Embellished Candles - and a poem for teachers

There are thousands of ideas for embellishing simple candles and with so many crafty supplies available, it is easy to personalize candles. Jar type, pillar type, tea lights, even battery operated tea lights - you can find a fantastic idea for decorating any type of candle.

Splitcoaststampers.com is just one of many web sites with an abundance of ideas as well as tutorials.

I have made many different types of decorated candles over the years, but there are no photographs that I have found other than the one below (many times I didn't photograph my projects). Anything from "stamped candles" which were always a WOW! demonstration to simply decorating a jar type candle with rub ons. One of my favorite things to make were removable seasonal "sleeves" for jar type candles. Make one for each season, slide them on and off throughout the year.  Give a yummy smelling candle, candle warmer and a set of sleeves as a gift.

Even children can make decorated candle sleeves using fun foam cutouts, stickers and more !

I found these mini mason jar candles several years ago for $1 each - and they smelled really good, too ! I made a couple dozen, each one was stamped differently. Fun, fairly easy and cheap. I printed this poem on the inside of those I made for the teachers:




A candle is like a teacher

Who first provides the spark

That kindles love of learning

In children's minds and hearts.



Like a burning candle,

Teachers light the mind

Enriching the lives and futures

By the sharing of their time.



So when you light this candle,

May its glow convey to you

Warm appreciation

For all the things you do.



(I'm sorry that I do not know who to give credit to for the above beautiful poem; it is something I came across years ago with no name given at that time)






I printed this inside the cards I stamped with merry&bright:



May your days be happy,

your heart be light,

your Christmas merry,

and the New Year bright !



(the above was found in a Papercrafts magazine)



Thanks for looking; comments are always appreciated =)
Happy Holidays !

Tree Top Angels

I made her 20+ years ago from a pattern in an old Crafts magazine. She is made out of paper twist ribbon, wood bead and dried florals. Although she no longer graces the Christmas Tree top, I still have her.

This is the current angel topper that I made in 1998. The porcelain head, hands and organza wings were in a kit along with instructions on how to make her. She was pretty easy to make with additional fabric, ribbon and ribbon roses - and a pretty addition to the tree ! The kids much preferred this more realistic looking angel over the rustic paper twist angel.

Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays !

Sock Long Johns Gift Tutorial

Need a stocking stuffer for the men/boys in your life ?
Whip up this quick, cute project for a fun way to give them two pair of socks !

I found this cute project in an old craft magazine years ago. It was a perfect project for me to make and donate to the school holiday bazaar.

You will need two pair of tube socks, the straight up and down tube type work best, matching thread and a few buttons.

Stitch the four socks together to resemble long john underwear, two for the front and two for the back. Add a few buttons along the middle seam in the front and one button on each "butt cheek flap" on the back. Be sure to attach the following cute poem:

I made you some long johns

But they turned out too small

In fact I don't think

They will fit you at all.

So take off the buttons

And snip the threads

You will have two pair

of socks instead!

Above is a sketch I drew of how I made my long john socks. The written instructions below are by me, trying to think of the easiest way to describe how I made them. I do not have the original instructions unfortunately.

Lay one pair of socks down on a flat surface, side by side with the toes pointing up. Stitch at the edges in the middle, starting at the top to about halfway down. This would be the front seam from the neckline to the crotch on a real pair or long underwear. Attach three buttons (more if you like) along this middle seam. Turn the stitched together socks over so that the buttons are laying face down. Keep the toes at the top and the cuffed portion at the bottom.

Lay two socks side by side, toe pointing down, on top of the stitched pair. Place the toes about halfway down the back side of the already stitched socks, this would resemble the "butt flaps" on a real pair of long underwear. Stitch in place. Fold the upper cuffed portion off to the sides to create arms. Make these folds in line with the tops of the toes from the front socks. Stitch in place. Add a button to each "butt cheek flap".

You can also make a little hanger out of wire to hang them on!

TIP: cut buttons off of old worn out shirts to be reused on craft projects, cards, sewing projects, etc. The buttons on the sock long johns pictured above came off of old thread bare flannel shirts. After removing the buttons, the super soft, well worn fabric was used in the garage.





Supplies for making the card, all from Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Holiday Tag Team - retired
Card Stock: scrap from holiday card elements kit, chocolate chip, naturals ivory, ruby red

Ink: various classic inks to watercolor with, Basic Brown

Accessories: copper brad, chocolate grosgrain ribbon

Techniques: water coloring with ink pads



 

Thanks for looking/commenting and Happy Holidays !



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 =)