Christmas Tree Decorations

Hi Everyone – Christmas Tree Decorations is the theme this week on the Artfull Crafts Blog – take a look at these ideas and be sure to check out the other ladies posts – especially this great paper ornament from Tina.

Musical Kaisercraft Flourishes

I love these flourishes from Kaisercraft – one word of warning – they are VERY delicate! Even prizing them off the paper can be tricky so handle with care. They are so beautiful though..

I painted the tree with red paint and then stamped over the top with white ink using the Kaisercraft Sheet Music stamp. To give a little lift and sparkle I have added some rhinestones..

Here I gave the ornament a base coat of red and then dry-brushed white paint over the top to try and get a vintagey look. Again I used the music stamp and added some rhinestones for bling.

To demonstrate how delicate these are – my husband just this second stepped on this one by accident whereby it shattered into a hundred pieces LOL. He might be getting humbugs in his stocking this year…

Clay Ornaments

CuttleBug Stamping

These were so much fun to make. I have used some DAS white clay (from any craft store or the Warehouse here in NZ), rolled it out to about 1/4 inch and then rolled it on top of a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I have played around with using the embossed and de-bossed sides for different effects. I then used a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes

I have then painted them with 2 coats of acrylic paint, a light brush of metallic acrylic paint and then I have sanded off the top layer with sandpaper to reveal the embossed pattern.

You can make 70+ of so of these from a $10 pack of clay – so VERY cheap! Get the kids involved – think how excited the Grandparents would be to receive handmade ornaments from the Grandkids!!

Acrylic Stamp Stamping!

To make these ornaments I simply rolled the clay flat and pressed the Kaisercraft Be Merry Stamp hard into the clay using an acrylic block and then cut around it with a knife.  I saw something similar on the Kaiser blog and thought it would be a fun way to try and make a tree shape!

Once again I just slopped some paint on – left to dry overnight and then sanded off the top layer. You HAVE to try this – it’s so simple and all the design work is done by the stamp. It takes a bit of practice to get the pressure right – but if you make a mistake you just re-roll and try again!

Paper Cones

These are pretty self explanatory! Make a cone of paper and fill it with goodies to hang on your tree. To make the cone I drew a circle and then cut it into quarters. I used strong double sided tape to hold it together and then threaded organza ribbon to hang.  HINT – you might want to put a little weight (just small garden stones) into the base of the cone to stop it flipping over when you hang it up!

I have used the Kaisercraft “Be Merry” papers here – they don’t show up too well in the sunlight though..

Now I should also say that I don’t have my Christmas tree up yet!  Both mine and my sisters birthdays are in early December and the rule when we were young was that the tree goes up after my sisters birthday on the 10th!
I used a few trees in my garden for the pics, including one in our forestry block that the kids have already marked out as this years tree for the lounge – I think we might have to raise the roof to get it in though!

Any questions – just post it in a comment and I will reply.