Little Christmas Tags

Hello everyone and Happy December! Here I am playing with the adorable Small Tag Set for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.
These are so cute and perfect for adding that sweet final touch to a special gift.
They come in a set of 10, so there are lots to play with and if you only use a few, you'll have some for gifts later on.
I decided to use five for tags and save the other five for special Christmas ornaments I want to make later on for my tree.

 Here is where I began...
I used the tags as templates for cutting my paper. There are three different shapes, so be mindful of that as you cut your paper.

I glued the papers on front and back and set them aside. Whilst they were drying, I painted the Punch Elements Deco back pieces white and let them dry.

I inked the edges of the tags and around the edges of the Deco label backs with gold ink.
I used Brilliance Galaxy Gold, but you can use whatever ink you like best.
Then, using a 1-inch hole punch, I cut out the birds and a poinsettia for the top circle bit of the Deco label and glued them on.

I cut strips of paper from the Nordic Greetings scrapbook paper page from Graphic 45's Winter Wonderland and glued it down the center of each tag, poked the holes through each tag top and glued on the completed Punch Elements Deco labels.

I added a lot of glitter.
Mostly because I can.

I added green ribbon and a pretty gold bead to each tag.
A simple project that adds a lot of impact to a special present!

SUPPLIES
Small Tag Set
Punch Elements Deco labels

Graphic 45 Winter Wonderland papers
Ribbon
Beads
White acrylic paint
Stickles Glitter Glue in Christmas Red and Lime Green

Thank you for visiting!

A Winter Christmas Theater

It's time (at least for me) to think about Christmas. Being a person that much prefers chilly weather, I love winter. It is beautiful nearly all the time and there's nothing like the feeling of a snowy day, a hot pot of soup on the stove and a real fire in the fireplace.
It's also the time of year when I feel the most creative and am more productive than any other time of year.
So hooray, and salutations to all the winter loving folks out there.
And let's talk holidays.
Love winter holidays. Christmas is a favorite partly because it gives me license to be extravagant, to celebrate a winter world with sparkle, color and cheer.
And now speaking of cheer, here is a vivid pink Christmas Theater!
Not a traditional wintery color, but festive nonetheless.
Here is the theater, stage set and ready for whatever story one would like to tell.

Below, I chose to fill the stage with a winter scene of house sparkling with lights and snowy window sills. Surrounded by bottle brush trees.

Here's how it began.....

I dry fit the pieces of the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Stage. 
I took them apart and cut and glued the papers I chose in place. The papers I used were all Bo Bunny from the Christmas Village Collection or the Double Dot Vintage line in Pink Punch.
I inked the edges of all the pieces and also inked in some 'folds' in the curtains by smoodging (my own word) ink on with my finger and a Qtip in places where I imagined shadows would be.

I glued the stage together and set it aside to dry.
I painted white snowflakes from both the Snowflake Shape Set and the Snowflake Shape Set Minis.
I did the same with the Pine Tree Shape Set.
Set them aside to dry.
I cut houses from the Christmas Village paper, added glitter to all the wee lights (I used lots of different Stickles glitter for that and White Lace Stickles for the snowy window ledges) and let them dry.
After they dried, I cut and scored pieces of card stock and glued them on the back of each house.

I used Stickles Diamond to glitter up all the snow flakes and trees, glued bits of cork painted white to the backs of the trees in various depths (only the trees I used inside the stage to give some depth) and did the same to the snowflakes I used in the stage.
I glued in all my bits, and added some extra details (cut and glittered) from the Christmas Village paper.

And the stage is ready to go!

Have fun playing!

SUPPLIES
Stage
Snowflake Shape Set
Snowflake Shape Set Minis.
Pine Tree Shape Set

Additional supplies
Bo Bunny Village Christmas Scrapbook Paper
Bo Bunny Double Dot Pink Punch Vintage
Stickles glitter glue in Frosted Lace, Diamond, Lime Green, Orange Peel, Christmas Red and Glam Pink
White Acrylic paint
White Dresden Trim (you can get it HERE)
Bottle Brush Trees are available at lots of craft stores.

Winteer Trees Shadowbox

Hello all. Lora Mahaffey here taking my turn for the awesome sauce that is Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts!
When we are in this busy time of year I sometimes want to do something that has a repetitive nature. Seeing a pattern can be relaxing and calming.
Except if we're talking a zig-zag of spiders.
Maybe not that.
Anyway, I find making something that is repetitive kind of soothing. I'm sure I'm projecting here, but maybe in all the holiday chaos, looking at something that repeats itself might be that way for you too.
So here is a little serenity and calm in the midst of the bustle that we call the holidays.
Or you can just say it's four trees in a House Room Box - 4 Cubbies.
I'm good with that!

