Pop Up Christmas Tree Cards

I decided to get ambitious this year and put the Oh Christmas Tree Pop Up die from Stampin' Up! / Sizzix to good use. I made 10 cards, 5x7 in size, with a pop up tree inside of them. I used various scraps of decorative paper, most of which were leftovers from my Christmas Tree Advent Calendar project, and are from Die Cuts With A View stacks. The cards have stamped images from Stampin' Up! on them as well, some of which are retired. All inks used are Classic Inks or Stampin' Markers from Stampin' Up; some colors are retired.




The tree can be a bit tricky to put together at first, but once you assemble one it is easier - and by the time I was done with all 10 I think I could do it blind folded !



The first project I created using the pop up tree die is the Trifold Photo Card posted here. It was my most detailed tree/project. I submitted it to the SoShelli.com challenge and gave the finished project to my parents.



After punching out hundreds of 1/4 inch circles , still not enough to cover all of the trees, I decided it would be quicker to use glitter glue to create ornaments on the trees.


I'll list the stamp sets used on each one, if I can remember them all. Every one of the following cards has a pop up tree inside of it; they are all 5x7 cards.

Alphabet Soup colored with Stampin' Markers- I totally messed this one up, the image was stamped crooked and it didn't hit me as to why this looked so wonky until after it was assembled. I think I have used that free SaleABration set twice.




 

  Christmas Joy ? I'm not sure of the exact name of this old set. I also used an alphabet from Just Rite Stamps company. The tree was heat embossed in silver the nI watercolored it with an aquapainter and inks




 

 Dasher colored with markers and a bit of glitter that doesn't show up in the photo. The words are from Everyday Flexible Phrases.




 
 

 
 Images are from the Merry stamp set. I made a tiny pom pom from yarn, added felt on the hat brim and glitter on the white lines of the hat.

Old retired single greeting stamp, I have no idea what the name of it is. Peaceful Wishes for the branches, Paint Prints for the poinsettia, Baroque Motifs swirl.

This card was an oldie I had several of leftover. It came in a kit of gift bag, tissue paper, embellishments and preprinted card base. I stamped the kraft heart die cut that was part of the kit with the Stipple Plaid background, added a "ribbon" from packing paper that comes in the Stampin' Up! boxes stamped with the greeting from Season Of Joy. A bit of organdy ribbon from my stash, a few dimensionals.

Greeting from Four The Holidays stamp set

I used the wide oval punch and large oval punch to create the poinsettia (although it looks more like a bunch of holly leaves). Punch 5 wide ovals and 5 large ovals from red card stock. Punch 5 large ovals from green card stock. Punch small ovals for an additional layer on the very top if you wish. Fold each oval in half long ways then using scissors, trim out the edges. You can add little veins with markers or an aquapainter, sponge the edges of each petal, etc.

Layer them all, gluing into place with a heavy duty adhesive, on a 1 3/8" punched circle. Once all of the petals are glued into place, add a little puddle of clear drying liquid glue in the center. Pour on some gold seed beads, let dry.
Use the paper punch poinsettia on so many different projects !

Ruffled ribbon on this card and the poinsettia card above was created by wrinkling up grosgrain ribbon along a line of sticky strip that was already stuck to my card. Greeting is from Many Merry Messages. Scalloped Edge Border Punch from Stampin' Up!


 
 

  This particular card is from a kit I have had for years and finally put together. I used the included pattern to cut out felt and ahere the embellishments. It is attached to a preembossed card that was in the kit. The felt tree is an ornament .





 
Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays !

Painted Plaster Ornaments

This was the first set I ever made, 20 years ago. Not counting the ornaments I made as a child.......   I painted dozens of these type of ornaments over the years, donating them to the school holiday bazaar. I would buy them for 25c, paint them and donate them to be sold for $1.

I really should go back and add snow texture, glitter, pretty ribbon hangers etc - but I kind of like leaving them the way I originally made them so long ago, yarn hanger and all.

Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays !

Mini Terra Cotta Pot Ornaments

 

I have made so many different things with miniature terra cotta pots over the years. They were cheap and easy to make, then I donated them to the school holiday bazaar. These are a few that I still have. Search online and you are sure to find hundreds of ideas. I have made penguins, snowmen and I forget what else.....

Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays !

Triangle Angel, Reindeer, Tree and more

I came across instructions to paper fold a triangle shaped angel, but as I was looking at it, I had a couple of different ideas:

The first, "Hmmm, this looks like it might be large enough to make into a gift card holder...."

