Stacy's Paper Crafts

Handmade Bows

I am THAT Mom who barks "save the bows!" as gifts are unwrapped Christmas morning. LOL I wish I had known how easy they were to make! If you have a little time and some pretty paper you'll have another excuse to avoid the holiday crowds and long lines at your local Target or Walmart.

I used SVG cut files & my Silhouette Came to create all of these bows, but you really don't need a fancy cutting machine or template to create these more traditional roundish style bows.

Maria from A Homemade Living has a great tutorial with step-by-step photos on how she creates her bows using some simple strips of paper. If you prefer a video tutorial, I found this one to be helpful...

 

To make a layered bow simply cut strips from coordinating paper a bit narrower in width than your first layer. Start at about 1/4 in. narrower and adjust according to your preference. Adhere the narrower strips on top of the wider ones using a glue stick before assembling your bow. You can use almost any type of paper to create bows including wrapping paper, paper from old books, paper bags, scrapbooking paper, copy paper, ect. I like to use patterned paper or glittered cardstock for my top layer, and 65lb. weight cardstock for the main layer. It creates a super sturdy bow!

I used my hot glue gun to assemble my bows, It really sped up the process and reduced the drying time significantly allowing me to make a bunch of bows in a short amount of time! January is my birthday month and also the time of year that I like to work on replenishing my Birthday and Thank You card stash. Since I had bows on my mind I created some birthday themed ones to use this coming year...

If you're curious like me, you'll be on the hunt for different styles of bows to create! Pinterest and Youtube are a great places to start, happy bow making!

 

Crayola Model Magic Helpful Tips

 

A few months ago I was doing some cleaning and came across an ornament my son made in preschool about 20 years ago. That sounds so crazy to me, 20 years! Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was created using Crayola Model Magic, or a product similar to it. It's in pristine condition! It's super lightweight, has somewhat of a pliable texture, but it's also durable and holds shapes amazing well. I thought it would be perfect for creating some faux food ornaments! I've only seen it locally in a handful of colors but apparently it's available in about 12 different colors. I purchased a few 4oz packs in white hoping that it could painted after it "cured."

Helpful Tip #1: Prime your with Gesso!

It is paintable but it requires a few coats to achieve good coverage. Unfortunately, when I went to apply the second coat, it pulled up the first coat in some areas. I shaped and molded a second batch of ornaments and allowed them to "cure" for about 24 hours. I then applied two coats of Gesso, allowing each coat to dry completely before applying the next. The Gesso helped the Model Magic to accept the paint and allowed me to apply a second coat of paint without pulling the first coat.

After my paint was completely dried I used Puffy Paint to apply the frosting to my cookie and donuts ornaments. I applied the "sprinkles" and glitter to the paint while it was wet and used my finger to very gently pat the sprinkle bits into the paint to ensure that they'd stay in place once the paint dried, and then left them to dry overnight

Helpful Tip #2: Use Matte Medium to protect & seal

After the puffy paint was dry I added two coats of Matte Medium to seal the puffy paint, "sprinkles," and glitter in place. Be sure to use a thin application of the Matte Medium and allow the first coat to dry before applying the second. You can apply additional coats if necessary. The thin application will reduce the amount of noticeable brush strokes and texture after drying. You could also use a glossy gel medium if you prefer a glossier finish. Mod Podge would probably be a good substitution as well. I prefer Matte Medium because I always get a ton of brush strokes when using Mod Podge and it annoys me LOL.

Helpful Tip #3: Use to create heavy items

The Model Magic worked great for heavier ornaments like the donuts and pretzels! I used air dry clay for my first few donut and pretzel ornaments and they are really quite heavy. I had to be strategic in placing them on my tree because some branches weren't strong enough to hold them, and others left the branches drooping leaving big gaps.

I hope you found these tips to be helpful!

Christmas 365?

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know that many of us are often left exhausted after all the Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities and are anxious to pack it all away until next year. I can usually keep the party going through January! LOL However this will not be the case for me this year. I'll take down my tree and pack away the Christmas decorations, but I'm planning to keep my Christmas crafting supplies out so that I can continue on with all the projects that I wanted to create.

This past year I have really enjoyed following Jill aka Greenwood Girl Cards, and host of Saturday Morning makes #satmornmakes, along with her fellow collaborators. Apparently she works year round creating Christmas cards and tags for her loved ones. She recently shared a video showcasing her efforts for 2022 and I love it! You can check it out by clicking below.

I usually start thinking about Christmas in July, but my health makes it challenging to really stick to a schedule because I never know how I'm going to feel day to day. Each and everyday is different unfortunately, but I think if I make it a point to create something every month, that will give me an additional 5-6 months to create and I'll be able to tackle more on my Christmas holiday list!

Although I got distracted by all the crafty things and sidelined by illness most of this month, I did get a chance to create some really cute ornaments. I stared out strong with my gingerbread man cards, but then I got wrapped up in making faux cookie ornaments instead!

and chocolate covered pretzels...

And chocolate donuts...

and patterned paper ornaments...

especially the 3D kinds like this one...

I ended up making about 25 ornaments! I'm looking forward to adding some gingerbread men and little gingerbread houses to the mix for next year. Did you create any ornaments for your tree this year? I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Frosted Cookie Ornaments

Happy Saturday everyone! I’m back today to share some ornaments that I created for my Christmas tree this year. 

These faux frosted cookie ornaments were made from cardstock! I used my Silhouette to cut the shapes, and after adhering 8 or so layers to create a sturdy almost chipboard like base I applied some Distress ink around the edges to give them a baked appearance.

 

 

I also applied a few coats of Matte Medium especially along the sides to help preserve the "cookies" and then got to work decorating them! I added some Diamond Dust glitter to the snowflake cookies and sealed it with a few coats of Matte Medium.

I used white dimensional paint to create the frosting for all of the cookies and used some 4mm no hole plastic beads to create the sprinkles.

 

I added some superfine glitter to this one. I had a lot of fun creating these cookies and look forward to "baking up" some more batches!

 

Fall Shades of Blue

I tend to reach for shades of orange and brown for my Fall projects but shades of blue and teal seem to be on trend this Fall season and I am here for it! I loved the pumpkin stenciled background that I created for this card so I decided to use it again to create some backgrounds using trendy shades of blue. This little exercise made me realize I don't have any medium or medium/dark true blue shades. Most of my blues appear to be more purple so I ended up choosing the shades of ink closest to what I envisioned.

I used Neenah Solar White cardstock for all these panels. I chose Stampin' Up's Night of Navy, Pacific Point, and Distress Chipped Sapphire & Speckled Egg on this first set. I never noticed how purple Chipped Sapphire leans before now.

I used Stampin' Up's Pretty Peacock, Distress Peacock Feathers, and Stampin' Up's Soft Succulent on these panels. Surprisingly Soft Succulent has really become a favorite ink! If you have Papertrey Ink's Oceantides ink pad it's a near perfect match. I think it's a teeny weeny tiny bit deeper in tone but It's hardly noticeable. Anyway I love how easy it is to transform a sheet of white paper with a few basic supplies. I can't wait to put these DIY patterned papers to use!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Paper: Neenah Solar White Smooth Cardstock

Inks: Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, Speckled Egg Distress Ink, SU's:Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Cajun Craze, & Soft Succulent Inks

Other: Blending Brush, Domed Foam Blending Tool, & Stencil