Filled with Wonder--The Kringle Toy Store by Betsy Skagen

Christmas is nearly upon us. Part of the magic of the season is when children fill their eyes with wonder while window shopping.

Make sure you leave time to stop by Kringle Toys, where the glowing chandelier casts a warm glow as shoppers come in from the newly fallen snow.

Approaching Kringle Toys, visitors see the faded ghost sign on the brick wall--a testament to the store's longevity.

Outside, someone has forgotten their mittens atop the patio table and some children clearly didn't have time to finish their snowman. 

Peering through the frosted bay windows, passersby can see many toys.

Once inside the store, a pink tree is the perfect decor for the candy stripe pink walls. Brown-papered packages tied up with string sit beneath the table awaiting the delivery truck to cart them off to customers. The floor and shelves are overflowing with dolls, games and toys for every good girl and boy..

Tutorial--How to make the Kringle Christmas Toy Store

 Begin by adding decorative paper to the inside walls and floor of the Deep Storefront Room Box and 10 inch Bay Window.

Assemble the Storefront and Bay Window and then create your brick exterior.

Making the brick walls was surprisingly easy thanks to Jess Armstrong. I modified Jess' wonderful technique so that I would have slightly larger bricks. Make sure you check out her quick and easy YouTube tutorial.

Begin by cutting sheets of foam core to match your store's outside walls. On one side strip away the paper covering.

 Then form about four slightly different brick shapes from thin metal sheets. Press these into the foam core to create rows of bricks.

Paint the entire surface with tan paint and dry. Then following Jess Armstrong's instructions, paint a few of the bricks with a red/brown mixture. Then paint all the bricks with an orange/brown mixture and dry.

Glue the brick walls to the exterior of the building.

Add plastic to the inside of the windows. I used a 3M Film Insulator Kit, but there are plenty of clear plastics that will work. Use extra chipboard and paint to create bay window shelves. 

Using extra chipboard from the Storefront Kit, cut two identical rectangles of chipboard and adhere them to the front of the door to give the door extra detail. Paint the door and add insulator film to create a window.

Adhere the sticky side of frosted film to a rectangle of clear plastic and adhere inside the transom window. Use a stencil and Sharpie marker to add the word "TOYS".

Assemble and paint two Kitchen Wall Shelf Units, the Wrought Iron Patio Table a Chair and Set of Stools.

Assemble games and dolls from the Kringle Toy Store Printable and add them and other miniatures to shelves.

Spread Decoart Snow-Tex onto a craft sheet, sprinkle with Diamond Dust and let dry overnight to create piles of snow. Cover round beads with additional Snow-Tex and Diamond Dust to create snowballs and piece of snowman.

Stipple paint textured paper with gray, black and white to create patio base.

Scan and cut the Kringle Toy Store Printable onto stencil material and apply to the wall to achieve a distressed old brick ghost painting.

Use your fingers to dab spay adhesive onto the  windows and then add faux snow and glitter to achieve a frosted look. If you don't use gloves, prepare to have sticky fingers for a day or two!

Paint wooden skewers gold and add tiny flags to roof. Add chandelier through roof to add warm lighting. 

Finally put a pot of hot cocoa on your stove for all your life-sized visitors who come to enjoy your handiwork. Then sit back and enjoy the season. Merry Christmas everyone! xoxo -Betsy

Great Stuff

Deep Storefront Room Box
10 inch Bay Window
Kitchen Wall Shelf Unit (2)
Wrought Iron Patio Table
Chair
Set of Stools
Paper Calliope Kringle Toy Store Printable
Canvascorp Pink and Ivory Ribbon Stripe
Canvascorp Pink and Ivory Dot
Textured cardstock
Toy Shop
Santa’s Village
Deck the Halls
Tiny Dollhouse Scenes
3M Film Insulator Kit
Tim Holtz Frosted Film
Acrylic paint
Assorted miniatures
Decoart Snow-Tex
Diamond Dust
Faux snow flakes
Beacon 3-in-1
Beacon Fabri-Tac
Hot glue gun 

Winter's Solstice Card by Betsy Skagen

Winter has arrived  here in Minnesota. It is a blustery nine degrees outside and as dusk settles, the wind is rattling the windows of our turn-of-the-century home.

In other words, it is a perfect night for crafting and for playing with the deep blue, purple, white and silver colors of Winter's Solstice.

To make this Winter's Solstice card begin by covering the Snowflake Shape Set with a coat of gesso.

