The 12 Trees of Christmas 2014: the finale....

Hello Friends!

Thanks for stopping by!  I am finally able to post my final three trees.  I probably don't need to say that making and posting my 12 trees for this year did not go this way in my head!  I'm not sure why I am still surprised when that happens.  I should rather be surprised when things do go the way they do in my head!

Anyway, I am happy with these trees, even if they did come about a bit later than planned:

Tree number ten:

This tree is much more elegant than most of my projects.  I cut six of the Swirly Tree free file by Bird of Bird's Cards.  My Silver Bullet Pro made quick work of the cutting.  I added score lines down the center of each tree, to make folding them in half easier.   After folding, each tree was glued to the next, to form a dimensional tree.  I used spray glue to add glitter, and hot glued my tree into a vintage crystal drawer knob base.  A red ribbon bow adds a touch of color.

Tree number eleven:

This tree was fashioned after some Tim Holtz style trees that kept turning up on Pinterest.  I used my new favorite rosette file from My Scrap Chick to cut five rosette strips in graduated sizes.  After threading them with baker's twine I cinched them up into a cone shape, rather than the traditional flat rosette.  I added a bit of Tarnished Brass Distress paint to highlight the ribs of the tree. 

I rescued the puffy star from a former Fourth of July decoration.  It was red and faded so I painted it up with some Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Paints.  After they were dry, I applied some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and hit it hard with my heat gun to bubble it up.  I love the effect!

And now for my final tree of 2014, number twelve:

What? You can't see the tree?  No you can't, because this is just a close up of the background.  I used my Wendy Vecchi Crackle paste, and I had to share a close up of the effect.  The base is a journal cover from 7 Gypsies, coated with Mod Podge and layered with tissue paper and gesso for texture and to lighten the color from the very dark brown original. 

After the Crackle paste had dried, I randomly stamped the background with a flourish stamp and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

Well, that's not the tree either!  Its the star on top.  It is the shabby Distress Inked star on top. 

Ok, so that's the tree!  I embossed a piece of kraft cardstock with a ruler embossing folder (from Darice, I think.) I cut apart the individual ruler pieces, added Distress Stain Picket Fence, Distress Inks in various wood tones, and black Archival ink to highlight the numbers.  I cut them to various lengths, and adhered them to chipboard to give them some them definition.  I used thick quick dry glue to adhere the strips and trunk to the background. 

I am really pleased with my tree stand.  I cut a rectangle of brown cardstock, and angled the edges.  after distressing and inking the edges with Barn Door Distress Ink, I added dimension to the stand by curling it with the edge of my scissors.  A touch of glue on the edges is just enough to adhere it to the background over the tree trunk. 

I wish you all a Happy and Crafty New Year!

Elizabeth

12 Trees of Christmas Day 9

Hello Everyone!

Happy Christmas Eve-Eve!  Today's tree is a bit more traditional than yesterday's edition, even though it features mainly reclaimed items.

I trimmed the back off a bottle brush tree so that it would fit flush into its spot in my printer's tray.  (I told you I wasn't ready to stop talking about it!)  I raided my collection of vintage buttons to make the tree stand.  I tied on a bit of vintage embroidery silk to add a bit of color.    I topped my tree with a alcohol inked mirrored star. 

 

I added red sticky backed rhinestone centers to the vintage paper flowers that started out in this project:

 

(Which means they have been recycled twice!)

 

 

Here is how the tree looks in my tray:

 





 

Four more spaces to finish before it's time to pack this project away.

 

Have a wonderful day!!

 

Elizabeth

 

 



12 Trees of Christmas Day 8

Hi Folks,

For tree number eight, I am back on the "interesting" side of things, with another reclaimed junk tree.

 Can you tell what "junk" I used for this one?

How about with a close-up?

