To Grandmother’s House We Go

This is one of my all time favorite holiday atcs.  It was simple to make and still makes a really bold statement.

Torn papers are layered to create the base.  Then I cut hearts from O’So Sticky Tape placed onto red cardstock.  The hearts are beaded with red opaque micro beads and added to the card with foam tape.

A few loose seed beads were strung onto wire which was then wrapped around the atc 3 times.  The ends of the wire were curled forward and the whole thing was layered onto a piece of coordinating cardstock to hide the wire in the back.

The stamp I used is from My Sentiments Exactly.  I loved singing that song as a child so that’s what drew me to it.  Ü

A double slit punch was used to make the holes for weaving the ribbon through.  I like this method because it lays flatter than a bow and looks just as nice.

Hugs, Suzanne

Snowy Scene Shaker Ornament

PWA designer Julie Imsland created a totally new and unique idea using two shaker card pouches!

Julie shares her “how to”:

Supplies:

2 – Impression Obsession Oval “Shake It” Shaker Card Pouches from Pennywise Arts

Core’dinations Whitewash Collection Cardstock, Butterchurn

Pennywise Arts- White Opaque Micro Beads, 1/8” O’So Sticky Tape

SureTac Glue

White chipboard scraps

Narrow White Cording

White RickRack Trim

Ek Success™ Alpine Trail Edge Punch

Martha Stewart Crafts™ Frosty Village Edge Punch

Directions:

Make a template for the inside of the shaker by laying an oval shaker pouch face down on a chipboard scrap. With a pencil trace around the small oval face and cut this pattern out inside the pencil line. Check to make sure this template will fit the inside edge of the shaker. Trim as needed.

Cut 1 ½”, 2 ¼”, 2 ¾” strips of the Butterchurn paper in 4” lengths. (Note one side of the paper is pale yellow and the other is white.)

For the snowy scene: Punch 2 narrow and 3 wide strips with the Alpine Trail edge punch. Punch 2 medium strips with the Frosty Village edge punch.

Cut 4 spacers from chipboard scraps. These will be trimmed to be hidden between some of the scene strips to create dimension.

Create layered shaker scene using the oval template as a pattern to mark and trim the sides of each strip, and gradually reduce the height of each layer. Note one side of the paper is pale yellow and the other is white; refer to the list below to know which color should be facing outward.

Layer strips as follows using a tape runner or glue stick to attach the layers:

1. Narrow white trees

2. Chipboard spacer

3. Medium white village

4. Wide yellow trees

5. Chipboard spacer

6. Wide white trees—this is the tallest strip, turn it over and these will be yellow trees

7. Chipboard spacer

8. Wide white trees

9. Medium yellow village

10. Chipboard spacer

11. Narrow white trees

Peel the cover from the adhesive around the outside edge of one of the shaker pouches. Dot the bottom edge of the layered stack with SureTac glue to adhere the stacked snowy scene inside the shaker. Spoon about a teaspoon of white micro beads into the shaker.

Peel the cover from the adhesive of the remaining shaker pouch add a bead of SureTac glue all the way around and carefully stick the two adhesive edges together. Pinch them tightly all around the outside edge to insure not beads will “escape”.

Dot a bit of SureTac glue at the two side and along the bottom of the shaker to secure a narrow cord for hanging the ornament.

Use 1/8” O’So Sticky tape to adhere rick rack around the outside edge of each side of the shaker.

So stunning Julie!   Thanks for sharing!

Hugs, Suzanne

Snowman Domino

After digging through my craft room I finally unearthed one of the dominoes I created for a Pennywise Arts swap.  (Maybe two years ago?)

A regular domino is transformed into a Christmas ornament (or in this case a magnet) with a snowman stamp from Stampin Up!, Staz On black ink and Adirondack markers from Ranger.

The sides are colored silver with a Krylon paint pen and left to dry.  Then 1/4”  O'So Sticky Tape is wrapped around the outside and pressed into clear micro beads.

I sprayed a light spritz of silver glitter spray over the top to look like snowflakes and then sealed it with a thick clear spray glaze.

I just received my package of swapped doms so in the next few days I will have photos of this years Pennywise Arts Yahoo group domino swap. 

Hugs, Suzanne

Holiday Candle Lights

Heavy decorative paper was used to create this festive gift box.  A Scor It tool provides interesting texture lines (hard to see in the photo).

Inside neatly nested are four votive candles.

