My sister has one of those Christmas villages, with all the houses and the snow and stuff. This year my nieces wanted to make her a little village in a giant Mason Jar. Luckily my mom has hundreds of Mason Jars in various sizes. Remember how we made all those Cookie-in-a-Jar guest gifts for my cousins baby shower? Yep, she still has tons.
She took the kids to the craft store, got all the little things to go in the jars and turned the kids loose.
Ian made one for me and my mom put together a stand for it. I am pretty sure this was a gallon mayonnaise jar, it’s huge.
My mom made some cream-colored playdoh so the items would stay upright in the jar. She also bought some of that Kinetic Sand in cream.
Ian placed all the items himself. I absolutely love it.
His gift gave me an idea for a Christmas gift for Ian’s teacher. Luckily my mom had all sorts of stuff left over so Ian could make another jar.
Before we started decorating I used the hot glue gun and glued six blobs on the bottom of the jar for stability.
I tried to use the playdoh, but didn’t like how the stuff wouldn’t really stay up right, unless you used a hold bunch of playdoh. I didn’t really like how the playdoh looked from the outside.
So after he placed all the stuff in the jar, I took it all out along with the playdoh. Then I put it all back in how he had it, and with his instructions, but I used hot glue to secure his decorations.
He was sad that we didn’t have any more reindeer, but at least we had Santa.
This jar wasn’t as large so he couldn’t fill it quite so full. After all was secure I dumped in the plastic snow that mom got at the craft store.
I really wish I had sprayed the inside bottom of the jar with that window snow paint. I think it would have looked great, but I thought of it after, and I don’t have any….but you can use that idea, it’s all good.
Since this is a teacher gift and made in a Mason Jar I thought these tags would be perfect!
I designed the tag in Silhouette Studio software. For the jar I used the print ‘n cut method, and cut the lid out in two layers.
Love the tag? I know, it’s super cute. And you are in luck, cause you can download here. For free.
This PDF file is the above printable tag for Christmas.
This SVG file is for those of you who would like to use it in your cutting machine. I did have to change the font for the SVG file because it was a little too thin for cutting.
Please note this design is for PERSONAL USE only please. Please do not forward, share, sell or distribute the files for any commercial purposes or claim as your own design. Thanks a bunch!
‘Tis the season for giving, and there is nothing better than giving someone a hand-made gift.
Except being able to giveaway a new Silhouette Portrait or Cameo, that is.
That’s right, a wonderful group of bloggers and I have gotten together to giveaway not one, but two Silhouettes. These ladies have also came up with a variety of holiday projects to make with your brand new Silhouette. Just follow the links at the end of this post for some inspiration.
DIY Christmas Coasters
I thought I would share some of the gifts I have been making for Christmas this year.
I made some Christmas coasters from tiles using a couple different methods, including etching cream, vinyl and sharpies.
I love making etched glass items and thought how great it would work on glass tiles. I found these blue glass tiles, they are clear glass with a backing that is colored, and knew they would be perfect for a snow themed coaster.
Since the tile would be a coaster I wanted the majority of the surface to be rough with the design smooth. I cut my design out of scrap vinyl, I have been told contact paper works too, and transferred the design on to the tile.
I like to apply my etching cream right next to the sink. I lay down wax paper for a work surface, and use gloves to protect my skin. At the end of the etching time I try to scrape the etching cream back into the bottle. No need to waste! Rinse the rest of the cream off the tile under cold running water. Peel off the stencil and wash again with soap and water.
Please follow the directions on your etching cream and be safe.
Because the tile is thick glass the unetched parts refract the light and distort the design when trying to take a picture.
I absolutely love how these turned out, but the elegance of them is lost in translation. They do look lovely all wrapped up in a bow.
Did you know that etching cream will also take the glaze off ceramic tiles?
This is even harder to photograph because of how subtle it is.
My first thought was to make a minimalist snowman design with vinyl, but then I decided to take it one step further. I used a vinyl stencil for the snowman base and a few circles of falling snow. I then applied the etching cream to the entire coaster as above. This left a rough background with a shiny snowman and snow.
After etching, washing and allowing to dry for at least a day, I applied the vinyl decorations, using outdoor vinyl if I had it. I love how these turned out, they are impressive with just the vinyl but when you look close you can see the subtle outline of the snowman and snow.
But why stop there? Sharpies on ceramics are always a fun craft.
Since I am pretty sure my 4-year-old draws better than me, I use my Silhouette to cut out stencils for all my Sharpie work as well. As I did with these Rudolph coasters and they are fantastic!
After coloring I cured the ink by placing the coasters in a cold over, turning on the heat to 350°F, baking for about 30 minutes, turning the oven off and letting the coasters come back to room temperature slowly.
Using the same sharpie and stencil method I made some Christmas light coasters as well.