If you guessed vintage pattern paper, you are correct.  I crumpled and twisted rescued pattern paper into long ropes, Dyed them with Distress Stains, and coiled them around a paper mache cone.  Next I glued on more rescued items.  These pretty red pairs were originally wired on to a 80's era flat rattan Christmas tree.  The gold glass balls were on wreath picks from who knows when.  I sure am happy that I rescued them from a friend's trunk full of junk!  They are perfect on this recycled tree.  The only new item is the cone, and that was purchased during an after Christmas clearance sale at 90 percent off.  I can make cones, but it was totally worth the 30 cents I paid to get such a nice sturdy one. 

I'm calling this finished, but I'm still on the look out for an appropriately junky tree stand or trunk for it.   Christmas is oh so close, and I haven't given up on projects yet.   Almost all of my big "have to do" tasks are done, so I should be able to sneak in a few more hours of crafting.   Hope you can too!

Elizabeth

12 Trees of Christmas Day 7

Hello Everyone!

Hope you're all having a terrific Sunday!  I recently got the idea for this adorable little tree.  It is my twist on a stacked box tree that I saw on Pinterest, which featured square boxes.  I thought it would be fun to do it with a pillow shaped box instead, and I was right.  I had a blast with this entire project, from designing the cut file, choosing papers and cutting them, to making the tiny origami lucky star for the top. 

I also had fun altering a tiny little apothecary bottle.  I "painted" it with ModPodge, and sprinkled on copper colored teeny weeny beads.  It wasn't quite as dark as I wanted, so after it dried, I dabbed on more color with Antique Bronze Distress Paint.  Some of the beads came off during the process, and added to the distressed look. 

The bow is the remaining half of the piece that I was gifted with my recent Funkie Junkie Boutique order.   I used the first half in one of my projects for the Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas challenge. ( I hope you are not tired of hearing me talk about that challenge.  I am so pumped up about it that it will probably be February before I stop mentioning it!)

 I pulled all  of the papers from my Christmas paper scrap drawer.  The largest pillow box is about 2.5 inches wide, and the smallest is less than 3/4 of an inch.  I used my SCAL software to easily add circle cut outs to the top and bottom of each box for inserting a skewer to hold it all together.  Of course, all the boxes were cut with my Silver Bullet Professional cutter.  A spray of glimmer mist and some quick hot glue assembly and tree number seven was done!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Wishing you the peace and joy of the season,

Elizabeth

12 Days of Christmas Trees Day 6

Happy Saturday, Everyone!

Hope you had a terrific day.  The little tree I am sharing today has been sitting undecorated on my work table since late this past summer.  

To make it, I coiled a single vintage style chenille stem around the top of a tree shaped paper mache cone.  I removed the shaped tree, and used hot glue to attach a shorter piece of stem as the "trunk".  I inserted it into a small wooden spool, and there it sat.

This afternoon, I finally found time to decorate it a bit. 

To make my garland, I strung E sized seed beads onto a fine gauge gold wire, giving each bead a twist to secure it in place.  I aged the spool by sponging on a bit of Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap.  I glued on a strip of vintage dictionary paper and tied on a bit of red ribbon. 

If you are looking to squeeze in one more project this year, this may be the way to go.  It is super quick and easy, and very fun!  It would be a terrific project to do with the kids.

I'll leave you with one more view of my miniature Christmas tree:

Happy Weekend Before Christmas!

Elizabeth

12 Trees of Christmas Day 5

Hello Everyone,

Here is tree number five for 2014:

This one was so fun to create!  I started with a non Christmas circle cluster stamp and Ranger Archival ink to stamp a tree shaped grouping on vintage book paper.  Next, I used a water brush to add various colors of Inktense inks for a water colored look.  The bottom of my tree got a Silver Bullet cut tree stand, while the top was embellished with a stamped star.  I softened the appearance of my background paper by removing some of the text by pressing on and removing Scotch tape. 

I framed my tree in a chalk painted thrift store frame rubbed with brown antiquing wax. 

This tree is another of my favorites for the season! 

Thanks for stopping in.  Happy Weekend! 

Elizabeth

12 Trees of Christmas Day Four

Hello Again,

How about another Christmas tree? 

Today's tree is an embellished bottle brush tree in a vintage glass vase base. 

I used alcohol ink to dye beads and glued them amongst the "branches" with hot glue.

