Christmas Gift Topiaries and a Giveaway!

Hello!

 I'm so excited to be guest blogging for the The Wood Connection today!  I am a lover of all things vintage and shabby chic so I thought I'd share with you a couple vintage inspired gift topiaries I created for the holiday season.  

Supplies used-

Two large wooden blocks

Two medium wooden blocks

Two small wooden blocks

Two candle stick holders

Acrylic paint in ivory and tan

Pattern paper- Carta Bella Winter Fun collection and Echo Park Dots and Stripes collection

Ribbon 

All these supplies can be found at The Wood Connection

Let's get started!

Paint each of your wooden blocks with ivory acrylic paint and let dry.

Paint your candlesticks as well and let dry. I chose to paint mine in tan and white.

Measure and cut ten large squares of paper to fit the large blocks, ten for the medium and ten for the small. Ink around the edges of each piece of paper for a distressed look.

Adhere each piece of paper to their respective blocks and let dry. Trim and sand down any excess paper on the blocks.

Stack the blocks and glue them together using wood glue; let dry.

Tie ribbon around the bottom of the large block and wrap around the top and tie in a bow. 

Now it's time to decorate! I used a few silver sprigs from the craft store and glued them around a couple of the blocks. I also attached a small bottle brush tree on top of the block.

I found a package of mini plastic deer at the craft store, I simply sprayed one with spray adhesive and sprinkled glitter on it. What a festive deer he is!

I finished up by adding a few more sprigs around the blocks, attaching a resin snowflake and adhering the stack of blocks to the candlestick. Tie ribbon around the candlestick and you're done!

Pretty simple, eh? The most time consuming part is waiting for the paint and glue to dry and if you're like me (an impatient crafter) that is the hardest part!

The second topiary follows the same directions as the first. The only difference is I attached a  banner across the front of  the topiary. I used the font Porcelain and printed out the words "Joyeux Noel". I then cut the paper out banner style, traced the edges with glue and sprinkled the banner with glitter and attached it to the topiary.

I hope you've enjoyed this Christmas Topiary tutorial. Thanks so much to The Wood Connection for the opportunity to guest post!  

Now for the giveaway!!

The Wood Connection has given me a $25 gift certificate to their store to give to one lucky winner!

Just leave a comment and you'll be entered into the drawing. 

The drawing will end Thursday, Dec 20th, so be sure to enter today!

 (This drawing is for those who live in Utah or are planning to visit soon, because it is a brick and mortar store. They have no online ordering yet.) 

Christmas Tussie Mussie

Hello and happy Monday to you!

 Today I'd like to show you a holiday project I've been working on.

A tussie mussie can be fun alternative to a Christmas stocking or they can be a beautiful decoration to hang in your home for the holidays.  They're also fairly simply to make, so let's get started!

Directions-

1.Take the top two corners of your 12x12 sheet of paper and bring the points together.  This will automatically form your cone for the tussie mussie. 

2. Run your Xyron Mega Runner  or glue down the seam of the cone, carefully overlap and press together. If you're using glue, you could use a paper clip or clothes pin to hold it together until it dries.

3. You're going to have a leftover 'tail', you'll just need to trim off that excess paper. 

4. Wrap tissue garland around the top edge of the cone.

5. Using adhesive, attach a border strip on top of the tissue garland.

6. Punch holes on both sides of the cone, thread tinsel through to make the handle and tie knots to keep the tinsel in place.

The cone is now finished!

To make the rosette, you'll cut a strip of paper about 2" inches tall and 8" long. 

 Accordion fold the strip of paper like a fan, bend one section in, the other one out, all the way down the length of the paper.

Glue the ends together by tucking the last section under the first.

Gather the rosette together and press down with a finger in the middle.

Turn the rosette over and place glue on the back center of the rosette, place a small circle of paper over the glue and hold down until it is dry.

Glue the rosette to the front of the tussie mussie and let dry.

Now for the fun part....embellishments!

I attached a rhinestone medallion on top of the rosette and tucked a bit of tinsel and a banner piece from the Christmas Cottage Accessory Sheet behind the medallion. I also adhered a chipboard piece and sticker to the front of the rosette.

