Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 21

Warning - Today's Blog comes with a warning. Anyone with a delicate disposition should not proceed any further. Do not read this blog in front of children or anyone with a faint heart. 




It contains not only stripping but partial nudity (of a sorts). 




Turn around...




Go back now...




OK, don't say you weren't warned!!




Here it is at last... my 2011 handmade Christmas Card.




Final chance to turn around...




Enter at your peril...!


As you know our theme for Christmas day this year is Santa.
So far we've had:

• Santa Invites
• Santa Gift Tags
• Santa Candles

Well now it is the Santa Christmas Card...

I must give credit to Melanie Evans who's original design I discovered in "Cards & Crafts for Christmas Magazine" - I think the first Christmas special publication.

The Outside... Yes that is the same belt, well not the EXACT SAME belt, but you know what I mean.

Right about now is where you should expect to hear "The Stripper" music playing in your head...
As Santa slips off his belt... just a little tease of what is to come! (Yes I am warped!)

The Inside...

Let the therapy begin!!! And no I don't mean RETAIL THERAPY... unless you want to head along and do some shopping here!!

Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 20

Great, simple and yummy craft today, thanks to my lovely friend Glenna who showed me these a few years ago... it's taken me until now to finally make them!!


Reindeer Candy Canes

Sorry he started off a bit camera shy on his own... didn't want to look the camera straight on, kept blinking every time the camera went... bit of a diva really!!! Of course once he was joined by a few friends... and then a few more, he became a bit more cooperative!!

Candy Cane (pre-wrapped in hygienic plastic).
Wrap the pipe cleaner around the hook then twist a couple of times to hold in place.
Wrap each end around a pencil then stretch out and up to give the reindeer horns.
Attach buggle/boggle/wobbly eyes. I used Tiger Grip Glue.
Leave to dry.
Optional extra - you can add a mini pompom for a nose. I didn't have any so they are all noseless.

Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 19

Yes another late one tonight... I admit it, I'm a tiger for punishment that's all there is to it.
After last Christmas I picked up some paper mache ornaments marked down after all the Christmas Sales. I picked them up already with thoughts of adding them to the 2011 Christmas Craft List. I didn't know what I would do with them exactly, but I knew I had a little under 12 months to think about it a bit.
I loved this three dimensional tree as soon as I saw it (which was actually before the sale). I contemplated buying it several times, but thought it was a bit expensive... not so on sale.


Here it is in its naked state... raw... au natural. The tree is about two foot tall (guesstimate) and fitted on 2 A3 papers laid sideways.

I painted the tree all over in white gesso, two coats. I knew I was going to cover it, so I wasn't too particular, just tried to get it even... thank goodness for large foam brushes!!!

(This picture is intentionally on a slight angle to show you the depth of it.)
I cut a pattern by tracing around the outside with a pencil then decided on my design and hand sketched it. Once I was happy with the design I labelled the pattern pieces then cut them out. Then the fun started. I searched though all my scraps of red and green to find the right pieces to fit all the pattern pieces. From there it was simply a matter of tracing around the pattern pieces and cutting them out before finally adhering them onto the tree base.

I really like the way it has turned out. I'm still contemplating what to do about the sides... for now they will just stay white. I'm also deciding whether or not to add any embellishments or just let the pattern speak for itself.
{Edited - Added Before and After Photographs}

Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 18

Well we are into the home stretch. It's a week until the Big Day itself - Christmas Day.
Am I ready... kind of.
ONE present to buy.
TWO parcels to post to the South Island.
THREE impatient kids to put up with for a week who are all trying to come up with every excuse under the sun for why the presents currently under the tree need to be rearranged, AGAIN!
FOUR days of work left.
FIVE more Christmas Craft Challenge items to finish (yes some already completed - thank goodness).
SIX(TY) odd Christmas cards still to be finished and written and then posted.
SEVEN sleeps until the big day which I know will just fly by far too fast and then it will all be over for another year and I can relax!!!