 

A Distress Stained bias tape bow with some paper twine tied in, a Tim Holtz Idea-ology charm, and crumpled antique book paper in the vase add to the vintage charm of this tree that has quickly become a favorite of mine.

 

Thanks for stopping by to check out today's installment of my 12 Trees of Christmas!

 

Elizabeth

12 Trees Number 3, and some little gifts

Hi Everyone!

I'm back with another of my 12 Trees of Christmas.  This one couldn't be more different than yesterday's.

It's tiny!  And it's "Tim-y"!  Except for the ribbon, everything you see is from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology line.  The tiniest of the bottle brush tress fits perfectly in the glass dome.  I glued a shiny star on either side of the tree top, shook on some glitter, and added some Distress Inked ribbon to the bottom of the cork. 

This little project couldn't have been quicker or easier, and it is perfect to tuck into one of the many nooks and crannies that I decorate for Christmas.  If you wish, you could add a hanger and use it as a tree ornament or trimming for a special package.

In case you hadn't noticed, I just adore Christmas crafting, and in the midst of the season, I just can't seem to stop.  Fueled by cookies, caffeine, and Christmas joy, I spend every spare moment in my craft room.  Here are some projects I created this week to share with my co-workers.

This adorable barn gift box is from the Santa's Village kit from SVG Cuts.  It's so cute as is, I didn't feel the need to change it up at all.  I used one of Mary's (The owner and chief designer of SVG Cuts) tips, and used coordinating papers for all of the individual pieces.  It makes choosing papers super simple (especially since I had already used much of this Recollections stack from a couple of years ago, and didn't have too many pages left to choose from.) and gives my project a really cohesive look. 

My next project was really fun to put together:

I used a recently purchased Rosette set from My Scrap Chick to make the 5.5 inch diameter rosette.  I had never tried a "sewn" rosette, thinking that it would be  more difficult than gluing.  Boy was I wrong!  The PDF instructions were terrific, and using baker's twine for assembly was totally quick and easy, and I didn't burn even one finger!  I layered two sizes of dimensional star for a fun look.  I used my Silver Bullet Professional to letter and cut the Peace banner.  It's been a while since I have used my pen tool.  I'm going to have to bust it out more after Christmas.  Especially since SCAL cutting software from Craft Edge  just came out with version 4, which has some nifty drawing feature updates that I'm anxious to try out. 

And finally, this morning I cut and assembled four of these:

I have been having fun with these little boxes this year.  I saw lots of these little boxes on line and was lucky to find a cut file to use.  Because with my Silver Bullet and SCAL software I don't have to rely on dies,  I am not limited to specific sizes.  I cut these boxes at about 8 inches, so they would be large enough to tuck a little packet of home baked goodies into when assembled.  The other night, I cut them at 4 inches, so that the finished boxes were small enough to tuck into the girls' Advent Calendar spaces.  They were adorable in that tiny size, and I was able to fit several M&M's inside. 

Thanks for popping in today.  Stay tuned for my 12th and final Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas 2014 project soon, and more Christmas trees, too, of course!

Elizabeth

A very unusual tree....

Hi Everyone!

Today I have a unique tree for you.  Sometimes there are very good reasons for things to be one of a kind, and this tree is a perfect example of that.  So, even though I think it is quite hideous, and way past "so ugly it's cute", I am bravely sharing it!   Maybe it will spark an idea in someone's crafty brain.  If not, at least you all will have one project that you can leave off your to-do list. 

Last year, I was excited to rescue some vintage bed springs before they got hauled to the dump.  I had seen lots of really cute projects, and I was sure that I could make some for myself.  After three not so good projects, I am about ready to give up on those plans. 

My family drinks a lot of tea, and as you may have noticed, sometimes the tea bags make their way into my projects.  Mostly they are bit players, but with this project, I decided to make them the star of the show.  Over a couple of months, I saved all the tea bags, dried them, removed the tags and staples and emptied out the tea.  Then I tore each bag in half lengthwise and twisted it into a rope shape.  I knotted each rope onto the spring to replicate evergreen needles. 

