12 Days of Ornament- Day #2

 Thank you for joining us for 12 Days of Ornaments! We have another super cute ornament to share with you today!

 

12 Days of Ornaments- Day #2 "Cookie Cutter Ornament"
Designed by Vicki Chrisman

 

 

 Ornament Supply List:
Paper Trimmer
Scissors
Double sided sticky tape
Hot glue gun
Tacky glue
Glitter
Star shaped cookie cutter
2 inch bottle brush tree
small glitter star
printer to print out words "oh Christmas tree"
1 sheet of Patterned paper
paper bow or ribbon for bow
6 inches of string
jingle bell
button

Let's get Started!

To create these ornaments I used  the Wilton set of four varying sizes of stars.  It is the approximately 4 inch size that I used for this ornament, but of course all would work great.  You would just adapt with different sizes of trees etc.

Cut Four 3"x 12" strips of patterned paper 1" wide.

Using a strong couple sided tape, cover the outside and inside of our ornament with the paper strips. ( even with 12 inch strips you will have to add a little piece to make it all the way around) Hint: use your scissors or the end of a small paint brush to make sure you are getting the paper all the way down into the corners on the inside of the star.

 
Hot glue your little bottle brush tree to a button and add a glittered star to the top of the tree.  You can print off and cut out "oh Christmas tree" and hot glue it to the front of your little tree.Add your tree to the inside of your star with hot glue.

Assemble your paper bow. ( mine was a die but if you don't have one, a ribbon bow will work great also).  Hot glue the bow to the top point of the cookie cutter.  Run your string for hanging through your bell and tie it.  Hot glue your bell to the top of the ribbon.

 

To add the effect of snow on the top of your ornament. brush  a bit of tacky glue to the top, and sprinkle with iridescent glitter.

Come by The Little Blue House to see this adorable ornament in person!!! I hope you enjoyed this ornament tutorial!

Happy Christmas Crafting,
Vicki Chrisman

Enter in to Win this Pre-Made Ornament by Leaving a Comment below telling us what your favorite Christmas cookie is?
 

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Now it's Time to announce the Winner of our Day #1 Ornament, congratulations to..... DEBRA!!! 
Please contact the LBH to claim your Ornament.

 

12 Days of Ornaments - Day #1

Welcome to the sixth annual Little Blue House “12 Days of Ornaments” blog feature! Every day for the next 12 days one of the LBH gals will be sharing a tutorial for a handmade ornament here on the blog. This is one of our favorite events of the year and we hope you will recreate some of the ornaments you see here for your own Christmas Tree! As an added bonus, one lucky commenter on each blog post will win that day’s ornament! Let the fun begin!!

I am so happy to be the first to share with you today. When my children were young, I started a family tradition of giving them a special purchased or handmade ornament each year. As they marry and start their own families, I box up their ornaments to give them for their own trees. Now that I have grandchildren, I am continuing the tradition and especially like to incorporate their photos on dated ornaments for each year. So that is how I came up with this ornament.

“Christmas Memories” Photo Cube Ornament

Designed by Susan Tidwell

This ornament is a one-piece 2.5” square box with lid created from card stock. The sides can be decorated with patterned papers of your choice and layered with photo mats and tiny photos of your loved ones. Because it opens, it can also house a special gift inside! 

I created my own Silhouette cut file, including score marks, for this ornament and I am offering it to all of you for free! You can download it by clicking the link below.  If you do not have a Silhouette, we will also have pre-cut boxes available by order at the LBH for a small fee.

Click here below for Silhouette Cut File-

DOWNLOAD BOX CUT FILE

So let’s get started!

These are the supplies you will need to create this Ornament

Silhouette cut file 

12” x 12” card stock in color of your choice
(I like red because it shows up well against the tree)

at least 2 coordinating papers
(I used Echo Park’s “The Story of Christmas” paper collection)

icon from a journal card or paper
(or other embellishment)

24” ribbon

16” baker’s twine (cut into 10” and 6” pieces)

2 jingle bells (optional)

2” scallop circle punch

paper piercer

Quick-dry liquid adhesive (Scotch) and/or 1/4” Scor Tape

Ink for edges (optional)

Stickles 

Instructions:

1. Die cut the box file from 12” x 12” card stock. Lay the precut box as shown in the first photo below and fold all score lines. Assemble by glueing the tabs marked in the photo. Glue one or two at a time and use liquid adhesive to give you a little time to line up the tabs.

2. Cut  2.5” squares from printed papers. I used two squares of two different patterns but you could also use all the same patterns or four different ones. Glue to the four sides of the box and ink edges if desired. Punch scallop circle from one of the printed papers and glue to top of box.

3. Pierce a hole in the center of the box top. To make the hanger, fold a 10” piece of baker’s twine in half and insert through the hole from the underside (TIP: use a flosser as shown in photo as an easy threader). Knot the ends and cut off the flosser.

4. Thread ends of remaining piece of baker’s twine into bells. (An easy way to do this is to put a bit of glue on one end and twist it between your fingers to make a “needle”.) Knot ends and trim. Tie around hanger at top of ornament.

5. Cut two 2” squares from card stock for photo mats and glue one to opposite sides. Do not place on the front and back of the ornament. (If you want more photos, add these to the front and back after tying on the ribbon.)

6. Trim photos to 1.75” square and attach on card stock squares.

7. Close box and tie ribbon around front and back forming a pretty bow at top around the hanger.

8. Fussy cut an icon or embellishment and decorate as desired. (I used images from some of the journal cards in the collection and added sequins, jewels and Stickles.) Center and glue to bottom of ornament over the ribbon. Be sure to date your ornament!

9. Add Stickles around the outer edge of the scallop circle.

Hang your ornament on your tree for everyone to enjoy!

For a chance to WIN this ornament, leave us a comment telling us about your favorite ornament of all time!!!!
Be sure to return each day from now until Thanksgiving for all the other fabulous ornament tutorials and even more chances to win!

Come by the  LBH to pick up your ornament supplies and see this adorable ornament in person!

Merry Christmas all,

Susan Tidwell

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!