Christmas Crafts

Last year I showed you some hand-painted ornaments I made in THIS POST.  This year, I have some new ones to show you because my bestie gave me more!  My son gave me the first batch for Christmas one year, and I found out I really enjoyed painting them.  Then this year, my bestie's granddaughter received some as a gift, but neither she nor her granddaughter were interested in painting them, so she gave them to me.  I will give her one I painted back as a thank you gift.

I always forget to take a "before" photo, but you can find the ornaments on Amazon.  They come in all different shapes:  circles, stars, trees, snowflakes, and this year my bestie gave me two new shapes:  a reindeer (which I loved) and a stocking.

Here are the circle ornaments I painted this year.  I tried to not repeat the same designs, although I did do another snowman (but a different one from last year) and I did the same winter scene on accident.

This is the new reindeer shape I received from my bestie.  I love this one! I decided to keep it realistic and paint it in shades of brown.

Last year I painted my ornaments after Christmas so I had all winter to work on them.  I ended up with more detailed paintings.  This year, I wanted them done before Christmas so I kept them simple.  I used  stamps for the image then I simply colored them in.

This one was the only one I didn't use a stamp on, and it's my favorite of the round ornaments.  I just hand drew the image then flecked a toothbrush full of white paint on it.

These were the new stocking shapes my bestie gave me.  I hand painted them a variety of red, green, and white and then I hand wrote my grandchildren's names on them.  The stars are a stamp but the dots were just done with the tip of a brush.

And here is what I did with all these hand painted ornaments:  I put them on my little sled trees in my family room.  If you read Sunday's Post, you will find out I didn't put up a big tree this year and why, and this is what I chose to do instead.  And, to my grateful surprise, all the presents fit in this corner perfectly.  Of course, when my daughter comes she will have even more gifts, so then we might see more spillage into the room, but I think this looks great for what I have to live with for the week before they arrive.

I think the little trees are the perfect place to display all these hand painted ornaments.

Finally I'd like to show you my one and only Christmas Card which I gave to my bestie.  I stopped sending Christmas Cards out a few years ago because it was so much work, and honestly, I wasn't getting many back in return.  I think with Facebook and email, not many people send out Christmas Cards through snail mail anymore.  But, I do still send Christmas Cards out to anyone who sends me one.  Usually it's just a store-bought card, but I made this one specifically for my bestie because she really seems to appreciate my hand made cards more than anyone.

I made the card using Spellbinder's Die "Winter Welcome Sled" and their Embossing Folder "Ski Lodge".  Dies are an easy way for non-creative people to create beautiful cards.  All they require is to cut and assemble, although the cutting and assembling part can be cumbersome.  

To make this card I just cut all the pieces out and glued them together.  The background was dry embossed then swiped with a white ink pad to bring out the detail.  Then I just stamped and cut out a sentiment with a postage edge die and wa-la,  I have a beautiful Christmas Card!

 I hope you enjoyed my Christmas Crafts!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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