 Next emboss the snowflakes with snowflake, blue glass, silver tinsel and blue embossing powders.

Apply Snow-Tex to a 8.5" x 11" sheet of black cardstock to make white snow mounds.

Dry snow with heat gun--guess what, it doesn't melt! Spritz blue and purple ink onto snow. Then place more snow onto your finger tip and lightly dab it over some of the purple and blue. Dry snow again.

Run another sheet of 8.5" x 11" black cardstock through a snowflake embossing folder. Repeat until entire paper is covered. Cut the snow mounds from the first sheet of black cardstock and glue onto the snowflake embossed paper. You could just emboss one sheet of black cardstock and apply the snow directly to it, but this method avoids getting accidental dabs of snow in unwanted areas of your page.

Adhere a plastic fence over the snow and add more snow and ink on top of the fence. Let this dry naturally because your heat gun can melt the fence.

Once the snow is dry, trim and adhere the scene to purple glitter cardstock. Then adhere both to silver cardstock.

 Adhere the entire unit to a sturdy card you create from 12" x 12" white cardstock sheets. Then glue clear gems onto some of the snowflakes.

 That is all there is to making a Winter's Solstice card. I hope you have a lovely weekend! -Betsy

Great Stuff

Snowflake Shape Set
Plastic fence piece
DecoArt Snow-Tex
Dylusions blue and purple ink
Snowflake embossing folder
Gems
Gesso
Embossing powder in snowflake, blue glass, silver tinsel and blue
Black cardstock
White cardstock
Silver cardstock
Purple glitter cardstock

Putzing around by Betsy Skagen

 There are so many delightful ceramic Christmas villages that people display this time of year. While I have occasionally been tempted to begin such a collection, I have remained true to the Putz houses that stem from an earlier era.

These Japanese-made cardboard houses adorned with sparkly materials, tiny bottle brush shrubbery and cellophane windows were mostly made between 1930 and 1960.

At the heart of my Putz village are the worn and slightly tattered houses that I played with as a child. Since I was born after that timeframe--I am old enough, I don't need to add on extra years--they were tattered and torn even then.

I decided to make my own little home fashioned after these Putz houses. Here's how I did it:

 Tutorial to make Putz-Style Christmas House

After you assemble the four walls of your house using a strong adhesive such as Beacon Fabri-Tac, go ahead and paint the house, roof, chimney, dormers, windows and doors.

Once the paint is dry, mix craft glue with a bit of water and paint the exterior of the house. Then sprinkle fine white glitter over all exterior surfaces.

Cut tissue paper to fit the doors and windows. Adhere the tissue to the interior walls and brush matte medium over the tissue. 

Assemble your windows, with the base layer being a darker color and the top layer being lighter. This way, the dark color will show through the top layer of the window's cut-outs. Glue the windows and doors onto the house.

Then assemble the dormers and glue the dormers, chimney and roof in place

Next apply faux snow to the roof and around the base of the house. While the snow is still wet, sprinkle it with Diamond Dust.

Glue vintage mercury beads to tiny bottle brush trees and attach to the house. Add a little faux white fur to the chimney to create wisps of smoke.

 Insert a tea light through the trap door in the bottom to light your home.

Hopefully future generations can enjoy your Putz-style  home.

Great Stuff

House Ornament Kit
House Ornament Chimney and Dormers
House Ornament Window Trims
Beacon Fabri-Tac
Acrylic paint
Fine white glitter
Diamond Dust
Tissue paper
Faux snow paste
Faux white fur
Bottle brush trees
Mercury glass beads

Small but Mighty Holiday Album by Betsy Skagen

It's true what they say, good things do come in small packages. At only 6 x 6 inches, this holiday album might be small, but it is packed full of goodness.

I won't kid you, while they are not difficult, making these kinds of books are time intensive and require a lot of planning.

Since describing how to make a book like gets quite lengthy, I am highlighting just a few of the steps. To see detailed step-by-step directions for a similar book check out my Book that Never Ends Tutorial.

To make this book begin by using the Bracket Edged Staggered Mini Album as the foundation.

Then use the edge of largest page as a template to cut a cover from a vintage Bingo card.

Begin planning the pages where you want to add pockets or foldouts. You will want to make all these first because you will be adding magnets and flaps that lie beneath the background paper.

Pages 1 & 2

Page 1 and 2 includes a card that inserts into Snowflakes painted and glittered and an extra flap that snaps to a close thanks to magnets hidden below the surface.

