Paper Tole Nativity Made from Christmas Cards

Paper tole is the process of making a dimensional picture out of several copies of the same image.

I made this paper tole nativity a few years ago. I had a package of Christmas cards with quite a few left over - and I knew I wanted to paper tole these cards. There is an avid paper tole crafter in my church who was a sweetheart and guided me through this project. She thought I was crazy for picking such a hard project for my first paper tole experience. What made it difficult was the small size of the pictures.

Since I made this a few years ago - I do not have the pictures to make a tutorial - but I found a paper tole tutorial using a stamped image CLICK HERE.

Trying to get a picture with the right angle to show the depth of the picture was a challenge. 

I just love how this turned out. I framed the work of art in a $store shadow box. It wasn't in the frame department - rather the picture deptartment. It had a 3D teapot in it that I removed. This was way cheaper then paying to get it framed. 

I hope this gives you some ideas....

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"Lil Luna

Book Page Snowman Gift Bag

I am on a mission to make gift bags right now. I am loving the book page craze out there and so I decided to put that on a gift bag. Here is how I made it:

1. I copy and pasted book page graphic from Graphics Fairy, to my favorite publishing program. I added the cute snowman dingbat that I downloaded for free. The font is called "Janda Christmas Doodles" and it has a lot of adorable pictures on there. I like dingbats because you can paste them onto a background and it looks like you have drawn it on there. The font size of my snowman is 450. After printing I cut the image out, and colored in his nose.

2. I picked a background paper, inked the edges with light brown ink, sewed around the edge, and adhered it to an 8x10 kraft gift bag.

3. I glued on the snowman, snow flakes and "Merry Christmas". The Merry Christmas was cut out using the Cricut cartridge - Joys of the Season - size 2 1/2. The snowflakes are from a Martha Stewart punch. I added some jewels to the centers of each snowflake.

I just love that snowman - he is soooo cute! Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to....

Graphics Fairy

Lil Luna

Make Your Own Family Photo Christmas Card

I saw a family photo Christmas card idea on Pinterest - which originally came from an Etsy shop called Announcing You.  I loved the photo strip idea and so I made it into this years Christmas card.

It is easy to make your own family photo Christmas Card. Here is how I made mine:

1. Use the publishing program of your choice on your computer. I have a Mac. I use Keynote.

2. Choose a background color. I chose grey. 

3. Insert a white square and stretch it the length and width you desire. Insert desired pics and crop them to fit the white rectangle. After all the pics were the size I wanted - I rotated the rectangle and pics 2 degrees.

4. Type in a sentiment.

5. After I was happy with how everything looked, I clicked on File and then export. I clicked on the images button, made sure it said JPEG file, and saved it to my iphoto. In iphoto I cropped it to constrain it to a 4x6, but you can choose whatever.

6. Now I will transfer it to a jump drive and print it out at my favorite photo lab. The going rate in my city is 19 cents per picture - not bad for a family photo Christmas card.

Here is my family photo card from last year...

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Whipperberry

Silhouette Christmas Tags

Here is another project from my pinterest to do list - Christmas silhouette tags. The inspiration for these tags can be found HERE on a blog called Anne's Paper Fun. 

First I printed out a a book page background (found on Vintage Moth) - and cut it into tag sizes. Then I printed some mini tags using a dingbat that you can download for free HERE called "Christmas Cheer". The tags on Anne's Paper fun blog had the silhouettes printed directly on the book page - but I couldn't find any digital silhouettes I liked, so I cut some silhouettes out with my Cricut, using "A Child's Year" cartridge. I glued the silhouettes on the tag - added a black tag for a background and put it all together with some jute. I used cream cardstock for my paper, and of course used Tim Holtz antique linen distress ink to make the paper more interesting. I read somewhere that you can use shoe polish to distress paper and get the same effect. That would be interesting to try one day. 

