Christmas Crafting

I've spent the last month doing several "off the page" projects as Christmas gifts. It has been fun to play with some different media and try some new things, but it was also great to make a layout again today.

My first project was a set of coasters for my grandma. I decided to use photos of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I used a digital glitter frame on all of them that I had recolored using the Hue/Saturation sliders in PSE. These coasters were super easy to make and you can find all kinds of tutorials all over the Internet. I give a quick step-by-step of what I did.
1. Select photos, crop and add any design elements in PSE.
 2. Print on regular copy paper. Cut out photos.
 3. Brush a thin coat of Mod Podge onto white ceramic tiles. Lay photos onto wet Mod Podge.
 4. Brush a thin coat of Mod Podge over the photos to seal them in.
 5. Allow to dry then coat a second time.
 6. Spray with two coats of Acrylic sealer, allowing to dry in between.
 7. Glue felt to the back of tiles.

Our MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) group did an ornament exchange for our Christmas party.  I decided I wanted to try my hand at making an ornament.  I found this great tutorial on how to make a paper pinecone ornament.  This was relatively easy and didn't take a lot of time (probably about an hour and a half).  

Finally, I made a Christmas card for our priest to hold our gift to him.  As I was making this card, I realized that all of my Christmas paper, stamps, and other crafting supplies are very secular.  I will definitely have to do something about that!  I ended up searching the Internet for a free digital image to use on my card.  I found this one here.  I also used the current sketch at Sketch Saturday as inspiration for my card.  The base of the card was embossed using the Tim Holtz Alterations Snowflake folder.  I edged the card and all the pieces with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I also lightly ran my inking tool over the snowflakes to make them stand out more.

I have some more projects to share in the coming days, so stay tuned!