Above is the large paper angel that I turned into a gift card holder. She was an experiment and is sort of goofy looking. I used the owl punch for her eyes and mouth (tiny heart trimmed down) and quilled her hair. As I was looking at the photos I uploaded, I realized that I forgot her halo ! I trimmed off the top half of the point on the back traingle piece to slide a gift card into the folds. Note: these do not stand straight up, they lean backwards.

SUPPLIES:
White, Metallic Gold, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Pretty in Pink card stocks
Printer paper
Stampin' Pastels
White Signo Gel pen
So Saffron marker
Elegant Lines embossing folder
Owl punch
Eyelet border punch
Bigz Beautiful Butterfly die
Baroque motifs stamp set
Encore Metallic Gold ink






Then the other idea:
"Oooo, I think I can make them smaller and turn them into place cards or ornaments or package tie ons.... what other creations other than an angel can I make.........."

Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Real Red, Chocolate Chip Card stocks

various punches

Gable Green card stock
Texturz plate
retired glitter stack
retired folk start punch




There are many more things that can be made out of this basic paper folding idea, such as the head of an elf or Santa with a pointy hat, party hats for place cards at a birthday party, candy corn, etc and so on!!!!!


Instructions are from the May 2006 issue of Crafts n' Things magazine, designed by Grace Gibson.

To make the smaller triangles, start with a 4.25" square

then start folding 2.5" down along the top edges.

All supplies used are (or were) available from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays !

Tongue Depresser Ornaments

Tongue depressers (jumbo craft sticks), other wood shapes, acrylic paint,

fine point Sharpie marker, fabric scraps, buttons, wire, hot glue

I created several of these a dozen years ago to give to my relatives. The patterns were found in an old Crafts magazine.
 
Like popsicle/craft sticks, there are many fun things you can do with these.

Popsicle Stick Sled Ornament

There are sooooo many uses for reusing popsicle sticks ! This idea of creating a sled ornament has been around for a long time, I've seen numerous versions of it. The first one I ever saw was the ornament that an aunt made and gave to each of the nieces and nephews nearly 30 years ago.

Supplies for this project:

clean popsicle sticks (you can buy them new in craft stores)

heavy duty scissors or a saw to cut the popsicle sticks

hot glue gun or heavy duty all purpose crafters glue

acrylic craft paints

sealant/varnish if you wish to seal your painted sled

paintbrushes

paint, permanent markers, rubber stamps, stickers, beads, whatever embellishments you may want to add to decorate your sled

ribbon, twine, wire, etc to hang the ornament


My sample uses the Serene Snowflakes and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets from Stampin' Up!
I stamped the images with the craft paint.





Cut all of the sticks down to the desired size and shape. Sand the rough edges. TIP: Grip the stick tightly just below where you want to make the cut to stabilize the stick and help prevent it from cracking while cutting with heavy duty scissors. The sticks will crack sometimes when cutting with scissors (I had plenty of sticks so I cut another if it cracked too badly) so it would probably be better to cut them with a small saw.

Paint each stick, let dry thoroughly before gluing into the sled shape.

Stamp, paint, decoupage, sand, etc as desired to decorate your sled. TIP: I poured a small amount of paint onto a scrap of felt to make a stamp pad to stamp my snowflake images with paint onto my sled.

Seal if desired.

Add a hanger.



This is one simple idea for reusing popsicle sticks. There are lots of crafty, fun things you can do with them!

Thanks for looking =)

Faux Tin Angel Ornament Tutorial

Totally inspired by tin ornaments that can be purchased.

I created it with basic craft supplies.

This is a "tin" ornament from a catalog

Supplies:

Big Shot

Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder

Polka Dots embossing folder

Bigz Scalloped Square die

Bigz Beautiful Butterflies die

wood bead

ribbon

wire

acrylic paints and paint brushes

repurpose an old soda can, aluminum flashing, etc

OR metallic gold card stock (which is what I used in the sample above)



1. Cut out a Scalloped Square and a large Butterfly with your Sizzix dies and Big Shot. Cut the square in half.
2. Emboss them with folder/texturz plate of your choice.
3. Swipe on buttercream acrylic craft paint. Dry brush on metallic gold acrylic craft paint. Do this to both die cut pieces as well as the wood bead.
4. Curl the two opposite corners backwards towards each other on the half piece of scalloped square. Hot glue into place, creating a cone shape. Be sure to leave an opening to run the ribbon through.
5. Run a loop of ribbon through the wood bead head and cone body. Tie a knot in the ends (or hot glue in place) so they won't pull back through.
6. Hot glue the wings on the back.
7. Make a halo out of wire, attach but tucking the ends into the same hole a the ribbon and gluing in place.
8. Hang on the tree or tie onto a package.
   
