Christmas

Tutorial of the Month – Box Corner Christmas Ornament

Good morning, everyone!  Another month has passed us by, and it is time for another tutorial 🙂  This month, I wanted to draw off another tutorial to demonstrate how you can take some of the ideas found right here on my blog, add a slight twist, and create something unique and different.  So…I decided that I would take my tutorial on how to create box corners and turn them into something completely different…a Christmas ornament!

Materials

The materials you’ll need include:

Tools

The tools you’re gonna need are:

  • E-6000 and/or Glossy Accents
  • Ruler
  • Long chain nose pliers
  • Binder clips
  • Crystal Katana (or tweezers) for placing rhinestones

Optional tools (if creating a wire ornament hanger):

  • Jewelry pliers (chain nose, bent chain nose, round nose, bail making)
  • Flush cutters
  • Steel block or anvil
  • Rubber or planishing hammer

Step 1

Create a total of 8 box corners as per my tutorial.  Ensure that the front of the filigree design is on the inside of corners…not the outside.

Step 2

Using E-6000, glue four of the box corners together to create one half of the ornament.  Use binder clips to hold filigrees together until the glue has set.  Repeat for second four corners.

Step 3

Glue two ornament halves together and use binder clips to hold together until glue sets.

Here’s a look at the ornament after the clips have been removed, and before any embellishment has been added.  I created the silver ornament using filigree #286-P and Method 1 for creating the box corners.  The bronze ornament is created using filigree #822-B and Method 2 for creating box corners.

Step 4

Add rhinestones to the ornament using Glossy Accents.

Step 5

Add a hanger to the ornament using silk ribbon.  If preferred, you can create a wire hanger by following Step 7 and Step 8 of this tutorial.

Here’s a look at our finished ornament:

That’s it for this month’s tutorial.  I hope you like the twist I added to the box corner tutorial, and hope it inspires you to look for more opportunities in the tutorials I’ve already shared 🙂  Cheers and have a great December!

Vintage Christmas Cards…Round 2

Good morning, everyone!  As promised on Tuesday, I have more Christmas cards to share with you today 🙂  As with my last batch of cards, these are all 5″ x 7″, and have a large Spellbinders label die cut with embossed sentiment on it as the main focal point.  All the sentiments are from a variety of Paper Trey Ink stamps and embossed using Lindy’s Stamp Gang “Twilight Bronze” embossing powder.  I did double-mat all of the cards (both inside and out), distressed all the edges using the Zutter Distrezz-it-All, and inked all my edges using “Brushed Corduroy” distress ink.

Card #1

This card turned out beautifully, don’t you think?  I started by adding a crocheted lace belly band near the bottom of the wallpaper, then added jute twine over top before adhering the wallpaper to the card base.  I then layered a round bronze filigree (#167-B) over a medium sized doily in the lower left corner before adding the sentiment.  To frame the sentiment, I added two clusters of “Holiday Greens” die cuts by Tim Holtz, paper poinsettia blooms, and a couple of bronze bead caps (#CAP040-B).  I did color a couple of the poinsettia blooms using “Brushed Corduroy” distress ink and then sprayed them with “Blazing Sun” Sunburst Spray by Lindy’s Stamp Gang.

To finish the card, I added some SS8 bronze and SS20 clear rhinestones to the center of the flowers.  I also added SS16, SS12 and SS10 clear rhinestones to a couple of the corners, and added a bronze filigree corner (#546-B) to the upper right corner of the card front.

Since I put so much effort into the front of the card, I do take the time to finish the inside of the card, as well.  I add wallpaper to both sides, and then include two Spellbinders labels die-cuts, one of which typically includes a sentiment.  I also like to add a splash of metal to three corners.  Here’s a quick look inside the first card:

Card #2

This next card was created for my mom 🙂  I absolutely love the pale blue snowflakes on the patterned paper!  Unlike usual, I did not use foam tape under the sentiment.  This time, I added it to the card front first, then wrapped jute twine around the wallpaper several times to the left of the sentiment.  Next, I added a few tears around the edges of the wallpaper before adhering it to the card front.  I do like to use a matte multi medium where I tear and curl the edges.  This helps the curled edges from straightening and flattening out over time…and in the mail!

