Think Crafts by CreateForLess

There were so many wonderful entries into the 2013 Handmade Holidays Drawing and we had so much fun looking through all of the beautiful photos and getting inspired by your creativity! It’s time to announce our randomly selected winner. Congratulations to… Heather S. from Scottsburg, IN! Here is her lovely newlywed ornament:

This cute easy craft was an ornament to commemorate a first Christmas for some newlywed friends. In this one pictured, I used a cream etching kit and etching stencil letters to etch “first christmas” one one side of a round glass ornament, and I etched the year on the other side. Then I rubbed in a silver etching enhancer cream into both etchings, wiping away the excess as the directions indicate–it’s very easy. Then I tightly curled with scissors several lengths of curling ribbon. For this ornament I chose red and green shimmery ribbon, but for another I used the wedding colors. I filled the etched ornament with these ribbons, and put the cap on top. For a little extra personalization, I used a small silver chain through the cap hanger to dangle a silver initial charm on the outside of the ball.

Check out some more inspiring crafts made by you!

Lana K. Phoenix AZ

Poinsettias with embossed leaves, yellow candy sprinkle centers, and lightly highlighted with red glitter glue. Each poinsettia was made up of 10 individual pieces of cut card stock in red and green and then embossed, assembled layer by layer, and then the petals and leaves were curled with the handle of a watercolor brush to look as realistic as possible.

Christy A. Fultondale, AL

My holiday project is rock painting. I’ve become obsessed with it. I use Acrylic paints, a gloss sealant and glitter.

Theresa H. Hopkins, MN

I love to make animals from socks and then use other sewing accents to decorate them such as buttons, felt or even yarn to make a scarf with.

Diane D. Auckland New Zealand

The picture is of two Christmas Tree table decorations I made after attending a “Midnight Madness” evening with our wonderful tutor Ku Bailey. They are made with cotton quilting fabric then stuffed and put together then decorated with embellishments. Ideal for centre pieces on the table on Christmas Day. They were easy and great fun to make.

Richelle W. Hillsboro, OR

Hand painted jingle bell owl. I used acrylic craft paints to paint on rustic/rusty jingle bells. Use satin ribbon or jute twine for hanging on the tree or connect a bunch to a strand of ribbon or jute twine to make garland.

Like us on Facebook and check back tomorrow when we’ll add a whole album of beautiful entries from this year’s Handmade Holidays Drawing!

By Kid’s Crafts Contributor Stephanie, from the Blog A Geek in Glasses.

Get the boys crafting this winter with these cool ornaments using toy cars. They can make them for their friends or for dad and grandpa. These cars are so cute to hang on the tree plus they make a great craft fair project just in time for the holidays.

Supplies:

• Toy Cars with open windows
• Hemp or Twine
• Mini Bottle Brush Tree
• Wire Ornament hooks

Start by selecting toy cars that have open windows. These makes it easy to tie the tree to the roof and makes this a “NO GLUE” project.  Next, cut the base off of the mini tree if needed.

Tie the tree to the top of the car using hemp cord or thin twine.

Last, add a wire ornament hook and it’s ready to hang.

By Home Decor Contributor Jennifer from Brave New Home.

We inherited a set of bar stools that were the perfect height for our counter and completely functional but they were a bit shabby.

Using some fabric and Mod Podge, I gave them a quick makeover.  I started by sanding the stools down.  I liked the worn look in some places.

I traced around the stool seat leaving about two inches extra to fold over the sides.  The more the better.  It keeps the edges from fraying.  After I mod podged the seat and adhered my fabric, I hot glued the edges under the stool and used masking tape to hold down the sides.

Then all the fabric got an extra coat of mod podge.  Here are the stools against a newly painted chalkboard wall.  They’ve been holding up great to regular use!

Happy Monday! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! Let’s stay in the holiday spirit and give away another prize! Congratulations to… Loralie! Enjoy crafting with your DCWV Packs!

Perfect for a wedding, formal event, or any page that needs a little sophistication, these DCWV paper stacks are sure to impress! The Magnolia Way stack includes 48 sheets of 12 x 12 inch cardstock with 12 different designs. Six of the 12 designs include gloss and glitter. Add drama with the Forever and Always stack with 48 sheets of 12 x 12 inch cardstock also with 12 different designs. Six of these designs include foil accents.

The winning answer to “What’s your favorite Thanksgiving leftover?” is…

“stuffing….or pie….or turkey…or fruit salad.
stuffing. definitely the stuffing.”

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week.  Check back on Friday for your chance to win!!

By Scrapbooking & Card Making Contributor

Peg Rounds

Peg’s Crafting Corner

Q: Why does my card stock or patterned paper have rough edges after I cut it?

A:  Your paper trimmer blade is dull and needing to be replaced.  Instead of giving you a clean cut it is roughly tearing the fibers of the paper.

Q:  My accents inks tend to spray blobs and drip onto the paper.  What am I doing wrong?

A:  Do not shake the bottles. Instead roll them in your hand slowly or rotate them in circles to mix them.  Then, when you spray push the nozzle down   fast and hard to get a fine mist.

Q: What is a magnetic platform used for with a die cutting machine?

A:  The platform itself is part of the “sandwich” that is needed for the thickness to go through the machine to properly cut using a die.  The magnetic platform is like a regular platform, but the magnets hold the dies in place and keep them from sliding and moving around.

Q: Besides watercolor paint, what I can use a water brush for?