   
   NOTE: If you are making your angel out of metal, you will want to use a heavy duty adhesive made for metal or else punch holes in the metal and attach with brads. 

If you liked this idea, be sure to look at my Faux Tin Heart project !

Happy Holidays and thanks for looking =)



Juice Can Lid Ornament

You can use the metal end to a frozen juice concentrate container to make an ornament ! It's a nice size, has a small lip and is sturdy since it is made of metal. They can be decorated in so many ways, using many different mediums .



This particular ornament was made with the following items from Stampin' Up!:

watercolor paper

Stazon black ink

various colors of classic ink from Stampin' Up!

aquapainter

double sided sticky sheet adhesive

clear glass micro beads

Real Red grosgrain ribbon





Cut the watercolor paper to fit the circle, just inside the lip so it is flush to the metal.



Stamp your image with black Stazon ink. Watercolor.



Cut out a circle of the adhesive sheet to fit your watercolor paper circle, covering it completely.



Adhere the back of the image to the lid.



Remove the liners and attach the adhesive circle to the watercolor paper, then remove the top liner to apply the micro beads. TIP:  insert the juice can lid in a clear plastic zip top bag then pour the micro beads on top of the lid in the bag. Zip closed. This will help contain the teeny tiny beads as you are smooshing them down onto the adhesive. Lightly brush off any loose beads before removing from the bag.



Attach your choice of hanger to the back, I chose grosgrain ribbon.



You can leave it as is or cut another piece of cardstock, chipboard, etc to cover up the tails of the hanger on the back. I used cardstock. By doing this, it gives you a place to personalize the ornament by adding a greeting, the date, names of people in a photo you put on the front, so on. Adding the clear glass micro beads are optional. You could create an ornament using a photograph with nothing layered over the top or perhaps make a snow scene and cover it with glitter. Add layers of clear embossing powder to create an enameled look to your image. Don't add any images at all and punch out a design in the lid with a hammer and nail, add ruffled ribbon or fabric trim to the back. So many creative things that can be done to a simple piece of trash to turn it into a treasure!



Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays !

Painted Acetate/Clear Glass Ball Ornaments

Several years ago stamped acetate/glass ball ornaments were all the rage. Some were simply stamped then inserted into a clear glass ornament. Most people colored in the images with Sharpie markers.

I took it a step further - I painted my stamped images !

The first one I made in 2004, the Flaky Friends ornament above, was an experiment because I wasn't sure if it was going to work. I used acrylic craft paint, the indoor/outdoor gloss type. I chose that type because to me it seemed like it would be more flexible. I didn't want the paint to crack when I rolled the acetate to insert into the ornament. Regular acrylic paints may work just as well, but I've never tried them.





I was tickled to see that it would work ! Although the paint in large areas could get streaky, I didn't mind. I made dozens of other ornaments over the years, here are a few favorites:

I used a fine black Sharpie marker to add more stones to the stamped image

Closeup to show detail that can be achieved using a toothpick to dot on paint !
This also shows how the paint needs to be built up in layers, for example: the red berries are dotted on before dry brushing a little bit of white before painting in the greenery.

The back of the acetate was run through a xyron machine then I sprinkled on Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I stamped the front with blue Stazon ink. I did this simplified version for a class project.



 All stamped images are Stampin' Up!©



Here are the steps to painting acetate for an ornament:



Supplies:

Clear glass ornament, you choice of size

acetate/transparency/window sheet

black Stazon ink

rubber stamp image of choice, but thin outline images work best

circle cutter

assorted paints

fine paintbrushes

water

toothpicks





Cut out a circle to fit just inside your glass ornament, leaving  a little tab at the top to sit in the neck. This keeps the image from flopping around.




I stamp the acetate (overhead transparency, window sheet, etc) with black Stazon ink. Flip it over and start painting.



Be sure to paint the things that are going to be in the foreground first, for example I flecked the snowflakes on before doing anything else. By doing this, as I was layering on the other paints for scarves, facial features, so on, the snowflakes would be "in front" of the snowmen. This way it would look like it was snowing. Using this same method, I would paint on the tiny buttons before painting the snowman body, etc. This is what I referred to as "painting in reverse", you need to build your layers of painted features up from what would be the front of the snowman to the back. The opposite of, reverse of, painting on wood for example when I would add paint on a base coat, building up the details and features on top.



Be sure to let each color / layer dry well before moving on !



If you get a little bit out of a line, once the paint is dry you can carefully scratch it off with a toothpick. This works great if it is the first layer of paint on the acetate. It is the easiest way to try to paint small portions of an image, an orange carrot nose for example. If it gets a little out of the nose area, scratch away the excess before painting the white snowman over the orange nose. If it is a second or third coat you could try to very carefully use a damp qtip or the toothpick to remove the paint. Be forewarned, you could easily remove paint from the other layers. If this happens, you can go back in and try to repaint it.



