"He Sees You When You're Drinking"

I'm so in love with some of the tags on the new Alpha Stamps "Snarky Christmas Tags", that I finally quit procrastinating on altering a vintage ornament box I've had for a couple of years. A turquoise background of happy Santas from the "Jingle" 6"x6" paper pad was the perfect background for the last of my turquoise plastic deer.

I couldn't help but put a tiny wine bottle up in that left hand corner and add a lovely Cosmopolitan inside the box, for that deer. He no doubt needs a little warmth, standing on that snow covered ground.

A thin line of Stickles (glitter in a tube) sets off the opening of the box. It wasn't hard to make that Cosmo using a miniature cocktail glass, a polymer clay lime cane, and a sugar rim made from glitter. A tiny log makes the perfect table. If you are in need of a tiny Cosmo in your life, click here for a post that contains a tutorial.

One more photo for scale. I have to wonder: just how many of these boxes of ornaments did one have to buy to decorate their tree? No matter, I'm in love with their tiny selves. I have one more left to alter. No telling when I'll finally get around to that!

For a complete list of supplies, click here.

Tinsel Rain Christmas, with mini tutorial

I'll admit it: I have a love for vintage packaging, and vintage Christmas ornament boxes hold a special place in my heart. Maybe you remember the dioramas a friend and I did a couple of years ago?

You may not have access to a vintage ornament box, but here's how you can get the the same look of one with some supplies from Alpha Stamps: a Tiny Diorama Box and "A Very Merry Christmas" paper pad. I used paper from the pad for both the inside and outside of the box, fussy cutting elements of some of the paper to create logos and box design. In the photo below, the two boxes in back are vintage; the one in the front is a fake.

Stack 'em up! I used a nice golden brown ink pad to dirty up the imposter a bit.

The diorama box I used is cardboard, so even though it's a one piece box, I left the bottom "as is", and only glued the decorated sides at the corners so it looks like a box with a lid. (Check out those staples; I love that little detail. More about those later.)

The interior of the box features a wee little elf admiring the decorated Christmas tree.

There's plenty of room for Christmas fun in this box!

Here's how it was done: glue the paper on the top of the box, and cut out the opening. The paper in the pad I used was not big enough to cover the four sides of the box, so I used red stripey paper around the bottom edge of each side. Glue in your patterned background paper. Glue beads and a star onto a bottle brush tree, and make a cardboard ledge to raise up the floor of the display area so the elf and tree are easily visible. The tree I used was a little too tall, so I cut a hole in this new false floor to sit the wooden base of the tree into.

Use Snow-tex to create "snow" for the bottom. Once the snow is good and dry, glue the elf in place and set the tree down into its hole.

Glue the cardboard base to the back of the wall, and put a line of glue on its front cardboard flap to adhere it to the box front when the box is closed. My floor is slightly tilted toward the front, so you can see the elf a little better. *Plan ahead! If you want some tinsel around the opening, now's the time to glue that in. Trust me, it's not easy to add tinsel if your box is already sealed. My problem: it wasn't until my box was "finished" that I felt adding the tinsel was necessary.* Now would be a good time to put the wreath up, too. Once your interior is finished, tuck the flap of the box lid on the inside the of box, leaving the decorative paper outside, and glue the flap in place.

I was so happy how real my little box was looking, that I just had to add staples on the ends just like my two actual vintage boxes had. I used a sewing needle to punch holes in the box, and pushed the staples in with my fingers.

The front of the box was decorated with elements cut out from the paper pad. I used a silver Sharpie to add the dots of snow to the plain green paper. Oh my, look how tiny and cute!

For a complete list of supplies, click here.

Tiny Ornament Boxes, OR a Fun Swap

Quite some time ago, a good friend of mine and I got all excited about decorating vintage Christmas ornament boxes. I found a great deal on Ebay: two adorable identical boxes for $10. Each box measured just 4" by 5 1/2". I kept one and sent one to her, with the promise that we would each decorate them and give them to each other as gifts.

So here's what I sent her. It's a vintage plastic reindeer with a stocking, sitting on a glittery surface of snow. There's a little package next to him, addressed to her. What could be inside?

I left the cellophane window on mine; she removed hers. She wins. It's really better without. I told her she may want to take that off of the one I sent her. The glare is pretty bad, especially in photos.

Aren't these the cutest boxes ever? Neither of us could bear to mess with the outsides; they were just too perfect!

And here's what she sent me. I just love it so much! The tree is raised up to give it dimension, and look at that deer, spying on Santa. So cute! There's lots of glitter in the snow on the ground and on the roof of the house. I am a big fan of the little bit of glitter around the opening of the box.

And a picture of the side, so you can see the dimension better. 

What a fun Christmas exchange. Ho ho ho!