Ho Ho Ho...Christmas Sleighs!

I love the new Christmas sleigh kits over at Alpha Stamps this month; the sleighs are easy to construct and fun to decorate, and there are two sizes to choose from. I had so much fun working on them that I decorated one of each! First, the larger, table top size: the inside was done with paint on the two sides of the sleigh, and polka dotted scrapbook paper on the remainder. The scrolled part of the outside was painted, and the flat sides were covered with papers. Festive embellishments jazz it up: a bit of gold ribbon, some shiny stars, and a pine garland with a sparkly red bow.

A Tim Holtz Plaquette on the back serves as the perfect license plate for Santa.

This sled is a great size for holding Christmas cards, candy, ornaments, or even tiny wrapped presents. I filled mine with greenery for use as a centerpiece on the Christmas table, and added a few miniature vintage ornaments for extra sparkle.

This greenery was cut from my backyard, but you could use faux greens and floral picks if you want the arrangement to be more permanent.

I designed the smaller sleigh in hopes that it would look like a vintage decoration from the 50's or 60's. Lucky me; I found the perfect little chenille Santa in an antique mall last weekend. Score! I painted the sleigh eggshell white, and distressed it with ink to make it look old. Blue Waterfall Stickles were used to make the wooden snowflake and the outer scrolled part of the sleigh glittery. I used some thin cardboard to make a little seat for Santa up front, and then filled the cargo space with a bottlebrush tree, some packages made using the Holiday Bags, Tags & Boxes collage sheet, and the cutest miniature wooden toys. From this side you can see a little wooden airplane, the sail of a toy boat, and a couple of the boxes made from the collage sheet.

Santa looks pretty happy with his tiny candy cane. And those toys! I love the Jack-in-the-Box stacked up in the back. There's also a tiny drum with green drumsticks right behind the seat, and a striped ball on top of the white package.

It may seem like a lot for Santa to haul around, but look how small that sleigh actually is: it fits right in the palm of my hand.

The sleigh may be small, but it packs in a lot of Christmas goodies!

Ho ho ho, and a merry Christmas to all! For a complete list of supplies, click here.

Tin of the Month Club, November

Each month this year, I've been altering a tiny tin to reflect the month. Here's the November tin. This turkey is hoping the fall foliage will serve as adequate camouflage. I wish him the best of luck. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

If you want to see the tins from the rest of the year, click here.

Freezer Paper Stenciling

There is nothing better for stenciling than freezer paper! You can find it in your grocery store near the foil and plastic bags. All you have to do is cut your desired image out, and then iron the shiny side down to whatever you wish to stencil. Once you paint the image, the paper peels off easily.

Here's what I made this weekend. I have a few Georgia Bulldog t-shirts, but they're all short sleeved. I've been wanting one to wear in colder weather, but I'm so picky! I wanted a grey long sleeved shirt with just a simple logo on it. I looked everywhere for the perfect shirt, but finally decided to make my own. It only took a couple of hours to cut out the design and apply the paint. It was done and ready for gameday this weekend. Go Dawgs!

I painted the entire area white first, and then masked off the areas that were to remain white or red, and painted in the black. The red areas were painted by hand after the black paint was dry.

Here's another shirt stenciled using freezer paper. For this one, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the type. Perfect lettering every time! I just use regular acrylic paints, and apply sparingly. After painting, heat set the image using a heat gun. Or, just pop the shirt in the dryer. I also like to wash the shirts before wearing, as it takes the stiffness out of the painted areas.

On this shirt, I painted in the large red X first, and then layered the "acto" part over the X and painted it and the friendly warning below. This shirt was part of a Superhero costume. What? You've never heard of X-acto? You can see my giant blade weapon here.