12 days of ornaments: day 12

Woot, you made it to the finish line! I saved my most favorite ornament for last, as I think it would work great on cards, layouts and other projects, too!

You'll need cardstock, patterned paper, JOY letter stickers, pennant dies (Spellbinders) or a pennant paper punch, small jingle bells, twine, pop dots, a holly punch and red half pearls.

1. Die cut three scalloped pennants from patterned paper. Die cut three straight edged pennants, smaller than the scalloped pennant, from cardstock. Mat each one onto a contrasting piece of cardstock and trim around the edge.
2. Layer the small pennant onto the large one using a foam dot.
3. Add the JOY letter tickers to the center of each layered pennant.
4. Trim a length of twine (I used waxed twine) a bit longer than the length of all three pennants.
5. String four small jingle bells onto the twine.
6. Turn the pennants over to the backside and arrange them in order. Place a small amount of glue along the top edge of each one.
7. Lay the waxed linen string onto the pennants, with a bell in between each one. Set it aside to dry.

That's it! I made a bunch for my tree that spell out a number of different sentiments, and clipped them onto two branches using small clothespins. They look so cute!

Stop by tomorrow for a final surprise to wrap up this holiday season. :)

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 11

Whew, we're almost there! Day 11's ornament is a lot easier than it may look, and the key to its success is to measure, measure, measure!

You'll need one glass ornament, pre-printed transparency, patterned paper, snowflake dies, half pearls, buttons, twine, ric rac, word sticker, chunky clitter, tweezers and a holly leaf punch.

1. Measure the circumfrence (the widest point of the ornament). If you don't have a fabric tape measure, wrap a piece of yarn or ribbon around the widest part of the ornament, then measure the yarn.
2. Remove the cap from the ornament and pour a couple of tablespoons of chunky glitter into it.
3. Die cut or hand cut a circle from a piece of printed transparency the same diamater is the measurement you took in step 1.
4. Die cut one transparency snowflake (large) and two patterned paper snowflakes (medium and small). Layer them together with a dab of glue in the center. add a few red half pearls to the snowflakes as shown. Glue the assembled snowflake to the center of the transparency circle.
5. Carefully roll the entire piece into a tube and slide it into the ornament. The design will pop back open inside the ornament. With tweezer's, rotate the circle until it is firmly planted into the glitter and standing in a direction you are happy with. Replace the ornament cap.
6. Glue a piece of red ric rac around the ornament cap.
7. Apply baby powder to a word sticker, punch a small hole in one end, and slide it onto one of the twine tails.
8. Trim two lengths of white twine and tie them around the top of the ornament cap into a bow. Slide a couple of small buttons onto two of the twine tails, knotting them in between. Sandwich two red half pearls onto the ends of the twine.
9. Punch out a holly leaf and add it to the word sticker as shown, along with a small, red pearl.

That's it -- not as hard as you thought, right? :) The final ornament is tomorrow, then a big surprise will follow on Monday -- you won't want to miss it!

Speaking of a big surprise, have you been keeping up with the SCT 12 Days of Holiday Giving? In addition to all of those incredible give-aways, there is a big surprise in store there, too! Check it out.

See you tomorrow,

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 10

Good morning peeps -- we're on the home stretch for the 12 days of ornaments, and here is day 10's little beauty:

You'll need a styrofoam ball, patterned paper, half pearls, a leaf punch, buttons, white twine, jump rings, red ball pins and red binding tape.

1. Begin by painting the styrofoam ball with red acrylic paint and set it aside to dry.
2. The flowers were created using a PageMaps flower swirl die from the Whimsy set. If you do not have this die, you can create your own swirl (cup) flowers. Cut 20-24 2" circles from patterned paper and cut a swirl into each one. Scallop the outer edge of each spiral.
3. Twist the spiral together to form a cup and glue the end on the back. Place a large half pearl in the center of each flower.
4. Glue the flowers onto the styrofoam ball, overlapping the outer petals.
5. Cut a 6" length of white twine. Tie each end onto a jump ring. Slide a gem and small button onto each jump ring and close. Fold the twine in half and pin it to the top of the ball.
6. Create a loopy bow with 12-15" of red binding tape. Pin it to the top of the ball using red ball pins. Tuck die cut leaves around the pins as shown.