A template for any glass votive can be made by wrapping it with paper and trimming the edges to fit.  Then the template can be traced directly onto a sheet of O'So Sticky Tape.  All four votives are wrapped with O'So Sticky Tape and embellished using masking techniques.  Save the liners from the O'So Tape to use as release paper masks.  Always put the shiny side down when using release papers.  The other side of the liner is designed to be able to write and draw on and will not release if place onto O'So

Candy Candle: Release paper from the O'So was hand cut into circles and swirls.  First, all the circles are placed shiny side down onto the exposed O'So and the whole votive rolled in Lettuce Translucent micro beads.  Then the circle masks are removed and the swirls put into place in the centers (shiny side down)/  Then White Opaque micro beads are sprinkled into each area.  Finally the swirl masks are removed and Red Opaque micro beads complete the candy centers.

Red Candy Candle:  Decorative paper circles were punched and placed on the the exposed O'So Sticky Tape.  Then the votive rolled in Red Translucent micro beads.  The candy circles were added with foam tape for dimension.

Snowflake Candle:  Snowflakes are punched from the release paper and placed shiny side down onto the exposed O'So Sticky Tape.  A 1/4" strip of liner is put around the top edge of the votive and the candle is rolled into Gold Opaque Micro Beads.  Then the 1/4" strip is removed and the exposed tape is dipped into Lettuce Translucent Micro Beads.  Lastly, the snowflake masks are removed and White Opaque micro beads are sprinkled onto the exposed tape.

Holly Candle:  Holly and berries were hand drawn onto the liner from O'So Sticky Tape, cut out and placed shiny side down onto the exposed tape on the votive.  The candle was then rolled in clear Mini micro beads.  The holly masks were then removed and the leaves cut from the berries.  The berries were then put back, shiny side down.  The holly leaves were beaded with Lettuce Translucent micro beads and then the berries in Red Opaque micro beads.

Finish off the box with ribbons and a gift tag.

May your holidays be bright and sparkly!  

Hugs!
Suzanne

Holiday Lights Chunky ATC

Vicki Chow also participated in the Gingersnap Creations “holiday lights” challenge.  Her chunky ATC is so fun!

The lights were die cut with O’So Sticky Tape on the colored papers.  All Vicki had to do next was peel the liner and dip into clear micro beads.

 

 

 

 

The star on top has a border of mixed micro beads and the back side of Vicki’s ATC has a big beaded poinsetta. 

Vicki said that to start she just laid a bunch of Christmas stuff on her craft table and went to town.  The chunky atc block came from Pennywise Arts.  She wrapped it with fabric and then let her creative muse take it from there.

Vicki is a super talented lady, I hope she’ll share more of her artwork again soon!  Ü

Hugs, Suzanne

Beaded Holiday Lights

How much fun are these micro beaded holiday lights by Debbie Warren?!!

Debbie started with an inexpensive strand of decorative lights that came with clear plastic additions (flowers, bells, leaves, etc)

She used alcohol inks on the plastic petals to color them and a clear drying glue to add clear micro beads to the tips of the petals for icicles. 

Then Debbie put pieces of O'So Sticky Tape  over the tips of the light bulbs and dipped them into clear micro beads for the sparkly middles.   O'So Sticky Tape is heat resistant and won't melt or burn on the lights.

So clever she is! 

Hugs, Suzanne

Santa’s Sleigh Snow Globe Ornament

This O’so pretty ornament was made by PWA Design Team member Dee Moran.

Here’s how she did it:

Supplies:

One clear 2” glass ornament

Iridescent Bubble Beads (Pennywise Arts)

Transparency (3 inch square) (Pennywise Arts – near the bottom of the page)

Rubber stamp of your choice (this one is from Stampin Up)

Thin cording

Small hole punch

Black Staz On ink

Sharpie pens

Cut a 2” circle out of the Transparency. Stamp image onto the transparency using the Staz On ink and stamp of choice.  Color image with Sharpie pens. Dabbing a paper towel over the colored image will even out the look. Let it dry for a few minutes.

Punch a hole at the top of the transparency and thread the thin cording through it.

Remove the cap from the clear glass ornament, then roll up the dry transparency and push it down inside, leaving the cording hanging out. It will open up once inside the ball. Tie a knot in the cord. (The knot is left on the outside of the ornament and is held in place by the cap and hidden when the embellishments are added.) Pour Iridescent  Bubble Beads into the ornament and put the cap back onto the ball leaving the corded knot on the outside. Decorate with ribbons, fibers, wire and flowers.

 

Hugs, Suzanne

**Another variation that Dee said works well is to print a holiday image from one of our collage sheets onto a transparency and insert that inside.