Snowman!

Look Nana!  It looks like a snowman nose!!!!  And with that innocent remark from an imaginative 5yr old, this snowman ornament was born! 

 

Which also turned into this:

and it all started with this:

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Believe it or not, it's very easy to make.  Let's start with the head.  You'll need a 2 1/2" Smoothfoam™ ball; an LED candle;

plus Aleene's Fast Grab tacky glue; narrow, white cording (or Parachute cording); scrap of felt for the hat about 3" x 5"; clear glitter; 6" piece of ribbon for a bow; black adhesive acrylic jewels, or a black, permanent paint pen; a tiny rubber band and scrap of tinsel or ribbon to tie around the top of the hat.  Plus scissors and a craft knife.

1.  Draw a circle on the front of the ball the same size as the base of the candle.  Since this is a rounded surface, draw around a cap, or, I found that this roll of decorative tape was the perfect size.

2.  With a straight up and down motion, carefully cut around the line with a craft knife then cut a line across the center in both directions to divide it into 4 quarters.  This makes it easier to dig out. 

3.  Starting from the outside cut line, use a spoon to carefully dig out the hole.

3-5.  Make sure the candle fits snugly inside the hole, but not too tightly.  You will want to be able to take it in and out to turn it on and off.

6.  With the candle base still in the hole, wrap the first row of cord around the base on top of the ball.  Pin in place then place a bead of glue around the outside edge of the cord to glue it to the surface.  Cover the rest of the ball with glue then continue wrapping cord until the ball is completely covered.  Let dry then spray with a light coat of adhesive.  Sprinkle with clear glitter to give the "snow" a frosty sparkle.

 

7.  Draw dots for eyes and mouth on the top of the candle with a paint pen or use black adhesive backed jewels as shown.

8.  I pinned a rectangle of felt around his head for a hat, then fringed the ends.  I used a small rubber band to scrunch it up at the top, then added a tinsel bow and a star button.  To finish, I pinned a bow at the edge of the opening.  You can place him on a dowel for a fun plant pick, or add a hanger for an ornament.

Another option would be to cover a larger ball with a piece of a white, ribbed athletic sock then attach the head to this body with a toothpick.

 

When crafting, it's important to use the supplies you have on hand as much as possible.  I added some felt brads for buttons and gave the snowman a burlap ribbon scarf.  I also replaced the tinsel ribbon and star button on his hat for a jute bow and a small, silver bell to give him a more country look.

 

Hope you like my jolly snowman with the light up nose as much as I do!  For even more fun, Smoothfoam projects, check out their blog @ www.smoothfoam.com/blog and check out my cupcake ornament post below this one.   There are even more holiday projects to enjoy on the favecrafts blog hop.

Enjoy!  Y'all come back now.....

Yours truly,

Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Cake Decorating

My mum loved to bake and decorate cakes!  Me?  Not so much, but we can all learn a lot from the creativity of these amazing cake artists.  I've been seeing the most beautiful creations from Katy Sue Designs on Facebook lately and thought I'd try my hand - I'm just not into fondant, so I picked up some air dry paper clay at the store the other day and their Father Christmas mold to play around with and look what I came up with!

You'll need some air dry paper clay and, of course, a mold.  I like this Father Christmas because he's the one I remember bringing presents when I was a little girl.......  The detail is absolutely amazing.

Following the directions on the package of clay, press just enough into the mold so it comes up to the rim.  Press firmly and flatten the surface, then gently remove from the mold and set aside to dry.  I let mine dry for about 24 hours then, using a small, soft paintbrush I colored his face and hat with chalk.  I then covered the outside area with an even coat of glue and sprinkled it with Flower Soft Glitter Frosting.  Shake off the excess and return to the container.  Brush glue onto the beard, mustache, rim of the hat and pom pom, then cover with Flower Soft Polar White to add a wonderful, furry texture to those areas.  I also glued Christmas braid around the edge of the medallion.

I could've stopped at this point and glued a circle of cardstock to the back of the medallion and added a ribbon hanger to create an ornament for the tree, but decided to take it one step further.  I punched a scalloped edge circle from red metallic paper, glued the medallion to the center then glued that to a rosette I made from gold cardstock.  This would make an excellent embellishment for a gift or place it on top of a dowel for a plant pick.

 

You can order this and other exquisite molds at Katy Sue Designs and Flower Soft Sprinkles from their website @ www.flower-soft.us.com.  Enjoy and y'all come back now...........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Crafts for the Holidays with Craft Attitude

I've hosted a TV show on scrapbooking for 14 years so it's only natural that people think I'm a scrapbooker, but, truth be told, I simply LOVE ALL KINDS of crafts!  I enjoy the creativity of designing a scrapbook page, but I have to admit that my first love is photography followed closely by decorative painting.  I received my first camera, a Brownie Reflex, at the ripe old age of 11 and I've been snap happy ever since.  I'm always on the look out for new surfaces to print photos on and was totally ecstatic when I saw Craft Attitude at the craft & hobby trade show a couple of years ago.  I came home with treasured samples to "play" with and haven't stopped since.  I was thrilled when Jonathan Fong asked me to create a project for their holiday blog hop.  The hardest part was deciding what to do!  I also love to etch glass so here's a project that incorporates both my love of photography and the magic of etched glass.

These are the supplies you'll need, plus ribbon and a few embellishments - I used deco mesh ribbon and a holiday craft pick.  I took this photo of a Cardinal in our back yard a couple of years ago, so all I had to do was crop it to the size I needed.

The first step is to etch the glass block.  The block is hollow, so instead of etching the outside surface I used dip'n etch, another of my favorite products, from b&b etchall to etch the inside.  Dip'n etch is easy to use and I love the fact that it's REUSABLE!  Gently pour about a 1/4 cup of the dip'n etch liquid into the glass block.  TAKE CARE - this is etching liquid and it will etch any type of smooth surface, so you won't want it to splash onto your granite counter top, porcelain sink, or on the outside of the glass.  The etch is permanent.  Being careful that the liquid doesn't spill out of the opening, gently lay the block onto its side, so the liquid covers the inside flat surface completely.  If you added too much dip'n etch, use something to prop up the open end.

 

BTW, complete directions are on the product so read and follow them carefully.  After 20 mins, I carefully turned the block upright again, then placed it onto its other side to etch that too.

While the glass was etching I printed my photo onto the Décor Attitude film, then cut it to size.  Pour the dip'n etch liquid back into the jar to be used again, then thoroughly rinse and dry the block.  Peel the backing from the Craft Attitude film then place it printed side down onto the glass surface.  If there are words in your photo, don't forget to flip your image horizontally before printing, or use the "print mirror image" setting on your printer.  Although the film clings well to the glass, I covered the surface lightly with a glue stick.  Check out the Craft Attitude website for all kinds of videos and tips on how to work with the film on a whole variety of surfaces. 

 

I positioned my photo with the opening in the block at the bottom so I could place it over an LED tea light at night.  I also glued the bow and embellishments to the top with a 3D glue dot, making it easy to remove at a later time.

This project only took a little over an hour to complete and makes a great holiday accent for your home!  Plus it's a great hostess gift!  So put a little "attitude" into your next crafting project to make it truly personal!

 

Don't forget to check out these other projects from the hop. 

This project is also featured here:

Enjoy!  Y'all come back now..........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!