Arnold Grummer Papermaking - Easy Paper Snowflake Photo Background

Hustle and bustle of the holiday season is here.  There is still so much to do before Christmas Day.  My last post for this year had to be fairly easy and quick.

Using ordinary white copy paper and adding some Arnold Grummer Iridescent Flakes to the mix, I made two simple sheets of paper flecked with sparkle.

Follow the basic paper making process that can be viewed at this video link.

A different style acrylic frame with a different style of die-cut snowflakes

Once the paper sheets were completed I used my "go to" tools - Sizzix Big Shot and dies. The simple snowflake die-cuts were then used to add a unique embellishment to a black & white photo in an acrylic frame.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!!!

Designer Craft Connection/Smoothfoam™ - Holiday Ball Decorations

The countdown to Christmas has begun - decorations are going up, there is tree lighting, card writing, cookie baking, planning and shopping going on.  Each holiday season I tell myself there is no need for any new decorations but there always seems to something new being created.

Here is a cute ornament idea using a Smoothfoam™ ball.  To make this ornament, punch the primitive heart shape using a decorative punch and several solid and printed papers. Cut a length of ribbon for hanger and knot the cut ends.  Drop a small bead of glue to the center of the ball, press the knotted end of the ribbon hanger onto the glue, press a straight pin into the knot and into the ball to secure.  Dipping just the bottom tip of the punched hearts into a white glue, place the heart shapes around the ball.  Start at the top and continue to work around in rows until the ball is completely covered.  Add a bow to the top of the ornament.  NOTE: Use other small punch shapes like a holly leaf that can be glued on in the same fashion or a snowflake that could be attached with pins.

Do you have an ball ornament to share?  If you do add it to the link along with all the others. See other ideas here with this link: Inlinkz  or the Smoothfoam™ blog.

Designer Craft Connection - Easy Holiday Decoration with "Foamology™" by Fairfield

Another opportunity to work with something new that I had never seen or used before, presented itself with this designer challenge.  I was totally unaware of this line of products called Foamology™by Fairfield.  I requested the 24" x 24" Rigid Tiles to work with.  Here is my creation using just one of the tiles, Faux Wooden "BELIEVE" Plank...

This will be a welcome addition to the country holiday vignette near the front entrance.  The idea was inspired by a similar one my daughter had made out of old recycled wood.

The 24" x 24" rigid tile was cut using a serated knife into two pieces measuring 12" x 24".  The two panels were taped together using wide strapping tape to hold them together.  The long panel was then covered with a natural cotton batting.  NOTE: Add the batting to the panels as shown in the video files for working with these products: http://foamology101.com/videos/.

I cut a piece of brown felt to cover the back of the plank.  NOTE: Fabric or paper could be used also.  

Using the back side of a butter knife, I ran it down the length of the plank about 3" from both sides to make an impression.  Using thinned paint, I  brushed it into the groove made by the knife.  This gave the panel some depth and the look of a wooden plank.

Letters that spell out BELIEVE, were cut from heavy, decorative cardstock using a Silhouette and a decorative font.  Spray adhesive was used to adhere the letters to the plank.  A little bit of gold spary glitter was applied before spray the entire surface with a clear acrylic spray finish.  A  little strip of "bark-like" ribbon was glued on and a small evergreen spray added to finish the look.

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Arnold Grummer Blog - Warm Thoughts

'Tis the season - Holiday time is upon us for sure!  The tree and decorations have gone up. The winter weather has made its way here.  From all these things I was inspired to create this little paper banner to make a statement.

For this project I once again used paper pulp and a cookie cutter as a mold to shape the mittens.  You can refer for an earlier post where I used the same method to create individual paper shapes, here is the link to that post- Flying Bats

After the process of forming the mitten shapes, I applied a texture paint that resembles snow to the top edge of each mitten.  When that was dry, I added some sparkle with a glitter paint.  Letters were die-cut from white paper to spell out the greeting.  A bit of glitter glue was also added to the front surface of each letter.  When dry, the letters are glued onto the mittens.  Attach each mitten onto a cord of choice with mini wooden clothespins.  This simple banner, made from paper pulp, is a sweet display for somewhere in your house or to give as a little gift.  What better place to display it, but by hanging it on the old vintage coat rack in the front hall.

Make some handmade paper for holiday cards or gift tags.  Cast some paper pulp with molds or your own deckles, like a cookie cutter for holiday shapes.  Try it and have some fun!

Vist the Arnold Grummer website, look around and do some Holiday shopping.  Use the 20% discount code SNOWY20 with your purchase.