FROSTY FUN....I mean Frosting Fun!

Art 'n Soul's 12 Days of Christmas continues . . .

Today brings . . .

On the fourth day of Christmas (12/15/12), my Art ‘n Soul gave to me, 50% off a PACKAGE OF ELIZABETH CRAFT BE CREATIVE TAPE SHEETS WITH A $25 MINIMUM PURCHASE (PURCHASE IN ADDITION TO TAPE SHEETS).

Tomorrow brings . . .

On the fifth day of Christmas (12/16/12), my Art ‘n Soul gave to me, 5 free yards of ribbon OR 2 packages of embellishments and 3 yards of ribbon with a minimum $20 purchase (excludes Kodomo ribbon).

Sorry I haven't been on the blog the last couple of days. I've been experiencing the joys of 'the crud' since Wednesday night. When I think I'm feeling a little better, it hits me again. But, positive karma that I'm determined to dig up from somewhere will prevail!

Beautiful gift ideas from Els at Elizabeth Craft Designs . . . check out these pics and then click on this link (http://jacquardproducts.blogspot.com/2012/12/quick-gift-ideas-with-artist-judi.html) to see the 'whole' story.

From Graphic 45's blog, I love this Christmas Tree . . . you could use any paper, even something from this year's Nutcracker Sweet!

Star Tree Topper

 

Supplies:

Christmas Emporium

Craft Store 8” Wood Stars

Lace Doily

Chunky Gold Glitter

Ribbon

Prima Flowers

Pins, Craft Store Bells

Tulle

Gems

Ultra Fine Glitter, Quickie Glue Pen

"Every year my paper arts club donates a tree entirely made of hand crafted cards to our local museum’s festival of trees.  Each year I create a tree topper that is always two 8” craft store wood stars.  This year’s star reminded me of a box of vintage valentine cards that my mother had and I loved looking at.  I remember always seeing lots of lace doilies, glitter, ribbon and dimension, which is how this year’s design came about.

The wood star is used as a pattern to trace onto the pattern papers.  Brush Mod Podge onto the paper and affix onto the wood star using wax paper bunched up to smooth out and press the paper down.  Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink is blended around the edges to create depth. 

Place the two wrong sides of the stars together and wrap the ribbon around the star ending at one end.  Refer back to the main photo and tie a pretty bow.  I added tulle behind the green bow for added fluff.

The doily has an edge of gold chunky glitter round it.  Fussy cut a focal image and mount so it is really raised.

Lots of ultra fine glitter was added along with a sprinkle of gems.

Here’s a side view of how the height was created by making a tiny box ‘lid’ that is glued behind and affixed to the doily.

 And here’s the tree the star sits on!  There are over 130 cards on the tree!"

Lynell at Dreamweaver Stencils showed how to use her stencils when you're making Christmas cookies . . . did you ever think of that?

FROSTY FUN....I mean Frosting Fun!

'

"'Tis the season to a make Christmas cookies. And I think it is extra special to get the children involved. Join us today as my great-niece helps me with this tutorial using edible frosting instead of embossing paste.

Materials:

A variety of Dreamweaver metal stencils

Your favorite sugar cookie recipe

Your favorite butter frosting recipe

Dreamweaver Palette Knife (DPK)

Cookie cutters without a lot of detail
Removable tape (RMT)

Food coloring

Cookie sheets
Sugar Sprinkles plus....

A Child (or best friend...or do it yourself...)

STEP #1. 
Roll out the chilled sugar cookie 
dough... wearing bright Christmas 
colors and jingly earrings makes 
the occasion extra fun:

(P.S. -- I looked for Steps #2 & #3 but they're not on Lynell's blog either!)

STEP #4. 

Cut out simple shapes with cookie cutters and bake them according to the recipe:

STEP #3. 

Mix several colors of frosting and set aside... wearing jingly bell earrings adds a bit of Christmas music to the atmosphere:

STEP #4. 

Once the baked cookies have cooled, tape all the way around the small snowflake stencil(LS26) with removable tape (RMT). I like to use removable tape because it is less tacky and easier to clean off the stencil later:

STEP #5. 

Gently spread colored frosting into the holes of the stencil using the bottom of the palette knife (DPK). (The bigger the cookies, the easier it is for the kids to handle) :

STEP #6. 
Remove the stencil off the cookie using the hinge technique, like when you are doing the embossing paste, so your frosting won't smear:

Here's Matilda with her own creations! YAY!!!

The type of stencils used for this technique have wide open holes in them. Stencils with tiny holes are too challenging for the kids to be successful with this technique (some adults have problems too). Here is a list of the stencils shown in this frosting fun tutorial:

LL399 antler snowflake, LL398 Southwest snowflake, LS26 small antler snowflake,LM297 ornament, LS79 star. And you can purchase these from your favorite retailer or online at www.stencilwithstyle.com

(Now all that is left is the clean up!)

 If you are interested in how to stencil with the more detailed stencils on cookies using food coloring visit my tutorial that I did today for Paper Craft Planet. Click HERE.

Now try stenciling with food coloring!

My great-niece (Matilda) helped me with THIS tutorial as well."

I want to share Susie's project using scraps of Graphic 45 papers she never knew what to do with and Pennywise Arts' micro beads . . .

by Susie Tracy

Before I leave today, I also want to share the beautiful Christmas cards given to us at Art 'n Soul; we proudly display them for all to enjoy!

by Sam Lee
(hand-drawn by Sam)

by Jane Townsend
beautifully embossed and colored

by Cindy Sharp
the base card is die cut with all of these beautiful
Christmas images and a white card liner inside

by Elayne Catey
the simplicity of the stamped image
and the colors are very 'chic'

by Judy Daugherty
(hand drawn and colored)

One last thought before signing off. All of us have been agonizingly affected by the trauma of Friday's shooting of innocent children and educators in Connecticut. Nothing in our wildest imaginations could picture a scenario that played out like this. Feeling sorrow and helpless only adds to the deep sadness and turmoil; many of us are 'card makers' and you might want to consider this. I don't know how the students and educators return to that school without the scars of December 14, but perhaps messages from us might help them work through their trauma and grief.

Hug the ones you love, family and friends! Sending hugs to all of you!