Cabins in the forest

I had this idea for weeks before I sat down and actually tried it to see if it would work in real life the way it did in my head.  It's simple math, really, but I have been known to forget parts of the equation.  Anyway, I wanted to make a little forest of trees, and then I decided that I wanted a cabin or two in there as well.  I decided to use my ugliest green scrapbook papers for my test run.

Since the tree die is asymmetrical, you need four diecuts for each tree - two cut from the front side of the paper, and two from the back.  Stick them together on the sides, alternating the front cut trees and the back cut ones.  after you get all the sides together, I recommend a dab of glue at the top.  You can get 5 trees out of two sheets of scrapbook paper.

After doing a few trees, I felt that having just a forest was boring, and that I needed a cabin or two. However, I dreaded creating and printing a template.  Suddenly I remembered the Michael Strong mosiac frame had a strong geometry similar to what I needed to cut the bases of the houses, and I realized I could simply stamp the stamp and use that for  template.  I have created this diagram so you can see where the cuts are on the stamp:

 This makes two bases.  The next diagram shows where the folds and the glue have to go:

The roof was cut from another scrap that was 1.75 by 4.5 inches.

So you are probably thinking that I should now be ready to make this with my good paper, and it would be a lovely little scene.  I agree, however, I think it will be a fun craft project when all my kids are home from school - we can all make trees and cabins together.  I know from experience that I can't have my best work waiting as a sample - if mine looks too good, they won't bother to play with me.  Mine has to make them think that theirs will be better.  Therefore, the good trees and cabins won't be ready for a couple of weeks, but you get the general idea of how it goes.

If you would like to try this and you have any questions on how to do it, just ask.

Trees in the windows

This was a hard technique to photograph.  Can you see what I did in this photo?

Other than the fact that I have stuff piled up on my counters, and a cat condo, and my son's bookbag on the floor, can you see what I did to the panes in my french door?

You may think I'm crazy for stamping on my windows, but really it's is very simple to do - I used acrylic matte medium, applied to the stamp with a brayer.  I don't know if you can see it well enough, but it looks like etched glass.  It isn't hard to remove, either - it will come off easily the next time I wash my windows, as the matte medium dissolves easily in water.

The cloisonne stamp is perfect for this technique, because of the bold lines.   What a quick and easy way to add a holiday touch to my home!

Cookie jar sleeve

I have a blue cookie jar which looked really good in my kitchen when I had wallpaper, but now looks nearly invisible now that I have painted blue walls.  However, I have come to love it and the unique sound it makes when one of my kids is sneaking a cookie - I can pick out that sound from almost anywhere in the house.

Anyway, I was filling it with some freshly baked white chocolate chip macadamia nit cookies when I decided that the cookie jar needed be as festive as my cookies.  It took a single sheet of scrapbook paper and scraps of cardstock that I had lying about.

The christmas trees were the diecuts I had leftover from the luminary card I showed you on Monday.  building a snowman out of paper scraps is nearly as much fun as making one out of snow, and not nearly as chilly.

Just looking at my cookie jar makes me want to bake!

Festive earrings

I have several Christmas parties this week, and I bought a new (to me) sweater to wear to them.  The thing is, the sweater really isn't in traditional colors, so I needed so Christmas earrings to wear with the sweater that would go.

Yes, teal and purple Christmas trees will go perfectly with my sweater.

I used the faux chipboard technique to make tree beads.  They are built with six layers of cardstock, and I simply cut a channel in the center two layers for the wire to pass through.  The tinsel embossing powder doesn't scan well - it looks a bit neater in real life.

Luminary card

My sister gave me a lovely birthday gift this year - the Christmas tree stamp and die set from Michael Strong.  It's a little late in the year for me to be making Christmas cards, though, so I thought, for my week as card captain for the EnjoyMichaelStrongStamps yahoogroup, I would try making things that aren't cards.

This is a luminary card - there is an electric tealight inside right now, but it fits over a glass votive holder, too.  The inside panels are vellum.   This is made from a single vertical half-sheet of standard size cardstock, so when flattened, it fits into a normal card envelope.  It's a card that is also a gift, or just keep it as a decoration.

Red and green

I like traditional colors in my Christmas cards.

Snowflakes are the "flowers" of December; they make any Christmas card better.  Also improving this otherwise common and boxy card is the small amount of hand drawing.  This is a retired stamp from AMuse Studio, and fits their red and green challenge this week.

Challenges:

• Sweetstamps - red and green
• Created with Love - Christmas
• Get Inky - onward and upward
• Crafty Catz - Santa Claus