Flying Reindeer Sleigh Ornament

Another Alpha Stamps project to share today. A little sleigh with some flying reindeer! I don't know what it is exactly about this piece, but it makes me a little sentimental for Christmas' circa 1980's.



The sleigh is small, just the right size for an ornament, and would be very cute all on it's own. For what it's worth, it is pretty much the perfect size for carrying a sack of chocolate coins. Mmmm chocolate coinage *drool*.

ANYWAY... the deer are held up by Mini Red Pip Berry Garland* and the satchel of presents in the sleigh weigh it down so it doesn't topple. Want a step-by-step to make your own? Hop over to the Snapguide Tutorial HERE.

And here is your product list:

Santa Sleigh Add-On Kit

Chipboard Sleigh Ornament
Chipboard Reindeer Die-Cut Shapes
Christmastime 6x6 Paper Pad
Tiny Little Christmas Gifts Collage Sheet
Acrylic Paint
Glue
Clear glitter
Ho diddly ho!

Twas The Night Before Christmas Book Box

I was asked to create something with this new book box from AlphaStamps and I was totally smitten with the idea and waited patiently for the mail man to bring me my supplies. And I waited. And I waited. And I discovered that my package was held hostage in a sorting station 1 1/2 hours away for three days! In crafting terms 3 days is an eternity. ANYWAY it arrived at the 11th hour giving me very little crafting time.

But it arrived! And it all came together quickly and painlessly (yay!).

The base is a Hidden Drawer Book Box and I've used the Night Before Xmas Book Box Collage Sheets to bookify the exterior. It looks like an old book on the outside but slide out the secret drawer and ....

Inside is a darling little Christmas scene jam packed with tiny boxes from THIS collage sheet. If you want to make your own tiny presents, I highly recommend gently scoring all of the edges you're going to fold. Trust me, it will save you a lot of frustration AND your boxes will look 100x's neater.

Now, because I was crafting on a time schedule I simply painted the entire box black before embellishing. This hides any wonky edges and you can totally get away with not papering every single edge and still have a neat looking finished project.

You could make the inside as busy and cluttered with Christmas finery as you like. I love the big jumble of gifts in this box, but a little table with a plate of cookies for Santa or a fireplace with stockings would be just as sweet. It has great potential for you to put your own style inside.

With the mad dash to finish this piece, I can attest to the fact that you can put it together with relative ease. Imagine what a lovely little heirloom gift this would be to make someones Christmas extra special... even if you don't have oodles of time to spare.

Want to make your own? Here's a list of the supplies I used:

Hidden Drawer Book Box
Night Before Xmas Book Box Collage Sheets
Flat-Back Gold Star Studs - 12mm*
Tinsel Red
Small Christmas Bulb Garland*
Holly Berry Garland
Retro Bottle Brush Tree Set - Dyeable (painted green)
Gold Metallic Single Loop Braid
Small Pinecones

Or here's everything you need all in one place

Baubles and Wonderlands

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! I hope you have a lovely day, a full belly, and a good laugh today.

I'm not American but I am grateful for a few things today:

• packages that arrive on my doorstep

• pennies to buy packages with

• people to give the packages to
• that my camera that decided to cooperate today so that I could take some fancy schmancy pictures!

Here's a winter bauble with a handmade snowy fellow, freshly listed HERE.

AND I got my act together and snapped a couple of the little glass fairy garden balls too!

Listed HERE

The glass balls are handblown (not by me... I'd likely burn my house down). The wee clay houses are the ones that were pit fired in the back acre a few months ago. The toadstools are handmade too. I think they're pretty dang cute.

Listed HERE

Listed HERE

I think this one is cute as buttons. The wee house reminds me of the Irish sea cottages from the Secret of Roan Innish.

I've added a number of things to the shop over the past few days. You can pop over for a visit by following THIS LINK. I'll be listing more over the next week or so, but if there's something you're interested in and can't find listed let me know because I am a total scatterbrain and will likely forget to post a load of things.

Have a beautiful day! xoxo

Bottled Magic and Wishing Stars

Some new listings have been posted in the etsy shop. Today I added some sparkly things.

Loads of fairy dust and bottled magic.

Each little bottle has a sweet charm.

I've also listed some glittery wishing stars.

You can purchase a set of 6 sentiments. 

