Polished to Perfection

Christmas Tree #7 - Vote today for your Favorite Tree- Blog Candy Revealed

Here it is the last tree in the forest.  For this tree I used the same size scraps of paper as for tree #1. The strips are 1/2" x 6" long.  Instead of folding these I curled them around a pencil and then placed them on my tree.  For each strip I used 2 pins - the first one was a flat head at the top of the strip and the second one was a pearlized head which I placed about one inch down the strip, so that I could ensure that you would be able to see the printed paper and not just the curls.  So now it is time to decide -

Working from left to  Right - Tree # 7-curls, Tree #4 White Doilies, Tree #6 Gold Doilies

Working from Left to right Tree# 1 -loops, Tree #4 Tonic Holly Punch, Tree #3 cones,   Tree #5 - Silver Doilies

Which tree is your favorite??? Ijust love all the trees.  Here is a shot of my entire mantel with all this weeks projects!!

You can vote by placing a comment on this post - everyone who votes on this post will be entered to win a chance to win today's blog candy.  You have until Saturday Night at midnight on November 3rd to place your vote- on the Oct 31st Post.  The random number generator will select the winner and I will contact the winner via email on Sunday November 4th, the winner will need to provide me with their address so that I can send you the following basket of Blog Candy:

Since most of the paper I used for my trees was from the American Crafts Christmas Collection - many of the goodies in the gift boxes are from the collection - the entire collections of American Crafts Christmas Ribbon, red & green brads in multiple sizes, American  Crafts Christmas Rub-ons and a Ornament I made using their paper scraps.  3 styrofoam cones for you to make your own trees.  Clear Christmas Stamps from Hero Arts- the perfect size for place cards for your Christmas Dinner Table. Red and Green Rhinestones from Kaiser Crafts. Holly and Berry Brads from making Memories,  Sam the Snowman from Silver Fox Stamps and 3 of my favorite colors of Spica Micro glass flake pens - silver, gold and clear.  Goodluck to everyone who votes!!

And here are the ornaments I made with the leftover 1/2" x 6" strips from my trees:

Hope everyone has as much fun making your forest as I did!!  Tell your friends to visit my blog for their chance to win my Christmas Blog Candy.  Thanks for visting!!

Christmas Trees #5 and #6 from foil doilies plus a Blog Candy Alert!!

To make this tree I used 4" diameter silver foil doiles from Wilton.  These are more expensive than white doilies and only come 12 in a package, but I loved the way they folded as they were a little easier to work with than the paper doilies.  The assembly of the tree is identical to the assembly of the white doilies tree.  For the tree topper I found a set of star wands in the party favor section of Dollar tree. I cut down the wand and inserted it in the top of the tree.  Next I used my red and green pearlized pins to add ornaments to the tree, just by simple placing them gently in the lace work of the doilie and pushing them slightly into the styrofoam cone.  For the tree skirt I airbrushed a gold doilie with a G07 Copic Marker.

Now as we reviewed the growing forest on our mantel, we decided that there was still something we liked a little more about the first Christmas Tree.  I decided that It might be that the base of the first christmas tree is a little wider and perhaps this was why I liked it better....so of course I was now off to make tree # 5.

For this version I used 2 sizes of gold doilies as I wanted the base to be wider.  I used 8" gold doilies on the first two levels.  I cut these in fourths since they were so large. The 3rd thru 5th layers of the tree were made from 6" gold doilies which I cut in 1/2 for layer 3 and 4, to make the 5th layer narrower I trimmed a pie wedge (1/4th slice) from the 6" dolie.  I think this gives the tree a better proportion, but I think I like the silver foil doilies better since the contast between the inside of the doilies and the outside of the doilies is less noticeable.  I airbushed a gold doilie with G07 to make the tree skirt.  I altered the silver star with a gold leafing pen, and then used my  R29 Copic sketch marker to color inside the holes of the star so that it would looke like rubies in the star.  Make sure you gold leafing is entirely dry before you alter the star with the red copic marker.  I added additional pearlized red and green pins for ornaments.  And we still can not decide which tree we like best.  Can you??  Since I can't have an even number of trees on my mantel...I'm off to design a 7th tree which I will post tomorrow with a picture of all 7 trees. . ..So come back tomorrow to post your vote in the comment section of Christmas Tree # 7 and get a chance to win  blog candy as everyone decides which tree they like best.

Christmas Tree # 4 - White Doilies

I must say - we aren't getting much sleep at our house these days...as every tree we design - leads to yet another light bulb moment and one more tree for our forest. What I once thought would be our centerpiece for our Christmas table has now become our fireplace mantel display already ( yikes it's not even November yet).  We are still trying to decide which tree we like best, so the fireplace mantel seemed like a fitting place to line them up to look at as we mull over why we might prefer one over another one. Now if you be reading my blog daily, you will remember that after I finished Tree #2, my husband insisted that my trees needed tree skirts.  So of course as I was driving to town to find doilies- I realized that if the Tonic Holly punch tree was cool...you got it...so would a lacy tree made from Doilies.  It would be a beautiful wedding centerpiece for a Christmas wedding. 