I was playing around with some different ideas like the monogram. I think the child on the rocking horse was fitting for a Christmas tag. I sure like the dingbat "Christmas Cheer" - it has some neat images on it that could be used as silhouettes for these tags. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Whipperberry

Break Glass In Case of Emergency - Gift Idea

I saw this idea on Pinterest - but I can't give credit to the proper person as the link did not have a link. Please let me know if you are the genius behind this idea so I can give you the proper credit. I wanted to make this for my hubby to put in his "man cave" and I still plan to do that - but this one I made for my nephew who apparently loves Pepsi. 

Supplies - I used a wooden plaque from the dollar store, and a photo cube - also from the $ store. After I painted the wood black - I adhered the cube to the wood with epoxy glue. I adhered it so that I could add/remove the can of pop. I used the mini can that fit in the cube. I glued glass marbles to the bottom. I printed the "Break Glass in Case of Emergency" on a sticker sheet and stuck it to the wood. Very simple and very effective - it made for a good laugh at the birthday party - and I think a perfect idea for a teenage boy. There are so many things you can put in one of these. There are also shadow boxes at some $ stores that you could put chocolate or other items in. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Lil Luna
Gingersnap Crafts
Tatertots and Jello

Make Your Own Halloween Plates

I made these Halloween plates by printing on contact paper and adhering it to the bottom of a glass plate.
Here is what I did....

1. I purchased glass plates from the $ Store and washed them. The sticky tag didn't come off nice - so I put some peanut butter on and scrubbed it off.

2. I printed out a circle from my computer and tested on my plate for size - I was lucky the first time - I got a size that worked. It is best if the circle is a little smaller than the flat circle part of the plate.

3. Cut out two pieces of contact paper that will fit over the circle. With one of the cut out contact papers, put double sided tape on the peel off backing and adhere over the printed circle. The plastic side should be facing up to be printed on. I used two varieties of contact paper - one from the $ store and the other from Zellers. The Zellers contact paper was way better quality and not as shiny. Both did work but I definitely liked the matte contact paper.

4. On your computer, copy and paste desired images in the circle - if you use printing reverse it. The images I used were from Graphics Fairy. Click Here to go to the skull - Click Here to go to the Skeleton Man. Put the contact paper sheet through the printer in a manner that the image will print on the contact paper.  Do not touch image as it is like a dry erase board and the ink will smear.

5. Take the pre-cut contact paper - peel off the back and stick it on top of the printed contact paper. You might get some bubbles - but most if not all of them can be worked out by pressing them firmly.

6. Remove the contact paper from the printer paper. Cut around circle.

7. Remove backing.

8. Apply to plate. If you have the good quality contact paper, it can be removed for washing and put on again after. Stick it on the fridge or window until dishes are washed and re-apply if desired. The cheaper contact paper didn't work so well taking it off and using it again.

So there you have it - make your own custom Halloween plates!

Check out some of my other Halloween posts...

Print on burlap and make a banner - Click Here

Halloween Food Ideas - Click Here

Planter with a free typography printable for a lantern or other uses - Click Here

Trick or Treat Wood Blocks - Click Here

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Tatertots and Jello
Graphics Fairy

Halloween Food Ideas 2011

I saw this CUTE idea and HAD to do it. Please go look at the blog where I got this idea from. It is called "The Smith Family" blog. She has a whole Halloween party laid out for you to look at - FABULOUS. I liked this idea because it was super easy and super cute. CLICK HERE to go to the post.

Sandwiches are easy to make - the only extra touch is printing out the clip art, cutting it out and adhering the legs and hats to toothpicks. 

Here are the links to the clip I used - LEGS CLICK HERE   HATS CLICK HERE

I saw this idea on BHG. They had a refried bean dip with lettuce for grass. I made a black bean dip RECIPE HERE, and made guacamole for the grass. The guacamole helped hold up the tree and grave stones. Cut out shapes from tortillas, brush with oil, cook until golden brown. 

Also, check out the gingerbread skeleton men I made. Click HERE to go to the post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Tatertots and Jello