Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Christmas Magic Altoid Tin Tutorial

It did not go smoothly, but I did it! I've made a tutorial/guide for you to make your own Christmas Magic Altoid tins.

A few notes:

• Don't feel that you HAVE to use altoid style tins (or any other exact supply mentioned for that matter). The tutorial is a guide to help you along. Apply the same steps/directions to whatever you have on hand or in mind.

• For the front of the tins I printed the A Merry Little Christmas Label Download at 115% for a better fit. You can sometimes get away with printing things slightly larger without too much pixelation.

• If you don't celebrate Christmas, you can 100% make one of these themed to your own preferred seasonal holiday, or even fill with non-seasonal things you love!

• Don't worry about filling every last little nook with a labeled glass vial. It looks great, but it's absolutely ok to pad out the space with other items

• Don't pack the vials too tightly. These small glass vials break easily PLEASE USE CAUTION.

• Consider gluing the stoppers in place, especially when filling with glitter.

• Don't like something? Want to try something different? TRY ALL THE THINGS!!!! Change everything if you like! Make it your own!

Here's the list of supplies I used for the actual tin part:

• blank Altoid style tins
• A Merry Little Christmas Label Download
• A Very Vintage Christmas Download
• old paper

• glue (mod podge, crazy glue, white glue, hot glue, glue stick)
• thick card
• acrylic paint (white and yellow ocher)
• ink stamp pads
• scrapbook paper (I used a red patterned paper from Graphic 45's Communique collection)
• ribbon
• fake snow (aka buffalo snow)
• gold dresden trims
• acrylic snowflake

Here's a list of fillers and suggested fillers:
• assorted small vials/jars

• tinsel

• glitter
• sequins
• fake snow
• little bottle brush/sisal trees
• holly, mistletoe (crush up some bay leaves and no one will be the wiser)
• pine needles
• small acorns, pinecones
• Fairy Sized Christmas Cards

• letter from Santa
• chocolates/sweets

• charms
• buttons
• thimbles
• coins
• rolled up $
• scroll of 'nice list' names
• miniatures of every sort!
• bells
• coal

• stickers
• tiny wrapped presents
... whatever you can dream up and squish inside!

Ok, so are you ready to make a lovely jumbled Christmas tin of joy the video tute is below?! Or off you pop directly to youtube.

If you're quick... the vid might not be done processing yet. Check back in a few minutes.

Christmas Magic Altoid Tins

Whoooo baby! I am SMITTEN with these. Another project made with the "A Merry Little Christmas Labels" download. Altoid tins jam packed with all sorts of Christmas magic!

There's everything in there from jingle bells, to bottled Christmas magic, to lumps of coal!

All of the important Christmas bits packaged in a neat littletin. I'm pretty sure these would be perfect for tucking into stockings.

While I am 100% a-ok with making do and using ingenious alternatives... there's real holly, mistletoe, tinsel, jingle bells and coal in those tiny vials.

There IS a video tutorial for this project, but it's in the editing stages at the moment. It will be ready to guide you along soon, but I figured a heads up to give you a little extra time to collect your bits of Christmas magic would be good. I know time is of the essence at this time of year, every day counts!

Here's the list of supplies I used:

• blank Altoid style tins

• A Merry Little Christmas Label Download
• A Very Vintage Christmas Download

• old paper

• glue (mod podge, crazy glue, white glue)

• thick card

• acrylic paint

• assorted small vials/jars

• bottle fillers (glitter, candy canes, leaves, tinsel)
• other fillers 1" bottle brush trees, jingle bells, lace
• scrapbook paper

• ribbon

• fake snow (aka buffalo snow)

• gold dresden trims

• acrylic snowflakes

Please, please, please feel free to deviate from my list and improvise. You absolutely do NOT need to replicate these exactly. Use your imagination and ingenuity to add your own dash of Christmas magic.

P.S. How incredibly cute is this gathering of vintage Christmas gnomes?! They're on a new holiday sheet "A Very Vintage Christmas" available HERE.

Now, off you pop to gather your goodies and meet me back here so we can make these cuties together!

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Hot Chocolate, Baby

I said I was going to post some gift ideas for the "A Merry Little Christmas" label download I posted the other week. Today I'm sharing the first of those sweet little ideas.

I'm using some of the square 'Holiday Magic' labels for hot chocolate garnishes. I bought some inexpensive spice jars and filled them with crushed up candy canes and a homemade sugar/cinnamon spice blend.

Glue the appropriate labels to the front and they look pretty snazzy!

I'll package these up with a tiny spoon, an over-sized mug, and some packages of hot chocolate.

My kid is a hot chocolate fiend and I'm sure he'll love these 'fancy' toppings. 

Don't like hot chocolate? Never fear! You could make a similar set for tea or coffee drinkers. Swap out the mug and spoon for some cookie cutters for your favourite baker, and gift them baking blends or cookie toppings. I'd love to hear YOUR ideas, and what YOU come up with for the nice people on your list.

The "A Merry Little Christmas" sheet is available HERE and I'll be sharing more gift ideas and projects using it over the next few weeks.

More Holiday Matchbox Fairies

I'm plugging along like an elf high on candycanes over here. I'm torn between slowing down so that I don't burn myself out before December even begins, or taking advantage of the momentum and MAKING ALL THE THINGS!!!!!

Not only have I made more of these cute little holiday fairy matchboxes, but I even made a batch of fruitcake yesterday (plenty of time to allow it to age and soak up a bit of boozy flavour).

 

I've added ribbons to this batch and I think I'll add a loop too so that they can be hung on the tree or added to a bottle of good cheer.

Same supply list as the last batch, with just few snips of ribbon added:

Matchbox Fairy CS
Jolly Holly Day CS
Wee Transparent Wings
Merry Little Christmas Labels CS
Scrapbook paper of choice
Faux Snow
Ribbon
Foam adhesive squares
Glue

A Hufflepuff Scarf and Badger Pin

I bought this yarn in the discount bin at Michaels. I knew as soon as I saw it that I'd be making a Hufflepuff something with it.

In no time at all made a thick scarf with rows of crochet shells. 

After making those moony scarf pins last week, I knew I needed a badger to hold my wooly Hufflepuff scarf in place.

And now this Hufflepuff is ready for pudding and wand waving and more chilly weather.

Also, I finally got an eye exam and proper readers (aren't they  cute?!?) After using them for a couple of weeks now I cannot believe how bad my sight was. I've even bought more books to my eyes to proper use! Get your eyes checked lovelies xoxo