Faux tin ornaments

Diana, Mom to the Wayward Girls, here! When the girls were young, we wanted to make December a magical and fun month for them. I collected children's Christmas stories, activities, recipes, and crafts all year long. I made a notebook for all my ideas and consulted it often. Each year, I got a big calendar on which we tracked and planned our activities. I tried to have a craft or activity plus a Christmas story each night. We kept some of our treats and crafts we made; others we gave away as service to others.

Here's one of our favorites: Faux Tin Ornaments.

Supplies-

• Aluminum trays or pans.
Note: I bought a very inexpensive one that was really too thin. Try to get one trays that are heavier than heavy duty aluminum foil. Because my tray was so thin, the ornaments bent too easily when handled. This doesn't happen so easily with heavier foil. We still have many of the ornaments the girls made more than 10 years ago.
• Cookie cutters or Christmas object shaped stencils.
• Ball point pens, scissors, pen or nail
• Ribbon

Find a pattern shape. You can use cookie cutters, print out shapes or freehand.

Trace shapes on the tray with a ball point pen. The ink will not show up. You can burnish out creases you may find in the tray, as I'm doing with the scissor handles here.

Cut out the shape. Lay the shape on a magazine, stack of paper, or corrugated cardboard. Use the ball point pen to draw embellishments on the ornament. (This makes the lines softer and broader.) You can draw on both sides to add texture. This will make the ornaments look embossed.

Embellishment ideas: The lines on the angel's wings, and the dots were drawn on one side of the angel, and the heart was drawn on the back.

The star has designs on both sides as well as small holes that will allow light to shine through.

If desired, an adult or older child can carefully punch holes through the ornament for a new look. You could also use permanent markers to add color to the ornament.

Finally, punch a hole for a ribbon or ornament hanger.

Christmas Gift Card Holder

Hi Mashed Potatoes and Crafts friends!

Kristie here today from Kristie Kreates.

It's the first Wednesday of the month, so I'm here with a tutorial.

Today I'm going to show you how to make a cute

Christmas Gift Card Holder.

Just about everyone gives someone a gift card at Christmas,

so why not give it in style?!?!

And this holder can be done with whatever paper you want,

so it can be made for a birthday, a thank you gift or anything you like.

Now let's get started.

To start you will need a piece of card stock measuring

7" x 4 3/4"

Along the 7" side you will score at 1/2" and 3 3/4"

Trim off the corners as shown above.

With a circle punch, punch a half circle in one of the 3" sides.

This will be the top back of the envelope.



Add strong adhesive, I like double sided tape, to the side and bottom of the envelope.  Fold the 1/2" area to the inside of the card, remove the backing of the double sided tape and stick together making an envelope.

Round all corners.

Now you have your envelope.

You will now need a coordination piece of paper or card stock

measuring 4 1/2" x 3".

Round all corners and wrap ribbon, embroidery floss or baker's twine around this piece and tie in a bow.  

You can use whatever you'd like.



This piece will be adhered to the front of the envelope.

Now you will need a piece of the coordinating paper that measures

6" x 2 3/4"





Score this piece at 1 1/2" and 2 1/2"



Now fold it to look like this.

Using which ever adhesive you like, adhere

the bottom flaps together like above.



Using a very narrow bit of adhesive along the sides of the flap

adhere it to make a small pocket where you will place your gift card.

Just be sure you adhere only along the edges, so the gift card will fit.

Then adhere this to a piece of card stock that measures

3" x 4 1/4"

This makes the insert that will be inside the envelope.

Now you have a beautiful gift card holder

that anyone would love to receive.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial

and will make some of these gift card holders

for the holidays, or whenever you may be giving a gift card.

Just use your imagination and creativity

to create something wonderful to give a loved one.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think, or

if you have a question, feel free to ask

and I will get back to you asap.

I'd love to hear how your holder turned out.

I'd also love it if you'd stop by my blog

Kristie Kreates

and see what else I've been creating lately.

 

Have a wonderful Christmas

and I will "see" you in the new year

with some more creative fun.