Christmas Cards!

I just realized that I forgot to post a picture of my finished Christmas card. I showed an in-progress shot  here, But now they are all done and sent out. I didn't make as many as I normally would have because I've been sick and I just didn't feel up to it.

Each card was slightly different - I used different washi tapes (and other decorative tapes) in different configurations and there were different ribbons used. And after I ran out of ribbon, the last few used washi tape instead. But they're all the same basic idea.

I like how they turned out and I'm really pleased that I made them all with supplies I had on hand. Not that I'm against buying more supplies (just ask my husband!) but I do have a ton of art and craft supplies and very little storage space. For several years, I've been using as much of my stash as I can and I still have so much more to use! Which, when you think about it, is a good problem to have, especially since I don't always have a lot of money to spend.

AEDM #30

While I've enjoyed Art Every Day Month, I'm so glad that today is the last day. I've got a horrible cold and just really haven't felt well this past week.

Today, I finished the bulletin board that I was working on earlier in the week. The tree is made up of hands which each has a name of someone who attended Sunday School. There's also red and silver glitter where the fingernails would be, The ornaments around the tree are from a website called Bible Story Printables  -click here to go there. They have the names of Jesus on them. I printed them at half size. They were originally going on the tree, but that would have left big open spaces to either side of the tree, so I went with this. I may end up doing one more row of hands for the bottom row for anyone who didn't attend this week (and because I don't like the blank space at the bottom). Or I may just put a brown trunk at the bottom if there's no new names that need to go on there.

AEDM #29

It may not look like much at the moment, but I've been working on my Christmas cards. I'll post a picture when they're finished.

AEDM #28

Here is something I've been working on for a bulletin board at my church. Every one that attends Sunday School will put their name on a hand and they will go on the bulletin board in a Christmas tree shape (with fingers pointing down). I'll probably post a picture of the completed board on Sunday.

AEDM # 27

Happy Thanksgiving! Today for Art Every Day Month, my nephew and I made this Christmas ornament together. We also made a couple for him to take home.

AEDM #26

Today I put together some kits I got at the Dollar Tree. I'm still not feeling well so this is the most creative I can be today. The tree and gingerbread man are felt and the penguin is foam.

AEDM #22

Today's art is a wreath. It's from a kit I bought. I can't seem to pass up craft kits that are on clearance.

AEDM #20

I had a crazy busy day today. The only art I managed was a doodle on a styrofoam cup at my church's Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Unfortunately, I turned around and someone had thrown it away. So instead, here is a picture of a paper wreath I started last week. It's made on a cardboard wreath shape, covered in green paper, and it has 60 or 70 circles that are folded (in a way that's hard to describe), to make it fluffy looking. It's not quite done. I intend to add a red paper bow when I get around to it. Who knows when that will be!

AEDM #19

For day 19 of Art Every Day Month, I've made a Rudolph head. It's a flat Christmas decoration to hang on the wall. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I think it's cute. It's not a great picture, but the head is gold and the nose is very sparkly.

AEDM #17

I guess you could consider this a Christmas card, or at least a card front. That's not exactly why I made it - I do some "behind the scenes" volunteer work at Christmas in a room with plain boring walls. Several years ago I started making little Christmas art to hang up. Some of them (like this one) are just free printables that are printed at 1/4 size. I glued this one to a red background and went crazy with the metallic gel pens. The printable I used can be found here.

AEDM #8

Day 8, is another Rainbow Loom creation - a candy cane. The face is a little wonky but it's still cute. From a tutorial by feelinspiffy.

Daily Ornament Day 25

Merry Christmas! Today is the last of my daily ornament series, and quite frankly, I'm glad it's done. 25 posts in 25 days is a lot for me, considering I had one post in November, one in October, and before that it was August when I last posted anything.

Today's ornament is something that I might do every year. The ornament itself is basically the same as Day 6 and Day 16, but this time I used a picture of my nephew Andrew.

I liked the idea so much, I also made one with a picture from last year.

I didn't try to match the papers I used because there is no way I'll remember to save certain paper just for that, but you could make a bunch (18? or more?) of blank ones and just add a picture every year and you'd have a matching set!

