Shake that Snow by Betsy Skagen

Just to shake things up a bit, I diverged from my usual art and made this cute holiday greeting shaker card. It reminds me of vintage snow globes, and it was a fun and easy project.

Tutorial How to Make a Holiday Shaker Card

Punch out the "Let it Snow" words and snowflakes from Gypsy Soul's Let it Snow.

Apply embossing ink to the chipboard, cover the pieces with silver embossing powder and activate with a heat gun.

Cut two 5 1/8" squares of decorative cardstock. In the cardstock that will serve as the front of your card, cut a 3 3/4" circle.

Adhere a 4 7/8" square of acetate (I keep my Sizzix packaging for projects like this) to the back side of the square with the circle cut into it.

Rub the back side of the acetate with a dryer sheet to help keep the glitter from sticking to the plastic. Place small pieces of foam adhesive near the edge of the acetate--this creates a raised area in which the glitter can move freely.

On the other square of cardstock, create a scene by adhering vintage style images and the three small embossed snowflakes.

Place glitter in the center of your scene and then sandwich it by adhering the two cardstock squares together.

Cut a small base for your shaker glove from decorative cardstock and adhere to the front of the card.

Adhere the entire unit to a 5 3/8" card blank and your card is complete!
-Betsy

Great Stuff

Let it Snow words and snowflakes (coming soon!)
Decorative cardstocks for front of card and globe base
Papercrafter Magazine background scene cardstock
Vintage style boy cut from Authentique Paper
Acetate
Glitter
Adhesive foam
Embossing ink
Silver embossing powder

Santa Heads up the Fireplace by Betsy Skagen

It is late Christmas Eve and miniature Santa has just left tiny toys by the fireplace for good little girls and boys. 

He made sure to sample the gingerbread cookies and glass of milk before he left. You can even see his nibble marks on one of the cookies. 

 

Tutorial: How to Make Santa's Fireplace

Begin by assembling the sides and back of the Narrow Victorian Fireplace. Leave off the top, top interior tier and front. 

Paint all the surface with black gesso. You can omit the interior top tier. Also don't worry about painting between the two interior walls. 

Mix black gesso with modeling paste and spread on interior back and aides of the fireplace. Use an old credit card and an old pencil to create the brick pattern. Let dry. 

Place the front of the fireplace in position and adhere with strong glue. Repeat the brick making process for the exterior of the fireplace. 

Cover the fireplace with a light gray paint. 

Paint each individual brick with assorted colors of paint including burgundy or brick, brown, red and a dark yellow.

Touch up any grout with the light gray paint. 

Cut the back and head off an old Santa ornament and insert into fireplace. Adhere with strong glue.

I decided to dry brush some gray paint onto the interior back wall of the fireplace so that it was easier to see Santa's boots. 

Cut out wood-grained paper for the top and sides of your mantel. I aged the paper using brown and black inks.  Glue it onto the fireplace.

Cut stockings from felt, add miniature candy and adhere to the mantle. 

Add tiny logs and glue in place.

Cut a bite out of some wooden gingerbread and adhere to a dollhouse plate. Drop some white paint into a dollhouse glass. Add all of these to the top of the mantle.

Cut a rectangle from an upholstery sample to use as your base. Add miniature toys, wreath and tiny vintage games.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I hope this inspires you to make your own miniature Christmas scene. -Betsy

Great Stuff

Narrow Victorian Fireplace

Miniature vintage games

Strong adhesive

Black gesso

Modeling paste

Acyclic paint

Upholstery sample

Miniature toys

Bottlebrush wreath

Dollhouse dishes and candy

Wooden gingerbread men

Shake Up Some Frosty Snowmen by Betsy Skagen

Christmas is the perfect time for upcycling objects. Vintage salt shakers, sandbakel tins and wooden spools are ideal for creating adorable snowmen (and women!). Add in glittery snowflakes and things get really chill.

Sorry I am so flaky that I simply cannot resist a few snowmen puns. You will just have to roll with it.

Somerset Studio's 2017 salt shaker snowmen inspired me to create my version  of cute snowmen using many different vintage objects.

Tutorial: How to upcycle vintage items to make snowmen

First you will need lots of snowflakes. Use a utility knife to remove the snowflakes from the Snowflake Shapes Set Minis.

Paint both sides with white acrylic paint. Let dry.

When dry, cover with matte medium and sprinkle with extra-fine clear glitter. 

 Roll small balls of paper clay. Use a toothpick to poke a hole in the bottom and where the nose will go. Let dry for a day, two days --yikes! three days-- or be smart and place in a 200 degrees oven for about an hour until they are completely dry, light and airy.

Insert a toothpick into each base hole and place the other end of the toothpick into some styrofoam to keep the balls upright. Cover each ball with white acrylic paint and let dry.

