Handmade Christmas Crafts

It's First Monday and Designer Crafts Connection is posting handmade projects for Christmas.  I'm sure most of you have already finished decorating, but maybe you're like me and still unpacking boxes!

As usual, I needed something that could be "Made in Minutes" since I'm behind as usual.  I should know by now that it takes a lot longer than I think to fix the lights on the reindeer.... if you get my drift.  On top of that, it's been 80˚ degrees here in Texas (not exactly weather that's gets you in the Jingle Bell mood) and it's been very windy - you know that's true when the reindeer actually fly......

Anyway, here's a simple project I hope you'll enjoy!  My daughter loves anything red with white polka dots, so I just knew I had to do something for her with this tissue paper I found.  I cut a 12" x 5" piece of Smoothfoam™ and glued the paper around it with DecoArt®, DecoPage. Because, as its name suggests, Smoothfoam™ is nice and smooth, I didn't have prep the surface.  I let it dry for a few minutes then coated the top of the paper with DecoArt Crystal Craft Twinkles to give it a bit of bling.  Next I wrapped ribbon around the center then glued pre-decorated letters on top.  I found these at Michaels in the seasonal dept.  I glued the ends of a piece of ribbon to the back for a hanger, then added a bit of a Christmas embellishment with a quilt pin (this way I can change it out, if I find something better when I unpack my Christmas stuff).  Voilà, I now have a sign for her kitchen!

TIP:  I cut the Smoothfoam with a craft knife and a metal ruler.  I sometimes have a problem with the blade sticking into a regular cutting mat, so I always cut on a glass surface.  I use a 13x13 glass mat, which used to be available from EK Success.  If you can't find one,  you can use a piece of glass from a frame.  Be careful however, because the glass probably won't be tempered like my glass mat.

Well that's it for now.  I'll be featuring more handmade Christmas decorations as I unpack next week.  It's always been a family tradition for us to make something new every year, so I have quite a few ideas to share.  Hopefully it will inspire you to start your own handmade Christmas traditions!  Better hurry though, Christmas is only 3 weeks away!  Boy, do I ever need to get a move on.........  Enjoy!

BTW, I'll be posting notes later this week about Scrapbook Soup, show 209.  There'll be a giveaway too, so y'all come back now......  Regina Hamilton won last week's giveaway - Becky Fleck's Page Maps 2 and the matching dies from Spellbinders!  Hmmm, wonder what the next giveaway will be...

Yours truly,

Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!