I did use some Lindy’s Stamp Gang “Golden Doubloons” Moonshadow Spray to add a few splatters to the background, then added two bronze filigrees (#731-B) to two corners.   I framed the sentiment using a bronze filigree (#678-B) and paper blooms on the lower left, and bronze bead caps (#CAP040-B) and more paper poinsettias on the upper right.  For the finishing touches, I just added a few SS8 bronze rhinestones to the centers of the poinsettias, and SS20 clear crystal rhinestones to the centers of the bead caps.

Card #3

My third card is a little simpler, but just as nice, I think.  I started by adding another vertical belly band toward the left made by layering more jute twine over crocheted lace.  I then added two metal filigrees (#361-B) to frame the sentiment, which I mounted using foam tape.  More “Holiday Greens”, poinsettia blooms, and a small bronze bead cap (#CAP040-B) add a little more Christmas flare to the card.

Two metal filigrees (#730-B) dress up two opposite corners of the card.  Of course, I had to bling the card up a bit by adding clear crystal rhinestones to the center of the bead cap (SS20), on the left hand side of the sentiment (SS10), and to two corners (SS16, SS12 and SS10) of the card.  I totally fell in love with the bronze rhinestones while making these cards this year!  Therefore, I added a cluster of three SS8 rhinestone to the center of all the poinsettias again.

Card #4

Because the patterned paper I chose for this next card is quite busy, I opted to keep the embellishments to a minimum.  With no belly band, I was able to adhere the wallpaper to the card front first.  I then added two bronze flower shaped filigrees (#022-B) on either end of the sentiment.  I also added a small doily on the left before adhering the sentiment to the card front using foam tape.  …then came the poinsettia paper blooms complete with bronze rhinestones centers, and a bronze bead cap (#CAP040-B) with an SS20 clear rhinestone center.  Finally, I added two bronze filigree corners (#730-B), and more bling in two corners (SS16, SS12, SS10) and on the center label under the embossed sentiment (SS10).

Card #5

I started my fifth card by adhering the wallpaper to the card base.  I then added a bronze filigree (#941-B) to the right before adding the sentiment to the card front using foam tape…using the foam tape does really add some dimension to the card.  With the sentiment in place, I added two clusters of “Holiday Greens” and paper poinsettia blooms, with a bronze bead cap (#CAP040-B) thrown in there 😉

As usual, I added SS8 bronze and SS20 clear rhinestones to the center of the paper blooms and bead cap, respectively.  The finishing touches on this card include more clear crystal rhinestones in the upper right corner of the card (SS12 and SS10) and lower left corner of the sentiment label (SS10).

Card #6

This next card is the last card I created this season.  I started by adhering a bronze metal filigree (#553-B) at the lower left corner of where I expected the sentiment to end up.  I then wrapped jute twine around the wallpaper several times before adhering it to the card base.  Next, I added the sentiment to the card front using foam tape.  I then finished the two clusters of embellishments surrounding the sentiment.  This time, I changed things up a bit by adding some miniature bronze and silver gears amongst the “Holiday Greens”, paper poinsettia blooms and a bronze bead cap (#CAP040-B).  I did use more silver gears that are not yet in the ButterBeeScraps shop, but will be added soon.

I did add an SS20 clear crystal rhinestone to the center of the bead cap, and more SS8 bronze rhinestones to the center of all the poinsettias.  For the finishing touches, I added bronze rhinestones to two corners of the card, and bronze metal stars (by Prima) to the two opposite corners.

Well…that’s it for the Christmas cards I created this year.  I hope you enjoyed this lot as much as you did the first one I shared earlier this week.  As always, I thank you for popping by again today.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday with family and friends!  Cheers!

ButterBeeScraps Supplies:

Card #1

Card #2

Card #3

Card #4

Card #5

Card #6

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Vintage Christmas Cards…Round 1

Good afternoon, everyone!  It has been quite a while since I have shared a project of my own, so I thought I would break that streak.  With Christmas quickly approaching, I’ve been frantically trying to get cards made for some very special people.  So…I figure why not share them with you?  Today, I’ll be sharing five different cards with you 🙂

Last year, I ended up purchasing 2 stacks of 4 ½” x 6 ½” Christmas cardstock, which I used to wallpaper all of my cards.  I absolutely love these stacks…they are absolutely the perfect size for creating 5″ x 7″ cards.

