Lynne: I did this squiggle at a class given by Teri Partridge. We were to draw the altered edges of a shell. I’ve included the pencil drawing and the squiggle I did later.
I use a mechanical pencil with 2B lead and a a blending tool when I do a graphite drawing. The squiggle is done with Caran d’Ache colored pencils. The color of these pencils seems to go on thicker than the Prismacolors and need entirely different techniques when blending–which I am trying to learn.
Loryn: I have some beautiful vintage Polish glass heart ornaments (one of Cheri’s fabulous garage sale finds!) that I’ve wanted to display, but I’ve worried about breaking the delicate ornaments. My cats especially love to bat ornaments around. While I was working on my Two-Hour Christmas Decoration Crafty Challenge, I realized that the same technique would be great for displaying delicate ornaments.
For this garland, I turned the points down so that each ornament has its own “groove” to sit in. This keeps them from sliding around and bumping into each other. I used an inexpensive 18 gauge galvanized wire.
I hung it across the archway between my front room and living room, where it looks beautiful, but is out of the way.
I used a screw to hold up each end. For more detailed directions on how to bend the points, see the photos below. The entire garland took less than an hour to make and hang. Once the wire was formed, I hung one end and carefully slid the ornaments into place before attaching the other end. A second pair of hands is helpful for this part!
If you have delicate ornaments that you’re afraid to display, this is a fun way to get to use them!
-Cheri
Lynne: I used colored pencils for this squiggle. I was mainly interested in drawing her right hand with the palm outward. I tried to use my own hand as a reference for this pose, but the angle is just a little wrong. I had to find a model.
Blue and orange are the main complementary colors. I like to go simple on color when I am working on perspective.
I love Cheri’s Chinese Fortune ornament. It will just glitter and shine next to the lights on the Christmas tree.
For an ornament last week, I did an homage to my stepfather’s sequin and pin ornament and for today I am doing one for my sister. Loryn has this ornament that she received from our grandmother (Memom – the other two sisters’ that make up The Crafty Sisters, mom) in 1981. As we were growing up Memom would give us each a Hallmark ornament for Christmas. One of the joys of decorating our tree was being able to hang the ornaments that were yours. This one in particular was a lovely Ice Fairy holding a snow flake.
I have many memories of this ornament and I know that my sister has even more. Unfortunately, time has not really been kind to the poor fairy. She has lost her wings and snowflake, but she is still a lovely ornament so she is hung on the tree every year. Here is my version of the ornament:
I made her with silver wire. I started with the arms, wired on the neck and head and then continued with the rest of the body. Then I made the snowflake and wired it onto one of the hands and adjusted the other hand to hold it. The wings were made next and each is wired separately to her shoulders. I added her hair last.
Happy Holidays from Kristin!
Lynne: We crafty sisters have been making ornaments all month, but we are not the only ones. Last week, I went to the Pear Tree Gallery to attend Teri Partridge‘s class on making a tissue paper star.
The ornament is not difficult to make, but it is repetitive and good company with good conversation speeds the whole process. Of course that meant Teri had to talk a little louder while giving instructions, but she is a retired middle-school teacher and up to any task.
Materials you will need:
tissue paper
white glue
white colored pencil
scissors
CD for a circle template (or something similar in size)
binder clips
12 to 20 inches of 18 or 20 gauge wire
pliers
buttons or bells
wet cloth or sponge
You need about 14 circles of cut tissue paper for the completed star. Stack your tissue paper so that you can cut all of the circles at once. We used an old CD to draw around as a template for the circles. Hold the cut-out circles together with small binder clips to keep from having to constantly adjust them. Cut into the circles at the 12, 6, 3 and 9 positions of the clock and then cut halfway between each of those quarters. Make sure the cut does not go all the way to the middle. You need the center section to hold the paper on the wire. The photo below should help with my directions.
Have a little glue poured out on a throwaway lid, a dampened sponge or cloth to wipe your fingers free of glue, a white colored pencil (a darker color could mark the paper and show through the point), and the cut circles and you are ready to begin.
Position your pencil with the tip in the middle of each cut and roll the tissue paper around it to make a point. Slide the pencil out and put a little glue on the edge to keep the point from unrolling. Use the 3rd or 4th finger of your hand for the glue and you will not have to keep wiping the glue off the index finger you are using to roll the paper.