Daily Ornament Day 24

Today's ornament is one of my favorites. I think it's really cute. There are a lot of tutorials for making paper rosettes but I'll quickly explain how I made mine. I started with a strip of white cardstock, 12 x 1 1/2 inches. I used a border punch along one edge. Then I accordion folded the strip- it's probably about 1/4 inch sections, but I did it so it would match up with the pattern of the border punch. I glued the ends together. The next part is a bit tricky and a little hard to explain. You have to flatten the folded strip and hold it flat while gluing a circle of cardstock to the center to make it stay down. I used a circle on both sides; I'm not sure if it was necessary but it worked for me. The glue I used took a really long time to dry so I had to hold it flat until the glue set. It kept wanting to pop back up.

To decorate it, I added a red circle to the center and a die-cut gingerbread man that I embellished with white gel pen. I've had the die-cut for 14 or 15 years - back when no one had their own personal machines and you'd buy themed packs of die-cuts at the craft store. (Yes, I do have hoarder tendencies but I was right! I did find a use for it. Now to find uses for all the rest.) I wove ribbon through the holes from the border punch, leaving a loop for hanging at the top, and tied a bow at the bottom.

I really like how this turned out, except for the lopsided bow. I can never tie a pretty bow.

Daily Ornament Day 23

Today's ornament comes from the Creative Studio at hp.com, specifically this project. It was a little awkward to put together as there were no instructions, but I found a similar project that did have instructions and followed those where I could and improvised the rest. The result is a 3-D bird with moveable wings that can stand on it's own if you want, or you can add a ribbon for hanging.

Daily Ornament Day 22

Today's ornaments were inspired by my Charlie Brown ornaments from Day 20. I thought they were really cute and I wanted to do another cartoon. Danger Mouse was always a favorite. In fact my dog's full name is Annabelle Dangermouse.

These ornaments are hand-cut paper with some drawn details. And I think they're awesome. I want to make some magnets like this for my fridge.

Daily Ornament Day 21

Today's ornament comes from the fact that I've been keeping the scraps and leftovers from all these ornaments in a box on my desk. I was playing around with some pieces of toilet paper roll left over from Day 19 when I realized what I was doing looked kind of cool. I glued it together and sprayed it with Glimmer Mist, because I thought it needed some sparkle.

I also made another one, but it didn't turn out as cute. It looked great until I took it apart to glue it, and couldn't remember exactly how it had been put together. I played around with it for a while, but finally gave up. I still can't figure out what I did differently.

Daily Ornament Day 20

Today's ornaments, while technically ornaments, were used as name tags on my brother's Christmas gifts. I saw something similar done in felt, which were themselves inspired by a set of ornament shaped cookies.

They are made of paper, with a jump ring at the top which I used to tie onto the package with ribbon. I think they came out really cute and I may make more from different TV shows or movies.

Daily Ornament Day 19

For today, I made two versions of the same ornament, just decorated differently. It's a snowflake made from a (empty) toilet paper roll. I've seen them on various blogs and Pinterest. I didn't follow a tutorial, so I don't have one to link to, but I'll explain what I did. Basically, I just flattened an empty toilet paper roll (you could also use a paper towel roll), cut it into strips (mine are about 1/2 an inch but if I was doing it again, I'd go a bit thinner), painted the pieces, hot glued them together, and embellished them a bit.

For the first one I glued a brad in the center and outlined the edges of each piece with a Gelly Roll clear stardust pen. It's very subtle (and impossible to get a good picture of) but you can see it when the light hits it just right. You could also use glitter, but I rarely do- it's just too messy.

For the second one, I glued on some rhinestones, one in the center and one on the tip of each arm.

This is a really easy craft that can be as simple or elaborate as you want. To see a really awesome example (made by someone else) click here.

Daily Ornament Day 18

Today's ornament came from this tutorial. It was a lot harder than I was expecting and I'm pretty sure I didn't get it quite right, but it makes for an interesting ornament.

Daily Ornament Day 17

Today's ornament is a 3-D star made by following this tutorial. I used regular copy paper to try out the technique and decided I liked the look of the white paper. Before I glued the two pieces together, I used Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold to give it some sparkle. The paper was a little thin for the amount of Glimmer Mist I used- I can be a bit heavy handed with it. I was afraid it would collapse into a soggy, glittery mess, but it dried all right and I think it turned out pretty cute.

It's hard to see the shimmer, so here's a close-up to give you an idea.