Or select from DREAM, WISH, HOPE, JOY, LOVE or SHINE

Simple Mixed Media Canvas

I hosted a kids workshop at the studio this weekend. My goal was to create four gift quality projects that were also kid friendly. Participants could choose a project and it was wrapped/boxed before they left to ensure that there was no peeking by their grown ups. 

This little mixed media canvas was one of the projects offered.

If you have little people to craft with, there's a video tute available on my youtube channel HERE or see below. (Note: I suggest keeping the kidlets away from the heatgun.)

Here is a list of all of the supplies I used:

4" canvas
Snowflake Shape Set
Cardstock Doily Set Intricates
Ornate Metal Keys from Graphic 45
Fancy Red Holly Berries Mix*
Silks Acrylic Glaze: Stargazer
twine
vintage image
clear glitter
white acrylic craft paint
white school glue
Aleene's tacky glue

And here are some of the other projects completed by my amazing workshop kiddies!

So proud of those little people :)

Rustic Canvas and Burlap Tags ~ DIY Holiday Hop

Here's a wee project I created for Petaloo's Holiday Hop with Canvas Corp. Be sure to check out the Petaloo blog to see all of the great holiday projects and for a chance to win a great prize pack.

I enjoy working with fabric and creating textile pieces but it always seems to take a back seat to paper crafting. So I was pleased for the excuse to blow the dust off of my sewing machine to create some rustic tags with elements from Canvas Corp.

Don't worry, you don't actually need a sewing machine for these. You can easily stitch them together by hand, or even glue them together.

Simply layer a couple of swatches of burlap and canvas, fray the edges, add a vintage image and some pretty Petaloo elements.

My images are printed on canvas, but you can stitch through paper if you like the look of those zig-zags.

I think these are going to make really pretty additions to my holiday packages.

Want to create your own? Here are the elements I used:

Textured Elements Burlap Pointsettias
Botanica Sugared Blooms
Botanica Sugared Minis
Botanica Pine Picks with cones and berries

Canvas, burlap and twine from Canvas Corp

Vintage images

Tiny vintage charm ornaments

I made some tiny ornaments.




They are quite small, around the 1" mark, but I think that adds to their charm.



Little wooden charms from Gina's are the base. I simply painted the pieces white, glued the image to the base, added the top frame and filled with some Diamond Glaze.



I wrapped some Dresden trim around the edges to create a polished look. A little bit of glitter... because apparently I am incapable of creating anything without the sparkly stuff.



Want to make your own? Here's the supply round-up:

Wooden Charm - Circle Large
Wooden Charm - Circle Small
Wooden Charm - Dome Large
Wooden Charm - Dome Small
Diamond Glaze
ribbon
vintage images
clear glitter
white acrylic paint
assorted Dresden borders
1cm white paper roses

Fairy Garden Baubles

I got my hands on the sweetest handblown glass baubles this past summer and filled them with tiny fairy gardens. I've been holding off posting them because I thought they would make darling holiday gifts.

They are filled with moss, handmade toadstools and pretty paper flowers and butterflies. They are really, really sweet.

I have about a dozen and will be posting them in the etsy shop over the next week or so.

You can find this specific bauble listed HERE.

Also listed for the holidays, thimble trees!

Hope your holiday shopping is going well. So far, mine seems to be a series of unfortunate events ;)

Have a great day, lovelies!

Holiday Tart Tin Ornament Tutorial

I'm hosting a kids workshop this weekend and we'll be making some holiday gifts. This is one of the items they can choose from. A rusty tart tin ornament. 

I've made a short video tutorial and encourage you to create your own heartfelt, handmade gifts.

Instructions for rusting the tins is available HERE

The free collage sheet of sweet words can be found HERE

Enjoy.

Supply list:
metal tart tin
wired pip berry stems
moss
flat head jewelry posts
beads
bottle brush trees
floral embellishments
acrylic snowflakes

glue

Be a twinkly light

There's a lot going on the world right now. Terrible, unthinkable, things. Frightening things.

I'm not going to post about them.

Instead, I'd like to encourage you to make something nice, spread kindness and be a glimmer of light. Below you'll find some sweet words to help you along. Download, create, and make someones day a little bit brighter.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." —Aesop

Thinking of you.

Nichola

Pocket and Tag Christmas Countdown Organizer

I am disorganized.

There is no doubt about it.

Given the opportunity to create a sort of advent calendar with Alpha Stamps new Victorian Christmas Tags Kit and Library Pocket Organizer Box* I thought 'What better way to get my holiday butt in gear!'

