Framed Christmas Art:

 

I didn't take a lot of pictures of this while I was making it because it was one of those things that just kinda happened. So I'll describe what I did below:

You need:

• Frame w/ four space mat. Mine is an 8x10  w/ openings 2.5 by 3.5...mine was $2 on clearance
• Acrylic Paint and white glue
• Graphics program
• Clipart ( I used sheet music from The Graphics Fairy and then options w/ in my graphics progam)

For frame:
Paint frame w/ color of choice. Mine was Delta's "Salem Green". Don't worry about it being perfect because we're going for aged here. When first color is dry, cover with white glue. Plain white glue....mine was from Staples back to school sale...cheap stuff. When glue is almost dry cover with a different color paint. I used ivory. I'm impatient so I used my blow dryer. The one I keep in my craft room. Not the one I use to dry my hair. Although, it's been known to happen. Crackle crackle will ensue.  I went over this with another green mixed w/ glazing medium.

For "NOEL" letters:
Download sheet music from The Graphics Fairy
Import into graphics program; size as needed; copy for however many letters you need
Choose font and layer letters on top of graphic
Add clipart ( mine is from my graphics program) layer

I printed mine on lightweight cardstock , cut out each letter collage, and framed.

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November Open House Invite!

Greetings all! I know it can be a little kooky to keep up with a monthly link party vs a weekly one. But that's all this chocoholic can handle! So just a reminder that this Friday, November 19th, is my monthly "Open House" link party!! I hope you'll drop by with whatever you'd like to link up. Crafts, decor, jewelry ( seasonal or not), recipes ( doesn't have to be chocolate ) Hope to see you!!

Joyeux Noel Christmas Candles

I had so much fun with my Parisian and Thanksgiving altered candles that of course I had to do some for Christmas! Especially after ordering a case of them from Dollar Tree's website which they shipped to my local store. Why they don't have them IN the store beats me! I'm going to do a step by step tutorial for a guest post later this month but here is one batch :

They remind me of Christmas ribbon candies. I did the sentiment on my computer and used a ribbon frame from The Graphics Fairy. Used coordinating scrapbook papers from "Me&My Big Ideas". Beads from my stash and some fun velveteen and pom pom ribbon I got at Michaels.

 

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Blog Feature Friday: Rusty Rooster Vintage

Welcome to the 2nd "Meet My BFF" Blog Feature Friday! This week I'd like to introduce you to Vicki from Rusty Rooster Vintage.
Vicki is a lover of all things vintage and her blog shows it. She's got wonderful ideas and tutorials on everything from transformed vintage finds like what to do with a rusty old mason jar holder:

Or go and  see what she did with this already cute birdcage:

Getting in the holiday spirit, you have to go see Vicki's tutorial for how she made these stinkin' cute Pottery Barn Copycat Ornaments:

Vicki offers up some other creative ways to do these ornaments. I just love this black and white one:

And she's sweet enough to share the download of the image she came up with for the first one for my very favorite price of FREE ! Of course I think it's only right that if you use it , you follow her.  She's also been busy with some incredible ornaments made from mason jar lids and all kinds of other wonderful treasures and did I mention that she's only been blogging since September? I also had to laugh when visiting Linda at Itsy Bitsy Pieces who won a giveaway of Vicki's when I discovered that we both have the exact same blog business cards! I hope you'll go visit Vicki and make a new bloggy friend. I know I have :)

Christmas Subway Tiles

I'm still getting the hang of this Subway Art thing but I had fun with the one I did for Thanksgiving and decided to do some for Christmas.

For the Thanksgiving "tiles" I used wood plaques but for these I used actual tiles. The kind you can get inexpensively at any hardware / building supply store. I got these for $.47 ea at Home Depot:

6x6 Ceramic Tile

I created the word art on my computer , this time highlighting one "word" ( OK I know it's a number!) in red. Printed off several sizes to play around with. I really want a laser printer because sealing this inkjet stuff before I Mod Podge it is hit or miss on the smearing. Anyone with any smear proof tips, speak up!