That's it -- it's a bit of fussy work, but the results are beautiful!

There are just a few days left in SCT's 12 Days of Holiday Giving so be sure to pop over there for your chance to win some incredible (and I do mean INCREDIBLE) prizes!

See you tomorrow,

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 9

Welcome to day 9 of the 12 days of ornaments! So far, all of these treasures have been super easy to make, but these last few are just a wee bit more complicated. But do not fear -- when you break down the steps, they come together really easy. Today's ornament is a set of 3D snowflakes:

You will need patterne paper, micro fine glitter, half pearls and gems, foam pop dots, and snowflake dies. For this set, I used Spellbinders snowflake dies.

1. To get started, die cut a bunch of snowflake dies in a variety of sizes and from contrasting colors of patterned paper. I glittered the lightest paper before die cutting the shapes.
2. Begin loosely layering them into a cluster until you are happy with the design and order.
3. Glue them together with a combination of glue dots and foam pop dots, rotating the snowflakes on each layer.
4. Take a look at the spokes of each snowflake. You'll see that I slipped the top snowflake spokes into those cut-outs, causing the top layer to "puff up" in a 3D effect. If your snowflakes do not have those small cut-outs, just use a tiny paper punch and punch a small hole on the tip of each one.
5. Top off all of the snowflakes with gems or pearls.

See? Not difficult, just very fussy! :) Not only do these look great hanging from a tree, but are very pretty adorning a card or scrapbook page, too.

Be sure to stop by SCT today for your chance to win another incredible prize in their 12 Days of Holiday Giving!

See you tomorrow,

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 8

I know of several of you who are keeping up with the 12 days of ornaments -- thank you for sending me your photos! I love to see how many of you have adapted these patterns. :) Today's ornament is the easiest of the bunch, but is oh-so sweet:

You will need a small styrofoam cone, patterned paper, white flocking, a white pom pom, small half pearls, a holly die or paper punch and a small doily.

1. Cover the cone with patterned paper. I used a polka dot pattern, which worked great for adding the pearls later.
2. Trim a 1/4" strip of white cardstock, scalloping one long edge. Following the manufacturer's directions, add white flocking to the strip. When dry, glue it in place along the bottom edge of the hat, with the scallops facing down.
3. Add a white pom pom to the top of the hat.
4. Place white pearls all over the hat in a random pattern.
5. Die cut or paper punch three small holly leaves. Group them together and add them to the hat as shown, along with a red half pearl.
6. Glue the hat to a doily.

You're done! Fair warning ... the last few ornaments are a little more complicated! :)

Have you been keeping up with the give-aways during SCT's 12 Days of Holiday Giving? The products have been outrageously wonderful and a little bird told me that one of them will be a nice set of PageMaps dies. ;) Not sure what day, so you'll have to be sure to visit often! Check it all out at SCT's Blog, as you still have time to enter all of the drawings to date!



See you tomorrow!

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 7

Good morning and welcome to day 7 of the 12 days of ornaments. Today's treasure is another easy one that will help you use up some of the piles of buttons in your stash.

You will need a variety of green buttons, red ball pins, a small styrofoam cone, a die cut doily, half pearls, green acrylic paint, and a small holly leaf die or paper punch.

1. To get started, roll the styrofoma cone around between your open hand and a hard surface to compress the foam and get rid of the flakes that are bound to come off. Curve the tip to get rid of the sharp point. When you are happy with the shape, paint it with a generous coat of green acrylic paint and set it aside to dry.
2. With a glue gun or thick craft glue, begin gluing the buttons onto the cone, starting at the top. Vary the sizes and rotate the buttons so the button holes are going in several direcctions.
3. Fill in the gaps with red ball pins and white half pears.
4. Die cut or paper punch several small, green holy leaves from green patterned paper. Bend the bottom point and tuck them in behind several of the buttons with a dab of blue.
5. Glue the gree to a white doily.

Super easy, eh?! If you want to hang this little tree, just place an eye pin in the top.