To make this tree I used 4" diameter Doilies from Wilton. These come packed 30 doilies to a package- I cut each doilie in half and one package made a whole tree.  Aftter cutting the doilies in half I rolled them into a cone and glued them.  My recommendation is to glue all your pieces together first and then assemble your tree.  I found these little red bows in the mini christmas tree section of my local craft store, I used green Pearlized long pins to place them on my tree.  For a stronger contrast for my tree skirt - I airbrushed a Gold Foil Doilie with G07.  I also airbrushed my Silver Snowflake with Copic G07.  I love my airbrush system, and I can't tell you how many more trips to town I would make in a week to finish one of my blog projects, if I didn't have the ability to so easily alter the color of almost anything.  When I went to airbrush the snowflakes for both tree #3 and Tree #4, the snowflakes still shimmered even after airbrushing as the alcohol ink from the markers is translucent.  I certainly would not have gotten this effect if I had painted my snowflake green.  And yes, you will need to visit tomorrow - when I reveal tree #5 and tree #6....I told you I was building a forest!!! 

Here is a slightly different view of Tree #4:

Here you can see how beautiful the cutwork of the doiles.

Thanks for visiting.

Christmas tree #3 using Tonic Holly Punch

Now as we were assembling Christmas Tree # 2, the next light bulb went off that we could also make a beautiful tree using the Tonic Holly Corner Punch and Shamrock Green Cardstock from Worldwin.  The corner punch would round off the square and create a beautiful diecut as well.  To make Christmas Tree # 3, you will need a 2 7/8" x 7 7/8" styrofoam cone and 59 - 2" x 2" squares of Shamrock green cardstock.  Next punch one corner of each square with the Tonic Holly Punch.  Turn your square 45 degrees and place the punched corner at the top (north) now gently roll in the eastern corner and the western corner, do not crease, glue these together to make a cone shape. Note: these cones are slightly harder to make into cones without creasing them.  Follow the directions from Christmas Tree #2 to assemble your tree. For a finishing touch I added a red rhinestone from Kaiser Crafts to the tip of each bough branch for a little bling. SInce my tree was primarily red and green, I used my Copic Airbrush system and R29 to airbrush my snowflake red. What I loves most is that the snowflake still shimmered even after I airbrushed it.

         

Check in tomorrow to see the next tree in the forest!! For this tree I added a gold doilie for a tree skirt.  I am still trying to decide which tree I like best. Which tree do you like best?

Christmas Tree #2 from American Crafts Christmas Scraps

 

Well, I'm now working on creating a small forest...I just can't stop the wheels from turning.  Remember that when I was creating the first tree, Angela was teaching an exploding box class.  Every time we teach this class we come up with a new twist.  Last week Angela came to my studio with this really cute flower/bow/ornament and I saw it and told her it would great on the top of the exploding box she was teaching that day. We agreed since it could be made from the scraps leftover from the exploding box. The box topper was a huge hit.  So we decided to make a Christmas exploding box with the great topper and the great addition of embellishments using my circle nestabilities dies. Tons of directions for these boxes have been on other blogs, so today I won't write directions today...since I have a ton of stuff to cover.  If you would like for me to post directions for the exploding box, just leave me a comment at the end of the post.  If you have not left a comment before on a post but would like to-simple click on the comment button at the end of this article and add a comment. Here is the box:

 

I love using the nestabilities on the side of the box for an embellishment. The snowflake in the center is a button. Since some of you may not know what an exploding box is - here is a photo of what happens when you take the lid off the box: You can put a ton of photos in this box - It's a great gift for dad's desk!!

Here is the box when you add the bow:

Doesn't it look great!!  Thanks Angela for letting me share it!!  Here is just the bow - which actually is also a great ornament too!!

I will post directions on how to make this bow/ornament later this week because after all this is a blog about Christmas Tree #2 ( The beginning of the forest).  Angela was finishing her bow - when the light bulbs went off and I could see how the parts to her bow would be just perfect for the next tree if I used them upside down.  To make Christmas tree #2 - You will need 2" x 2" scraps of Christmas Paper.  We used American Crafts and Pebbles Inc paper for this tree too!! Turn your square 45 degrees so the corners are facing North/South/East/West.  Now take the eastern corner and roll it toward the center of the square without creasing the outside.  Now bring the western corner in to meet it and adhere these together to make your cone.  I recommend making all your cones first and then assembling the tree.

