Snowman Wall Hanging Gets an Updated Look

If you've ever been to my house, you know that I love to make all kinds of craft items.  I sew, stamp, I crochet, make soaps, jewelry, paint things and much more.  I mostly just go from room to room making things!  And I love having my friends come over to craft with me. 

This week I worked on making a Snowman Wall Hanging with a couple of my crafty friends.  I had made this pattern years ago with country colors, but I thought that he needed an updated look.

Here is the original wall hanging that I have been using at Christmas time to decorate with.  It's an old Pieces of My Heart pattern that I've had for years.  So I took it out and reworked some of the colors to match my current decor.

He's not hard to make, mostly using charm squares cut in half or 2 1/2" x 5" pieces.  I had a hard time at the beginning trying to decide on the color scheme and kept cutting out more and more colors for my snowman.

At one point, he even had some green in the color scheme.  After disassembling the snowman a few times to replace the colors, I decided that he needed a longer brim on his hat so that a little bird could sit on it.  I widened the brow and finally narrowed down the colors.  I mostly used colors from the fabric line called Nest.  It came out a couple of years ago but I still have a lot of the fabric.

His finished look now has a little wooden bird, a felt scarf and some bright shiny buttons on his body.  I even found a snowflake button that I sewed onto his hat.  I worked on him, changing up the colors for 4 days but I'm happy with how he finally turned out.  What do you think of his new colors?

Elfie

I love using sweet whimsical images for the stamping cards and projects.  For these projects I used a new Christmas stamps set called Elfie.  Isn't he just the cutest?

Sometimes it's fun to make Christmas cards in colors other than red and green.  One day on Pinterest I found this cute card made by Angie Juda on her blog, Chick n Scratch.  For the most part, I copied all of her ideas; they are so sweet and I love the silver and teal colors that she used.  I'll put the link at the bottom so that you can make them, too.

This card is a gate fold card and opens in the middle of the front.  It's fairly easy to make and offers a different way for the card to open.  I colored Elfie with Stamping Blends and added some rhinestones to embellish the card. 

Here is what the card looks like from the inside.

This next "card" is also a gift card holder.  The front is supposed to look like a present.  When you open it, you will find an 3" envelope to hold the gift card.

How cute is that?  You could even put money in the envelope and give as a gift. 

Lastly up I made this cute little favor.  It will only hold a small amount of candy, but sometimes that's all you need.  You can watch Angie's videos here on her youtube. 

Loving the Snowman

I'm a little behind on posting my Christmas projects this year.  The stamp set and papers that I loved the most from Stampin Up's holiday catalog was the Let It Snow suite.  The snowman with the punch is just the cutest little man ever!  I decided to do a class with some fancy fold snowman cards using the Snowman Season stamp set.

For the first card, I folded the cardstock like you normally would and then cut it at 2" from the top.  Then I cut the remaining piece into a 2" strip for the bottom.  I added the designer paper to the two pieces and then added the red snowman center to hold them together.

This leaves a gap in the middle of the card, but it has a nice look to it.  On the inside, you have to be careful where you write your saying, or it will show on the front of the card.  I got this idea from Cathy Krylowitz, one of my fellow demonstrators.

The next card is cut on the diagonal and the bottom piece opens to the side and the top piece opens up.  It has an interesting look to it.  Before you cut your cardstock into 2 pieces to make your two card bases, cut the cardstock on the diagonal.  Then fold each diagonal piece in toward the center.

You'll see where to put the white piece for the inside.  Then add your designer paper and snowman for the focal point.  I've seen this card on Pinterest before, but I got the idea from another of my demonstrator friends Pat Clow.

Card #3 looks fairly easy on the front, but it has a special surprise on the inside!

When you open up the card, the snowman pops up!

He almost appears to be "floating" on the inside of the card, but he is actually attached with a strip of clear window sheet.  You can make this card using any small image.  I got the idea from Julie Davison for the inside of the card.  Check out her site at: http://juliedavison.blogspot.com/2015/06/video-pdf-half-circle-pop-up-card.html to make this card.

The outside of the card idea is from Jennie M Stamping Spot.

Lastly we made this cute snowman box for candy goodies or small gift items.  I got the idea for this from Angie at Chic'n'Scratch.  You can make it by watching her video here.

It's fun to try new fancy folds.  Which one would you like to try?

Cute Mitten Cards with Card Holder

I just love the colors and the papers in the Let It Snow suite!  They're so bright and happy looking.  :)

For this project, I made a card holder that holds about 4 cards.  I used an older Mitten die and a snowflake embossing folder for these cards. 

I love how the mitten die cuts look with the cute mitten designer paper!

Here you can see the inside of the card holder.  To make it, I folded a sheet of cardstock in half, scored 1/8" along both sides of the middle, and then scored 2 1/2" along the bottom for the card flaps.  I cut the bottom flaps at an angle to hold the cards.  Then I glued the outer sides with Tear n Tape. 

We made this card by cutting out the mittens from sparkle paper! It has a different look to it, but everyone loved this card. 

Lastly we made a cute little tag from the mitten cut outs!  To die cut the tag, fold your white cardstock in half and place it so that the die doesn't cut along the folded edge. 

Then add a full cut out mitten to the top of the tag. 

On the inside of the tag, we stamped a saying and a "To-From" stamp.  Attach some twine to the top and you're done.  I love small little handmade things.  Don't you?

Making Buffalo Checked and Rustic Ornaments

This Christmas my daughter decorated with Buffalo checked decor.  It's pretty popular this year and the colors make everything look cozy and warm.  

To decorate her tree, I made some ornaments to go along with her theme.  I love the little Buffalo checked trees the best.  (And yes, I want to make more of these!)  I used a triangle ruler to cut out the shape and sewed them up, leaving a small hole at the bottom for turning and stuffing.  Then I inserted a stick and glued it in using a glue gun.  The bows are glued on and lastly I sewed some red jute to the top to hang them.

You can also see in the photo that I stamped a couple of rustic log slices also.  We made these a few years ago and I still had some log slices left over.  

I used the Snowman stamp from Snowman Season and placed him in the Snow Globe shaker dome for this ornament.  Then I added a Buffalo checked scarf from a thin piece of the fabric!  I had some checked ribbon so I added that to the bottoms.  Doesn't he look so warm and cozy in his checked scarf?

I remembered that I had some sweaters that I cut up to make projects with that were Christmas colors. I cut them out into heart shapes.  They're easy to make because the sweater material holds the stuffing nicely and you can keep shaping them as you fill them.  There's a small hole in the side for turning and stuffing.  I stitched that up, added the bows and some twine to the tops for hanging.  I definitely want to make more of these! I love anything made from receycled sweaters!

I found a nice box at Joann's to give to her to store the ornaments in and to complete the look.  She loved her handmade Christmas Tree Ornament Box!