Don't forget to stop by SCT for your chance to some a-maaaaaaa-zing prizes in their 12 Days of Holiday Giving! It's not to late to enter all of the give-aways to date here!

See you tomorrow,

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 6

Whew, we're half way through the ornaments! Are you keeping up? :)

Today's ornament(s) is another super easy set of altered wooden spools. I got my spools at a garage sale, but you can also get them at the craft store in the wood aisle. 

You'll need three sizes of wooden spools, patterned paper, circle punches, button, pearls, gems, star pin, twine, a tiny jingle bell and a snowflake punch.

1. Cover the main body of your large and medium spools with patterned paper. Wrap a length of twine around the smallest spool, slide on a small jingle bell and tie off the tail in a knot.
2. Measure the diameter of the tops of each spool and punch/cut circles slightly smaller. Cover the top of each spool with the patterned circles.
3. On the large spool, slide a star pin into the center.
4. On the medium spool, punch out snowflake circles and glue them around the center of the spool. Add a gem in the center of each snowflake. Punch out a small paper snowflake and glue it to the top of the spool. Add a gem to the center.
5. On the small spool, glue a button to the top and cover the button holes with pearl gems.

That's it -- super easy! To make them hanging ornaments, before covering the tops of each spool with a paper circle, punch a small hole in the center of each circle. Cut an 8" piece of twine, fold it in half, and thread the two open ends through the hole. Tape it off underneath, then glue the circle to the top of the spool.

Don't forget to stop by SCT's blog for your chance to win another amazing prize!

See you tomorrow!

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 5

Welcome back to day 5 of the 12 days of ornaments! Although the ornament crate may look intimidating, I'm sure you'll agree that once it is broken down into parts, it's pretty easy to replicate! (I'm saving the hard ones for last! LOL) In case you missed the first four, here are links to ornament 1, ornament 2, ormament 3 and ornament 4. Okay, today's ornament is this German glass glittered beauty:

If you don't have German glass glitter, Epson salt makes a great substitute! To make this ornament, you will need German glass glitter, patterned paper, a glass ornament, wet craft adhesive (that dries clear), twine, jingle bell and word sticker.

1. Because the glitter takes some time to dry, we'll do that step first. With a foam brush, generously brush on a medium thick coat of craft glue onto the bottom third of the ornament using uneven brush strokes. You'll want a fair amount of glue in order to hold the German glass glitter, as the glitter is quite heavy. Roll the glued end into the glitter, invert it in a paper cup, and set it aside to dry. Mine took the better part of a day to dry completely.
2. Trim 6" long thin strips of patterned paper, just like you did for ornament 1. The skinnier the better. :) I cut about 30 or so.
3. Wind each strip around a pencil and hold it in place for a few seconds. Because paper has memory, when you slide the strip off the pencil, it will maintain a curly, corkscrew shape. Set two aside.
4. When your ornament is dry, take off the cap. Slip each curled strip into the hole, one at a time. Shake the ornament occasionally to mix up the direction the curls are going. When you are happy with the fullness of the ornament, replace the cap.
5. Tie a length of natural twine around the cap and slide a jingle bell onto one tail and a word sticker onto the other, then tie off in a bow. (Tip: sprinkle baby powder onto the sticky side of the sticker before sliding it onto the twine.)
6. Glue the two paper curls you set aside to the cap, underneath the bow.

That's it, ornament #5 is complete!

Have you been keeping up with the give-aways during SCT's 12 Days of Holiday Giving? The products have been outrageously wonderful and a little bird told me that one of them will be a nice set of PageMaps dies. ;) Not sure what day, so you'll have to be sure to visit often! Check it all out at SCT's Blog, as you still have time to enter all of the drawings to date!

See you tomorrow!

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 4

It's day 4 of the 12 days of ornaments here on the PageMaps blog! Are you caught up yet? Today's ornament is a little tree easel:

You will need a small manila folder, patterned paper, straw, glue, pearls, snowflake punch or die set, glitter and a star pin.

