Hi everyone! Hope this post finds everyone well. Today, I have a big post showing how I made these Paper Village and Mini Kaleidoscope wrapped Curio Box Ornaments for Christmas from
Tim Holtz, which were my favorite makes from the
Sizzix Christmas Live that I made. I had such fun with these and the time it took was worth it, as I'll have them for years to come. Enjoy!
For
the houses, using Kraft
Heavystock, die cut all the parts for the shorter house and tower, and then add
in the windows and front door. The pic shows a window in the tower, but I later
had to scrap the window to make it fit in the Curio Box. Die cut extra windows
to use for frames, and an extra door to cut out, as well as save one of the
window parts to use on the front door. Fold the house roof in half and use a
ruler to cut an opening that the tower will fit in once constructed. FYI...I
used Tim's trick for the folding of the flaps on everything by butting up the
score lines to the edges a stamping block and then folding over...works so
nice.
Die cut the taller
house (this will be the church) and another tower using the Heavystock, and
doing the same on the windows and doors. Do the same on the taller house roof
as well.
Add the Stripes
Background Stamp from Stamper's Anonymous to a stamping platform and stamp the
eight house and tower piece horizontally with the stamp using Picket Fence Distress
Paint by lightly rubbing the paint over the stamp and then stamping once
lightly. Remember to clean your stamp immediately with water to remove all the
paint when finished.
Taking the two house
front pieces, ink the back of them where the shutters are with Gathered Twigs
Distress Ink and then turn it over to the front and fold the shutters out. Ink
over the extra door piece with Gathered twigs and then adhere the four window
pieces to the door with Collage Medium, and then ink over the window pieces to
finish the door. Adhere the door to the existing door. Ink over the extra
windows with Gathered Twigs, cut around them leaving a nice border and then
adhere them over each window on the houses and tower.
Cut pieces of acetate
to fit over the windows and remove one of the backings then add Collage Medium
to the borders and adhere the windows in place on the backside of each piece.
When dry take off the other backing on each window. The pic shows two towers
with windows, but remember only once tower needs the window (the one for the
church). Add thin two sided tape to each flap piece to have that ready. Ink the
sides and edges of each house piece. Assemble the house pieces together with
the two sided tape and Collage Medium. Add Collage Medium to the sides of the
tiny porch roofs and adhere those above the doors (you might need to cut them
to fit well between those shutters like I did.) Let dry. Do not do the roofs
yet.
Insert the towers into
each roof and figure out how tall you need each tower to fit the Curio Box. The
pic shows a tower with a window on the larger roof, but remember I had to scrap
that idea and short the tower even more. In order for the towers not to be seen
through the windows, cut between each wall of the towers below the roof, and
adhere the wall to the roof with two sided tape (the walls parallel with the
roof), and trim off the overage and trim the other two walls to match. Use two
sided tape and Collage Medium to adhere the tower roofs on only. Let dry.
For
the boxes, die cut two
sets of Curio Boxes with Kraft Heavystock. Use the largest rectangle frame
Thinlit and die cut on the front of the box (the one with flaps).
For the top box, cut silver Kraftstock to fit the top of the front
of the box, and use the same rectangle frame Thinlit to die cut the cardstock.
Place the frame in the Mini Kaleidoscope 3D Texture Fade and run through the
machine three times (no need to mist the paper). Adhere the frame to the front
top of the box with Collage Medium.
Cut silver Kraftstock
to fit the four outer side of the top of the box, and then run each piece in
the Mini Kaleidoscope Fade. Adhere each piece to the box with Collage Medium. One
box top will be horizontal for the house and one vertical for the church. Add
Ring Fasteners to the each side of box top up at the top. Set these aside for
now.
For the bottom box, cut silver Kraftstock to fit inside the bottom
box and the back of the box except not the bottom inside as it will be covered
with felt, and use the Mini Kaleidoscope Fade for those. Adhere all the pieces
on with Collage Medium, minus the bottom inside. Do the same on the other box
going the other direction.