Starting at the bottom of your cone add the first layer of cones using 1 1/2" straight pins about 1/2" from the top to the point of the cone. I used  2 7/8" x 7 7/8" cone to make your tree. Which took a total of 59 cones.

1. Layer 1- is 12 cones-tips should be even with the base of the styrofoam cone.
2. Layer 2 is 12 cones- place the following rows about 1 1/4" above the previous row.
3. layer 3 is 10 cones
4. layer 4 is 10 cones
5. Layer 5 is 9 cones
6. layer 6 is 6 cones

I bought red pearlized pins for the layer 6 of the tree since these pins will show.  When you get to the last layer of your tree place the tip of your paper cone 3/4" above the top of the styrofoam cone (if yours is flat at the top like mine was).  This layer should complete the point of the tree.  The pin tops will look like ornaments. The 3-d Snowflake was a piece of an ornament from the Dollar Tree store- it came with a large 3-d Snowflake and 2 small 3-d snowflakes - the topper is the smaller 3-d snowflake. For added decoration I used a Snow writer from Deco Art to decorate the boughs of the tree, while it was wet I added crystal glitter from the Art Institute.  For embellishments I added self adhesive rhinestones from KaiserCrafts and snowflake buttons. And my husband insisted that the tree needed a tree skirt.  So I have added a doilie which I backed with red cardstock so that you could see the lace work. Check back in tomorrow for Christmas Tree # 3.  Thanks for visting!!

Christmas Tree from American Crafts Christmas Scraps

Today was a great playdate day!!  Angela was here teaching an exploding Box class and we began playing with this project that I have been designing in my head for days. When I was making my clear ornaments from scraps it occurred to me that the same strips - 1/2" x 6" would work to create this Christmas Tree.  The scraps of paper are from American Crafts, with the exception of the 5th layer - which is from Pebbles Inc.  I started with a Styrofoam cone and working from the bottom up I began gently folding my strips of paper in half without creasing the center fold.  I used straight pins to place the strips of paper on the cone.  You need to have pins that are fairly long so that your strips of paper will stay in place.  Here is a view of the tree as I was making it:

Next time I would use pins without fancy balls on all the layers until I got to the top, where they show as these pins are more expensive then flat headed pins.  The biggest challenge Angela and I had designing this tree is trying to figure out how we would finish the top, since my cone had a flat top and the strips of ribbon were also flat at the top. After a trip to the store, I found a great 3-D snowflake which was part of a larger ornament at the Dollar tree store which fit the bill, to fill the top space of the tree your top definitely needs to be 3-D. For a finishing touch I used a Snow Writer from Deco Arts to drip snow from the top of the tree to cover the top of the Styrofoam.  Next I added a little Crystal Glitter from the Art Glitter Institute for a little bling. Then I added this cute little ornaments I found at Jo- Annes Fabrics between the scraps of paper. I love buttons, so next I cut off the shanks of my snowflake buttons and began gluing them on the tree.  For the finishing touches I added self-adhesive Rhinestones from KaiserCrafts.  Now of course this tree just started the wheels of creativity turning and you will have to stop back tomorrow to see the next Christmas Trees Angela and I designed. Wouldn't these be perfect for centerpieces for a Holiday Party or even a Christmas Wedding!!

Added Notes: I started with a cone that was 2 7/8" x 7 7/8". The finished tree is 11" tall and 7" in diameter.  Your paper really needs to be doublesided.  My Pebbles paper is not, but all the American Crafts Paper is. 

Make it 3-D - Poinsettia Christmas Card

Several of my students have been looking for a great Poinsettia stamp - I found this great stamp from Inkadinkadoo, and I can't wait to show you a couple of cards I made with this stamp and how dramatically different I could make the same image look.  This week I have been playing with some 3-D images from Ectasy for a later post..which inspired me to try and 3-D this image and I am so happy with the results.  In order to 3-D this card I stamped the image 4 times using Adriondack Pitch Black Ink. Using Copic Sketch markers - R29 and R59 I colored in the Poinsettia's petals on the first image, I used G07 for the grean leaves. This will be the base of the 3-D image. On the second image I colored most of the poinsettia with the exception of the petals and the leaves that were in the far background. Next I cut out these and using foam dots I placed them on the 1st image creating a second layer. On the third stamped image I colored the petals closest to the top of the flower and cut these out and popped them up as the third layer.  On the fourth stamped image I colored just the centers of the flower and popped them up as the fourth and final layer.  Using my Swirls A2 Folder I dry embossed my red cardstock mat using my Cuttlebug for a little more dimmension and texture. the next mat is this great Holly Paper from Magenta and the cardstock is Shamrock green from World win treasures collection  The embellishments are all buttons from Jesse James. 