1. Trim out a 3"x3" card from a manila folder, with the pre-cut tab hanging over the edge at the bottom. This will be your "easel" for the tree.
2. Cut a straw into six short lengths, starting at 2" and working down to 1/2". Cover each straw piece with a scrap of patterned paper, gluing it off on the back.
3. Stack and glue the straw pieces to the front of the card in decscending order as shown. Zig-zag cut a scrap of brown and glue it below the straws for the tree trunk.
4. Paper punch or die cut two small snowflakes and two super small snowflake centers (I used a die set from Papertrey Ink for this). Ink all the edges, if desired.
5. Attach the tiny snowflake to the center of the small snowflake with a pop dot and place a pearl in the center. Glue one on the upper, left corner and one in the lower, right, trimming away any excess paper from the edge.
6. Cover a star pin with chunky glitter and slide it in the top of the tree.
7. Add some pearls to the straws.

You're done with ornament #4!

See you tomorrow,

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 3

Good morning and welcome to day 3 of the 12 days of ornaments! Thank you for all of your kind words, I hope you are enjoying making these little treasures. :) If you've missed it, here are links to ornament 1 and ornament 2. Now, onto ornament 3!

These wrapped candies can be clustered together and placed in a small bowl, or glued together and hung from your tree. No matter how you show them off, they are super easy to make! You'll need scrap chipboard, patterned paper, buttons, a straw, scraps of cellophane, baker's twine, tiny jingle bells and word stickers.

1. Cut out chipboard circles (1"-2") and cover them with patterned paper. Ink the edges, if desired.
2. To create a thicker piece of candy, glue several chipboard circles together before covering the ends with patterned paper, or add a shiny button.
3. Trim a piece of scrap cellophane twice as wide and twice as long as your overall dimensions. Wrap the piece around the chipboard circles and tape it off on the back. Twist the ends and tie them with baker's twine.
4. For the long pieces of candy, wrap patterned paper around a 2" length of straw and glue at the seam. Wrap it in a scrap of cellophane and tie off the ends with baker's twine.
5. To finish off the candy pieces, tie on small jingle bells and word sentiments.

See? Super easy! So if you have someone naughty on your list this year, give them chipboard candy instead of coal! LOL

Have you been entering your name into the wild and wonderful holiday give-aways at Scrapbook & Cards Today? I'm still reeling from day one's prize! It's not to late to enter for any of the fanstaic prizes, so hop on over to the SCT blog for your chance to win in SCT's 12 Days of Holiday Giving!

See you tomorrow,

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 2

Welcome to day 2 of the 12 days of ornaments! Did you have a chance to stop by the SCT blog yesterday to throw your hat into the ring for that a-maaaaaaaaazing prize from AC/Pebbles/Crate/Studio Calico? It's not too late, so be sure to enter here!

Today's ornament is layered rosette tree on the top row of the crate. It's a fussy, little decoration, but if you have a scoring board, you'll zip right through the layers!

For this project, you'll need patterned paper, red head pins, bead caps, small wood beads, a scoring board, glue dots, glitter and a paper doily.

1. Cut 8" strips in the following widths: 1¾" and 1½"; cut 6" strips in the following widths: 1¼", 1" and ¾". Score each strip at the 1/4" mark down the entire length.
2. Fold over and under on each score line to form hills and valleys, connecting the ends together with adhesive.
3. Punch out 10 1/4" circles from patterned paper.
4. Lay each rosette flat, pushing gently on the outside edge to gather it in the center. Place a glue dot in the center and cover it with one of the 1/4" circles. Turn the rosette over and repeat.
5. Lightly dab wet adhesive around the outer edge of each rosette and roll it in glitter. Tap off the excess and set them aside to dry.
6. Glue a wooden bead to the top, center side of the four largest rosettes. Stack the rosettes in order from largest to smallest, gluing them as you go along. A wet, tacky glue works best for this step, such as Aleene's.
7. Thread two bead caps onto a red head pin and poke it down the center of the top of the tree.
8. Dip the sharp point of red head pins into wet glue and slide them into the accordion folds around each rosette as shown.
9. Once dry, glue the finished tree onto a white doily.

That's it, you've completed ornament #2!