I printed these on Christmas themed scrapbook paper so I'd have a design within a design and used a coordinating piece of paper as the background for the tile:

The red smearing isn't too bad is it?

Some of the tiles I covered completely and others I let some of the tile show. On this one I sanded around the edges.  I embellished all of them with various buttons and rhinestones.

And this pic is because I'm still playing around with the color accent feature of my camera :)

 

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Back to Christmas...More Ornaments

I'm bouncing back and forth between Thanksgiving and Christmas like I think a lot of us are. In my case it's partly because I'm doing a craft fair the weekend before Thanksgiving because I'm insane.

You know these? :

These are not the ball ornaments but the flat round ones? Like if you flattened the ball ornaments. I tend to stock up on stuff like this after Christmas when they're on sale so I had some on hand. I did buy some new K&Co  stickers. "Snowglobe" they're called and that's exactly what they look like...the snowglobes you shake and then snow comes down. So I had this idea. I squeezed some glue inside...whatever dries clear (I used Diamond Glaze on this one because it dries pretty fast and I wanted to see if this idea panned out, but since it's pricier and I'd end up using a lot for these, I switched to plain diluted white glue for some others. Takes longer to dry but cost effective! Then added silver glitter and just shook it kinda like a snow globe:

I didn't want it to coat the whole thing so it's just kind of wherever it went. After that was dry, I took one of the "Snowglobe" stickers and stuck it to the front:

I decided it needed something more, so I hot glued a silver pipe cleaner around the sticker. Put the cap back on and finished off with a bow, a button, and a rhinestone:

I also did some more with the paper mache ornaments. These are super simple and fast:

 

Plain paper mache ornament, covered with polka dot wrapping paper from stash ( this is from Paper Source and I think they carry it every year). Adhere paper to orny with Mod Podge. Add clear alphabet stickers. Add bow, buttons and I put rhinestones in the center of the buttons. I hot glued braided trim around the edges to finish.

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Thankful Cards

When my son was little, it always bothered him how things went immediately from Halloween to Christmas. Thanksgiving was the overlooked holiday as far as all of the stores and decorations went. So I made sure that we decorated properly for Thanksgiving and that we celebrated it the same way that we celebrated the other holidays which in my case means sending cards. Not quite as many as I do for Christmas but more than I do for Halloween. Given that it's always a busy time of year, I don't always have time to stamp the quantity of cards I need to make so I look for creative alternatives that still allow for a handmade touch and imprint. My computer is an invaluable art tool and it took me a while to stop feeling like I was cheating by using it.

My handwriting has gone downhill since the days when the nuns used to emphasize penmanship and with so many cool fonts to choose from it's just too much fun, so I like to use the computer to generate sentiments.

Created the "Give Thanks" panel using a leaf graphic from my graphics program, altering the color, using a transparent cracked effect and then layered the sentiment on top. Printed on white cardstock and matted with black. This card was made using metallic copper cardstock (Stardreams) and the DCWV Premium Stack "Naturals" that I used for my "Turkey Tails" banner. Finished with "M&My Big Ideas" Copper Willow foil sticker. Stickers are another great tool to use when you have to make a lot of cards.

For some of the other cards I made, I selected a Thanksgiving Corn graphic, changed it to black and white, used the same transparent cracked effect in my graphics program and an option to color behind the image in a complementary brown. Printed, trimmed, matted with black. As with the first card, finished with complementary colors of adhesive rhinestones.

 This card uses transparency overlays by Colorbok. Package of 10 ( it's called Nectar) was $4.99 regularly but I bought on sale for 40% off at JoAnn's. I fell in love with the copper foil effect of this so of course I bought 2 packs! Each design is different. For the cards I made using these, I just mounted using Diamond Glaze on a panel of DCWV foiled paper (Naturals) and the put the focal sentiment on top of the transparency using a foam dot.

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Thanksgiving Party At All Thingz Related