For the second card I chose an entirely different technique to show you how different you can make an image look.  I stamped the image using Stazon Jet black on a laminating sheet and let it dry for a few minutes.  Then I removed the backing.  To make a mini shovel I cut a coffee stirrer at an angle and slowly began placing red micro beads on the image where the poinsettia petals were.  I placed green micro beads on the leafs.  Using the coffee stirrer I was able to scrap off any beads that inadvertently landed where I didn't want them.  When I was finished placing the microbeads I used a white glitter from the Art Glitter Institute to fill in the remaining exposed lamenating sheet. To highlight the beads and the glitteron the image I placed it on a piece of darkgreen cardstock and adhere it to the cardstock by adding small dabs of designer dries clear adhesive to the backside of the microbeads. I cut a mat from Worldwin Bronze Elan Metallics and punched the corners of the mat with my tonic corner punch.  The Rhinestones are self-adhesive and are from Kaisercrafts.  The Noel is from the same button assortment as the previous card, but I altered it and made it gold using my Gold Krylon Leafing pen.  The paper is St. Nick Vintage Snowflake from Making Memories.

One Heart One Mind Christmas Ornament made from scraps of paper

These were inspired by a post of Trudee Sauder's blog earlier this fall.  They are so adorable and easy to make that I thought I would share them with you.  You need a clear 2 5/8" Christmas ornament, sheer ribbon, a funnel, some faux snow and leftover scraps from your Christmas Cards or projects. Remove the ornament topper. Using a funnel insert a couple of tablespoons of faux snow into the base of the ornament. Now trim your scraps into 1/2" x 6" strips. Roll the scraps of paper around a pencil and insert the rolled paper into the ornament one at a time.  Continue rolling and inserting paper until you fill your ornament. Allow some of you rolled paper to unroll.  Next I added this beautiful sheer swirled ribbon from Creative Expressions.  My scraps of paper were from One Heart One Mind and Pebbles Inc.  I loved the believe scrap of paper added to the top of the ornament.

This is a great project to do with your students, Girl Scouts, your children and your grandchildren and a great way to use your scraps!! Have fun and don't throw anything away!!  I am still trying to use all my paper scraps from my One Heart One Mind -Merry Merry and Merry Merry 2 Marathon.

Stained Glass Poinsettia Card using Copic Sketch and Airbrush System

Do you love the look of dry embossing, but never have the time to dry emboss?? Help is here!! You can now dry emboss you brass stencils by using a Wizard or a Cuttlebug. I found that I did get a deeper dry emboss from my Wizard, as it exerts 3000 lbs of pressure. This is the second card I taught at Silver Fox Stamps and More.  The stained glass Poinsettia Stamp is from Silver Fox also.  I love the stained glass effect you can get with Copic Sketch Markers.  After Coloring in the stamped image with the following Copic Colors : Y13,YR07,B28,G07,R29,R59. I used Y26 to color the bell. Next I cut the image out and inked the entire image with a Versamark Watermark pad and used clear embossing powder to heat emboss the entire image. This makes the Copic colors richer and deeper in coloring and gave me a beautiful stained glass effect.Next I cut a Black Kromekote mat for the stained glass image.

To create the background mat, I used a Dreamweaver stencil LJ882 Diamond Grid and dry embossed it in my Wizard. This technique is called faux tile.   Thanks Theresa for teaching me this great technique!! You will see more cards using this technique next week.

Here is the Wizard Sandwich Recipe for Dry Embossing a Stencil:

White cutting mat, stencil, paper, Polymer tan mat, 2 thin pieces of chipboard and  White Embossing mat. To get an even deeper dry emboss, spritz you paper with paper glide just before you run it through the Wizard.

Here is the Cuttlebug Sandwich Recipe for Dry Embossing a Stencil:

A plate, b Plate, stencil, paper, Polymer tan mat (from Spellbinders) 2 thin pieces of chipboard and your second B plate.  Note: the Polymer Tan Mat is what makes the image dry emboss. To get an even deeper dry emboss, spritz you paper with paper glide just before you run it through your Cuttlebug.

Next I airbrushed the stencil with Y13 and Shaded the outside edges by airbrushing with Y17.  Leave the stencil in place and ink with a Versamark Watermark pad.  Remove the stencil and apply clear embossing powder and heat emboss.  Next I used my Tonic Holly Corner Punch to Punch all four Corners of the mat and placed micro mini red brads in the holes made with the punch for berries.  I added two balck Kromekote mats as shown in the photo.  The ribbon from American Crafts was pure white and I airbrushed it with Y13 to tone down the ribbon so it wouldn't draw your eye to it first.  I added Kaiser Crafts Rhinestone stickers to the ribbon and place the image on Kellie Green polished Stone Paper from Murdock Country Creations.