Remaining "12 Days of Christmas" Swap Projects

These are the five remaining gifts I received in the "12 Days of Christmas" Swap.

Day 8 - four wonderful Tim Holtz-style Christmas tags

Day 9 - a beautiful wire-wrapped tiger eye pendant

Day 10 - a lovely alcohol ink pendant

Day 11 - a fun woodsy embroidery hoop ornament

 

Day 12 - two darling matchboxes - when you open them the matches are the legs - 

super cute and clever

I always enjoy this annual swap!

12 Days of Christmas Swap

I'm participating again this year in my online group's annual "12 Days of Christmas" Swap. Twelve people sign up and then make 12 gifts (one per person) for the day they are assigned. We mail them out and then starting on the 13th of December we open one gift per day until Christmas. This is always a fun swap and one I look forward to every year. It's amazing the unique and diverse gifts we receive.

This year I was assigned Day 1.  Since all my gifts should be opened by now, I can reveal what I made.

These are little heart ornaments or hangings made from a base of corrugated cardboard. I lightly swiped the cardboard with modeling paste, then collaged on a piece of lace, music paper, a large snowflake and some wide gold mesh ribbon. I sewed a copy of a cute vintage image onto a piece of muslin and stamped the word believe on another piece of muslin. Once these were adhered to the hanging, I added a small ribbon flower and used pink silk ribbon for the hanger.

 They look even better all together!

More "12 Days" Gifts

We are leaving this afternoon to visit our daughters over Christmas so I thought I'd post the remaining gifts I've opened to date from the 12 Days of Christmas swap:

a lovely crystal ornament from Liane

a darling little snowman canvas from Julie

a cute recipe holder and yummy recipe from Gloria

a sweet treats jar from Jan

and a large altered "clothespin" clip from Barbara

I will share the last four gifts after Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I'm Home

It's been a crazy, busy few weeks here! I left on the 7th for Albuquerque to babysit my two grand-boys. I returned that Sat. night to attend a wedding on Sun. night and then it was back to Albuquerque  early Mon. morning for the remainder of the next week. I just got home this Monday evening.

Needless to say, I haven't done much art during this time. Yesterday, though, I went to my friend's house for a stitching-felt-ornaments day with a few friends. You might remember we stitched Valentine and Easter ornaments. This time we worked on snowmen - a little early but we'll be ready for that season!

These are the cuties I managed to finish. We might do another day to work on some others.

Embroidering on felt is so relaxing. These are made easier by die-cutting the felt so there is no fussy cutting involved!

Shrink Plastic Ornament

My five-year old grandson, Carl, loves to draw. He has a little tablet he carries everywhere. When they were here last weekend, he drew several snowmen for me. As I was adding it to the gallery on our fridge, I had a wonderful idea. I would make it into a keepsake ornament so he could remember his early drawings.

I took some shrink plastic (remember that?) and traced his drawing with a few Sharpie permanent pens. I even traced his "signature" and added the year. I die cut it into a large scalloped oval and punched a hole at the top. I used my heat gun to shrink it and added a piece of baker's twine for hanging.

I think it came out darling and I sent it to him to put it on his tree. Can't wait to find out his reaction!

I need to do this for all the boys and every year!

More "12 Days of Christmas"

Days 4, 5 and 6 of the "12 Days..." Swap

Here are three more gifts from the swap I mentioned in the last post.

On the left is a sweet little pincushion mounted on a wooden spool; in the center is a pretty vintage music tree ornament; and on the right is a perpetual birthday calendar - so creative and useful! Each month has space for the 30-31 days so you can write birthdays for that month. Along with the calendar came the cute easel card (upper left). When opened you insert a little battery-operated candle and it glows through the vellum window. Neat!

Annual "12 Days of Christmas" Swap

I am in an online art group that does an annual "12 Days of Christmas" swap. 12 participants are in each group and you make twelve little gifts (alike or very similar) and send one out for each participant. You are assigned a number and that is the day that your gift is opened by everyone.

I corraled all my little gifts in a basket waiting for the first day to start opening (Dec. 13). Doesn't it look festive?!