The simple red berries were another save from a friend's recycling pile.  

At least I didn't spend a  single cent on this project!

Maybe it looks better with a fancy photo booth photo.  Not so much; see? 

Thanks for visiting today.  I'll be back tomorrow with what I think is a much prettier tree number three!

Elizabeth

One little Christmas Tree...

Hello All!

Happy Monday.  Hope you are finding something to enjoy today. I am listening to Christmas tunes and checking my lists to see what I still have left to get done. 

Some of you might recall that last December I posed a series of 12 handmade Christmas trees.  I have been working on 12 more for this year, and as usually happens, I'm not quite finished with some of them yet.  However, if I don't start posting now, I will run out of time, so here goes.

2014 Tree One:

Ok, so officially, I didn't make this tree.  It is a lovely image from the Graphics Fairy.  I turned it into a snow globe of sorts, by placing it in a repurposed jar and adding Epsom salts and a few beads.  I used Distress Stain to color some Tim Holtz vintage tinsel, and wrapped it around the top of the jar along with some wired berries. 

Sometimes, the easiest projects are the prettiest.  I think that this is the case here.  I love the simplicity of this little snow globe.  There are a ton of ways to switch it up to match different decorating styles. 

I wish I had more photos, but I gifted this to my mom at Thanksgiving, and in the rush to get packed and on the road, I thought I was doing well to get one photo. 

Thanks for visiting with me today!

Elizabeth

12 Trees of Christmas Day 12...

Happy Day, Everyone!

Wow, that 12 days flew by!  Here is my final tree for 2013:

For this project, I altered and combined two different files.  I wish I could give credit for the votive holder file, but I have no idea where I got it.  Sorry!  I wasn't totally in love with the tree that used in the original file, so I dug through my files to see what might work better.  As happens so often, I discovered this tree file in my SVG Cuts collection.  It is from the Comet's Candy land set.  I stretched it a bit to make it fit the base. 

I found some beautiful gold toned green vellum in my stash.  It is perfect with this paper.  A bit of red glitter glue adds just the festive touch I wanted.  Want to see my tea light with the candle "burning"? 

 

I was pretty sure you said yes, LOL! 

 

Thanks for visiting my blog for my 12 Trees of Christmas Series.  I hope that you have enjoyed it.  I know that I have!

 

I wish you all the very merriest of Christmases!

 

Elizabeth



12 Trees of Christmas Day 11...

Happy Day, Everyone!

I am pretty excited about Tree number 11!

Yes, that is a wooden spoon.  I found it earlier this year at the recycle center.  I didn't know what I would do with it then, but this idea popped into my head when I started thinking about doing a 12 trees series. 

I started off by stamping a scrap of tissue paper with a Tim Holtz script stamp from one of my Christmas sets and Ranger Archival in Coffee.  I added a bit of Gathered Twig Distress spray, and some watered down Barn Door Distress paint to the tissue paper, and dried it with my heat gun.  Once I was happy with it, I adhered it to the bowl of the spoon with Mod-Podge. 

I painted this layered TH Idea-ology poinsettia with Distress Paints and used the extra paint on my mat to dye some seam binding for the bow. 

 

I sprayed the bottle brush tree, also from Tim's Idea-ology line, with some more Distress spray in one of the greens.  I didn't label my mini mister, so I'm not sure which color this is.  I carefully painted the number 25 by dipping it lightly into some Barn Door Distress Paint that I had placed on my Teflon mat. 

 

I removed the wood base from the tiny little bottle brush tree, (yep, Idea-ology again) glued the tree to the back of the number, and then glued the base onto the back of the number as well.  This gave me enough depth to easily glue the piece into the spoon.  I used a hot glue gun for all of the assembly on this piece.

 

Only one more tree to go, and to be truthful, I don't know yet which it will be!  I have a ton of ideas percolating.   I hope you stop by tomorrow to see which one develops.  Until then,  Happy Christmas Crafting!  How are all of your projects coming along?

