Making Decorations

I haven't made Christmas decorations in quite a while. I've been gathering vintage trinkets and things with the plan to make some this year. I did get a few done!

"Gloria" is made using a $1 metal star that I bought at Michael's months ago - probably before Christmas 2008. I covered it in white gesso, and then painted it with Tim Holtz Picket Fence Crackle Paint. The angel is a vintage pick that I bought at an antique shop last Christmas, knowing I'd want her for something. I glued on a scrap of vintage sheet music and printed the title using my computer. She's now hanging on my Christmas tree, keeping watch over all the ornaments.

I got the idea for my NOEL block from a tutorial on Lisa Pace's blog. I used a 2-inch wooden block as the base (the entire decoration is just over 6 inches tall). I glued vintage sheet music to each side, and added a line of Gold Stickles to each corner to cover any empty areas. I glued silver pipe cleaners around the top and bottom of the base.

Before adding the Foof a La glittered letters to each side to spell out NOEL, I outlined each letter using Platinum Stickles. The holly leaves are cut using a mini punch. I made "berries" with Platinum Stickles.

Lisa added trees to the top of her block. But, I had this flock of vintage plastic reindeer without a home, so I thought I'd give one of the little guys a place to nest on top of my block. The tree is an ordinary green bottle brush tree that I bleached (just like Lisa describes in her tutorial). This one did not turn completely white, even after two bleaching attempts. But, it matches the sparkly letters perfectly in its shade of minty green.

I tied a piece of baker's twine around the reindeer's neck and added some Sparkle Snow that I bought at Anthropologie around his little hooves. I finished the piece by using Glossy Accents to glue on the minty green large pearl beads to the bottom of the block. He now rests comfortably in my entryway hutch, waiting for some stray carrots to snack on.