Monday 17 September 2012

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


Photobucket

4 comments:

Jacqueline said...

Wow - a fabulous project, well worth the effort it took to make it - Jacqueline xx

Rocky said...

OMG!! It's amazing! That's it I'm inspired. Going to raid the piggy bank and get the set. Thanks for the run through of 'how to'.

Anonymous said...

You have done an awesome job on your ornament. I love the colours in your centre piece. Deb x

Patty Gorka said...

This is awesome! I still haven't tried making one of these, but I have to give it a try now.

01 09 10