Small Business Saturday!!!! ...Nov. 30th

Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses across the country. Founded by American Express in 2010, this day is celebrated every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year, Small Business Saturday is on November 30^th.

 As a Thank You for your continued support of the Little Blue House...We are extending some GREAT Savings to you on Small Business Saturday! Come SHOP & SAVE with at the LBH!

We will be giving away FREE Crafter's Home Tote Bags for the first 50 shoppers on Saturday 11/30.
Minimum purchase of $15.

(Here is a photo of the Front of the Tote Bag)

  

Huge discounts and savings offered on Lots of Product in the HouSe!!!! 

ALL FALL Paper Collections and Embellies 50% OFF 
from Fancy Pants, Crate Paper, Websters Pages, Little Yellow Bicycle, Doodlebug Designs, We R Memory Keepers, Pebbles, Pink Paislee, and more!
ALL Cardstock 30% OFF
 

ALL Albums & Page Protectors 30% OFF
  

  *One Day Only Special*   

"Try a Punch & Save a Bunch" 

Buy ONE edger punch
get ONE mini 8 FREE! 

NEW styles have just arrived in the HouSe... 

 

One Day ONLY...Buy one 2 Edge Punch and get the coordinating Mini 8 punch free! 
New styles have just arrived and we will be putting them ALL out tomorrow! We hope you will come out and celebrate this FuN day at the Little Blue House this  

Join us this Saturday Nov. 30th from 10am-5pm

Thank you for your continued support of
our Small Business! Keep Creating!
Miss Tracy & the LBH Gals

LBH 12 Days of Ornaments: Day #12

                                  Happy Thanksgiving! 
I would like to wish you all a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving Day! As I count my blessings today, I am reminded of all the friendships that have formed from relationships made at the Little Blue House! I have crossed paths with so many and I am thankful that YOU are one of those friends! May God bless you and may we all stay true to our passion -- and Keep Creating!   Much Love, Miss Tracy

I hope you have enjoyed all of the 12 Ornament Tutorials that have been featured here over the last 12 days! I have one final ornament to share with you today...Silhouette Shaped Ornaments designed with ScrapStasher style! 

These are paper mache ornaments that we have available at the LBH...and I figure the perfect way to end the series was to show you how simple it is to use your scrap papers up...possibly the bits and pieces left over from your first 11 ornaments.

These are so fun and easy...would be a great craft to get your kiddos involved in too!

This is what the paper mache silhouettes look like...I will be layering two of the together for this fun ScrapStasher Ornament.

Supplies you will need:
Paper Mache Silhouette Shapes
Art Anthology Paints
Scraps of Printed Papers
Ribbon or Twine to hang the Ornament
Glossy Accents & Stickles

I chose to use these wonderful Sorbet Paints from Art Anthology...Evergreen on the Tree and Ruby on the Stocking. Hard to capture on camera but it has a beautiful pearlescent sheen with a touch of microfine glitter...

Paint two trees and two stockings...remember to turn the stockings so that the painted sides are on the outside of the ornie when you layer them...

Now grab your scrap pieces of paper, scissors, pen or pencil and some glue...Hand cut or trace out the areas you want to cover with specific papers, cut and glue into place on the unpainted side of the ornament.

If tracing, be sure to trace on back side of your paper and then cut a little outside the traced line. This will ensure that you don't cut the papers to close and have plenty of room to glue them down.

When done with both sides of the ornament...You will glue them together. So the papers appear to be sand-wiched in between the silhouette shapes. I used small clothespins to hold mine together while the glue dried. 

With the tree, I decided to just use one piece of scrap paper that I liked the print on the front and the back. Cut and glue into place...just like the stocking ornament.

I pierced a hole through the paper and ran some twine through the Stocking and ribbon through the Tree to create hangers.

Then add some FuN accents to my papers using Stickles and Glossy Accents. Let them sit flat to allow time to dry before you turn them over and accent the other side. 

When they are dry...You can hang them on the tree. 
 These could also be cute to hang off of your
 gift bags or wrapped presents!

Stop by the LBH to see all of our 2013 Hand-made Ornaments...Pictures rarely do them justice. While you are there, pick up some supplies and have some some Ornament-Making FUN!! Thank you for all of your comments...Please tell me your favorite Thanksgiving food and I will enter you in a chance to WIN one of these Silhouette Ornaments!

Thankful for YOU!
Miss Tracy :)

WINNER for Day #11: Cecilia Shilling

Congrats Cecilia! Contact the LBH to claim your ornament and Thank you for commenting!

Have some fabulous SAVINGS for YOU to ENJOY!!!

LBH 12 Days of Ornaments - Day #11

Welcome back! It's Day #11 of our ornaments.

This is Susan bringing you a mixed media paper mache bell ornament.

Supplies needed (all except starred items available at the LBH):

1 paper mache ornament (I used bell, but any shape would work)

white tissue paper (regular wrapping kind)*

Tim Holtz tissue tape (I used music)

Mod Podge*

Art Anthologies Sorbet Dimensional Paint - Big Dip O' Ruby

Viva Silver Metallic Modeling Cream

Viva Peridot Lt. Green Glitter Paste

Black Archival Ink
Silver Halo Glitter
Glossy Accents

Kaisercraft Clear Stamp - script

Punchinella* (or one of new TH new stencils which just arrived at LBH)

Small paintbrush

Palette knife*

Sandpaper or sander*

Word stamp of choice*

7" - 3/4" wide silver metallic ribbon

12" thin red with silver stripe ribbon

Let's begin!