 

Elizabeth

 



12 Days of Christmas Day 10

Happy Day, Everyone!

Here is my 10th tree.  I'm still not sure that it is complete, but younger DD tells me it is, so I am posting it now.  Well, after I tell a little story...

A few months ago, while noodling around online, I saw a repurposed bedspring Christmas tree.  I thought is was pretty cute, and tucked the idea away, thinking I would never-ever run across a vintage bed spring.  A couple of months later, while visiting my parents, I took my luggage upstairs to the guest room, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an entire vintage box spring at the end of the hallway!  My dad kindly cut it up for me, which was quite a task.  These things are tough!  Now I have what seems to be a life time supply of vintage bed springs to play with. 

Here is the first project:

The entire project is made from reclaimed items.  The beads are from a bracelet I took apart, the greenery is left over from a project I will be sharing soon, and yes, that is more of my vintage dictionary.  As I said earlier, I am posting at DD's suggestion, but I'll tell you a little secret.  I haven't really committed to any of these elements.  Nothing is glued on yet! 

So that's it for tree number 10.  I am hoping it is a bit of foreshadowing for next year's projects.  I really want to work on more projects that combine my love of paper craft and my newly rediscovered love of "junking". 

I hope that you are all wrapped up in Christmas Spirit!

Elizabeth





 

12 Trees of Christmas Day 9...

Happy Day, Everyone!

Today I am posting my 9th Christmas Tree project.  This one is a short and fat little layered tree, and is incredibly simple to make.  I really like simple at this time of year, don't you? 

Here is the tree in its final form:

I played around with the with a few different ideas for the trunk before spying this little carved branch vase sitting on top of my storage shelves, waiting to be put away.  Good thing it wasn't shoved in a box, because I think it works much better than this:

 

I usually like mixing tall and skinny with short and fat, but this didn't do it for me.

 

Or this:

 

 

The proportions are better, but I'm just not feelin' the spool today. 

 

 

So... back to the tree!  As you can see, it is formed from four graduated layers of folded circles.  I have a file on my SkyDrive here:  I sized my layers at 4";3";2"; and 1.5 inches.  You can play around to get the sizes that you like.  You're on your own for a trunk.  I'll bet you can find something in your stash  (for the spool trunk version, I just rolled a scrap of brown cardstock into a tube and inserted it.)

 

The papers I used are all from DCWV.  These dark greens looks very "evergreenish" to me.  

 

 

Thanks for stopping by to check out tree number nine.  Hope to see you tomorrow for day ten!

 

 

Elizabeth

 

12 Trees of Christmas Day 8...

Happy Day, Everyone!

Today's tree is an adorable little framed piece that I whipped up using some of my vintage dictionary paper.  I really am getting lots of use out of it this season! 

 

I cut three simple and identical tree shapes from my paper, stacked them, stapled them down the center with my Tiny Attacher stapler, and 'fluffed' the layers.  I sprayed on a touch of Gathered Twig Distress spray (Re-inker plus water in a spritzer bottle) to age the paper a bit more.    I dug this little dollar store frame out of my stash.  It was originally a metallic deep red color, which didn't suit my project at all, so I put my Distress Paints to work.  Have I told you lately how much I love Distress Paints?   I dabbed on three different brownish colors; Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain.  I dried each color with my heat gun before moving on to the next.  Then I added touches of Forest Moss and Peeled Paint.  Now it is all grungy and layered looking, and is a much better match for the dictionary paper tree. 

 

While disassembling the frame for painting, I discovered a lovely piece of corrugated kraft paper.  I sponged on a light layer of Picket Fence Distress Paint, and added a layer of Fired Brick.  I'm loving the candy stripe effect.  Once this was dry, I glued on the tree element, and added some Scrabble tiles, and Voila!  another tree is ready!   

 

Happy Christmas Crafting to you!

 

Elizabeth   

12 Trees of Christmas Day 7...

Happy Day, Everyone!

I have a super simple tree and a file share for Day 7.  This little tree only takes a few minutes to make, if you don't count the glue drying time.

 

You can grab the SVG file I made from my SkyDrive here. 

