Getting ready for Christmas

Good evening everybody

As the sun will soon be setting on 2013, it is a time of celebration and reflection for many. I have not been prolific on the blog front over the past few months for various reasons and I would like to say thank you to all of you who have kept checking in and sending me good wishes. Although I haven't blogged much, I have not been idle on the creative front. Here comes a Christmas blog blitz that will show you many of the projects that we have been creating ready for the holidays.

Over the next four days, I will give you a posting a day. This is unheard of for me but I intend to do it as a small Christmas gift.

Even though work has been time consuming, we have managed to construct a rather Crafty Christmas this year. Both R and I have worked hard on projects to give our Christmas a distinctly individual feel. We have taken inspiration from online and magazines and have turned these ideas into our own distinct style. Followers of the blog will know that I do follow Alisa Burke's blog. Alisa was the inspiration behind our wrapping paper this year.

Do you like the new curtains?... !! This was the drying system for my sheets of pattened wrapping papers; very high tech!

The painting did not stop there. You may have noticed our tree topper this year? This bird house originally started out to be just a decoration but I really loved doing it. Here is the process - if you would like more details, please let me know.

You need to start by decorating your mount card. First layer, white acrylic

The second layer was fluid acrylic Copper (the same colours as the wrapping paper).

I tried to work out the measurements before I started cutting. Originally I created a net to get the basic shape, then added the roof from there. I drew on the back to make sure I got it right (it took a couple of goes!).

I then used a Stanley blade and a metal ruler to cut out the pieces.

A hot glue gun was used to put the house together.

Once I had the basic shape, I started to add in details such as the wreath and the bows.

 

As mentioned before, I did not intend it to be a tree topper. The bird house just evolved...  A hole created in the bottom allowed the top branch and Christmas lights to be inserted.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not the only one who has been busy. R has been hard at work creating some fantastic projects that are beautifully intricate and, to be honest, if I tried to make them I would probably get very frustrated.

Here is one of her mini Christmas trees, using Pine cones, florestry supplies and a cork.

These little beauties are dotted around the house along with her gorgeous Snow Globe Jars.

 

I hope that you have enjoyed this first Christmassy blog. These were all created during the first two weeks of December. Tomorrow, I will show you how we stepped up a gear; making cards and the house gets totally decked out!

Hope you will pop back to take a look. 

See you then?

Andy