Now you'll simply fill your cone with whatever you wish! I rolled a leftover scrap of music paper from the Christmas Cottage collection and tied it with ribbon and bakers twine.

I also tucked in a vintage photo of a cute little girl all bundled up for winter, a couple bottle brush trees and a silver Christmas sprig that I had on hand.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a creative day!

~ All supplies used are from the Christmas Cottage Collection ~

 1 sheet of 12x12 Red Damask pattern paper

Border Strips

Rhinestone Medallion

Strip of Music paper

Chipboard Elements

Accessory Sheet

Trim 

A Happy Hello to You

With the gift giving season well on its way, I wanted to share a fun little gift topper with you. Using a few Melissa Frances embellishments, I quickly put together this sweet little bird nest complete with frosty mini trees. I simply placed all my embellishments into the nest and attached a banner sticker across the trees using Zip Dry. It only took a few minutes and it would look darling on top of a sweet gift for a friend.

Supplies used-

Mini nest

Glass bird

Bottle brush trees

Attic Treasures Sticker Banner

all from Melissa Frances

Super Cute Card Kit!

 If  you're looking for a holiday crafting project, Melissa Frances  has an awesome card kit with instructions for sale at Melissa's etsy store. With 10 adorable cards, designed by card maker extraordinaire  Melissa Phillips, this is a great way to get those holiday cards made so that they're ready to give away!

Vintage Inspired Christmas Banner

I know, I know. It's not even December yet and Thanksgiving is just two days away! But I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get Christmas projects finished before the holiday is upon us. I LOVE to decorate for the holidays and the tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving. It took everything I had not to put it up a couple weeks ago when we had a huge snowstorm. It was such a beautiful winter wonderland that it only felt right to set up the tree. Instead I just blared the Nutcracker Suite and drove my husband insane. 

I wanted to create a vintage inspired banner to hang across our mantle. Of course the Christmas Cottage Collection was the perfect fit.

Let's get started!

Trace the wood onto pattern paper, cut out and apply a thin coat of glue (I use Zip Dry)

onto the wood and adhere to the paper.

Ink the around the edges of the flags and string the banner through the holes using ribbon.

Adhere strips of tissue garland to the tops of the pennants. 

Cut out the letters to spell "Joy", spray two of the letters with spray adhesive and shake glitter onto them. Remove excess glitter and adhere one letter to each pennant.

Embellish the banner with different elements from the Christmas Cottage collection any way you please!

Tie strips of tinsel into knots around the ribbon that's holding the pennants together. 

And that's it! You've just made a lovely vintage inspired Christmas banner. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Supplies used-

pattern paper- snowflakes, tiny flowers (back), red damask

border strips

rhinestone medallion

chipboard

decorative brads

faceted rhinestones 

all from the Christmas Cottage Collection by Teresa Collins

tissue garland

tinsel

wooden pennant flags from The Wood Connection

Thankful

Thanksgiving is less than a week away so I thought I'd share with you a couple "Thankful" projects. 

The first is a mini house which uses a darling ornament house from Melissa Frances and beautiful pattern paper from Teresa Collins. I think the colors are perfect for any Thanksgiving decor.

This showcases two of the greatest things I am thankful for. 

Home and family.

Supplies used-

ornament house

tinsel

glass glitter

pleated satin ribbon all from Melissa Frances

pattern paper, chipboard, medallion and button from The Vintage Finds Collection- Teresa Collins

Thanksgiving Gift Basket

This little basket took minutes to make and it would make an adorable host/hostess gift for Thanksgiving. Just fill it up with the lucky recipients favorite treats!

Supplies used- 

Cameo and stickers- Melissa Frances

mini picnic basket- Michaels

fabric scraps

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Giveaway on the Melissa Frances Blog!

To celebrate Melissa's new show, Timeless Creations with Melissa Frances on My Craft Channel, Melissa is  pleased to offer a giveaway!  Head over to the Melissa Frances Blog to find out how you can win your choice of a gorgeous new purse or a fun paper crafts packet! Giveaway is open until 12:00 PM EST on Wednesday, Nov.14 so hurry on over!