Treat Holders With A Spin

Hi Fellow Scrappers!

Kenya here to share a project with you all. I don't know about you, but time is moving so quickly, I can barely keep up! Usually, I make treat bags for the students to help them get into the holiday season. However, I did not have the oomph to do it this year. I decided to make one "big" treat holder (for each of the girls that attend school) for the entire class. I used two 3D files (3D tree and 3D sleigh) from the Silhouette Store to make them. I modified them to fit the Dumb Dumbs (suckers).

For the tree, I resized it to make it a bit larger. I cut each of the pieces and assembled. Once assembled, I used my Big Bit to make holes for the suckers. You could add holes to the file to eliminate this step. Since there is a base, I marked the holes from the top of the tree and punched those out as well. The suckers are the tree's ornaments!

The sleigh was a little more involved but so worth it to me (I made two of them). I assembled the sleigh as it would be normally. I added an insert and punched holes for the suckers on the inside of the sleigh. Since the weight of the suckers were too heavy, I reinforced the sleigh with two support boxes on the bottom of the sleigh.

 I used a sturdy cardstock. You can use cute pattern papers and go as elaborate as you choose. I decided to keep these simple since they are going to given to elementary school aged children.

I hope you enjoyed today's project(s)! What do you think? Pretty cute huh?!?! I think so! Happy Holidays to each and every one! Kenya~

Button Wreath

Hi, I’m Practical Scrapper, Karen and today I'm sharing a fun button wreath that could be a tree ornament, card embellishment, or a great gift topper for a crafty friend.

Supplies:
  12 buttons (½ - ¾ in)
  18 in wire (26 gauge)
  wire cutters & scissors
  ribbon, gems, holly, charms, jingle bells etc
  hot glue gun

Directions: 
1.arrange your buttons in a pleasing manner varying color and size
2. thread one button onto the wire leaving 5 in of wire at the end
3. thread wire through the second hole pulling slowly to avoid the wire twisting and getting kinks; stop frequently to readjust the wire. (this is the most difficult part to get right)
4. thread another button and slide it down to the previous button (buttons should overlap slightly alternating over & under)
5. After you have threaded all 12 buttons on the wire, form a circle and thread the wire back through the first button’s hole. (it will have 2 pieces of wire passing through the holes)
6. Both wires should be on the back of the project so you can twist the wire ends together to secure the wreath.
7. Create a bow for the wreath and use the wire ends to secure it.
8. Attach an embellishment (jingle bell, gem, or charm) in the center of the bow (attach with a hot glue gun if your wire ends are not long enough.)
9. Twist wire ends together, trim off excess, and discreetly bend wire ends down on the back of the wreath.
10. Thread a piece of ribbon or floss through the top button to hang.

 

As you can see, it is easy to get carried away once you try making these!  Here is how our display looked for our Christmas Sale for charity.

  Happy Holidays!

**Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

Last Minute Gift Idea!

 Practical Scrapper Krissy Clark McKee here today, and I want to talk to you about Christmas gifts.  Specifically, I want to talk to you about that moment when your stomach sinks almost every year because you realize you forgot to get your favorite Aunt Betty (our Cousin Jim or Sorority Sister Susie) a gift.  And you know what that means - it means a two hour trip to the mall, and that's just to find a parking spot!  Well, I discovered this solution last Christmas, and I loved it so much, I am bringing it back this year. 

 

What is it?  Well, it's a cd case - really, that's it.  But if you just happen to have blank cds on hand (and we always do), it makes a wonderfully personal yet inexpensive homemade gift that your family and friends are sure to "ooh and ahh" over.  You can share favorite recipes, send a year's worth of family photos, or send along your favorite holiday songs to brighten someone's day.  And the best part is - you get to stay home in your pajama pants AND play with your craft supplies at the same time!  As an added bonus, cd cases are small and easy to mail.

This is how I made my gift cd case.  First, I cut my papers to the size of the front of the cd cover and simply glued them to the top of the case.  I did not glue them inside the cover because 1) I like to have a second piece of paper inside and 2) if the paper is on top of the case, it allows you the freedom to have more three dimensional covers, such as with this 3-D Christmas Tree, which is really a Silhouette cutting file designed by Lori Whitlock.  Lori makes excellant cutting files, and her website includes links to her YouTube tutorials (including one for this tree ornament), which are easy to understand and follow along.

I "decorated" my Christmas tree with baker's twine, a small tag, a jingle bell, and a star at the top.  I also used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out a large snowflake for the background, which I lightly covered with silver Stickles to give it a little sparkle.

Next, I covered the inside of my CD case.  Once again, I cut my paper to the size of the inside of the case.  I added a little glue to the back so it wouldn't come loose.  I kept it simple and included a small tag holder and tag that contains a handwritten note.  Alternate ideas include adding a play list, a table of contents, a photo, anything you want as long as it is relatively flat. 

And that's it - mission accomplished AND you managed to avoid the Christmas-traffic craziness!

**Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

December 17th--Snowman Ornament

Practical Scrapper Kerri here again to bring you another last minute gift idea or decoration for your own tree.  My favorite thing to decorate with during the holidays is snowmen.  I have them everywhere (but not many as my mother).  I decided I wanted to create my own snowmen  ornaments this year.  Here's what I came up with...

I really love how he came out and this was a complete experiment making him. The base of the ornament is a 3" smooth Styrofoam ball.  I had some help making the hat for the snowman.  The hats were an ornament kit from Oriental Trade, but I will give you the measurements so that you can re-create your own. 