So here is my box gussied up and filled with pretty altered tags and pockets.

The finish on the box was soooo easy! I gave it a crackled paint finish, wrapped some burlap and Mini Red Pip Berry Garland* around it, then finished it with a wee bunch of Fancy Red Holly Berries and Miniature Pinecone Picks* You don't need any fancy products to achieve a crackle finish. HERE is a tutorial for the finish. For this project I didn't even do a base coat of paint. Just a layer of glue then a white paint.

Now, as for all those tags and pockets. The front of all those bits and bobs are pretty as a picture and numbered with Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25*  (which I love BTW). Here's the part where I get organized. I thought that each day could have a little note, a reminder for what needs to be done, written on the back or attached with a clip.

"Make sugar cookies"
"Tidy the guest room"
"Write holiday cards"
"Prepare packages for mailing"

Here's a good look at the front of all those pockets, tags and Library Pocket Tabbed Dividers*.

So maybe, just maybe, if I give myself gentile reminders I'll actually get the cards and sugar cookies done this year. The goal being to get everything done piece by piece instead of the panicked last minute insanity that usually takes over.

And if my plan fails and I'm still a hot mess this holiday season? Well I've still got something pretty to show for it ;)

Here's all of the supplies in one place

Or an itemized supply list below:

Victorian Christmas Tags Kit
Prima - A Victorian Christmas 3x4 ATC Pad*

Prima - A Victorian Christmas Scrapbook Paper Set 

Library Pocket Organizer Box*

Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25* 

Library Pocket Tabbed Dividers*

Mini Red Pip Berry Garland* 

Fancy Red Holly Berries Mix

Miniature Pinecone Picks* 
Lacquered Holly & Berry Picks*

Tim Holtz Long Mini Brads
Gold Sweeper Fringe 

Burlap ribbon from Fall Fiber Set

Notes from the North Pole

I M P O R T A N T

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Attn: North Pole Representatives and Christmas Helpers

2015 has been an exceptional year and we are pleased to announce that Santa's "Nice List" numbers are higher than they have ever been.

In order to facilitate the distribution of Nice List Notifications to good (and mostly good) children, Mr. Claus is requesting your assistance. 

"Notes from the North Pole", a two page digital download, is available HERE. The PDF includes:

• an official "nice list notification"
• a North Pole envelope template
• elf sized postage stamps
• three notes of encouragement from the North Pole Review Department + 2 blank notes
• three memos from Santa
• a short thank-you note from Santa for Christmas eve refreshments

That is a small letter, not a giant hand.

Please note:

• Any grunging, sparkling, distressing, tearing, smudging or embellishing is to be done in your own workshop. 

• Final letters can NOT be mailed through the silly muggle post. If your notifications require mailing, sending inside a full sized envelope with a note of explanation is suggested.

Mr. Claus is grateful for your assistance and appreciates your contribution in the creation of holiday magic.

Thank you

"Notes from the North Pole"

Edit: Christmas Helpers who prefer print form, hard copies are available via Alpha Stamps.

Pretty Holiday Packages with Petaloo and Claus & Co.

I think that the Claus & Co. collection from Simple Stories is absolutely adorable. Paired with Petaloo blooms and trims, the everything just shines and sings. Don't get me wrong, I love shabby, frilly, Victorian holiday goodness... but this pairing is just good ole holiday fun.

I thought I'd put the snippets and components of from Claus & Co to practical use, and gussy up some gift boxes.

First, some tiny premade boxes embellished with trims, stickers and brads. There is something precious about small boxes and they often contain the sweetest gifts. And you truly don't have to go overboard to create a prettily packaged present. A bit of Glitz trims, a Claus & Co Bradz and a Pine Pick with cones and berries looks pretty dang cute

... but sometimes going overboard and making your own boxes right from scratch is fun too! Here's "Oh Joy" and "Ho Ho Ho" made into little boxes and embellished with Petaloo's Glitz trims and Burlap Pointsettias

.

And sometimes, just once in while, it's nice to add a whole lot of sparkle too. Who am I kidding? I throw glitter on all the things! All the time!

Want to gussy up some boxes to create some darling presents? Here's the supply round up:

Glitz trims
Burlap Pointsettias
Pine Pick with cones and berries
Textured Elements

Simple Stories, Claus & Co Collection Kit
Claus & Co Bradz

GLITTER!
glue
boxes