Countdown to Christmas: Day 24

Christmas is here!
(well, almost - 1 more sleep!)

This wreath is a new addition to the decorations this year - it's a (unlit) 18" BH Fraser wreath by Balsam Hill (www.balsamhill.co.uk).  

It is really lovely/easy to decorate:  its a nice full construction (bushy) (I was tempted to leave it bare as it is so nice). The realistic 'branches' spread out from a 5in metal 'frame', easy to position and sturdy enough to hang items onto with out dropping with their weight.  I created it to match this year's decorations by wiring the decorations onto the branches - this will make it easy to remove them and create a new design next year...(this wreath will definitely last more than one christmas) (if you head on over to the Balsam Hill website they are having a sale and you can stock up for next year)

I decorated the wreath using paper rosettes (Sizzix/Tim Holtz die) (I'm still working my way through the massive batch I created aaages ago), my stamp designs from JOFY08 (love these stamps - great for lots of cards, projects, occasions - not just christmas), wood stars, silver twigs and berries and a Martha Stewart snowflake punch - fun to create - I might alter it and create a 'happy 2015' or an 'easter' version....  but lets get christmas out of the way first. lol

(NB:  This wreath was sent to me to by Balsam Hill, the views are my own)

  I wish a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you & yours...

ho ho ho

Countdown to Christmas: Day 3

Tonight festive photo is of this year's christmas tree...  we always have an artificial tree - we have pets so this is preferable to a real tree (& yes I prefer an artificial tree because they're more symmetrical! lol)

This tree was a dream to assemble - 3 separate pieces with lights attached! ho ho ho  We haven't had one like this before - but we will from now on! lol no more fighting with the lights, untangling them (even though we are very neat at putting them away each year) and trying to make them evenly spread around the tree... oh yes a pre-lit tree! a revelation! lol

On the tree are all kinds of ornaments - it has a sparkly woodland theme - some old, some new... lots of dark wood, twig bundles and sparkle... soft gold baubles, white & clear baubles, pine cones, berries, stag heads (there had to be stag heads), acorns, crowns, stars, mushrooms - there's even a squirrel!

Its a lot of fun to decorate the tree - hard work but worth it!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 2

Another quite quick'n'simple decoration...

This snowflake was created using a new die from Sizzix - Texture Fades Layered Snowflake - one of the very useful Bigz dies that comes with an embossing folder.

I die cut several snowflakes from corrugated cardboard to give the decoration dimension and weight and glued them together.  I then cut and embossed a silver snowflake and one cut from book text - glued one to the back and the other to the front of the cardboard snowflake stack.  Poked a hole through one of the points and threaded through a hanging thread.

Looks great on the tree and will look even better when I've created more.

Ho ho ho

Countdown to Christmas: Day 1

My christmas countdown starts now - well technically it started in the summer when I designed this year's christmas stamp designs! - you can buy them HERE and you'll be seeing projects with them in the next few weeks...

We've been to Ikea quite a lot in the last few weeks and on one visit I bought a pack of four 'muffin tins'...

I thought they were a nice substrate to play with - they're nice and deep which allows lots of space to work in ... and not too big - just 7cm in diameter

Case 1: die cut snowflakes (sizzix) in silver and kraft card...

I covered the base in book text then mounted the snowflakes on a stack of 3d foam to bring it up higher and it also gave more space (the tins are wider at the top than base)

Case 2:  More snowflakes - this time the base was painted in glue and mirco-beads for a bit of sparkle. the top kraft snowflake has been painted in Fresco Finish Metallic Glaze which gives a great shimmer.

Case 3:  Thought I'd give this snowflake the JOFY treatment... a ring of twigs(a repurposed birds nest that I'd bought for Easter crafting), die cut snowflake (wplus9), a robin (JOFY20) and leaves (JM28)... too cute

Case 4:  Love this lasercut wood stag head but it is slightly too small to be in the case by itself so I mounted it onto a paper rosette.  The rim of the case was painted with pva glue and dipped in Frantage glass glitter - love the vintage look of this glitter..

 Cute little additions to the christmas decorations.

oh Christmas Tree ...

... our little black tree (only 3ft tall) is the first to be brought out of storage this year - purely for prop purposes - Decorations that I made with my stamps have been hanging on random door knobs around the house for a while - they need to be photographed and blogged... easier said than done!

