Friday, January 15, 2010

'Tis NOT the season, but oh well!

So.

I had this idea before Christmas, but it has just now came to fruition.
And I

love

it!!

You could think of it 2 ways: either I am sadly waaaaay behind in making this..

or how I like to think of it..

..super early in decorating/crafting for Christmas 2010 ;)

So would you like to see more? You're here...might as well :) Be forewarned...LOTS of pictures and perhaps boring if your not into the crafty thing.

It reminds me of something you might see in Anthro for the holiday season, but on a much smaller, and cheaper scale!

So here's what I did:

I ordered some paper mache bells online. I actually ordered a dozen, but the little boogers took longer than I thought so I only ended up making 6...for now...I mean..I have SEVERAL months to make the rest and STILL be on time, right? ;) Cut the bottoms off because I wanted to add the little "jingle" to the bells in the form of vintage buttons and a couple of vintage mini bells. I loved the way the newsprint showed thru, but the ones that had funky colored print I misted with Maya Road emerald metallic mist. It's hard for me to do any project without misting..and sewing. Even bells.

The easiest part of the project was using this little puppy--my new trimmer (Purple Cows Ultimate Trimmer II to be exact.). I had always wanted a guillotine type trimmer, but I didn't want it to be too bulky for crops. Not only does this fold compact into it's own case, it comes with a freestyle cutter--perfect for making my hills any curve I wanted. (Hills you ask?Wait for it...)

There are a few click blades you can interchange. I liked the short wave blade and used it for interest on some of my hills edge.


Just a few cuts and my paper was ready to go. SO NICE to be able to cut several sheets at once. I actually got a little carried away and cut about 3 times as much as I needed--whoopsie!

The line I used for this project was Joy Ride by Collage Press. Love that line. Has the vintage/kitchy look I love and I loved the robin egg blue and pink thrown in for Chirtmas colors.
The hardest part was paper maching.....paper mache ;) Took my piles of strips and overlapped with with sparkle mod podge. The easiest way to do this is to start from the top and go down, then wrap around horizontally. I didn't want it to neccessarily lay flat...I liked the funky way the layers of paper stood out.

And then the glitter. OH MY. This new vintage leaf glitter from Martha Stewart (who else, right?) had the perfect texture and colors for the look I was after. I used a different color on each bell.


Once those beauties are dry use some vintage buttons and bakers twine to make the little jingley part. Hard to see once they are hanging how fun some of the buttons are. In retrospect I might have made them hang lower.

Wanted the bells to look like they went togther, but I created each one independently so they had unique looks...their own personality if you will :)
Now I think these would look just dandy like this, but we gotta embellish right? Right!

Dug into my stash of vintage Christmas goodies and scrapbooking bits.

Each one a bit different. Those leaves were actually silver, used Maya Road carnation mist on them for a pink shine to match the glittered bottom.

Typed "Let it snow" on some vintage paper here.

Used a piece of vintage christmas hymnal along with a gummed back old reindeer I have been saving FOREVER!

vintage buttons for some "jingle"

(Is it possible to use the word "vintage" any more times in one blog entry?!!)
The vintage bells inside the bell as I mentioned earlier...


I've had this tree from Wal Mart I got on clearance several years ago and have never used it. I really liked the way they looked all hanging together....but maybe....

I should do a little something more.

Like spray paint a tree branch white.

Or silver.


Or maybe I should wrap it in yarn.

Yes. Take the next month of your life and wrap a branch in yarn! Just kidding. It didn't take that long. You can catch up with some tivo-ed shows to pass the time. I love this because I know I can reuse it for other holidays...I'm thinking I'll hang some valentine doilies from it next and then I aready have spring ideas in my head. So although it might take a few nights, it's versatile!
But the branch has to go in something. How about an altered oatmeal container?


I sprayed the whole thing with, yep, Maya Road silver plated mist. It has a sparkly sheen in real life. Some stickles added to the chipboard pieces. Used Martha Stewart (again with the Martha!!) clear microbeads for the frost on the ski hill.

Doesn't she look like she's having fun?

Doilies on the top, punched into snowflakes and sewn on and also added to cover the sand. Yep, stand your branch in sand...mine happened to be wet sand but it worked great! I had one little place on the branch that didn't look quite right so I made this to cover it up. Perfectly imperfect!



Some chipboard snowflakes put on randomly and a bit of pom-pom for decoration. Really, I think this looks fun just like it is, but we worked too hard on those bells! Time to decorate--my favorite part ;)



The most difficult thing was trying to get the bells all hanging in the right direction without turning for a picture. For some reason they have a mind of their own ;) But I think you get the idea. I would love to know what my neighbor thought of me hauling this out onto our front entry and decorating for Christmas in January! Actually, she probably wouldn't think much of it by now ;)

So...what do YOU think? Whimsical? Fun? Crazy? If you have any questions PLEASE leave them in the comment section and I will try and answer them!

Now the sad part, off to dissemble ;(


7 comments:

  1. It may not be the season but with all the wonderful christmas lines out there right now how can one not be in the mood for a little festive crafting?

    I love the bells, seriously they are awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  2. These?
    Going in your first book.
    I'm serious.
    These are amazing--so much beautiful-ness and texture, I found myself wanting to touch my computer screen. I simply must see them in person soon.
    I see a variation of those bells at the next baby shower we plan. Note to you: It WON'T be mine.
    Glad you posted this AFTER Christmas, or I may have just spent my entire holiday making bells...

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  3. Wow those turned out incredible, glad I came back for a second look! AMAZING!

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  4. Hi Lexi ... lovin' those gorgeous festive creations.

    I am a fellow B&B dt'er and i look forward to working with you this year ... this is my 2nd year on the team, and i love it, it is an awesome creative gig!! you'll really enjoy your time on this team ... it's amazing!!

    I also wish to invite you to follow my blog .. this is my blog address:
    http://thescrapbookersnest.blogspot.com/

    take care,
    N

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are veey clever and creative.

    I came by to invite you to follow my blog http://desperatearmyhousewife.blogspot.com.

    We are on the DT together at B&B. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Lady! These are adorable! I love checking in on your blog and marveling at your talent. You should submit these to the One Pretty Thing blog!

    Hugs to you

    ReplyDelete
  7. All of your projects are just so GORGEOUS and beautifully done!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I read and appreciate every one.