I'd never heard of gift card wallets until last Christmas when I was googling and found a tutorial on them. I made a couple last year for various presents and have become quite a convert!
This year I have made another couple. One is what I would call credit card size, the other is card size. I can't say too much as you never know who is watching, but suffice it to say the second gift card comes with a "To, from and how much" tear-off portion on the top, so its double the size of a credit card.
I've made the same style of gift card wallet for each but the sizes are different as are the method closing/fastening the wallet. 
The smaller gift card wallet has a slip over band... in keeping with this year's theme. If you think it looks familiar you probably saw it here and just a hint... you will see it once more.

And that is an OLD gift card not the real one for anyone playing guess the gift card at home!!
As the larger gift card wallet couldn't be sealed at the sides (it would have been too wide for the envelope) I used the belt to hold everything in place by adhering it in position. The top flat folds inside the pocket to seal it closed.

Believe it or not, both belts and buckles are exactly the same size on both gift card wallets.

Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 17

Ok I know I am late, as technically its now the 18th here, but I have a good excuse. Today (the 17th) was my darling hubbie's birthday, so I've been in birthday mode all day instead of Christmas Craft Challenge mode. Although we didn't do anything special, no big party - thank goodness as it has rained all day - we've still had family over most of the day as well as phone calls to and from my parents and sister.
As long as I can remember we've always had a candle(s) on the table on Christmas Day. I can't remember why or when this tradition started but I have vague recollections of it being my fault after I insisted on my mother buying a HUGE Santa Claus shaped candle because I thought it was just the bee's knees. It was the first "shaped" candle I had ever seen... so given this fact, I was probably around 8 - 10 at the time... so a few years ago. He was a good'un that Santa Candle as I know we lit him every year for at least three or four years and apart from loosing his hat to the power of the flame, he served as well.
Anyway... so in keeping with tradition I've made some candles for Christmas Day. We've got 22 - 24 for Christmas Day so it's probably going to be three or four tables end to end in the big garage. (Our small garage is my Craft Studio aka the Dungeon.) 
I've made two candles to keep with our Santa theme. One is a really simple decoration... the other is even more simpler. And then two more to complement - these were the problem children tonight and why I'm late posting. More on that later in the post.


Santa Candles:

Simple Version

• Start with a white church candle, whatever diameter & height you like. I would have liked mine to be slightly taller, but I couldn't get a matching pair the same diameter & height, so got the closest I could without spending a small fortune.
• Measure the height of the candle & the diameter, then cut a piece of red cardstock that exact height but 3/4" - 1" longer than the diameter of the candle (so you have plenty of wrap around the candle).
• Adhere some strong double sided adhesive along one of the short ends. I used Wondertape as it seems to have a much stronger hold than ordinary double sided adhesive. As I've found out in the past you do need an extra bit of grip when trying to keep cardstock to stay in place around a curved object.
• Roll the cardstock around the candle and adhere closed.
• Cut a strip of black paper 1" wide and the same length that you cut your red cardstock. Remember it needs to go around the entire diameter of the candle with a bit spare to adhere one end securely over the other end. I used Teresa Collins "Timeless Black Flocked Paper" which has this amazing velvet feel. It is so perfect for Santa's belt not only because of the feel but also the colour... it is sure a pure looking black. 
• Cut a 1 1/2" square from silver mirror paper. I used Teresa Collins "On the Edge Reflective Paper". It lives up to its name to be sure. It's so reflective you can see your image in it when you look at the page. I then ran the square through my Cuttlebug and cut a 1" square in the middle to create a buckle. It did take a bit of eyeballing to line up the die but as you will see in a later post I had a few to do, so I soon became a dab hand at it. You can always measure and draw lines, then cut the centre out with a craft knife if you don't have a die cutter or the right sized die.
• Adhere the buckle onto Santa's belt.

Simpler Version

• Buy a red candle then follow the above from the belt on. It still looks just as effective as the Simple Version - only Santa has a red hat instead of a white head.

