Tiny Diorama Box

Dimensional Snow - 2 Ounce Jar*

Dimensional Snow Writer 

Diamond Stickles* 

Holly Berry Garland 

Mini Brown Sika Deer 

 1/8 Inch Red Satin Ribbon** 

Fa La La Gold Bottle Brush Tree Set 

Miniature Red Sled* 

Tiny Wrapped Gift Box Ornaments - 1/2 Inch 

Botanica Red Glittered Star Picks

The paper pad I used is from a couple of years ago and is called Reflections Christmas by Echo Park Paper Co. I used Tim Holtz Distress Pumice Stone Ink Pad to ink the edges of everything.

Thanks for stopping by, now go make something!!

Christmas?! It's not even Halloween yet!!!

Those were the words I uttered when asked to do an ornament sample using the 2017 November Kit. I really wanted to squeeze every last bit of Halloween goodness out of October before ever even thinking about Christmas. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, so I started listening to Christmas music and got crafty :)

I made this first ornament using the Ornament Frame Set - Round and Retro Xmas Round Ornaments Collage Sheet from the November Kit. The paper is from the Tim Holtz 8x8 Kraft Paper Stash - Christmas, I really love the Tim Holtz Stash Pads because they are a nice weight and have such wonderful vintage images and patterns. I also used a Clear Plastic Round Dome on this ornament so it could be a "shaker" ornament.

Notice how the Santa image in the photo above is obscured by tiny clear micro beads, inside the plastic dome, when the ornament is moved or shaken. Alpha Stamps had a kit with shaker ornaments last year, too. You can see the many ornaments I made with last years kit (and other available components) on this blog post.

My favorite thing about this ornament is the pleated Cream Ribbon with Velvet Polka Dots I used to add a frill to the edge. It looks like it was complicated to do, but, because this ribbon holds a fold really well all it took was hot glue and folding (in little pleats all the way around the back of the ornament) to accomplish.

 My second ornament uses many of the same supplies as the first ornament but I did use a different ornament shape. It is Ornament Frame Set - Bauble and it is quite nostalgic in shape. So I just had to use this wonderful nostalgic paper from the Tim Holtz Christmas 8x8 Paper Stash!

I think the paper is perfect with this sweet snowman image from the Retro Xmas Round Ornaments Collage Sheet. Using a snowman image made it pretty much mandatory to use lots of snowflakes, such as the Flat Back Clear Iridescent Snowflakes and the Tiny White Snowflake Buttons. Of course I really had to apply lots of snow drifts with my trusty Dimensional Snow Writer.

To top it all off, I used a Christmas Snow Essence label from my Tiny Little Christmas Labels Collage Sheet applied it to a 3cm Tall Bottle with Cork with a few strips of Super Sticky Red Liner Tape - 1/8 Inch and added some snow (Flower Soft in Polar White). I think it looks adorable nestled in among the snowflakes and Maidenhair Fern Pick - Platinum.

I hope you are inspired to start making Christmas ornaments now, even if Halloween is still around the corner. Just think, you will be able to use them on this years Christmas tree!

My complete supplies list is available here.

 

 

Shaker Ornaments!!

Shaker ornaments are all the rage right now, just search Pinterest and you will see tons of examples. But how can you make them yourself? Well it's easy with the awesome new Chipboard Ornament Layers from Alpha Stamps. These babies are fun, easy and are only limited by your imagination!

I whipped these up in a couple of days with most of the time devoted to glue drying time.

Look at that, the backs are as pretty as the fronts!

 Let's take a closer look at each individual ornament, shall we...

 This beautiful snowy scene was created using Deer in Woods Ornament Layers, silver and white paint, recycled sari silk ribbon and lots of glitter and sequins.

 I created this simple distressed ornament using Tim Holtz Christmas Tidings 8x8 Paper Stash, Stairs Christmas Morning Ornament Layers, and Hanging Stockings Ornament Layers. I made it double sided by gluing the two die-cut inserts back to back with a sheet of cardstock in between.

 I did the same double sided trick with this ornament using Christmas Delivery 6x6 Paper Pad, Ice Skaters Ornament Layers, and Flying Sleigh Ornament Layers.

Since I created two double sided ornaments I had leftover outer rings and clear plastic domes. Not wanting to waste those parts I decided to use a couple of collage sheet images from the new Gnome & Mushroom Ornaments Collage Sheet to make up an additional ornament...

 Isn't it adorable! I love gnomes and mushrooms! And snow, and moss, and buttons...

 In order for the images to be glued to the outer ring when creating this ornament sandwich, I had to leave a bit of white paper around the edges. Don't worry about seeing it when finished, though, as it is covered up once you glue it to the outer ring.

 Since it is necessary to keep the parts flat once you put the glitter in the dome, I traced a line around my roughly cut collage image so I would know exactly where to place the image once the glue was applied and I was ready to attach it :)

I truly enjoyed making these ornaments! It was fun finding stuff to put in them to shake around. My main ingredients for all of the shakers were Flower Soft - Polar White, a fine white iridescent glass glitter from my stash and 1mm Micro Beads - Clear AB. In addition I added sequins, tiny buttons and polymer clay cane slices depending on the theme of the ornament. You can see my complete supply list here.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I inspired you to go make some shaker ornaments for yourself :)

Goodbye Halloween... Hello Christmas!

Whew! This year has just flown by. I can't believe I was making Halloween goodies just a few weeks ago and now I feel the need to start making things for Christmas.

Last night I whipped up a couple of Christmas Cat House Ornies to start off this years round of Holiday crafting. These ornaments are super fast to make and pretty darn cute (if I do say so myself). Of course you don't have to make Cat Houses... you could make Santa Houses or Reindeer Houses or whatever your heart desires. But, do use the faboo Die-Cut Chipboard Houses with Windows from Alpha Stamps to make it waaay easier on yourself!