Ornament Keepsakes Hanging Christmas Ornament

Here's what I made on Saturday at Joanne's - the hanging Christmas ornament featured on the front of the SU! Autumn/Winter catalogue.  A group of us got together and we each made one - it was great fun!  Joanne was so good, she had produced a print out with step-by-step instructions and photos, bless her.  Not only that, she had made delicious cookies using the Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps.  Crafting, chuckling and cookies - what a fab way to spend a few hours!

 

The large ornaments were stamped in Lucky Limeade ink and for the smaller ones I used Primrose Petals ink.  After stamping 20 of each ornament onto Very Vanilla CS I die cut the 40 shapes - making sure to cut the two different ornaments together so I only had to run the dies through the Big Shot 20 times!  5 of each ornament shape are left flat but all the others are folded in half.  3 folded ornaments are glued together and then glued to 1 flat ornament to make the 3D shapes.   

To assemble the ornament, Joanne cleverly provided us with a very useful star template with a circle in the centre which ensured we positioned the 5 green ornaments so they were equally spaced.  The SU! Silicone Craft Sheet is translucent so you can easily see the paper template underneath - brilliant!  Firstly a 1 3/4" punched circle was glued to the craft sheet and then I glued the green ornament shapes to the circle.  I left the glue to set for a couple of minutes and then the whole assembly just peels away from the craft sheet.  Then it was hot glue gun and tulle time - you need 5 lengths of tulle 3 scallops long and the tulle pieces are glued between the green shapes with the hot glue.  I didn't place my tulle far enough in but I know better for next time!  Joanne's ornament, like the ornament on the front of the catalogue, has loops of linen thread added at this stage but I opted to leave those out.  Then the smaller ornament pieces go on next and you squiggle them in at an angle so they face upwards a bit and rest just above the green ornament edges.  Next it's time for the rosette - I have to admit to cheating with my rosette - I die cut mine beforehand using the Sizzix Mini Paper Rosettes die.  Joanne made her rosette using a strip of paper and the SU! Simply Scored tool.  I hot glued the rosette on and then spent ages considering various options for the centre. 

Decisions, decisions!  I had a vintage glass button that I acquired from my neighbour Kath who has an old button tin full of all kinds and sizes of buttons and she said I could help myself to whatever I wanted.  I spent a very happy afternoon one day going through the tin and choosing a few buttons.  Anyway, I didn't like how the the clear glass button looked.  Joanne used an Antique brad on top of a 3/4" punched circle which looked really nice.  The punched circle would have covered up the pinky/red colours on my rosette and so I didn't like that look either!  I then tried a Build-a-Brad with different patterned papers and nearly went with that but the winning option was the simplest - a large pearl which came from the SU! Pretties kit.  I punched a small hole at the top and threaded linen thread through as a hanger.  There is a Primrose Petals punched 2 3/8" scalloped circle on the back so things look neat and tidy at the back. 

It's a time consuming project, I found the die cutting the most tedious part.  However, it is so worth the effort when you've completed the ornament!  I will definitely make at least another one and may even make more - we'll see!  My initial reaction when I saw the ornament was "no way!" and I envisioned myself failing miserably and ending up sobbing if I tried to make it!  Joanne, Elizabeth, Wendy and Zoe all persuaded me to attend the workshop and have a go and I am so glad they did!  Huge thanks to all of them for having more faith in me than I had in myself! 

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! Ornament Keepsakes set
CS: SU! Very Vanilla & Primrose Petals
Patterned paper:  SU! Candlelight DSP
Ink: SU! Lucky Limeade & Primrose Petals
Tools: SU! Holiday Ornaments Framelits dies, hot glue gun, SU! Silicone Craft Sheet, 1 3/4" circle punch, 2 3/8" scalloped circle punch, Sizzix Mini Paper Rosettes Decorative Strip die
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Cherry Cobbler Scalloped Tulle Ribbon, large pearl from SU! Pretties kit, SU! Linen Thread