On one set of coasters I simply colored the lights in. On the other set I used the negative of the stencil and used scattered dots to draw the lights. I should tell you that I did not use oil based markers or ceramic pens. I cured them just as I did with the Rudolph ones.
Some of the colors (uh, all but the red and green) did not hold up as well with the curing process. *sigh, lesson learned. So, if you are going to cure them in the oven, use ceramic markers. Another option would be to seal them after coloring with a clear waterproof sealant. Sealing them is still probably a good idea anyway.
Not to worry though. They can just be recolored and then sealed. (which admittedly I have not yet done, but plan on doing)
These coaster would make great gift to with a new mug and box of hot chocolate, coffee or tea. *spoiler alert
Silhouette Giveaway!
I know, I know, here is the part of the post you are most excited about. As I said above, my Silhouette Challenge buddies in partnership with Silhouette America are hosting a mega-huge giveaway for not one…but two winners! The prizes up for grabs?
First prize: The NEW Silhouette Cameo Machine and Designer Edition Super Bundle! $406.93 value.
Silhouette CAMEO®
Designer Edition Software
Dust Cover
$25 Download Card
Four Essential Silhouette Tools (hook, spatula, scraper, pick-me-up™)
Second prize: Silhouette Portrait Machine and Rhinestone Starter Kit! $219.98 value.
Pretty sweet, huh? We want you to have the chance to get that Silhouette machine that might still be on your wish list.
To enter: just click on the image below or on this link, either will take you to the entry form. Because of my many blog friends who helped make this giveaway possible, you have 42 potential entries, which means a lot of winning power. So, hurry up and enter!
{This giveaway runs from today through Monday, December 15th at 11:59p eastern and is open to anyone 18 years of age or older with a U.S. or Canada mailing address. You can read the rest of the terms and conditions in the giveaway window. You only need to enter the giveaway on one blog.}
My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so pursue the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!
I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones. I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.
As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.
Our Zoo does a light display that runs from Thanksgiving through the first weekend of the new year. There is no holiday theme to their display, it is of course about animals.
Typically we go see the Zoo Lights before Christmas, but that didn’t happen this year. There wasn’t as much time between the two holidays and Christmas came before I knew it. There was one week where we had time, but it was wicked cold out and thought of taking the boys out in that weather did not sound fun.
We kept saying ‘if the weather is nice we will do it tomorrow.’ Then tomorrow came, and we had no time. So we ended up going after Christmas. It was cold, but it was dry and there was no wind, so it wasn’t that bad.
Sid was mesmerized by the lights and the people. Ian loved the lights, but was disappointed the animals were not out. On the way home he said “I only got to saw one monkey. He climbed for me, an stayed up dat one night.”
I love the displays that look like the picture is moving. You know, the ones where the lights are on a timer and turn off and on down the line.
But my favorite thing about Zoo Lights is that they take in old lights. They used to use the lights they took in after determining what was wrong with them. Our zoo now only uses LED lights, but they do recycle lights strings. If you have lights that don’t work, or tangled, or you just want new ones, take them to the zoo. Don’t throw them away!
I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones. I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.
As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.
Christmas Crafts! Part Two
It is no secret I love hand and foot print art. Last year we made these Mistletoes plates. We gave them to some family as gifts. I had thought we might make them again, but decided I wanted to do something different.
We made salt dough ornaments with the kids fingerprints to give to family.
OK, admittedly, I am not as pleased with them as I was with the plates. Mostly because you can’t tell the difference between Ian’s & Sid’s thumb prints.
They are really easy, and I could make a lot of them all at once. Ian is much more cooperative with these projects than Sid is. So I needed something that I could quickly make a lot.
To make these Christmas Tree Fingerprint Ornaments you will need:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water (+/-)
rolling-pin
cookie sheet
paint (or food coloring)
ribbon
thumbs belonging to your favorite kids
Preheat oven to 250°.
Mix salt and flour together, add water a little at a time until a dough if formed. If using food coloring to color ornaments add to water prior to mixing with four & salt. Knead until dough becomes elastic, smooth and stickiness is gone, adding little bits of flour as needed.
Roll out dough to 1/4″ thick on a greased surface. Use Christmas tree cookie cutter to cut out ornaments, I was able to make about 15. Poke a hole for the ribbon at the top of the tree.
Have kids use finger/thumb prints to make ornaments on the cut out trees.
This is a good assembly line project. Ian just went through and put two prints on each one. I did have to tell him not to put them on the edge.
Little guys might need some help or persuading to get their thumbs on there. Sid was not very enthusiastic about this.
Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 2 hours. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool before painting. I used whatever craft paint I had on hand. One was acrylic and one was enamel, both worked fine.
Thread a length of ribbon through the hole and tie in order to hang up.
There is no ornament on a tree better than the ones your children make. At least, according to me.
I Tri and Craft 