All of my cards are double matted to make that design paper pop.  I did distress all the edges of the wallpapers…both inside and out.  I have to tell you, I have owned a distrezz-it-all for a few years, but have almost never used it.  Well, that all changed while making these cards and I now find myself wondering why that little gadget doesn’t live on my desk…it saved me soooo much time!

I do typically start by creating a large sentiment that I use as the focal point on all of my cards and then add a few embellishments around the sentiment to create a little more interest.  All of the sentiments on my cards were attached using foam tape to add dimension, and were embossed using Lindy’s Stamp Gang “Twilight Bronze” embossing powder using Paper Trey Ink stamps.  I then die cut the sentiments using a variety of Spellbinders labels dies.

Without further adieu…let’s get to the eye candy 😉

Card #1

On this card, I first added two bronze filigrees (#678-B) to frame the sentiment.  On the lower left corner of the sentiment, I then layered a couple of doilies, die cuts from Tim Holtz’s “Holiday Greens” thinlits, small paper poinsettia blooms from Wild Orchid Crafts, and a bronze flower bead cap (#CAP040-B).  I also added a smaller cluster of the same on the upper right.  To finish the card, I added some flat back rhinestones in the corners (SS16, SS12, and SS10 clear) and flower centers (SS8 bronze and SS20 clear), and added a couple of bronze corner filigrees (#730-B) in two opposite corners of the card.

Now, I figure there’s no point in creating a beautiful card front if you’re going to fall flat on the inside.  I always wallpaper both sides, add another sentiment and label die cut for a hand-written message.  I then typically add a few metal corners (in this case, #731-B), as well.  Here’s a look at the inside of my card:

Card #2

I did tone down the amount of embellishments on this second card.  I started by framing the sentiment with two more bronze filigrees (#540-B).  To add a little more texture, I then added a few paper poinsettia blooms and “Holiday Greens”.  I finished the center of each poinsettia using three SS8 flat back rhinestones that are a beautiful bronze color.  Finally, I added a few more bronze rhinestones in two of the corners.

Card #3

I decided to keep this next card a little more on the simple side, as well.  As per usual, I used a large sentiment as the focal point and framed it using two bronze filigrees (#316-B).  This time, I chose to turn the filigrees so that they were peeking out from four corners of the sentiment rather than just the ends 🙂  I then just had to add more “Holiday Greens” and paper poinsettia blooms with rhinestone centers.  I also decided to change things up a bit and tucked some miniature silver gears behind the blooms…and you’re probably wondering where I got these gears, right?  Well, they are not in the ButterBeeScraps shop…yet.  Don’t worry though…they will be added soon, as I am currently working on revamping all the gear charm sets 🙂  Trust me…you will not be disappointed 😉

To finish this card, I added more of the bronze colored rhinestones (which will also be added to the shop soon) in two corners of the card front, and in the lower right corner of the sentiment die cut.

Card #4

My fourth card has a little more going on.  The sentiment forms the main focal point again and is framed with two bronze filigrees (#540-B).  This time, I decided to shift the sentiment toward the top of the card and center a cluster of doilies, “Holiday Greens”, paper poinsettia blooms, and bronze flower bead caps (#CAP040-B) underneath.  I then added SS20 clear flat back crystal rhinestones in the center of the bead caps and a few SS8 bronze flat backs in the center of the poinsettia.  Finally, I finished the corners of the card using a few clear crystal rhinestones (SS16, SS12, and SS10) and bronze corner filigrees (#730-B).

Card #5

Well, this is the last card I will be sharing with you today.  I started by adding two evergreen tree die cuts from Tim Holtz’s “Woodlands” thinlits dies on the left hand side of the card before attaching my wallpaper to the card base.  Next, I wrapped some twine around the wallpaper towards the bottom of the card.  At this point, I attached the wallpaper to the card base.  Then came the sentiment complete with two bronze filigrees (#540-B).  I then chose to add a third evergreen tree die cut in a darker green right over top of the twine and sentiment.  I did trim the die cuts along the bottom of the card base, as well.  Finally, I broke out those bronze flat back rhinestones again and added a few in the corners of the card, and on the sentiment.