Pages 3 & 4

Page 4 features a trifold flap that also has a magnet hidden below the Bingo marker so it easily snaps back to a closed position. 

Pages 5 & 6

Page 5 features a star trio magnetic clasp that holds three insert cards in place. Another insert on page 6 is held in place by a vintage bulldog clip. 

To make the clasp, first paint your stars with red acrylic paint. When dry, stipple brush ivory paint onto the stars. After the paint has dried cover the stars with gloss gel medium. Then attach a micro magnet to the back side.

Cut two strips of black cardstock and a small strip of black Tyvek of the same width. Attach the two strips together with the Tyvek. This will be your hinge.

Fold at the hinge and add another micro magnet to the back side.

Place the stars on the front side, aligning the magnets. Then glue the assemblage to your page.

Pages 7 & 8

Page 7 has a magnetic mitten clasp that can hold your mementos in place. To make it, begin by painting the mitten from the Winter Shape Set red. When dry, add ivory paint to a star stamp and stamp onto the mitten. After it has dried, cover the entire mitten with gloss medium gel.

Adhere a micro magnet to the back side of the mitten. Trace the mitten onto black Tyvek and cut out, leaving extra Tyvek at the wrist. Glue the Tyvek over the back of the mitten.

Place the mitten at the top of the paper that will cover Page 7 and fold the excess Tyvek behind it. Let a second magnet attach itself through the paper to the one on the mitten and adhere the second magnet in this location.

Glue the background paper to the chipboard.

To make the foldout on Page 8, first adhere the background paper to the chipboard. Then cut three 4" squares. Score each square along one side at the 3.5" mark.

Add patterned cardstock to both sides of all the squares and add a magnet below the patterned paper on one of the squares.

Glue the flaps to the base page so that each square folds inward atop each other. Make the square with the magnet be the top of the folded squares.

 Attach another magnet to the base sheet so that the top magnet will attach to it. Add a final square of patterned paper over the magnet and three flaps. Add vintage packaging to the top square.

Pages 9 & 10

After adding your backaground paper, add vintage packaging to Page 9 and leave the remainder of the page open for photos or mementos. 

 Page 10 has three cascading vertical pockets and insert cards.

After adhering your background paper, cut a 5" x 3.75" rectangle, 5" x 2.75" rectangle and 5" x 1.5" rectangle from a black cardstock. On each of these pieces, score three of the sides .25" in from the edge and fold in. Add decorative paper to the outside of each rectangle. 

Place scoretape along these flaps.  

Remove the liner from the smallest piece and place it atop the next biggest rectangle. Repeat with the next pocket. Make sure the open edges all face the same direction. 

Place the entire assemblage onto Page 10, making sure the open pockets face the outside of the page. Make insert cards that fit each pocket and slide into place.

Pages 11 & 12

Page 11 features three corner pockets which descend in size. Make these by first cutting a 2.5", 3" and 3.5" square from black cardstock. Cut the squares in half diagonally. Then score each non-diagonal side 1/4" in from the edge.

Cut patterned cardstock to fit each triangle and adhere to the black triangles. Place scoretape along the scored flaps. 

Adhere patterened scrapbook paper to one of your chipboard pages. Fold the flaps on the largest triangle in and remove the scoretape liner. Place in the bottom corner of the page. Repeat with the second largest triangle, placing it over the first triangle as you align the bottom and side edges. Repeat with the smallest triangle. 

To make inserts for these three pockets, cut black cardstock rectangles to fit each pocket and add patterned paper to each side of the cardstock. 

The grand finale is on Page 12. It begins when you open a simple card. 

However, that card also lifts up to reveal two more pages with sweet images of vintage packaging.

 Those pages also  offer three insert cards. Just imagine all the great memories you can stuff in here!

 But wait! There's more!

Fold down yet another flap to discover even more places to put goodies. My Book that Never Ends Tutorial provides detailed instructions on how to make a complicated layout like this. 

Finish your album with binder rings and decorative ribbon. That's it for today's project. I hope you consider making one of these books as they make truly heartfelt gifts. -Betsy

Great Stuff

Bracket Edged Staggered Mini Album
Winter Shape Set
Banner Border Strips
Vintage Packaging Images by Paper Calliope (coming soon!)
Tim Holtz 12 x 12 Merriment Paper Stash
Vintage Bingo Card
Black cardstock
Large black Tyvek envelope
Red and ivory acrylic paint
Gloss gel medium
Micro magnets
Beacon Fabri-Tac
Hot glue gun
Tape runner