When you have all fourteen of the circles finished, you are ready to put the ornament together. Cut your wire anywhere from 12 to 20 inches long depending on how many spirals you want to make and how long a hanger you want. Make a loop in the wire to hold the circles in place. The loop should be several inches from one end of the wire depending on how long you want the hanger to be. You can also use a button or a bell to make a stronger stop to keep the paper from sliding upwards when you tighten the star.
Make a hole with a needle or ice pick in the middle of the circles. String the first 7 circles onto the non-looped end of the wire with their points down and string the other 7 circles with the points up. You want the star to have the top points pointing down and the bottom points pointing up to give the ornament its circular shape. Use a bell or a button pushed up tight to the bottom circle and make another loop to hold the bell on. Arrange the circles so the points show to best advantage and make sure the circles are bunched tightly together to make it pouf out properly. Secure the bottom bell and cut the wire or make some spirals or twists if you like. Bend the wire on the top to form a hanger and you have your star ornament.
When I got home, I liked the star so much I wanted to make a larger one as a topper for my tree. I made the circles slightly larger by using a 7″ plate as a template for the circles. Don’t go too big or the circles get too floppy and do not pouf right.
I needed heavier wire to make the ornament stand on its own at the top of the tree. I found some 12 gauge white electrical wire at the hardware store and took it to Cheri to have her bend the wire into the right shape. She used the neck of a champagne bottle to bend the wire into a coil to fit on the top of the tree.
The 12 gauge wire was harder to bend close enough to the paper circles, so we used pieces of cork above the stop loops in the wire to help hold them close together.
The star looks great on the top of our tree and if you like the topper on the champagne bottle, it would make a great centerpiece for your holiday table.
Have yourself a merry holiday!
Cheri: My kids and I have a tradition. We have a standing date on Saturday where we go to our local Chinese food restaurant, China Lane. We have been doing this for about a year now and we still are not tired of it. It is nice for me because I really get to connect with my kids while doing something we all enjoy.
I always save our fortunes that are in our fortune cookies. So far I have used some of the fortunes on my fortune cookie tree, featured here a few months ago. I am always on the look out for other uses for the items I collect and I thought they would be great to put in an ornament.
This was a very easy ornament to make for the Christmas Ornament Countdown. All I did was get a clear glass ornament, took the cap off, rolled the fortune with the wording on the outside and put it into the ornament. I added some glitter and some snips of ribbon, put the cap back on and tied a pretty piece of ribbon to the top of the cap.
This ornament has a lot of meaning for me when I look at it. It reminds me of all the fun my kids and I have had and I will be able to think of those memories each time I look at this ornament.
This would be neat if you were to have your kids write special little messages or if you wanted to give someone a special message. I love to make ornaments that have special meaning to me. Give it a try, I’m sure the ornament you make will become one of your favorites. Hope you have a Merry Christmas.
-Cheri
Lynne: Most of this squiggle is done in marker. I did a little shading with colored pencils, but I was mostly interested in looking at the blending of the markers.
Looks like squiggles get a little carried away with an air guitar too.
At the beginning of this countdown I wrote up a list of 8 different media that I wanted to use to make ornaments. I have now arrived at paper. I found this wonderful video tutorial for how to make 12-point origami stars and made with some pretty scrapbook these are perfect for holiday ornaments and decorations.
I have found after making them that I have a few suggestions. I originally thought to make these with Christmas wrap, but found that the wrapping paper is just too thin and prone to tearing to be practical. I did have some really pretty scrapbook paper in some excellent colors that was a heavier weight. Don’t use cardstock as it will not fold easily once you get to several layers of paper. Anything in between wrap and cardstock would work very well. I also recommend using something to press the creases down such as a bone folder.
To hang these as ornaments from my tree, I am going to pull a thread through the star with a doll needle (a really long needle) and attach a hook to the thread. Voila! a wonderful ornament form the tree or just beautiful to set on a table as decoration.
Happy Holidays from Kristin!
This post was edited to fix the link to the tutorial. The old link had disappeared and I was able to find a new tutorial on YouTube.
Happy Crafting,
Kristin
the crafty sisters 