 

Once you have the one piece cut out, simply fold along the score lines in alternating mountain and valley folds and glue the tab.  I glued two star shapes to either side of the top of a toothpick, and added some Martha Stewart glitter.  To finish my tree, I applied some Distress Ink to the scored edges to blend them a bit, and inserted the toothpick end of the star into the space at the top of the tree.  Easy Peasy!

 

I would love to decorate a dresser top with a forest of these cuties in a variety of sizes and papers. 

 

 

I  am wishing you and your families a magical holiday season!

 

Elizabeth

 

12 Trees of Christmas Day Six....

Happy Day, Everyone!

Here we are, half way through my 12 Trees of Christmas.  I hope you are enjoying my trees as much as I am,  and that you might find time to try one or two of them, or at least stash an idea or two away for next year. 

Today's tree was not even on my schedule, but last night in a moment of creative serendipity, I looked at a cone shaped paper tree form I had made for another project, and the punched circles I have been amassing by punching the scraps from all of my Christmas projects, revved up my hot glue gun, and got to work on these:

What a fun use for my circles!  (I use punches to get the very most out of every scrap of paper.)  I started at the bottom, with 1 inch circles, and added layers all the way up to the top.  As I progressed towards the tops of the trees, I started using smaller (5/8 and 1/2 inch) circles. 

I added a bit of texture to the plain cardstock circles by pressure embossing them.  I tried several different vintage items as trunks for the top tree, a spool and dowel, a narrow glass bottle, a brass candle stick.  They all worked, but this spindle with the red bow is the cutest.

The bottom tree is built on one of the sample trees I made from the SVG Cuts witch's hat I posted earlier.  Now if I can just find time to make one more, I will have a cute little display to tuck somewhere. 

Hope you have a terrific day today!

Elizabeth

(While perusing my Pinterest pins last night, I discovered the forgotten inspiration for these trees. I had scheduled this post several days ago.)

12 Trees of Christmas Day 5...

Happy Day, Everyone!

It is the end of a very busy day of Christmas making for me.  It is my very favorite kind of day!  I have done lots of cooking and crafting, the whole family is home, and it is a very white Christmas season here in my part of the world, with more than a foot on the ground at this point. 

My tree for today is a really simple little folded ornament:

I  used my Black Cat Cougar digital cutter, and a file from the Make-the Cut gallery to make my trees, but there is a good tutorial here at Split Coast Stampers so that you can make one without a cutter.

I used more of my vintage dictionary paper, and added some Stickles Distress Glitter in Brushed Corduroy for a bit of sparkle.  Because the dictionary paper is so thin, I made two trees, and sandwiched the gold cord hanger between them for hanging. 

These trees would be adorable on a Christmas card or tag, or made into a gift tag.

Hope you find time for Christmas crafting this week!

Elizabeth

12 Trees of Christmas Day 4...

Happy Day, Everyone!

Tree number four may just be my favorite project of the year!

 

 

 I found this tiny little vintage (or fake vintage - I don't really know) wheelbarrow at a local antique store earlier this fall.  I decorated three little bottle brush trees.  The largest has beads hot glued in its branches.

 

The middle sized tree has a spiral of vintage dictionary paper that was colored with Distress Ink in Barn Door.  The smallest tree has a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Festive Foliage Poinsettia, colored with Mustard Seed and Tarnished Brass Distress Paints. 

This little elf is another adorable antique store find.  I rescued her from a totally tacky flocked and glittered plastic mushroom from the 1970s.  I think she looks much happier now. 

To finish off the project, I lightly crumpled more vintage dictionary paper scraps, and tucked them into the bottom of the barrow.  (The dictionary is a find from the "useable" section of our recycle center.  Lucky me! I am determined to use every single scrap of it.  So far, I have used one page for three separate projects.)

 

 

I  used some  Tim Holtz Idea-ology label letters to make this tiny sign.  The red ink is Barn Door Distress again, and I inked the edges with Brushed Corduroy Distress.

Happy Healthy Holiday Wishes!

Elizabeth