Paint inside of ornament with red Sorbet paint with a slightly damp paintbrush (this paint is very thick and a damp paintbrush will help to spread it evenly).  This dries quickly.

  Crumple tissue paper (this is a good use for used paper from gifts) and tear into small pieces (approximately 2", not tiny). Apply Mod Podge directly on the outside of the ornament and add tissue paper, smooshing it into Mod Podge. This is one time when wrinkles are good! Continue adding and overlapping paper pieces until ornament is covered. This can hang over bottom edges as shown in photo below. When completely dry, sand edges to remove the excess paper. (Note: I like to use the inexpensive black nail files found at beauty supply or dollar stores for this.)

  Tear small pieces of tissue tape and randomly place on ornament.  Burnish well.

  Paint the outside of the bell with the same red paint, touching up bottom edge if necessary.  I love this paint as it is translucent and you can still see the tissue tape pattern through it. (Note: clean brush with water immediately as this paint hardens quickly in the brush. If it doesn't come clean, use hand sanitizer to clean it thoroughly.)

 Use a script stamp and black Archival ink to randomly and lightly stamp the ornament. We are going for texture here, not a perfect impression. Dry with a heat gun to set the ink which is permanent once dry.

 Lay a small piece of punchinella (or use one of the new Tim Holtz layering stencils which just arrived in the LBH!) over the ornament. Use a palette knife to spread small amounts of silver modeling cream randomly in several places.  (Can you tell my knife is well-used?)

The ornament will now look like this.

 Stamp word of choice on small piece of tissue paper. Heat to set. Tear around word very closely. If you tear a small piece off (as I did here), it can be fixed later.

 Apply Mod Podge directly to ornament where you want to place the word and then gently add tissue paper in place. Tap paper into glue and cover with another coat of Mod Podge.  When completely dry, the paper will be almost invisible and you can touch up any areas with a fine black Sharpie pen. 

 Put a small amount of glitter paste on your finger and tap all over the ornament.  This step will make the ornament really sparkle on your tree!

 Run a line of Glossy Accents along the bottom edge of the ornament and sprinkle on silver glitter while wet.

  Fold the silver ribbon into a bow shape.

Tie the red and silver ribbon in a tight knot at base of gold ornament hanger, then lay silver bow on top of the knot. Tightly tie red and silver ribbon around the middle of the silver bow and tie into a bow.  Trim ends of ribbons.

 You now have a pretty ornament to add to your tree!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as well as the other ornaments we have created for you.  

Please leave a comment telling me when you usually decorate your tree - before Thanksgiving? right after Thanksgiving? or Christmas eve?  One lucky commenter will win my ornament.

Merry Christmas,
Susan

WINNER for Day #10: Sue Kosec

Congrats Sue! Contact the LBH to claim your ornament and Thank you for commenting!

LBH 12 Days of Ornaments: Day #10

Good Morning once again,

This past week has been crammed with fun events and great 

posts from all of our LBH Gals and their ornaments 

along side the Front Porch Kit reveal.

Today, Day 10 We have a ...
Layered Tag Ornament

By: Rhonda Merry

I thought I would pull all of the little 
punched snowflakes, left over from a
long ago project, and a couple embellishment 
packs from Fancy Pants.

I used the Large Decorative Tags from the

Merry Little Christmas Line. Remove the tag string and

set aside for later use. Since they are not the same color

I pulled colors that would coordinate with the tags.

First step was to ink the edges, one with Biscotti Chalk ink

the other with a pastel green chalk ink. 

I then sprayed the tags with coordinating color 

of Perfect Pearls Mist. One tag got a light misting

 of Heirloom Gold, the other with Forever Green and

then set aside to dry.

  

Next was to change the color of my metal embellishments.

One bottle-cap and both jingle bells got treated with

 Adirondack Alcohol Ink Mixative in Gold.

I did this by placing items into a small

zip top bag and adding a few drops of the Gold Mixative.

I sealed the bag and started squishing the mixative 

around the items.

It looks  messy but the mess is contained rather well.

Then dump them out on a heat resistant craft mat.

If the color didn't get into all the crevices, take a

paint brush to spread the mixative while its still wet.  

Once coated, use a heat gun to dry and set the mixative.

I painted the other bottle-cap.I didn't have the right 

shade of green, so I used a pine green acrylic paint

and lightened it with a pearl white metallic paint to 

get this soft metallic  green color that matched the 

shade of the green on one tag. I like playing with 

colors. For best results, add in your lightening 

color a little at a time.

 Then I painted straight onto the metal. Two coats gave 
it great coverage. Make sure first coat is completely dry
before adding second coat of paint.

I stamped a couple of flourishes in opposite corners 

of the tags and then felt ready to start my layering.

Stickers from the Fancy Pants sticker sheet were

 perfect centers for one snowflake.

A stamped image from Reverse Confetti layered in a circle

 of winter white fleece from my Pass The Egg Nog kit. And a button. And Patina Stickles to circle the embellishments.

This one got a punched image from a 

Merry Little Christmas printed paper. Add a ribbon 

hanger and a bow with twine(Maya Road, Tiramisu)

 holding the jingle bell. This tag I used the Mercury Gold Stickles.

(The green tag got a blue seam binding ribbon and the 

string that was originally on the tag is holding the jingle bell.)

Both tags got one last shot of the coordinating mists.

They are ready to hang.

Leave a comment for your chance to win 
one of my Tag Ornaments!
Merry Crafting,
Rhonda

WINNER for Day #9: Linda Hahn

Congrats Linda! Contact the LBH to claim your ornament and Thank you for commenting!