A view of the back....

I began by cutting my papers for the sides and back and also for the back of the four cubbies. I glued the house together and set it aside to dry.
While it was drying I put a coat of gesso on the Chipboard Shingles-Pointed and the 1 7/8 inch Snowflakes (which are coming soon).

After the snowflakes dried, I gave them a coat of matte medium and while they were wet, I sprinkled glitter on them.
A lot of glitter....

If you  put a saucer or a bowl underneath what you're glittering, you can reuse the glitter. I found these little ceramic dishes at a junk shop. It says 'United Airlines' on the bottom, so I guess these were the plates they used to serve meals on way back when.

While waiting for all that glitter to dry, I glued the shingles to the roof. It took four rows of shingles to do the whole roof.

After the glue dries, it's really easy to trim the shingles down to the width that you want them with a big pair of scissors. I cut mine down to about 1 3/4 inches wide.
At this point, my house was dry so I glued on all the papers I cut for the house and inked the edges a bit.
I wanted my snowflakes to sit about half an inch away from the back of each cubbie, so I measured cut four pieces of foam . painted them white and glued them to the back of each snowflake. I glued them into each cubbie, making sure they all lined up up with each other.

I didn't have any trees that were tiny enough to fit in the cubbies, but I had a bunch of small bottle brush trees that I had no other plans for, so I measured how tall I wanted them to be (about an 1 1/2) and cut their little tops off so the the tops became the 'new' tree.
I added some little pearls, some tiny little snowflakes and some more glitter and glued the trees in front of the large snowflakes.

I trimmed edges, added snow and (more) glitter to the roof.......

And a painted candlestick holder for as a pedestal.

I don't know about you, but I feel pretty calm and happy right now.
Happy Holidays!

SUPPLIES:
Chipboard Shingles-Pointed
House Room Box 4 Cubbies
1 7/8 inch Snowflakes (coming soon)

The Candlestick Holder, Retro Bottle Brush Trees, pearls (White Pearl Mixed Tin), Stickles glitter (in Diamond) and 5mm Thin Snowflakes (on the trees) came from Alpha Stamps.
All the papers were from Graphic 45's lovely Winter Wonderland .

Thank you for visiting!

Surprise! It's Christmas Ornaments!

For a lot of us, at some time in our lives, we've made Christmas ornaments. Whether you were five and you made them from pipe cleaners or you're 55 (well, okay 56) and you're making them from a host of fancy bits and pieces, it's always fun. Here are a couple I made for the amazing Alpha Stamps folks.

They're bright and cheerful and they have snow in them. Gotta love 'em.

For this tutorial, I began with the Ornament Frame Set-Star.

It has three star pieces, two are the same size and one is slightly larger.

All three stars got paper on one side and the larger one also got a coat of black paint on the other side. I inked the edges of each one with a combination of Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink and Ranger Distress ink in Vintage Photo.

I glued the smaller, solid star (no hole in the middle) to the black painted side of the larger star. I like the contrast of the black with the green and cream stripe.

I used the green stripe paper to fill in the center hole of (what will be) the front star.

And that is now the background for my cute little collage image of this little girl I embellished with little stars and glitter.

Then I added some snow carefully in the center. Not too much or the little plastic window the kit comes with will not stay down and you will block out too much of your image with what looks like a white-out blizzard!

Using a small amount of glue around the flat edge of the window, I stuck it in place, making sure it was centered over the image. I added some pretty black and white twine to the edge and embellished it with lots of sparkle.

I glued this star on to the paper side of the large star and added even more sparkle. Ah, I do love glitter!

I added layers of bows and some pine cones and berries to the top. Pretty!
I used the same techniques with the Santa ornament, just changed the papers slightly but still kept to the same color theme.

Each ornament has a cute phrase appropriate to the image on the front and were also embellished with glitter.

Great as a tag for a gift, a beautiful gift for someone's tree or make a bunch and hang them as a garland!
For a link to all the awesome supplies, click HERE.

SUPPLIES LIST
Ornament Frame Set-Star (Clear plastic dome sold separately)
Ornament Frame Set- Bauble (Clear plastic dome sold separately)
2.5 mm Multicolor Start Sequins
2017 Christmas Ornaments Ribbon Set
Christmastime Evergreen Scrapbook Paper
Papers from the Vintage Christmas 6x6 Paper Pad
Miniature Pinecone Picks
Bakers Twine-Black
Bakers Twine Red
Stickles-Diamond Black, Christmas Red, Lime Green and Gilded Gold
Retro Christmas Collage Sheet
Sweet Christmas Collage Sheet
Fluffy Winter Snow
Clear Plastic Round Domes
Mixed Matte Red, White & Burgundy Berry Sprigs 

Thank you you for dropping in!