These are my first three days' gifts. On the left is Day 1 - a cute pair of snowman earrings attached to a pretty tag. In the middle, Day 2 - a sweet tiny ornament with a wooden spool as a base.  And on the right, a children's-size denim pocket decorated for Christmas and filled with Jolly Ranchers.

This is such a fun activity and one I look forward to every year. If you've never done this, get some friends together and do your own 12 Days of Christmas project!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday spending time with loved ones. We have had a very busy December and I have lots of catching up to do!

We returned Saturday from a week in Austin with Kelly, Josh, Carl and Mitchell. It was great to be with the littles - this is the first Christmas that Carl has really gotten into it. So much fun experiencing it through a three-year-old's eyes! His Elf-on-the-Shelf, Hermie, kept Santa updated on his good behavior and he received a very stuffed stocking and lots of good presents.

I received the remaining six gifts of my online group's "12 Days of Christmas Gifts." Each and every one was so unique and lovely.

Day 7
Denim cuff bracelet from Nancy

Day 8

corner bookmark, decorated clip, ribbon bookmark from Barb

Day 9

beaded icicle ornament from Judy

Day 10

Sewn cardinal ornament from Teresa

Day 11

Beaded drop earrings from Darlene

Day 12

Acrylic frame calendar from Laurie

I love all my gifts and it was so much fun opening one per day!

12 Days of Ornaments - Days 9-12

I've neglected posting the cute remaining ornaments from the LBH 12 Days of Ornaments, so here's a catch-up of the last four days.

Day 9

Pretty Paper Ornaments

Designed by me!

Day 10

Chalkboard Block Ornaments

Designed by Dee Dee Roe

Day 11

Snowman Shutter Ornament

Designed by Tracy Pounds

Day 12

Santa and Angel Altered Paintbrush Ornaments

Designed by Lynette Chiles

Have you enjoyed this year's ornaments? They certainly fill our little tree at the Little Blue House and look so festive!

A full tutorial for each ornament is posted on The Little Blue House blog so be sure to check them out. Component kits for several of the ornaments are also available at the store.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone - enjoy your families and great food tomorrow and give thanks for all your blessings!

12 Days of Ornaments - Day 8 - Glitz and Sparkle!

Another member of the LBH Media Team, Valerie Bishop, designed and created these darling sparkly tree ornaments today.  The photo doesn't do them justice as they are very glittery and gold!  

Check out the LBH blog for a full tutorial on how to make these cute burlap trees. What I like most is that you can use up some of those one-of-a-kind little trinkets and bits of special ribbons you've been hoarding!

Only a few ornaments to go... Hope you're enjoying these pretties!

Day #7 Ornament

We're back today with two more beautiful ornaments.

These were created by Nadine Carlier, one of the LBH Media Team members. She used an image transfer technique and has a video tutorial over on the LBH blog.

Visit the blog, watch her tutorial and leave her some comments. If you are local, you should stop by the store to see how pretty our tree is decorated with all these fun ornaments!

Day 6 - LBH "!2 Days of Ornaments"

These are the darling little clothespin clip-on ornaments Kristyn McElroy created for Day #6. Aren't they adorable and so many variations! Not only would they be cute on your tree, but they could be used alone on a shelf or even attached to a frame.

The full tutorial is over on the LBH blog and, while you're there, be sure to leave a comment - you might be the lucky winner!

We're already halfway through the 12 days - what other cute ornaments will be featured?

12 Days of Ornaments - Day 4 and Day 5

I'm a bit behind in posting these, but here are the fabulous LBH ornaments from today and yesterday.

 Day 4

Burlap Snowflake Ornament

This pretty rustic ornament was created by Susan Liles. 

Day 5

Colorburst Medallions

And these beautiful ornaments were created by Tracy Pounds using Color Bursts Powdered Pigments. They remind me of stained glass windows!

Check out the tutorials for both ornaments on the LBH blog and leave comments for a chance to win one of them!

"12 Days of Ornaments" Blog Feature coming tomorrow!

Join us on the LBH blog for the next 12 days for a different ornament tutorial each day! 

And, I'm first up! So meet me here as well as on the LBH blog tomorrow to see what I have created!