Once the image is completely dry, carefully roll it, painted image to the inside, and insert it into the ornament. You want to roll the painted image to the inside so it doesn't accidentally get scratched because the glass ornament can have rough edges.



Add a little bit of fake snow inside the ornament.



Insert the top.



I added snow texture medium to the top, lightly sprinkled with glitter.



After this is completely dry, tie on a pretty ribbon.



Some ornaments I add a stamped tag to. They all had hand stamped gift boxes with coordinating tissue paper.



Painting the acetate does take much more time. I spend anywhere from 1 - 2 hours on painting them, depending on the amount of detail. I personally really like the look of the painted ornaments. I prefer it to those that are colored in with markers because you can actually see the images and details - not the green Christmas tree showing through. No offense to anyone !



I painted dozens of these to try to sell at bazaars for $5, I think I only sold one at a bazaar.

I also submitted one to the company for a Demonstrator contest several years ago; it did not win.


Here is a step by step photo tutorial showing how to make these using markers
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/glass_ornament/

and using the same technique with a few extra supplies, you can make snowglobes
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/glass_ornament/


If you try this technique, I'd love to see your projects !

Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays  =)

Pop Up Chimney Box

Closed, the box dimensions are about 2 1/2" wide by 3 1/2" tall.

This is partially popped up; it will easily extend up more so that

 the opening widens to approximately 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" .

The lid squashes down and closes flat.

Close up of the top portion that folds down, triangle cutout.

I've had written instructions for a pop up box years, but never a pattern. I've not even seen one of these boxes assembled so I wasn't sure how it was supposed to look / work. I don't know where the print out came from since it was given to me along with several others from an old downline of mine 8 years ago.

While cleaning out some files this fall, I came across them and decided to try to figure out this "wow pop up box". About 6 hours later I got it to work ! Granted, it may not be the exact box in the instructions, but this does work and it is certainly a wow box.

Closed, the box dimensions are about 2 1/2" wide by 3 1/2" tall. The lid squashes down and closes flat.

After the working prototype was done (HOURS later!) I thought it would make a really neat chimney gift box.

My final project uses:
Real Red and Whisper White card stock; white Signo gel pen; aquapainter with Riding Hood Red classic ink to darken the edges of the "bricks"; clear drying liquid glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter for the snow at the top of the chimney; Sticky Strip to hold the box together. I think maybe I'll make a miniature version of my Cuttlebug Santa card as a gift card for this box.

If anyone knows where real diagrams and instructions can be found as well as who created this fun box, please let me know so I can give them the proper credit.

I will type in the instructions as they were given to me (I did edit a few errors) plus a photo of the final working diagram I drew.

Pop Up Box

Materials needed:

8 ½” x 11” sheet of card stock or designer paper

11 x 1 ¼” strip of coordinating card stock

Rubber stamps

Stamp pads

Paper cutter with scoring blade

Scissors

Adhesive

Basic Steps:

1. Score the following lines along the length of the card stock

1 inch, 3 ½ inch, 6 inch and 8 ½ inch.

This should result in 4 equal sections of 2 ½ inches.

2. Score the following line along the width of the card stock:

1 ¼ inch, 2 ½ inch, 3 ¾ inch and 7 ¼ inch.

Tip: Depending on the stamp images you are using, you may want to stamp now, but it is generally easier after you do your folding and prior to cutting.

3. Fold all lines.

Note: The 1 ¼ and 2 ½ lines are valley folds, the rest are mountain folds. (The 1 ¼ piece is where you glue the coordinating strip later on)

4. Using scissors cut out triangles as indicated on pattern to form the pop-up portion of the box. (These triangles need to be cut at 1 ¼ from the center of each 2 ½ inch sections out to the fold lines so the box closes properly.)

5. Cut from the bottom edge of card stock to 7 ¼ line on the 1, 3 ½, 6. and 8 ½ score lines to form bottom flaps of box.

6. Remove side flap areas as shown on pattern.

7. Fold along the 1, 3 ½, 6 and 8 ½ lines and glue flap to form the main body of the box.

8. Fold and glue bottom flaps of box.

9. Stamp coordinating card stock strip and score at just less than 1 inch, 3 ½ inch, 6 inch and 8 ½ inches. Glue strip to the top of the box to give decoration and help the pop-up hold its shape.

This is a fun box that can wow everyone because the flap pulls or pops up and then pushes down over the box to make the lid.

Here is the diagram:

Happy Holidays and thanks for looking =)