German Star Instructions... at last!

Growing up we had these really old german stars on our tree. I don't know what draws me to them, but I'm completely enamoured! This past Christmas I was the fortunate recipient of some German Stars that my dad made as a kid (how cool is that!?), so my desire to make my own has become a little less urgent.

Nonetheless, I've been searching for instructions to no avail for several years, but finally I've found some instructions and I'm sharing them with you.

German Star Ornament Instructions

Christmas Project #1 - Vintage Ornaments

I found this concept at the Christmas with the Cricut blog from a lady who made the most beautiful ornaments using the Ranger Alcohol Inks. I've been eyeing those inks for a long time (and those of you who know me, know I am a product/technique/tool junkie) so they finally gave me the reason I needed to go buy some. Bonus!

So for my version, I swapped the Cricut vinyl for some Hamby Rub-ons (Yay Hambly!) and went to town creating my own vintage ornaments. When I gave them away last Christmas, many people thought they were store-bought, no one believed they were handmade!

 Vintage Alcohol Ink Ornaments

Want to make your own? Here's a supply list:

• Alcohol Ink Applicator (Ranger)
• Alcohol Inks (color + a shade of brown or two high-contrast shades of the same color)
• Alcohol Ink Blending Solution (for cleaning off any mistakes, or the table)
• Alcohol Ink pearl mixatives (optional, but gives it a pretty shine)
• Glass ornaments (I purchased mine at Michaels)
• Gloves (vinyl/latex)
• Glass cleaner/rubbing alcohol
• Paper towels
• Rub-ons (use high-quality, super sticky ones -of course I recommend Hambly) OR, Cricut vinyl and the cartridge(s) of your choice
• Ribbons, wired beads, Bazzill tulle, wired berries, etc. for the top

Here are a few tips from my ornament making experience:

1. If you don't like how it's coming out, you can just go back over it. The wet ink on your applicator will redistribute what's already dried on your ornament.
2. If you really, really don't like how it's looking, you can use the alcohol ink blending solution to remove what you've already applied and start again.
3. Adding the metallic mixatives comes out really cool! (Apply it with the other 2 colors)
4. These inks stain... PERMANENTLY so wear gloves and old clothes and don't do it over any furniture that you'd really like to keep...or any surface that you'd like to keep for that matter.
5. If you do get some on a hard surface like formica, you can use the alcohol blending solution to remove it, but there will likely still be a residual stain.
6. It's addictive! I'm already thinking of vases and other things to apply this technique too!

If you want to seal your ornaments, here are some tips from inkyheart:

• Use Creative Imaginations' Super Seal. It's an acrylic-based sealer so it won't mess with your pretty alcohol ink work and mimics the surface it is sprayed upon... so it doesn't change the look of your work either. I've used it on transparencies and acrylic as well as paper.
• This sealer works well for Ranger and Copic Alcohol inks.
• FYI: Most spray sealers have propylol (or some other alcohol ---lol) and those will make the ink 'dance' and especially mess up detailed images that you may have colored in (think mud puddle); so don't use Krylon for alcohol ink work, unless you are going for a crazed look. I've actually done that on purpose for my domino-based jewelry pieces.

That's it. Have fun creating your own and post a comment to share your creations!

Christmas Projects

The holidays are a busy time of year for me (both personally and professionally) so I generally have very little time to get my projects done let alone add them to my blog. So to make sure my blog isn't woefully neglected next holiday season, I'm posting some of my Christmas projects from 2009 over the next few days. Enjoy!

Cards on Wednesdays: Unity - Getting Ready for Christmas

Every year I set out to make brilliant, handmade Christmas cards... and every year I complete enough for about half of my list before I run out of time and end up abandoning the project altogether -if I get it started at all... (sorry friends and family I really did mean to send cards last year). So I started to put my mind around developing some super quick, yet handmade, greeting cards. Here's one that you can make very quickly. Actually, it's so simple that those of you with little elves (children) could probably have them help!

This very simple card is made with the following products:


• Unity Stamps "MERRY MERRY MERRY" UK-469A
• VersaFine Sepia Ink
• Copic Markers: Two shades of blue, one green, one red or pink, and one clear Spica
• Kraft Cardstock



Quick Flowers

Since I'm out of "Cards on Wednesdays" at the moment, I thought I'd share one of my favorite flower making techniques with you. It's quick, it's easy, and you can make coordinating flowers for your cards or projects in just a few minutes.

Here's a picture of this super-fabulous flower technique in action...

And, here are the instructions for how to make them...

• Cut or punch a circle out of paper.
• Then use your scissors to cut it in a spiral shape leaving a wider piece (about the size of a pencil eraser) at the end to serve as the flower base later. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Cutting it unevenly makes for a more interesting flower.
• Starting from the outside end, roll the paper until you get to the wider piece. Allow the paper to unroll to the size of flower you want, put glue on the base and then tuck it under the rolled part. Hold it together until the glue dries (I recommend using zip dry or hot glue).

If you're not wanting to freehand it, here's a template you can use instead...

Unity Challenges - Swing Card

Before participating in this challenge I had never ever heard of a swing card, let alone tried to make one! It took me three tries to get the inner panel cut right, but in the end, I think it was worth it!

If you want to learn how to make a swing card of your very own (or see a video to better understand how the motion works go here).

Cards on Wednesdays: Unity WCMD - Paint

I am always on the lookout for new things to do and try and I really like to find alternatives to paper. One alternative that I like to play with is clear acetate, but it always poses a problem.... How to adhere decorative elements without the glue showing?

This Unity challenge was to play with paint. I have on occassion stamped images with paint. It's not easy to do, but possible and requires immediate washing of the stamp. This time around I thought I'd try to use it as my background on a clear card. With a bottle of Making Memories paint and a super cheap hardware store paint brush I set out to create some texture for a background on my card (no glue needed). I don't know that I'm completely in love with this card (it was created when my mojo went missing), but it was at least another opportunity to learn new things and to play with new mediums.