Naughty or Nice Shaker Ornaments

Alpha Stamps has these great chipboard ornaments with a shallow plastic dome over the front so you can easily create shaker bauble. Fill them with microbeads, sequins, confetti, or any other thin decoration, add a paper image to the back, paint the front, and then you have a quick, lovely Christmas present for someone special. 

Because I like to remind my children of the importance of being nice, my ornaments are adorned with the jolly St. Nick on one side and the child-gobbling Krampus on the other. If my kids happen to forget their manners, I have them turn one of the St. Nick ornies over to reveal Krampus, and they really do not like that side. The utensils in one of the ornaments probably has something to do with that.

Luckily, they are mostly well-behaved and we get to enjoy the merry side more often. 

Hope your holidays are joyous!

My supply list is HERE!

Anything From the Trolley, Dears?

I participated in a Harry Potter Holidays Swap over on Craftster and after rummaging through my stash, I came across an ancient tea cart kit that screamed Honeydukes Trolley. Researching the different kinds of sweets that were going to go on the cart lead me to an amazing Honeydukes Trolley on 19th Day Miniatures. The artist, Tara, had used the very same tea cart I had, and because I wasn't capable of envisioning a better version, I chose to replicate her paint job for my cart. I love those colors!

Most of the candies are made from polymer clay, like the chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, swirly lollipops, fizzing whizbees, chocolate wands, gummy snakes, Bertie Bott's beans, sherbet lemon drops, licorice wands, and white chocolate owls. The heart shaped and pink swirled candies were cut from pre-made polymer clay canes, and the sugar quills and Drooble's gum are plastic beads. All of the jars, bottles, and pots are from Alpha Stamps, and you can find the tea cart there, too! 

Look at the doofy chocolate frogs! They must have had a newly employed wizard at the chocolate factory the day those were made! However, it looks much better than my attempt at hand sculpting one, which turned out looking more like a rabbit pellet with eyeballs. I used some EasyMold Silicone Putty and a Lego toad to make a mold, and was satisfied (mostly) with the results. The white chocolate owls were made the same way, and I liked how they came out much better.

Hope your holidays are magical!

Mini Silhouette House

Alpha Stamps has a new House Room Box with four tiny rooms to decorate. How cool is that? The best part is it the deer silhouette that fits over the top portion of the house. You can glue a snippet of tissue paper or vellum between the silhouette and the spacer piece then add an LED tealight to the attic of the house. Everything is better when it glows.

 My brain couldn't get passed "silhouette" so I continued the theme and chopped several of the Ornament Layers away from the frames, painted them black, then glued them in the rooms of the house. The little girl on the stairs is my favorite because she is shadowed behind the lit tree. Creating the tree is as easy as pie, and it took about 5 minutes. After painting my tree black, I cut out a section of thin plastic (mine is toy packaging) and glued it to the back of the tree. I colored the ornaments and tinsel with Sharpies. That's it. 

Taking pictures this week has not made me jolly at all, but here's my attempt at showing how the silhouette cut outs are glued in the cubbies.

Fuzzy Santa

To keep the Deer Silhouette in place, I trimmed two dowels, turned the house on its back, then placed the dowels in the bottom corners of the attic. Place a dab of glue on the ends of the dowels and then set the deer silhouette in place, pressing it into the glue a little. Let dry. That was my lazy solution for attaching the attic. 

This Mini House would look really cute all decked out for Christmas. Happy crafting!

Supply List: Mini House Room Box w/4 Cubbies
Deer Attic Silhouette 
Christmas Delivery 6x6 Paper Pad
White Suede Paper
Dimensional Snow Writer
Diamond Stickles
Fairy Candle Ornament Layers
Flying Sleigh Ornament Layers
Ice Skaters Ornament Layers
Stairs Christmas Morning Ornament Layers
Mini String of Fairy Lights
Tea Light