12 Days of Christmas Gifts Swap

I am participating in my online group's 12 Days of Christmas Gifts swap.  The twelve participants have each been designated a number which corresponds to the day our gift is opened. We make 12 identical gifts and send one to each person.

We started opening gifts on Saturday the 13th and will finish on Christmas Eve.  It's so much fun to open a little handmade "giftie" from a friend every day!

 Here are the first four I've received.

Primitive stitched ornament by Julie W

Holiday magnet by Yooper

Beaded snowflake ornaments by Jean B.

Silver heart earrings by Linda S.

I'll be back to share more in a few days.

Christmas in April?

A few friends and I got together today to make art. One of the gals brought all the makings for these spun cotton ornaments.  These ornaments were very prevalent in Victorian times, but few have survived as they were given to children to play with. They were made with spun cotton or cotton batting and paper "scraps" (faces) which were popular at that time.

These are the two I made.

We found a 2002 video from Martha Stewart with simple instructions, so we set to work making paper patterns until we got them sized correctly. The body is heavy chipboard and the arms and legs are pipe cleaners covered with strips of black flannel, glued to the body. We sprayed the natural cotton batting with walnut ink to make it look aged and distressed, then wrapped the coat around the chipboard, little rectangles around the arms, and added a cape and a hood.  We found some antique Santa faces online and resized them to fit.  I used a thick baker's twine for the belt on one Santa and glued a tiny tree to his hand. The other has a tinsel belt.  I wiped a light coating of glue on the hood and top of the cape and sprinkled with Distress Glitter to simulate snow.  (These guys are about 5" tall.)

I still need to thread a cord through the top of the hoods for hangers.  So, are we really late for this past Christmas or very early for next Christmas?  It was actually very relaxing to work on a Christmas project "out of season" without the usual stress!

LBH "12 Days of Christmas Ornaments" - Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of this year's "12 Days of Ornaments"! Today I am very excited to share with you a tutorial for an ornament I created for this series!

Mini-Starbook Photo Ornament

 Supplies you will need:

5 pieces of Christmas patterned paper - 2"t x 3"w

5 pieces card stock #1 (green in sample) - 2" x 3 1/4"

5 pieces card stock #2 (red in sample) - 2" x 3 1/2"

1 yd baker's twine in coordinating color

1 jump ring 

1 drop crystal

Scor-tape (1/8" or 1/4")

10 photos sized to approximately 1 1/2" x 1"

Optional: ink to match

Instructions:

1.  Fold each paper in half and ink all edges.

 2. Assemble one of each into a stack with patterned paper on top and then the two card stocks according to size - you will have 5 stacks.

3.  Tape vertical outside edges of each of larger card stock pieces (red here).

4. Adhere smaller card stock piece (green here) by aligning outside edges (there will be a gap because the top one is 1/4" smaller). Repeat for each stack.

5. Add tape to top card stock piece on both edges.  Repeat for each stack.

6. Adhere patterned pieces to top of each stack. You will have five little "booklets" like below.

7. Add tape along all four outer edges of one side of the back card stock piece. 

8. Repeat for 4 stacks, just on one red side. On the fifth one, attach tape to both back sides.

 9. Adhere one taped side to one untaped side, lining up edges and making sure the patterned paper is facing in correct direction. Continue until all except first and last sides are connected. 

Before adhering these together, cut twine in half.  Open jump ring and place through hole in crystal bead. Close jump ring and thread twine through. Fold in half and double knot the twine at the jump ring. Lay between last two sides with knot flush with bottom of pages.

10. Adhere last two pages together.  Make another double knot at top of ornament and then one more tying the ends of twine together for a loop.  Cut remaining piece of twine in half and make two bows around the knot at top of the mini-starbook.  Add photos.  

Here is a photo of the bottom of the finished ornament showing the star formed by the pages, hence the name star book!

I hope you enjoyed my ornament. It was such fun to create! I used photos from throughout the year of my two little grandsons to document their growth in 2013.  This would be a great addition to parents' and grandparents' trees!

These instructions are also appearing on The Little Blue House blog today. Be sure to click the link and leave a comment there for a chance to win this ornament (actually you will win a blank ornament as I made two. You probably don't want my pictures on yours!)

Merry Christmas!