Be sure to pop on over to day 2 of SCT's annual "12 Days of Holiday Giving." It's another fantastic prize up for grabs today!

See you tomorrow!

Becky

12 days of ornaments: day 1

Good morning and welcome to Day 1 of the 12 Days of Ornaments! If you've seen Scrapbook & Cards Today's winter issue, then perhaps you've see the pop bottle crate filled with ornaments on page 5. I had so much fun creating this project using Simple Stories' new holiday collection. :)

Since I've had so many requests for how-to instructions on the ornaments, I thought I'd post one set of instructions each day to run in tandem with SCT's annual "12 Days of Holiday Giving." You won't want to miss out on these great give-aways, as they are always so wonderful and generous!

To get started, you will need the following supplies to create the entire project (bottle crate, 12 ornamaments, tree and jingle bell). In parenthesis, I have indicated what brand I used on the original project. If no company is listed, then they were basic supplies from the craft store. Sorry for the long list, but I think you'll discover that you have most of these items on hand! :)

cardstock (Bazzill Basics) patterned paper (Simple Stories) die cut shapes (Simple Stories) transparency (Simple Stories) word stickers (Simple Stories) star pins (Maya Road) pearl head pins (Dritz) border punches (Stampin' Up!) snowflake dies (Spellbinders) pennant dies (Spellbinders) pine branch die (Papertrey Ink) five-leaf paper punch (Martha Stewart) holly leaf paper punch (Martha Stewart) wooden spools (Darice) chunky clear glitter (Martha Stewart) red and silver glitter (Martha Stewart) cream twine (May Arts) waxed linen (Montana Misfits) 2”-2½” white doilies (Martha Stewart) styrofoam balls

styrofoam tree 3" glass ornaments tiny jingle bells 3” jingle bell small red brads (BasicGrey) red binding tape (Flourishes) chevron 1/2” ribbon (May Arts) 1/2” black ribbon tiny red pom pom trim large & small buttons (BasicGrey) gems, pearls (Queen & Co) German glass glitter acrylic paint (Delta) crackle medium (Delta) brown ink (Tim Holtz) scoring board (Stampin' Up!) small white pom poms wooden pop bottle crate (sodaemporium.com) wet and dry adhesive basic craft tools (trimmer, scissors, etc.)

Today's ornament is the glass Santa's Belt in the upper, left corner of the crate. It's sparkly, festive and oh-so easy to make!

1. Trim various narrow widths of red patterned papers and cardstock (1/16" to 1/8" wide) and 6" long. I used about 30 strips on this ornament.
2. Wind each strip around a pencil and hold it in place for a few seconds. Because paper has memory, when you slide the strip off the pencil, it will maintain a curly, corkscrew shape.
3. Remove the cap from your ornament and slip each curled strip into the hole, one at a time. Shake the ornament occasionally to mix up the direction the curls are going. When you are happy with the fullness of the ornament, replace the cap.
4. Cut a length of mini red pom pom trim and glue it around the perimeter of the ornament cap.
5. Use a scrap of paper to measure and mark the circumfrence of your ornament. Add 1/4" inch to the measurement and cut a piece of 1/2" black ribbon to that length.
6. Run a piece of two-sided tape across the back of the ribbon. If your tape does not have release paper, place it on a piece of waxed paper temporarily.
7. Cover the front of the black ribbon with a strip of double-sided tape. Shake black glitter over the entire surface and rub it into the ribbon in a circular motion. Shake off the excess glitter.
8. From a scrap of chipboard, cut out a ¾"wide by 1" tall rectangle. Cut out two slits, side-by-side, from the center as shown.
9. Run a silver pen (or silver paint) around all of the cut edges.
10. Cover the piece of chipboard with two-sided tape, trimming out the two slits. Shake silver glitter over the entire surface and rub it into the tape in a circular motion. Shake off the excess glitter.
11. Thread the black glitter ribbon through the slits in a under-over-under direction as shown. Remove the release paper from the double-sided tape and apply it to the center of the ornament, overlapping the ends at the back.

That's it, your first ornament is done! See you tomorrow with ornament #2!

Becky