12 Days of Holiday Giving – Day 5!

Good morning SCT friends…and new friends! It’s been such a pleasure reading your wonderful holiday memories. Your excitement for our “12 Days” event always warms our hearts and while today we cannot offer your “5 golden rings,” as fellow papercrafters we would take today’s prizes instead! Before we get to those, we’re happy to have creative team member Meghann Andrew here sharing some beautiful handcrafted tree ornaments. Take it away Meghann…

“Hello there! It’s Meghann Andrew with you today, and I’m excited to be here during SCT’s 12 Days of Holiday Giving!

During the holiday season, our creative time may be short and sweet, so I’m here to share some quick and easy ornaments made from your favorite paper crafting supplies! Not only do these look great hanging on a Christmas tree, they also make great toppers for wrapped gifts.

The first super-simple ornament can be made in just minutes with spare strips of paper and layers of embellishment! To begin, I took two 8″ lengths of 1-1/4″ wide patterned paper and scored them at half-inch increments on a scoring board. After I accordion-folded them, I glued the ends together, then formed the fan shape, and to hold it together, hot-glued it to a paper punched circle on the back side. Then, I hot-glued two short lengths of red ribbon and a wooden circle to the top, along with a red vellum snowflake, and a chipboard star. Layering is definitely the way to go on this ornament type, and be sure to watch the dollar bin at your favorite store for little bits, like the wooden piece, that makes this ornament look as great as one bought in a high-end shop!

The next ornament is a perfect keepsake gift for someone you love, or a beautiful memory to hang on the tree! I started with a Polaroid-style metal die and a scrap of patterned paper to create the shape on the front. Using that as a guide, I then cut a piece of chipboard to the same size to give the ornament some weight, and another piece of the same patterned paper to cover the back, without the photo holes in the center on both pieces. I glued the full-piece of patterned paper to the back side of the chipboard, then printed my photo at 3″ x 3″ before adhering it to the front side of the chipboard, using my Polaroid-style die cut as a guide before adhering that on the top. To finish off the ornament, I added a die-cut pennant, snowflake, the “merry” sticker and an acrylic star, just like I would layer my embellishment on a scrapbook layout or card.

The final ornament is the simplest to create. Using a punch, metal die or electronic die-cut file, find a shape that is a mirror image when folded down the center—exactly the same on both sides. I found a perfect Christmas tree shape to use, and die-cut it with patterned paper at a 5″ height three times. You can also use more shapes to give this ornament type more sides and a deeper three-dimensional effect. Using a scoring board, I scored each down the center and folded the sides in before adding adhesive to the back side. I then adhered the three pieces together to create a three-dimensional shape, by adhering the right side of one tree to the left side of the next, and so on until all three adhered together. At this point, I used a Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole in the top before moving to my next step. Next, I added a thin strip of glue to the edges on all sides, sprinkling a fun green tinsel glitter to the tree. Lastly, once the glue was dry, I threaded baker’s twine through the hole and added a simple “Merry Christmas” tag and a jingle bell.

I hope these sweet and simple ornaments will inspire you to give a simple and easy handmade gift this holiday season! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!” ~ Meghann Andrew

GIVEAWAY – Day 5!

At Hero Arts we are thrilled to join SCT during their 12 Days of Holiday Giving! To make our prize extra special, we are offering one lucky reader one of our much-sought-after My Monthly Hero kits!

A magical journey awaits you with December 2017 My Monthly Hero! The kit is filled with a variety of images, coordinating frame cuts, a fancy die, and sentiments that make it easy to create beautiful scenes. Whether you like to color or stamp, there are images for you. And to make it even easier we have included five ink cubes with rich jewel tone colors that are exclusively available in this kit. The stencil can be used to make a beautiful background. And glitter stickers will add just the right amount of shine to your projects.

Thank you, SCT for another great year!” ~ Hero Arts

Our second giveaway today comes from our friends at Crate Paper!

“Capture the magic of everyday fun with Carousel by Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper. Celebrate carefree festivities in beautiful shades of cotton candy pink, vintage teal, and popcorn yellow with splashes of gold and black. The charming assortment of products features traditional graphics, including balloons, ice cream, Ferris wheels and more. You’ll adore creating with this collection! Good luck SCT friends!” ~ Crate Paper

To enter each day’s giveaways:

For an opportunity to win these amazing giveaways, leave a comment below by midnight on December 22nd EST. All winners will be announced on December 23rd at noon EST. Good luck!

We would also ask that you take a moment to visit today’s sponsors on their Facebook pages to thank them for their generous prizes. Our SCT readers are always so wonderful at saying “thank you” and it’s because of that appreciation our partners love to share with you here throughout the year! Let’s show them how much we are loving these 12 Days of giveaways!

Crate Paper on Facebook

Hero Arts on Facebook

Please continue to spread the holiday spirit by inviting your friends to share in our celebration!  The more the merrier! And if you’re just joining us for the first time, be sure to start with our Day 1 post HERE.