1- 2" black felt circle

1-strip of black felt that is 2 and 1/4" X 36" ( it doesn't haven't to be this long your hat just won't be as wide for the hat top-- this you will roll around your thumb and pull your thumb out from the center when done rolling it out.

1- 1/2" strip of red cut to length to fit the hat top ( mine was about 6")

2 felt holly leaves

3 red buttons

1 foam snowflake

1 piece of red ribbon (used to hang ornament)

Above you will see a picture of what I used to create my textured snow on the Styrofoam ball. Now this was one of the messiest things I've done in awhile, but I wanted that textured look and was quite with this it.  It was a complete experiment and wasn't even sure if this combination would work.

  I started out by rubbing to the two foam circles together to shred it.  Then I sprayed a piece of cardboard with the "Snow" for windows holding the can real close to the cardboard (it almost looks like shaving cream when it comes out).  I just poured and added (about 2 tablespoons) some Mod Podge to it.  Added in the shredded foam, mixed, and rolled  my smooth Styrofoam ball into the mixture.  I then sprinkled with glitter.  I carefully used a heat tool to dry it to touch (it will melt if you get the heat tool too close). To top it off, I added some black gems for eyes and mouth, cut a nose out of some orange foam, and a piece of Christmas material for the scarf.  Hot glued everything together and there you have it!  Hope you enjoyed my little snowman ornament! 

~Kerri



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One of a kind Christmas Ornaments

 Do you need a fun craft to do with your kiddos when Christmas break starts?  These ornaments could easily be decorated by kids or by you!  I picked up these plain plastic ornaments from a craft store.  I have three kids and each year we give them a new ornaments - so for this year I made them each a different one that says "Joy" using Momenta letters and the shape bubbles from Epiphany Crafts.    I then added a little glitter into each one that matched the colors I had used.

 -Christine

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Paper Garland by Audrey

Hello everyone! I have a simple garland for you to make today which you make with your die cutting machine or just some punches and a sewing machine! 


I first saw this tutorial by Ronda Pallizzari about a year ago-
http://rondapalazzari.typepad.com/helpmeronda/2010/11/ferris-bueller-youre-my-hero.html
She gives some great instructions and details on her blog.

I did the same thing, except I used different sized circles and some snowflakes. I cut everything out on my Cricut and it went really fast!!! My snowflakes are 2 1/2", and the circles are 1.75" and 1".



When putting your shapes together, make sure like patterns are touching on the inside if you are going to match your patterns. But you could also just have your patterns all mixed up, too. 




These garlands are SOOOO pretty when strung up! They would probably even look nice on a tree!


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December 6th - Christmas Bunting

This is my Christmas Bunting, It's made with Red and Green Bazzill as a base, then pp on top.  I cut them like this as something different from triangles.  I made some rosettes and then layered on a circle of matching Bazzill and a Candy Cane inspired font letter sticker.  The bunting spells out "Noel".  I've added some buttons, red and white twine, holly, tulle and some candy canes that I made from chenille sticks.  At the top of the bunting, each flag is adorned with a white paper doile and a strip of green and white ribbon for hanging.

Here's a close-up of one of the flags.  I added some dimension with "snow" that sparkles because I added some Stickles.  There is also two pins - a heart and a crystal pin.

This is the red flag where I added some holly.  To create the tulle flower, I cut a strip of tulle, then ran some running stitch along one edge and gathered it up til I was happy with the effect.  I secured the end and adhered it to the flag with hot glue.

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December 2nd--Holiday Altered Tin Tart Banner

Hey guys! Aymee Gandy of 'A Scraphappy Southernbelle' here with you on this chilly day to share an altered project I have created for my holiday home. I used these little tin tart pans to create a banner for our front door. I found these tins at a local discount store for a $1 a piece! They are for use with candles, but are great for crafting projects. They come in an array of sizes, shapes, and colors. I used my scrapbooking supplies to jazz them up and ribbon to string them together to create the banner. I spelled out our last name on the pans so it would give our front door a personalized look.

"Gandy" Tin Tart Banner

Supplies Used

Patterned Paper, Stickers: Momenta

Cardstock, Ribbon: The Paper Studio

Chipboard Sticker: American Crafts

Laminator: Purple Cows Inc.

Hole Punching Tool: Crop A Dile

Circle Cutter: Creative Memories

Adhesive: Helmar

I used my Crop-A-Dile tool to punch holes in each side of the pans so that I could string them together with ribbon.

I chose these crimped alphabet stickers from Momenta to mimic the crimped edges on the pans.

I used stickers to jazz up the plain mitten chipboard stickers.

I hope you have enjoyed this project! Thanks for visiting the Practical Scrappers blog! We hope to see you again soon!

Happy Holidays!

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Christmas Collage

Brenda is here today with a great way to use up leftover holiday papers and embellishments. First, choose the size you want to create. I used a clear acrylic frame that is 11 x15. Cut your pp scraps into various sizes of rectangles and squares and lay them down on your base until you have a pattern that you like. Now you can start adding embellishments. I added a Christmas bingo card, some rubons, stickers, a tag, and a few felt flower and buttons. Just keep in mind that any dimensional embellishments have to be thin enough to fit inside the frame. As an alternative, you can add some dimensional elements to the outside of the frame, like I did with the bow, large felt flower and jingle bells at the top corner. My collage is large enough to hang on the wall, but it would also be fun to make several smaller ones and have a grouping on the mantel or tabletop.













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