snowman in his snow cave

Cindy Spence here for one more ornament. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends. It's hard to believe that the month is almost over!! I had fun as a guest designer this month and for my last ornament I made a cute little snowman in a snow cave.

For the snow cave:
small balloon
white crochet thread
Stiffy fabric stiffener

Cut three or four yards of crochet thread, wind into a ball. Make three or four balls, depending on the size of the balloon and how much space you want between threads. Place the thread balls in a ziploc bag and cover the thread balls with fabric stiffener. You can soak the thread balls for a few hours, but it should be fine to work with immediately. Squish the thread balls in the bag of stiffener to help facilitate the distribution of fluid. Wrap the thread around the inflated balloon. Repeat wrapping the balls of thread until you are happy with the amount covering the balloon.
Let dry a day or so. After the thread is dry, pop balloon and remove balloon.

Find a cute snowman stamp of your choice. I colored my snowman with my beloved Copic markers. Cut out the snowman shape.

Cut an opening in the side of your dry thread shell. Layer the bottom of the inside with cotton "snow". I glued additional fake snowflakes to the top of this foundation. Glue a piece of fake pine to the back wall of the shell to represent a tree. Next glue Mr. Snowman inside his snow cave. Decorate the opening with a ribbon of your choice, and accent the opening with pretty poinsettia embellishments. Add a ribbon hanger, and you are done!

snowflake ornament within an ornament

Another fun ornament within an ornament. Start with a large plastic ball ornament. Use snow flake rub-ons. These particular rub-ons looked good on both sides, so I was able to use them on the inside of the ball. However, you can use the rub-ons on the outside of the ball, too. Next, paint one half of the ornament ball with a metallic blue. Leave the other half unpainted. Hang an ornament on the inside with an ornament of your choice. I had this pretty silver snowflake ornament on hand, but I think this would look fabulous with the Spellbinders Nestabilities. Attach the two plastic ball halves together. Glue a pretty and shiny complimentary ribbon around the seam. Finally add a ribbon hanger.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Graphic 45 paper background, K & Company embossed stickers, paper mache circle ornament or empty ribbon spool. Coating of Mod Podge

I {HEART} Christmas

Making Memories button embellishment
Lace
Graphic 45 paper
K & Company embossed stickers
heart paper mache ornament
Mod podge

snow flakes and ice

I think I have been having way too much fun decorating the plastic ornament balls. This is another simple ornament with fantastic results. All you need is a large plastic ornament ball, Hero Arts felt snowflakes, pretty ribbon, and
Mod Podge.

Paste a layer of Mod Podge on the inside of the plastic ball. Layer different colors of the snow flakes on top of the Mod Podge and paste a thick layer of Mod Podge on top of the snowflakes and in between. This will give the areas between the snowflakes an almost ice-like appearance when dry.

After the inside is dry, attach the two halves together and disguise the seam with a pretty ribbon of your choice. My favorite ribbon was the May Arts Iridescent taffeta ribbon in purple, and I thought this ribbon complimented the color in the snowflakes. I toned down this ribbon color by gluing a pretty white ribbon on top.

I used additional ribbon for my hanger.

It was hard to capture the beauty of this ornament in the light with the camera. The dried Mod Podge creates a very beautiful ice-like appearance inside the ball. So simple and so pretty.

Button Ornaments

What can I say? I love buttons. The different shapes, sizes, and oh, the colors!! I was inspired to create an ornament when I was looking at the subtle variations from the white buttons and thought that would make one cool (and simple!) ornament. I started with a paper mache ornament ball. I painted the ball with a white pearl metallic paint. After the paint was dry, I proceeded to hot glue gun my buttons around the ball. That's it! Simple and beautiful. I want to try this again with different color combinations.

Paper Christmas Tree centerpiece

I used a vintage pattern from my grandma to make this paper centerpiece. I traced the pattern on three different Paper Loft Home for the holidays paper. Cut out the design with small scissors or an exact-o knife. You can either use glue down the middle, or staple or sew down the middle of the design.