Whew!  That was alot of cards in one go, don’t you think?  I hope they help give you some ideas for your own cards, especially if you’re frantically trying to get some made like me 😉  Thanks for taking the time to have a “look see”.  I will be back with my last tutorial of the year on Thursday, followed by another batch of Christmas cards on Friday 🙂  Cheers!

ButterBeeScraps Supplies:

Card #1

Card #2

Card #3

Card #4

Card #5

Christmas List Junk Journal by Marina Wilson

Good morning, everyone!  Man…Christmas is screaming towards us at the speed of light, isn’t it?  Well, don’t fret…I have some inspiration for you today to help relax you 😉  Design team member, Marina Wilson, created this beautiful Christmas junk journal for us all to drool over:

Marina used Tim Holtz’s “Hanging Sign” die to create the sentiment on the cover, and added some bronze cable chain (#CH926-B) from ButterBeeScraps to hang her sign from 🙂  On the bottom half of her cover, Marina added a pretty red lace trim with a small cluster of flowers and doilies.  I love the look of the different materials together in this flower cluster…it adds so much yummy texture to the project.  In addition to a medium sized doily, Marina combined a metal flower (#025-C) and leaf (#852-B) with a couple of paper ones from her stash.  Finally, Marina added a bronze drawer pull (#HD624-B) to the right edge of the cover to create a closure.

Marina created 3 signatures for her journal, and added a large red eyelet and charm to the spine of her journal:

She attached several bits, pieces and beads to her charm.  You can see a few bronze charms from her stash, tassel, Tim Holtz key, beads (#BDSTR-BR) and a miniature bronze bell.

Here’s a quick look at one of the pages inside her journal:

…and the beauty doesn’t stop there.  Here’s a look at another page in Marina’s journal:

That’s about all I can show you here, but you can view a complete flip-through of Marina’s journal over on her YouTube channel 🙂  Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by in this very busy time of year!  I hope you enjoyed the project and it inspires you to spend a little well-deserved time in your creative space.  Cheers!

ButterBeeScraps Supplies:

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Tutorial of the Week: Filigree Christmas Ornament

Good morning, everyone!  I don’t know about where you’re at, but it’s finally starting to look like winter here in beautiful Rossland, BC 🙂  …and all the snow just reminds me of how terribly unprepared for Christmas I am again this year!  If you’re feeling even just a little the same way, perhaps a quick Christmas tutorial will help get you in more of a festive mood 😉

This week, I am going to be showing you how to create beautiful filigree ornaments that will make your Christmas this year absolutely metalicious!  Here’s a quick peek at what we’ll be making together today:

Materials

The materials you need to create this beauty are:

Tools

The tools you’re gonna need are:

  • E-6000 and/or Glossy Accents
  • Hot glue gun (optional)
  • Long flat nose pliers (optional)
  • Ruler
  • Binder Clips
  • Crystal Katana (or tweezers) for placing rhinestones
  • Jewelry pliers (chain nose, bent chain nose, round nose, bail making)
  • Flush cutters
  • Steel block or anvil
  • Rubber or planishing hammer

Step 1

Line the edge of your long flat nose pliers up with the center of one filigree and bend the filigree using your fingers.  Ensure that the top face of the filigree is on the inside of the fold.  This will end up being the outside of your ornament.

If you don’t have long nose pliers, don’t fret…you can use a ruler as a guide when bending your filigree.  In fact, I sometimes use a ruler to ensure I have a nice crisp straight fold in my filigree after using the long nose pliers:

Since we will be using 6 filigrees per ornament, bend the filigree so that the angle between the 2 halves is approximately 60°:

Step 2

Bend 5 more filigrees just like you did in Step 1 🙂

Step 3

Now it’s time to start gluing your filigrees together.  Add E-6000 or Glossy Accents to half of one of the filigrees:

Add a second filigree to the first that you just added glue to, and clip the filigrees together using binder clips.