Paint pointed toothpicks orange and cut into small carrot shapes. Dip the flat end of the carrot into strong adhesive and insert into the nose hole.

Next make cheeks with pink paint and eyes and mouths with a black pen. 

Paint your snowmen with matte medium and cover with clear extra-fine glitter. 

Now comes the fun part. Create hats and crowns with vintage sheet music, salt shaker tops, findings, glittery snowflakes, tinsel and bling. Adhere to snowmen with strong adhesive.

Insert wintery sprigs into the snowman base hole. Bend these around the back of the head and adhere with strong adhesive. 

The next set of directions are specific to making a salt shaker snowman. Adjust the project as needed, depending on what you are using for a base.

If your salt shaker is made from glass, place beads and glitter into it. Vintage mercury glass beads make these even more special.

Add strong adhesive to the salt shaker opening and glue a large snowflake to it, then glue the head in place. Wrap tinsel pipe cleaners around the neck of your vintage object to create arms.

 Add additional tinsel or ribbon to the neck and bend the arms so the snowmen can hold a snowflake, or vintage holiday embellishment.

Create extra special snowmen bling by adhering one of your snowflakes to a rhinstone buckle.

Then glue the snowflake embellishment to your snowman body.

I hope these ornaments made you melt just a little and you have ball making your own!
-Betsy

Great Stuff

Snowflake Shapes Set Minis
Paper clay
Acrylic paint
Black pen
Matte medium
Extra-fine clear glitter
Tinsel pipe cleaners
Toothpicks
Hot glue gun
Extra strong adhesive such as Lock-Tite
Vintage wooden spools
Vintage salt and pepper shakers
Sandbakel tins
Bottlebrush trees
Miniature tinsel
Vintage Christmas music
Vintage Christmas embellishments

Something Wicked this Way Comes with this Witch's Trunk by Betsy Skagen

Brooms, hats, potions, and spells--ever wonder where witches keep all the necessities for hair-raising fun on Halloween? Well one witch stores her goods in this miniature steamer trunk.

Featuring a spooky spider latch and faux leather exterior, this trunk includes many tiny accessories.

You can make this witch's trunk in time for your Halloween decorating. It would also be the perfect gift for any dollhouse owner. 

Begin by assembling the steamer trunk from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. Pay attention to where you place the sides so that the holes match where you will want your compartment to be (cough-cough, I speak from experience).

Add black ink to the raised areas of a piece of faux leather paper.

Cut the paper to fit the exterior of the trunk.

Next cut four small strips of black Tyvek. Adhere these to both the interior and exterior of the trunk to create two hinges.

Then cut four strips that fit the top and bottom of the trunk. Evenly place miniature brads. Adhere these to the trunk

Cut long narrow strips of the faux leather to go around the top and bottom edges of the trunk.

 Use a wire snips to cut the links of a spider pendant. Add embossing ink and rust embossing powder to the spider and activate the powder with a heat gun. Be careful! The metal gets very hot! Add brown and black alcohol inks to add further dimension. Then use a strong adhesive to attach to the trunk.

Your next step is to adhere a Halloween themed decorative paper to the interior. don't forget the compartment door.

Add a knob to the compartment door, then spray the interior and exterior with a coat of matte polyurethane.

Now comes the fun part--embellishing your trunk. Use your imagination to add bones, eyeballs, potions, books and whatever else you desire. You can purchase bones and eyeballs or make them yourself with paper clay. After they are dry, add gesso and paint. 

You can also use paper clay to create a witch's hat and a snake.

Cut book jackets from the Halloween Labels & Mini Books printable and add to miniature books that you have aged with brown ink.

Cut labels from the same sheet and add them to miniature bottles. This involves some teeny tiny fussy cutting.

Use the same process that you used on the spider latch, add embossing powder and alcohol ink to age the top of your jars. Then add your ingredients to your bottles. Use Glossy Accents mixed with glitter and alcohol ink, tiny beads or items you have made from paper clay.

Cut witch spells and a skeleton diagram from the Spells & Skeletals printable. Roughen and ink the edges with brown ink. Adhere the skeleton to the back wall of the trunk.

Cut witch stockings from a piece of green fabric and add stripes with a black marker. Spray the stockings with a light coat of matte polyurethane to prevent the fabric from fading.

Tie dried moss together, add tiny red beads and glue them to the bottom side of a shelf to create hanging "herbs".

I hope you have fun making your own witch's trunk. I would love to see how you bring your own creativity to the project!  -Betsy

Great Stuff

4" Steamer Trunk
Paper Calliope Spells & Skeletals
Paper Calliope Halloween Labels & Mini Books
Faux leather paper
Halloween themed paper
Miniature brads
Spider embellishment
Miniature Glass bottles
Paper clay
Glossy Accents
Alcohol ink
Glitter
Green fabric
Black marker
Black Tyvek
Gesso
Acrylic paint
Matte polyurethane
Strong adhesive