Thursday, December 27, 2012

Winter Themed Decorated Journal


Materials:
*12 Andes Peppermint Crunch wrappers (or other wrappers to use as a background)
*6 Andes Creme de Menthe wrappers (or other green wrappers)
*Silver duct tape (or silver candy wrappers)
*Small scrap of brown paper (or brown candy wrapper)
*White scrap paper
*Hole punch
*Glitter glue
*Notebook
*Glue
*Tape
*Scissors

Directions:
*Arrange the Andes Peppermint Crunch (or other background) wrappers across the cover of the journal and glue down.  It's okay if the wrappers don't cover the very bottom of the notebook because the silver duct tape will take care of that.
*Take the green wrappers and flip them over so that the green side faces down.  Tape the wrappers together in a rectangular formation and tape them together, then cut out a tree shape from the green rectangle.
*Cut out a trunk for the tree from the brown paper (or brown candy wrapper) and glue to the tree.
*Position the tree near the bottom of the journal and glue down.
*Cut a strip of silver duct tape long enough to cover the bottom of the notebook.  Trim the top of the strip to make it look like uneven ground.
*Adhere the duct tape to the bottom of the notebook.
*Punch out a number of white circles, then arrange them along the cover and glue down.
*Add a dot of glitter to each of the circles.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Another Decorative Tree


Materials:
*Yarn
*White paper
*Glitter glue
*Scissors
*Foam tree
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Wrap yarn around the foam tree, gluing it down as you go.
*Cut quarter sized circles from a sheet of white paper, fold into fourths or eighths, and cut out small shapes to create snowflakes.  Alternately, if you have a die cutting machine you could create paper snowflakes that way.
*Arrange the snowflakes on your tree in a pattern that you like, then glue them down.
*Add dabs of glitter glue to make your tree sparkle.

Like this idea?  Check out my decorative tree from last year if you haven't yet.  Also, here are some links to my handmade stocking, hand towel advent calendar, and ornament posts from last year in case you are interested.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Snow Globe Card


I got the idea for this card from this video tutorial.

Materials:
*8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock in a color of your choice
*8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock in white
*Green cardstock
*Gold scrapbooking paper
*Cardstock scraps in a variety of colors
*Plastic gift bag or other heavy weight clear plastic
*White glitter
*Mounting squares or double sided tape
*Hole punch
*Scissors
*Pencil
*X-acto knife
*Glue

Directions:
*Fold cardstock sheet in the color of your choice in half.
*Open up the card.  On the left hand side, select the spot where you would like the snow globe to be and draw or trace a circle about 3" in diameter.
*Cut the circle out using an X-acto knife.
*Grab your clear plastic bag (for directions on how to use the packaging from a sticker pack or another sort of clear plastic bag with words on it, see below).  Pour some glitter into the bottom.  Fold over the top of the bag and seal it using mounting squares or double sided tape.
*Place your clear bag with glitter over the circular hole.  Center it, then tape it in place. 
*Cut out a piece of gold cardstock to make the base of your snow globe, then tape to the front of the card below the circular hole.
*Cut the white cardstock in half.
*Cut a tree shape from the green cardstock small enough to fit inside the circular hole, then tape to the white cardstock at the same location on the white cardstock as the circular hole is on the cardstock in a color of your choice.
*Use a hole punch to cut circles from the cardstock scraps.  Arrange the circles on the tree, then glue in place.
*Tape the white cardstock to the cardstock in a color of your choice such that when you close the cars the tree shows through the circular hole behind the plastic filled with glitter.
*Shake your card and watch the glitter shower down upon the tree.

Directions for using sticker packaging:
*Take your sticker packaging and determine whether the printed writing is on the inside or outside of the plastic.
*Take a dry erase marker and begin covering the printed text with marker, erasing as you go.  The text should rub right off.
*If you cannot get all of the dry erase flecks out once you have erased all of the text, rinse them away with water, then set your plastic aside to dry.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Glitter Ornaments


Materials:
*Clear plastic or glass ball ornaments
*Glitter glue or glitter and glue

Directions:
*Remove the metal top from the ornament.
*If using glitter glue, pour a small amount of glitter glue into the ornament and move the ornament around until the inside of the ornament is coated in a thin layer of glitter glue.  Make sure not to use too much glitter glue or it will take a long time for the ornament to dry and the glitter glue may roll off the sides, thus leaving gaps.
*Once the ornament has dried, put the metal top back on the ornament and hang on your tree.
*If using glue, pour a small amount of glue into the ornament, then slowly roll the ball around until the inside of the ball is covered in glue.  Don't shake or bubbles may form in the glue.
*Let some of the glue drain out of the ornament until only a thin coating of glue is left.
*Pour glitter into the ball and move the ball around until the inside is coated in glitter.  Pour any excess glitter back into the container.
*Set the ball aside to dry.  Once dry, place the metal top back on your ornament and hang on your tree.