You can use a couple of spots of hot glue with the E-6000.  The hot glue will hold the filigrees together while the E-6000 dries, and you can avoid using the binder clips.  I do prefer the binder clips myself, though, because I find it easier to get the filigrees fitting nice and tight together.

Step 4

Glue a third filigree to the pair from Step 3, and add more binder clips to hold them together while the glue dries.  Repeat the process for the remaining 3 filigrees.  You should end up with 2 filigree hemispheres, kinda like this:

Step 5

Glue the 2 filigree ornament halves together and add even more binder clips to hold everything together.

You should end up with a little filigree ball loaded with tiny little binder clips:

Step 6

Set the ornament aside to allow the glue to dry for 20-30 minutes.  While you’re waiting, go ahead and make a small glass dangle charm for the bottom of your ornament:

If the thought of breaking out some wire and beads freaks you out, I really recommend you check out my charm tutorial series over on YouTube.  It walks you through everything, right from what tools to use, how to create different loops, and even assembling a chunky charm 🙂

Step 7

Cut a 6″ long piece of 18ga bronze wire, and fashion it into a hook for hanging your ornament on the Christmas tree:

I just used my fingers to shape most of the hook, but you can also use thick markers, spray cans, acrylic paint bottles, or whatever other round object you can find in your craft space.  I did use my round nose pliers for the very tip of the hook.

Step 8

Now that you have a nicely shaped hook, you’re going to want to prevent it from bending out of shape.  You do this by a process called “work hardening” the metal.  I’m sure you’ve experienced this before…you can bend a wire back and forth several times and it becomes harder and harder to bend until it finally breaks.

To “work harden” the metal, you’ll want a steel block, anvil or other really hard surface.  Then just repeatedly hammer the wire hook using a rubber hammer.  You’ll want to gently try to straighten the hook to test the hardness of the wire.

If you’d like to go for a more rustic look, you can use a planishing hammer to harden the metal.  A planishing hammer is made from steel and has a slightly curved face on it.  It will give the hook a hammered look, which is pretty cool.  It also hardens the metal alot faster than the rubber hammer ;P

Step 9

By the time you get your dangle charm and hook made, the glue holding the filigrees together should be set well enough to remove the binder clips.  Now you just need to add the finishing touches…I glued crystal rhinestones onto the filigrees using Glossy Accents.  …and I really can’t tell you how much I love my Crystal Katana for adding rhinestones to everything.  I absolutely do not get any compensation for endorsing the product – I just think it’s a great product 🙂

Once you have your rhinestones, and any other embellies added to your ornament, you can attach the dangle to the bottom using a jump ring, and add the hook for hanging on the tree 🙂

Try Something Different

I really do like how this project turned out, but I want to make sure you don’t get pigeon-holed into thinking you can only use round or roundish filigrees, clear rhinestones and a wire hook for hanging your ornament.  Here’s a look at a second ornament I created using a long narrow filigree from the ButterBeeScraps shop.  I also opted to use purple rhinestones (which I think look heavenly) and add a silk ribbon for hanging this beauty from the tree:

The materials I used to create this ornament include:

Well, that about does it for this week’s tutorial 🙂  I hope you enjoyed it!  Thank you so much for popping by, and have fun trying out different filigree shapes to create some unique ornaments of your own 🙂  Cheers!

Recycled Christmas Ornament by Keri Sallee

Good morning, everyone!  I have a quick project share for you today 🙂  Design team member, Keri Sallee, created a beautiful Christmas ornament that is loaded with ButterBeeScraps metal:

img_6671

Keri started with plain silver metal ornament and layered all sorts of ButterBeeScraps goodies onto it to jazz it up a lot 🙂  You can see that she used four different styles of flowers in a wide range of sizes (#016-S, #025-B, #7635-B and #8567-B).  …and there really is no point in having flowers without leaves…am I right?  So, Keri tucked several bronze fern leaves (#850-B) in opposite corners of her ornament.  For the finishing touches, Keri added 2 colors of SS20 flat back glass rhinestones – Aquamarine and Light Colorado Topaz – from the ButterBeeScraps shop 🙂  Here’s a closer look at Keri’s creation:

img_6669

This project is a great one to tackle when you are carving some creative time, but are a bit short on time.  So…don’t cheat yourself!  I hope you enjoyed Keri’s project and gain some inspiration from it.  To share some love with Keri, please hop on over to her blog and let her know how much you enjoyed her project.  Thanks for popping by!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your week…cheers!