A:  Water brushes can be used with ink pads to ink wash color on a stamped image, they can be used with watercolor crayons and watercolor pencils.

Q: In using the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board, can I use patterned paper to make the envelopes?

A:  Yes,  you can use a label sticker to place the address on or you can, also, use a die and die cut machine to cut a window in the envelope and place a piece of lighter colored, solid cardstock inside the envelope so that the address shows through the window.  This, also, works when using dark colored card stocks.

By Kid’s Crafts Contributor Stephanie, from the Blog A Geek in Glasses.

Create a living ornament that will last long after the holidays. This is a great project for children to make, my daughter made 50 terrariums for her Auntie’s baby shower, so if a 5 year old can make these anyone can. We used living moss to start. They say you can re-hydrate craft store moss by watering it and keeping it moist, but if it has been sterilized it cannot be rejuvenated.

Supplies:

• Ball Ornaments
• very small pebbles or sand
• charcoal
• potting soil
• Moss
• Miniature Animals

Start this project by adding 2 tablespoons of tiny stones or sand into the bottom, add enough that so that you can see the sand/stones on the side of the ornament, not just to cover the bottom of the curve.

Next if you are using real plants and water, add a half tablespoon of charcoal to filter the water. If you are just creating a living scene, then you do not need the charcoal.

Now add 1 or 2 tablespoons of potting soil, depending on the size of the ball and how much greenery you’re adding.

Place moss on top. Once the greenery is placed stick in the animals, or mushrooms. We used a little deer found in the holiday decorations. Note before you start, make sure your animals or mushrooms, ect. fit into the hole of the ornament.You may have to use tweezers to place the animals in the terrarium. 

If the moss is alive, carefully add water, use an eye dropper so not to mist the glass sides.  

Add a string to the ornament top and replace the top to the ornament.

Here is a little about Terrarium Care

The idea of the terrarium is the same principle that our ecosystem runs on. The rain falls, then evaporates, gathers in the clouds and falls again.  Terrariums recycle their moisture and require very little attention. Once the right humidity balance is achieved the terrarium can go weeks even months without watering. 

If you have a closed terrarium, like the one we created above, it will need come air circulation every 10 days or so.

They require little light, so be sure to keep them away from direct sun light. It’s ok to be in a bright room, but not in the direct sunlight.

By Card Making & Scrapbooking Contributor

Peg Rounds

Peg’s Crafting Corner

There are many fun ways to decorate for the holidays and as paper crafters there is nothing more fun than creating something to use.  This adorable little tree makes the perfect table decoration.  You can even light it up by placing a battery operated tea light under it so it can shine through the night, too.

Cut three 3” squares from green card stock and spritz with an accent ink and allow it to dry.

Run each square through a die cut machine and embossing folder (D’Vine Swirl folder by Provo Craft).  Then, fold in half from corner to corner.

Turn one square over and add adhesive with a tape runner down the left and right sides and on each side of the fold as shown in the picture.

Attach the remaining 2 squares by lining them up next to each other on each side of the fold as shown.  Be sure to leave them a little away from the fold line so that they don’t interfere with it.

Attach the remaining 2 squares by lining them up next to each other on each side of the fold as shown.  Be sure to leave them a little away from the fold line so that they don’t interfere with it.

Fold the squares back down to the center.

Fold the center square (the one that you attached the other 2 onto) in half at the fold line.  You will now have a piece that looks like this.

Now, using a hole punch or Crop-A-Dile punch a hole in the top that is centered.  Next, punch another in the center of the bottom (in the “v” area of the tree).  Make sure the top and bottom wholes are in a straight line from each other.  Punch a couple of more holes along each side staggering them towards the center of the tree.  There will be some holes that don’t go completely through due to the way it is folded.  The next step will take care of that.

This is a mock up of the tree in white so you can see the edges that need to line up when the tree is popped up. This is the back of the tree. The holes that are punched in this should match up and those that don’t will need to be punched through.  It’s more important to make sure the holes line up and not necessarily the edges.  If you need to make adjustments to that they do that’s fine.

Next, use a snowflake punch (I chose a corner punch by Martha Stewart) and punch out a snowflake.  This will become the tree top.  Place a dot of Stickles (Icicle Stickles) on the piece and use your finger or paint brush to move it to completely cover it.  You want it to just have a sparkly look.  Add some dots onto the tree for ornaments and allow everything to dry.

Once it’s dried, align the holes so the tree stands up, place one edge of the snowflake into the center and add a small amount of glue on the edge to hold it together.

Take a piece of scrap card stock and cut a 5 ½” circle using a circle cutter.  Also, do this step using the piece of card stock you want for the tree skirt.  Fold the scrap circle into eighths.  Do not fold the piece that you want to use for your design, fold only the template piece.

Use a corner punch (Aspen Snowflake Around the Page punch) for this step.  It’s a fun way to use those punches in another way.  Make a mark on each section that is 1 ¼” from the bottom edge and then from that mark measure 1” down.  The area in between those marks is where you will need to punch.  Place the template in the corner punch lining it up between the marks and punch all the way around the circle.

Place the template on top of the piece that you will be using for your decorations and line up each punched area in the punch and punch around the circle again.

This is what it will look like when you’re finished with this step.

The tree is now complete and ready to use.  They make wonderful decorations for your craft area, desk at work or even to share with others.  No matter how you use it, it will surely bring some shine into the season.