Cut a 1 1/2 inch wide (by
the length of the bottom edge piece) piece of white felt for each box. Cut an
opening the size of the base of each house on the left side of the felt. Remove
the wooden base of two small Treelot trees. Punch a hole in the felt where the
trunk of the tree will go on the right side of the felt. Add two sided tape to
the bottom piece of the bottom box. Add the wooden tree base in place on the
sticky tape. Insert the house into the hole in the felt so that the sides of
the felt are turned up so it looks like a snow drift on the edges of the house
and then add a good amount of Collage Medium to the bottom edges of the house
and on the wooden tree base. Set the house in place on the sticky tape and
press the felt down over it for a nice blanket of snow, making sure the holes
match up on the tree base and felt. Leave
these to dry in a safe place.
Using a palette knife
and Opaque Distress Grit Paste, add the paste to the roofs of the houses and
towers, and the little porch roof above the doors and anywhere you want snow on
the houses only.
Punch a hole at the
bottom right of the back of the box where the trees will go. Run Tiny Lights
through the hole and use Velcro to secure the battery pack to the bottom back
of the box. Wrap the tree with the lights leaving about 5 lights on the strand
for the inside of the house. Once the tree is wrapped, push the trunk of the
tree in the hole on the wooden base that is covered up. Make sure it's nice and
tight, if not add Collage Medium. Coil up the rest of the lights and place them
inside the house. If you can make them look nice in the windows the better for
you as I could not manage that. Remove the two sides tape backing on the flaps
for the roof, add lots of Collage Medium to the flaps and press the roofs down
in place. Let these dry.
Use scotch tape and tape
the edges of the box together making sure everything is secure and fits nicely
inside. Add a tiny tree next to the large on the horizontal box with the house
using only the tree (discard the base) and Collage Medium. Take the Grit Paste
again and apply it over the tree covering up the wires but not the lights.
Using about 2 1/2
feet of silver wire per box, fold it in half, twist it on one of the Ring
Fasteners, make a loop in the middle twisting it to secure, and then adding the
other end to the other Ring Fasteners and twisting the wire to secure. Cut off
any extra. Add a bow to the bottom of the loop with Velvet Trim. Taking the
bottom of the box, add Collage Medium to outer sides and push into the front
cover box, pressing the side together for the glue to adhere. Let dry, and make
sure the snow is all tucked in on the inside.
Because I just didn't
feel like they were finished yet and couldn't sleep, I decided to add a tiny
bit more. Die cut some evergreen sprigs and berries from the Festive Bouquet
Thinlits using silver Kraftstock...two berries and four sprigs plus another
sprig for fill in if making two. Adhere
the berries to the extra branch pieces (these are supposed to be layered but I
used them as two separate) using Collage Medium. Adhere the sprigs and berries
to the top left corner of the box. Add a sentiment from the Christmas Sticker
Book to silver Kraftstock, cut around and fish tail the end. Add sentiment to the
top corner. Cut extra sprig for fill in around the sentiment. Use Platinum
Stickles to add to berries and sprigs, and even add some to the lighted trees.
Let dry. Now it's finished!
Supplies:
(Paper Trimmer, Die Cut Machine, Die
Pick, Stamp Platform, Ruler, Pencil, Two Sided Tape, Scissors, Ink Blending
Tool, Palette Knife, Hole Punch, Scotch Tape, Pliers)
-Ranger Tim Holtz Heavystock: Kraft
-Sizzix
Tim Holtz Thinlits (Christmas 2021): Paper Village #2, Festive Bouquet
-Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp
Set: Stripes and Holiday Type
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Picket
Fence
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Gathered
Twigs
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage
Medium: Matte
-Ranger Tim Holtz Archival Ink: Hickory
Smoke
-Sizzix Tim Holtz Bigz XL Die
w/Framelits: Curio Box
-Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Metallic Kraft
Stock, Ring Fasteners, Woodlands Tree Lot, Tiny Lights, Christmas Velvet Trim,
Christmas Sticker Book
-Sizzix
Tim Holtz Multi-Level Texture Fade: Mini Kaleidoscope
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Opaque Grit
Paste
-Ranger Stickles: Platinum
-Acetate, White Felt, Velcro, Silver
Wire
Phew, that was long. Thanks for staying with me. I'll be back again with more Christmas makes soon. I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!