ButterBeeScraps Supplies:
Other Supplies:
  • Gorilla Glue Hot Glue Gun
  • Metal Ornament

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12 Days of Christmas Photo Folio by Marina Wilson

Good morning, everyone!  I have a beautiful project to share with you today 🙂  Design team member, Marina Wilson, created a gorgeous photo folio using Graphic 45’s “12 Days of Christmas” paper collection…and ButterBeeScraps goodies, of course.  Here’s a look at the cover of her folio:

12-days-of-christmas-bbs-4s

The inside of Marina’s folio contains a ton of flaps pockets and tags throughout.  Here’s a look at one of the pages on the inside of the folio:

12-days-of-christmas-bbs-3s

Marina used bits and pieces of ButterBeeScraps metal to embellish the pages and tags.  In the photo above, you can see that Marina layered coffee dyed paper flowers with a couple of square bronze filigrees (#732-B) at the top of a large tag tucked in a pocket on the right hand page.

Here’s a look at another page in the folio:

12-days-of-christmas-bbs-b

On this page, Marina hid a small magnet under the wallpaper of the right hand page, and attached a bronze filigree (#678-B) to a tag.  The tag is completely removable, and is held onto the page via the metal filigree and magnet…brilliant!

You really do need to see a complete flip through of this folio to appreciate all the interactive elements that Marina added to it.  …and guess what?  You’re in luck!  You can view Marina’s YouTube video of this beauty right HERE.  Enjoy and have a great day!

ButterBeeScraps Supplies:

Merry Christmas!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas today!  As my gift to you, I have one last Christmas Card to share 🙂  I don’t know why, but I love using blue at Christmas…and on this card, I like the contrast between using non-traditional blue and the vintage feel of this card.  This is another 5″ x 7″ card, and I doubled matted it like all of the others I have shown over the last several days.  I distressed the edges of my mat and “wallpaper” and inked the mat using Gathered Twigs distress ink direct from the ink pad.

Blue and White Holiday Lamppost Christmas Card

I chose to do this card a little differently in the sense that the sentiment is not the main focal point of the card.  Instead, I die cut a Tim Holtz Holiday Lamppost from light weight chipboard and embossed it using the Fran-táge Aged Black embossing enamel by Stampendous.  I absolutely love the texture of this embossing powder…yes, I did say texture!  This embossing powder/enamel has a bunch of different sized granules in different colors.  The main color being black with gold.

Before adhering the lamppost to the card, I did add some frosted film by Tim Holtz where the lamp is.  I chose to leave the backing on the film because I did not want to see the design on the “wallpaper” through it…I just wanted the texture 🙂  I then added fine green glitter to the holly leaves and glued three SS16 Siam Flat Back Glass Rhinestones in the center of the leaves for the berries.

I then glued a Bronze Snowflake Metal Filigree Embellishment (#203-B) near the bottom of the lamppost and layered a sentiment I embossed using one of the stamps from the Tim Holtz Festive Sounds stamp set.  I used Lindy’s Stamp Gang Midnight Bronze embossing powder.  Finally, I scattered a couple small snowflake charms from the Jingle Bells Tibetan Charms Collection around the right side of the sentiment and added a Bronze Corner Metal Filigree Embellishment (#731-B) in the upper right corner of the card to add some balance.

I hope you enjoyed the last card of the season, and again hope you have a fabulous day with friends and family.  Thanks for popping by on this special day!

ButterBeeScraps Supplies:

Other Supplies:

  • Tim Holtz – Festive Sounds Stamp Set
  • Tim Holtz – Holiday Lamppost Bigz Die
  • Lindy’s Stamp Gang – Midnight Bronze Embossing Powder
  • Stampendous – Fran-táge Aged Black Embossing Enamel
  • Tim Holtz – Frosted Film
  •  Tim Holtz – Gathered Twigs Distress Ink
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