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Monday, November 25, 2013

Birch Bark Tree Topper

Now that my booth is set up for Christmas, I have turned my attention to my own home. I've been buying ornaments as I see them and this weekend I made a new tree topper. 

This one that I made two years ago kicked the bucket, so it was time for a change.


For my project I used a sheet of birch bark and wood slices that I salvaged from this wreath, also made two years ago. 


I gathered my supplies


And traced a star on the back of one of my birch bark sheets

I used a pair of regular scissors to cut it out

I cut out a slightly bigger star out of cardboard to provide space for a wood slice border and glued the two together.

Then just started gluing on the wood slices with hot glue. 


I glued the star to an old bedspring so it sits perfectly at the top of the tree! 



So simple and so perfectly rustic!! 

I also cut out smaller stars to decorate the rest of the tree. 


If you would like to make one yourself, I bought the birch bark HERE.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)


I'm linking to the parties listed HERE and to:

Monday, November 18, 2013

My Booth at Christmas 2013

Wow! Happy Monday!! I just ended one of the best weekends ever! Friday night the mall where I have my booth - Collette's Vintage - was hosting Midnight Madness. I got to my booth around 7:00 p.m. and worked until 11:00 p.m. setting up for Christmas. It was a fun night with great vendor friends! The next night they were also open until midnight, but they had Deer Widow's Night and a Fashion Show! It was a blast!!!! Anyways, when I finished decorating for Christmas I snapped some pics and thought I would share them with you today. 











 If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram then you saw these feathers I made. Love them!

 My twine wrapped candy canes were a hit last year so I made more. 





I really love how my hand stamped wrapping paper turned out!



 Nate cut these trees out for me!




 I think this is my most favorite tree I've ever decorated! 
Or it's at least tied with this one!

 Pom pom garland, stars, keys, numbers and cotton sent to me from Meg over at Furniture-Ology


 How cute are these simple feather ornaments? I'm making more for my own tree. 






Now it's time to find some inspiration to start decorating my own home!

I'm linking to the parties listed HERE and to:

Monday, November 11, 2013

How to Carve Your Own Stamps

I've been working like a madwoman trying to get Christmas things accomplished and priced for my booth. One of my ideas this year was to sell hand stamped kraft wrapping paper. I had specific ideas for stamps and I knew it would be unlikely to find exactly what I was looking for, and I knew it would be expensive - $12 or more for one stamp? No thank you. I thought I would try my hand at carving my own stamps. It was so easy and so fun I thought I would put together a little tutorial for anyone interested in trying it themselves! 

A few weeks ago I ordered from Stampeaz one of their Speedy Carve Basic Kits which included a 4x6 piece of rubber block, wooden handle, two lino cutters (#2 and #4) and tracing paper. I also ordered 2 additional rubber blocks, and lino cutters #3, #5, #6. All of this with shipping cost me less than $30!! Not bad!! 

To start, you will need to find an image you want to make into a stamp. In my case, I found a picture of a peppermint for a friend. Trace the image on your tracing paper with pencil. 



Next, cut off a piece from your rubber pad with an xacto knife. My piece is bigger than necessary, I could have easily fit the peppermint on one corner.

Put your paper image side down on the rubber pad and rub off the image using your nail. You're left with the picture transferred onto the rubber.


Select a lino cutter for your wood handle. Each blade is a varying size for different purposes. For example, a #2 is very small and is great for detail and tight areas.


Just to show you the difference, here is the #2 on my wood cutter. 

It carves very thin.

And here is a #4. Much thicker and faster to carve out larger areas. 

So carve around your image.

Next I switched back to the #2 for the small details of the peppermint stripes. 

Carefully, with long, even strokes, carve out the areas you do not want exposed to ink. 



Switch to the #3 lino cutter

And cut out your entire image. 

Carefully pop it out from the rest of the rubber block.

Make sure to test it and see if there are any areas that need further carving. Lastly you can mount it on a piece of wood for more control of the stamp. I use E 6000 to adhere and scrap pieces of wood.



Below is some of the wrapping paper I worked on over the weekend! 


The possibilities are endless!!!

If you have more questions please let me know! :)

I'm linking to the parties listed HERE and to: