Christmas Tree Scent Ornaments - Batch 2

I sold all 3 from the first batch so I made up a few more today and delivered them.

Felt is the best material for passive diffusers so the oil should be put onto the darkest of the balls so in this case the black or grey ones would be best.  

I had these ready the other day but I did not know I had sold so many Christmas Tree Scent ornaments so I packaged these up and delivered these as well. The gallery was open today which was really great!

Stuffed little quilted hearts.  The left one is cotton fabric in kraft striped and ivory snowflake fabric. Added a wooden button on the front and a bead on the hanger cord.  A loose stitch of teal thread around the edge.

The second one is kraft plaid with teal and heart wool fabric.  It sports the same wooden accents and teal stitching. 

The oil on these should be put on the back or directly on the wooden elements if you are careful. 

Christmas Card Challenge - Watercolor - Ornaments

Another set of watercolor Christmas Cards. 

I wanted a branch with an ornament.  I put a wash of Old Olive green in the top right hand corner blended softly to the center and left hand side to suggested more tree.  

Once that was completely dry I drew my line for the branch with a pencil.  I worked with Always Artichoke, Old Olive and More Mustard. It was really hard to be loose and let the needles go willy nilly but it worked. 

Then, when the branch was dry I drew the ornament by hand with a pencil. I filled the ornament with Tempting Turquoise and Night of Navy. Card is Marina Mist. I added another layer of wash on the right hand side to suggest light from the left. 

I did the hanger with a very thin brush and Payne's Gray also lining the outside of the ornament.

On this card I used Elegant Eggplant purple color on the ornament with the same general steps for the branch.

I ended up with a harder high light spot on the left hand side which works better.  The darker side on the right hand side does not seem to be as dark as I intended.  Watercolor is sometimes hard to judge as it dries lighter.

I have used the color of the ornament to add spatter to the layer.

The card stock used for these ornaments is the back side of the Foil Joy cards I did last month.  It was a textured linen card stock.  I think it worked with the watercolor pretty well.

On this card I used Rich Razzleberry pinky purple for the ornament.

The pieces of card stock were trimmed to 3.75 x 5 inches before I started painting. They warped a little so needed to be steamed and pressed to flatten.

The ornament layer was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape in the corners and a bit in the center.

I did add my signature on the original art after I photographed them for blogging.

Seasonal inserts and white envelopes have been added to the mix and they are sitting in the box for December 1st.

The color is Stampin Up Watercolor Wonder crayons and coordinating SU card stock.

Christmas Photo Cards - Craft Sale

I have been spending a good chunk of time working on still life photography as the weather outside is less conducive to being out with camera.

I filled a vintage hobnail candy dish with Christmas ornaments.  I chose a variety of sizes, shapes and finishes. Some were shiny others matte; silver, green, red were the colors I chose; and I had round, pinecone, stars and hearts for shapes.

I decided to make the silver heart the focal element.  Shiny surfaces are hard to photograph because your camera as well as anything else near ends up reflected in it`s surface.














This is a resin Nativity home decor item which I bought recently.  I loved the colors in it and it had enough relief to make it interesting.  It stands on it`s own.  I created a gold background which mirrored it`s warm tones and provided a nice bokeh effect.

I am not providing an insert in my photo cards to it`s nice to have the sentiment on the front.  I created on with a light sentiment but the one with the dark base is by far the best one.








I originally created this image for a Christmas card order a while back.

This is one of my stained glass Nativities with a tealight in behind.   I love the soft seamless background and how the pink is picked up on the bottom of the image.

I translated the image to a 4x6 format and printed a few in the different colors.

I have a good variety so they should appeal to quite a few buyers at the sale tomorrow.

Christmas Card Challenge - May - Oval/Black

The challenge for the May Christmas Card Challenge was Oval and Black. 

I chose some Anna Griffin designer paper featuring ornaments.  It has various neutral colors in greys, warm whites, and river rock. 
I chose black for the card base, cut the ornament paper to leave a small border. 

I added a length of black grosgrain ribbon across the bottom of the decorative layer taping the ends to the back.  I adhered it to the card front.

The black oval greeting was printed on river rock card stock.  It was then punched with the 2 inch oval paper punch.  It was adhered with 3D foam tape.

Share Your Cup - This Week

I received this Scentsy Silent Night wax warmer for Christmas.  It features the nativity, the wise men and the shepherds.  A light bulb provides the heat to melt the wax.   It`s navy and white which totally fits into my colors.

Several years ago I changed from candles to wax for adding scent to my place.  Safer and I can set a timer for only a certain amount of time so I don`t forget to turn it off.

I placed my favorite scent -Scentsy Cinnamon Vanilla into it and enjoyed it all day!!  It added great atmosphere to my place.



I`ve decided to add some meditative coloring to my life in the new year.  I`m starting out with a small coloring book and my pencil crayons.  I loved, loved coloring when I was a kid and look forward to applying some creative juices to these pages.  I will post my efforts as time goes by.



I made some of these Thread Catcher Bags as Christmas gifts this season.  Several of the ladies in my family sew and quilt.  My Mom has sewn most of her life.  I had to sort out a pattern for these and you can find instructions on this post.

I made these soft fleece pot protectors for my sister.  These are designed to be placed between fry pans when you stack them so they don`t get scratched being moved around.  I chose the deep charcoal color based on the colors in her kitchen.
This is a very simple design based on a circle measured with a dinner plate.  It is 2 layers thick and I sewed the seams with zigzag around the edge then trimmed any leftovers off.  I ran 3 seams across the center and you can see I did not get perfectly in the center but the frypans will not notice.   This is very washable which is important for anything in the kitchen.


I am enjoying the decorations on the trees in the homes I visit over the holidays.  My sister`s tree on Christmas day was spectacular.  Done in clear lights, mostly clear, white and silver ornaments with a few red ones.  It rotated all day but I`m not sure how that was accomplished.  This is a silver snowflake that was on her tree.


Sharing with Share Your Cup #229 hosted by Jann at Daily with Mrs. Olson.

Christmas Stack - Circle Ornaments

I printed the card with the tall oval ornament on the right hand side.  I cut the frame with a Sizzix die and embossed  the red with the Cuttlebug Devine Swirl embossing folder and the green one with the Sizzix Starry Night folder.  I cut a 3" square of black which was taped to the back of the frame. I selected black to highlight the ornaments. As the white circle ornaments were somewhat see through I had to place an extra paper punchie below the plastic one so that my Zot would not show.  I added strings with a white gel marker.  I wrapped the narrow black satin ribbon around the card and placed the bow to align with the string of the printed ornament.

Then the frame assembly was glued over the ribbon onto the left hand side of the card front.The strings for the pink and turquoise were printed and the cut down to the 3" square.  The pink and turquoise ornaments were more opaque and therefore just needed a Zot.