But, assuming I am done - and with no more brilliant new ideas waiting for my "sunflower" decor - AND, with my Halloween gifts for friends and family already done - I am looking ahead to Christmas. I usually make package ties that can be used as ornaments for my girls and my friends. And, now that three of my grand daughters are living in their own homes and have their own trees, I have added them to the list as well. That makes for a lot of ornaments and, as I have said before, I have been crafting for so long, there aren't many new ideas floating around.
I did see something that caught my fancy so I am going to give it a try. My inspiration piece came from "Catherine Scanlon Designs". My only fear is that I may not be able to cut the wood shapes that I will need. I have a saber saw, a circular saw and a chop saw. You would think that would cover it but I no longer have a real workbench or a place to clamp down the wood and I'm just not sure I will be able to hold the wood and cut without my fingers getting much too close to the blades.
I had a scrap piece of wood that I thought would be perfect but it has so many knots that would probably "kick back" on the cuts I need that I ended up picking up two pieces of more appropriately sized wood for the project. Now I am having second thoughts about that as well. I think I can make the narrower wood work but I don't think I will be able to cut all of the way to the end meaning that I then probably won't have enough wood to make as many as I need.
In any case, I am ready for a project - an indoor project - since today's weather forecast has us well into the high 90s. Except for the cutting - which I will do in the garage, I will be in A/C. Here is where I am starting and I will take you along for the ride. Except for the wood, I have reasonable facsimiles of everything else I will probably need.
As I was pulling out supplies, I came across these images that I printed last year and just never got any further. I so remember printing them but I haven't a clue how I had planned to use them. My next big project might just be trying to jog my memory! Lol I do know that I love not only vintage images but postcards as well, so I am sure I will come up with something!
1,2,3....Yep, I've still got all 10 fingers but even I am a bit amazed that I got to get all 5 trees out of a piece of that wood. I got a bit too close to the blade on my chop saw for comfort on the last ones, but I went really slowly and wavered from the lines a bit but, with a bit of sanding, I think I will be good to go.
Next came a good bit of sanding followed by some white paint around the edges and a coat on the wooden snowflakes as well. I had these snowflakes left from something else I was going to do. I'm sure I could have found white snowflakes in the stores about now but, not only do I not really want to hang in the stores but I hated to waste them and it doesn't take long to give them a quick coat of paint. It actually took longer to snap off the little buttons that were on them. I don't know what kind of glue they used, but they definitely meant them to stay put!
I decoupaged some vintage Christmas paper on to the fronts.
And then I remembered I needed to drill holes in the bottom for the stems. I was using some cuttings from my bushes and they were about as wide as the tree so drilling was a bit precarious. I had to make a starter hole with an awl, move up to the largest bit on my Dremel and then go to the "big gun". Somehow I made it without breaking through the surface of the trees.
Next, I put more paper on the backs. It is funny how the things that look the simplest are the ones that seem to contain so many steps!
Next came the glitter on both the trees and the stars. Again, I am using things that I had so the glitter is a Martha Stewart yellow gold extra fine (although, honestly, to me it looks like antique silver) ...and it wouldn't be fun if there wasn't glitter all over everything when I got done...including me!
And then I remembered the hangers. I actually had a package of the Tim Holtz photo holders that were recommended so back to my trusty Dremel I went and drilled a hole for the holder to be inserted. I truly don't know what I would do without the Dremel. I know my large drill would do this but it is so heavy and cumbersome. I can hold the Dremel with one hand while holding the project with the other...just right! Lol
Next, it was a simple matter of gluing on the snowflake and a button. I started to put on a thin gold cord as a hanger but decided it needs a prettier ribbon so that will be on hold until I can get out again. Let's see...I have 6 months to go so, fingers crossed, I can do that. These actually were a bit more work than I had anticipated but, like you all know, I love a project...and I got one! Now I just hope I can remember where I will put them so when it's time to pull them out in December, I know where they are. Lol
Stay safe and stay tuned.
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