Merry Christmas from Around the World

Here are some images from the New York Public Library digital collection.
Germany

France

Sweden

Poland

Spain

Italy (leave it to the Italians to get romantic)

In the Christmas Spirit

We were traveling during Thanksgiving and came home with nasty colds. I’m feeling much better now, and the outside and inside of the house are now decorated.  Now it’s on to wrapping the gifts that are arriving after my online shopping spree.
In the meantime, I have been having fun cutting these gorgeous 5 point paper snowflakes from scrap paper. Photo is from the blog, How about Orange


click here for directions

Eco Garland

No matter what the project, whenever I get out my paints, I also get out 5 or 6 inexpensive sketchbooks to paint pages using the excess paint. Paint is too expensive to throw away, not to mention the harm it does to the environment in washing it down the sink. So I use what’s left over to paint the pages, sometimes going back again to add stamping or textural techniques. I have no plan, not even a color scheme in mind.

This week, I coated some of the pages in soft gel medium mixed with just a bit of gold iridescent paint. I did this on both sides. Then I cut out Christmas ornament shapes. I used a decorative punch on the left over paper to make some stars and put them on with gel medium too. With the paper now stabilized it was easy to sew, and I knew it wouldn’t rip out. I used a zigzag stitch and sewed them together, punched a hole in either end and ran yarn through the holes to create a way to hang them.

Since the paper is painted on both sides, the garland is reversible.

I’m not finished with this idea yet. I see a lot more possibilities.

More Advent houses

Take a trip over to Lisa Cox’s blog spoonfullofsugargirls. She has posted a photo of my Advent houses. She’s the talented creator of the original pattern featured in Quilting Arts Gifts, and I was honored that she asked to post the photo on her blog. They have already left my home as a gift for Laurel and Jeremy. I just may have to make another set for me.

Switching Gears

I recently made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in the studio. Some things are wet work, others strictly sewing machine and ironing board. Today I did some prep work with adhering paper to fabric.

I reworked some pieces that I didn’t like and made a couple of new ones in preparation for making more Christmas garlands, like this.

I’m thinking of making some of them vertical. I have some time to think about it because the next step is painting the paper and adding embellishments.

As soon as I get my studio cleaned up, and make sure my iron is ready to work with fabric, I’ll begin work on some placemats for Chez Clayton.

A new Christmas stocking

My daughters rejected new stockings, preferring the ones I made them over 25 years ago, which have grown a little grubby over time. And might I say, they are a bit juvenile. However, we do have traditions, and nothing brings out tradition like the Christmas season. Having no matching stocking for Jeremy, he gets a new one. I chose Jane Davila’s pattern in the latest issue of Quilting Arts Gift magazine. Fun to make! I’ve been trying to figure out how to get his name on it, and the idea of using waste canvas and doing cross stitching on just occurred to me. Wonder if they still make it?

Yes, they still make it. I found some in 14 and 10 stitches per inch. I started with the 14, and couldn’t see where the stitches were supposed to go. I switched to the 10 canvas. It was a little better, but I could only work on it in direct sunlight. Gotta get my glasses changed.

Birthday Presents Under the Tree

Anyone who has a late December birthday knows the challenge of sharing the celebration with the festivities of the Christmas season. My Mother's birthday was December 21st, and my older daughter's is December 31st. I married into a family with three birthdays in late December, so there have always been birthday presents under the tree. I did a little creative wrapping this year and used what I had in the studio to make festive gift wrap. Freezer paper for wrapping, and markers and gel pens for drawing and embellishing. Happy Birthday Laurel!

Close-up stitch paper garland

I tried some close-ups of the stitch paper garland today, and here are the results.

The process I used was:

1.Make stitch paper using Christmas music and paint with metallic paint and gloss glazing liquid

2. Cut out two shapes for each ornament and stencil with white paint

3. Emboss using clear embossing powder. I used clear as the stitch paper is somewhat tacky and extra embossing powder sticks to it. The clear embossing powder doesn’t show like colors do.

4. Embellish stenciling with extra lines with Pitt extra fine pen, and paint writers

5. Add beads and sequins (the beads and sequins made it hard to stitch in the next step, might just glue them on after final step)

6. Sandwich ribbon between matching ornaments and zigzag all around. Using paper clips helped to hold the two ornaments together while stitching.

7. Touch up stitching with gold metallic paint

8. Finish ends of ribbon for hanging

Stitch Paper Christmas garland

I’ve been busy making a Christmas garland with my new addiction, stitch paper, a fusion of fabric, paper and glue. This garland is a prototype, so I have learned a lot about how this medium behaves and the best way to stitch and assemble.

The underlying paper is from so old hymnals. I cut out the Christmas songs and glued them to fabric, then painted and embellished. Lots of fun!