Candy Cane Candles:

• Start with straight sided white candles. These are 5cm diameter & 15cm tall.
• Cut acetate to size - same height as candle, length slightly longer than the diameter of the candle. (I did try sticking the adhesive directly onto the candle but neither double sided tape of even Wondertape would stick - grrrr, oh well, we live and learn)
• Adhere double sided tape of various widths on a diagonal across the width of the acetate. I did all the full length stripes first as it was easier to use the lines on my cutting mat to make sure I was laying the double sided adhesive and Wondertape on straight.
• Adhere a strip of Wondertape along one of the side edges then roll the acetate around the candle and adhere in place. (This was about where I found out that neither candle was actually straight... but no one will ever know the truth!!!)
• Finishing adhering stripes that cover the seam in the acetate.
• Remove the backing paper from the adhesive stripes and cover with glitter. Be sure to do this task over drip paper or a glitter tray to catch the excess so you can reuse it. I used glitter trays so was able to roll the candles around in the glitter to help it adhere.
• NOTE: This is the messy bit of the craft. Be warned - no matter how much you try to wrangle your glitter to keep it in place, its still going to end up everywhere!!!
• Once you are happy with the coverage of the glitter, use a firm brush to remove any excess glitter. (If you thought the above was messy... this step is even worse!!)
• Return the excess glitter to the bottle. I have found a mini funnel is perfect for this task even when using a glitter tray to catch the excess.

Here are all the finished candles. I think they all look great.

Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 16

Following from yesterday's craft... here is a more complicated version.
As the insides of the tubes were already white, I only painted the outside of the tube (bonus) though I did do four layers of paint - two white and then two clear with crystal glitter.
Once I had stuck the loops altogether... following the instructions from yesterday, I then added some bead combinations for something more spectacular.

Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 15

I'm a great proponent of recycling, reusing and re-purposing especially in my crafting. (I'm not so hot with sorting my recycling for the rubbish collection, but nobody's perfect).
I don't know about anyone else but in our house we seem to go through toilet paper like its going out of fashion which means of course that we end up with what can seem like thousands of toilet roll tubes. 
I've made toilet roll albums in the past... these still need some work for me to be happy with the end result but then I know I am a perfectionist.
During one of my many, many, MANY trolling the internet sessions on Pinterest I saw these really cool ornaments. Not only do they use up the toilet roll inner tube, but these are a great craft for kids to try.

1. Find some toilet roll inner tubes without any toilet paper dregs stuck on them. It just looks tidier on the end result.
2. Squish the tube flat - I used my fingers for the first bit of squishing, then finished off with a bone folder to clean up the fold. For kids you can just use finger pressure.
3. Measure along the tube to get six even slices of tubes. I made my slices 15mm wide and ended up with about 10mm left over... bin this bit.
4. Cut along each line to give you six rings. Re-shape these slightly to give you an oval shaped ring.
5. You can then colour the rings inside and out if you want to. I painted mine both inside and out. If you are doing this craft with kids you could try fingers painting or crayons instead... just make sure you have plenty of protective paper down. Using acrylic paint, the first was well dry by the time I finished the last one.
6. Now the fun of putting them altogether. The trick to making this step easier... paperclips!!! Use the paperclips to hold two rings together, joining all the rings into a six-pointed star. Using the paperclips you can keep rearranging the loops until you get the loops linked the way you want.
7. Once you are happy with where the joins will be... remove one paperclip noting where the tape needs to be. Then adhere double sided tape in exactly the spot where the paperclip held the two loops together. I used Wondertape. It is incredibly tacky and will hold anything together. I found it was perfect and I didn't have to wait for the glue to dry... always a bonus as we all know how impatient I am!!!
8. Repeat step 7 to join all six loops together.
9. Finally add a small hole using your trusty Crop-O-Dile into what will be your top loop. Thread through some string to use to hang your ornament with. I did find I needed to add beads to stop the threads passing through the hole in the top of the loop. For a kids version, you could just tie the string around the top loop rather than worrying about a hole.