I saw this deer head in the Poplar Garden Centre where Birds in the Barn is based - they have a really lovely christmas decoration selection - really nice & unusual ornaments.. - I was quite taken by the angel wings (big enough to wear - & no I didn't try them on!)

 and I was especially with the pairs of polystyrene ice skates - I thought I should have these just to remind me of the day Matt & I went ice skating at the Natural History Museum... I use the term 'skate' loosely - Matt skated - I just clung on to the side for dear life..:o)  & then fell over!  Always graceful! lol

aaaanyhooo - where was I .. deer head - I really liked it - the shape and because its cut from wood .... I bought it even though the strong red is not our festive colour scheme (we seem to have many other colours but not red! - I would love a tree where all the decorations are red, white and wood...hhhmmmm)... so I bought it home and..... ta daaaaa:

I Crackled Glazed it! Simple and effective... Much more in keeping with our other decorations...

I decorated one of the wooden hearts (available from the PaperArtsy website soon) with crackle (I do love a bit of crackle!), I stamped JM32 (Angel) onto the crackled wooded heart and onto book text, I cut out & matched up the two images (as shown below), I used Nougat Fresco Finish and Pearl Glaze for the wings

 for the reverse of the heart I covered it with book text which I colour washed..

... below is an ornament I've waited 11 months to make (I've had the baubles that long - since last xmas!) and this was the tricky customer when it came to photography...  Its a bauble that you can put images and 'stuff' inside and close up again! love!  Comes in two halves.. I die cut 2 scallop edged circles of white watercolour card (for the texture) and gave them separate treatments:

I stamped my Angel mini image (JM32) onto book text and mounted it onto the diecut circle,  I coloured her body with watercolour pencils and her wings with pearl glaze - and some stickle spots for a touch of sparkle.  I also added some 'fluff' (cobwebs at halloween, clouds at christmas!) with a few sequin stars scattered in to fill the available space..(hubby's suggestion).

Inside the other half I have stamped the scallop circle with distress ink and JM07 - snowflake background - love this stamp - its one of my favourites.. On top of that I glued a diecut word (sizzix 'word play') and stickled again - like I've said before: its christmas and christmas expects sparkle!

Bauble was so hard to photograph!  a reflective little devil! lol

I hope your christmas plans are coming along well... I'm popping to Southend tomorrow - rumour has that Father Christmas is visiting and he's bringing reindeer!!
(no seriously - Southend does have real reindeer .. not two-people-in-a-panto-suit reindeer!... can't vouch for the Father Christmas though...)

xx

Deck the halls....

... it was time to decorate our home - festive tunes on the stereo and a glass (or 2) of bubbly stuff and the decorating was go, go, go

This year the tree is the right way up (!)

I love decorating the tree- getting the decorations out each year and choosing what colour scheme to go with- this year I chose a really simple scheme- White...

I've wanted to make a garland of pompoms for a few years but the thought of making enough pompoms to go around the tree (ours is 7ft high) was daunting but then I found out a shop was selling bags of white pompoms as 'snowballs'... LIGHTBULB moment! So I bought 3 bags & strung approximately 100 (yes, I counted them lol) onto a length of cotton yarn... LOVE how it looks - the tree is so pretty (even if I say so myself!)... And I managed to decorate the tree this year without injuring myself at all! (if you want to know what happened last year and what an upside down christmas tree looks like go here)

I've also created a wreath for the front door - something I haven't done for a while:

I'm really happy with this- love the combination of the colours - & I can't tell you how excited/pleased I was to find those black sparkly snowflakes when I was looking for something in our boxes of decorations...

The wreath is a combination of lots of my favourite things - kraft card, glitter (black glitter - v glam!), buttons, calico, my stamps - love it - would it be wrong to hang it all year?? (inside, not outside!)

Happy to use my stamps on the wreath too - a lovely fun contrast to the darkness of the snowflakes, and the Kraft tones down the blinginess of the baubles. The pieces are all attached by hot glue... gotta love a hot glue gun!

Sometimes I buy decorations to alter them (which I'm sure some of you do too) - buying them in the sales or when they're on offer like these:

..and I alter them- not because I didn't like them but because they suit an idea that's in my head or I can see how they can be altered:

This is the back and front of the same decoration.... Fresco Finish (great coverage!), buttons, die-cuts, and vintage book text.. :o)

I hope your festive plans are coming along nicely..

I've noticed (from being on both sides of the counter) that the shopping 'frenzy' has begun - good luck out there!

Take care..