Welcome to our 12 Days of Holiday Giving event here on the SCT blog! We look forward to this event each year—the holiday season is such a fun time for creating and giving, and we’re doing both over the next twelve days with you! Each of the twelve days will include inspiration from our team and fabulous giveaways from our wonderful partners which twelve lucky readers will win. Don’t forget to leave a comment on each day’s post to maximize your chances to win! Our amazing team of creatives has wonderful projects and special surprises in store for you, so let’s not delay and start this party off with Susan R. Opel! FA LA LA LA LA!

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Greetings from Utah, dear readers! I hope you’re having an AMAZING December so far.

There’s something about the holidays that gets my creative juices flowing, and I’ve had such an inspired 4th quarter of 2021! I’ve recently entered my felt phase, and I’ve been reaching for this homey fabric on a few of my recent projects.

For the 12 Days of Holiday Giving event this year, I was challenged to create an ornament using manual dies. Rather than go for an obvious ornament die, I chose the House Builder Honey Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps that creates an A2-sized house!

Supplies | Felt: My Favorite Things, Taylored Expressions; Dies: Honey Bee Stamps, Simon Says Stamp; Gems: Honey Bee Stamps; Adhesive: Beacon; Other: Craft foam, ribbon, rick rack

The house is awesome with lots of options for flower boxes, curtains, and other ways to customize the home. Honey Bee has patterned papers and stencils to make the house pretty realistic, but since I was going for a sweet and homey Christmas ornament, I kept mine colorful and whimsical.

 I didn’t always have felt in the exact colors I wanted (and 100% wool tends to work best with die-cutting), so I used craft foam for the brown and grey additions to the house. Felt glue from Beacon was the best way to assemble the pieces. If I had all the time in the world, I might have stitched it all, but NOPE. I’m all for quick and easy!

After I’d assembled the front of the ornament, I cut a second navy blue felt house and stitched the two together leaving one side open. I thought I had some batting, but in true Susan Opel-style, I had donated all my batting in the great craft room purge of 2021. In a pinch, crumpled-up tissue paper works GREAT!

Once I’d filled it out with the stuffing, I found a cute red and white striped scrap of ribbon that worked perfectly for a hanger, so I stitched that in as I stitched up the open section.

I hope you’ve been inspired by my felt phase to try to create a handmade ornament for yourself!

May the light and love of the season bring you warm memories you’ll cherish for a lifetime! Merry Christmas, and here’s to a wonderful, happy, and prosperous 2022!

Susan R. Opel, Editor in Chief

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What a fun and creative way to start our 12 Days of Holiday Giving! We love the sweet House Builder Honey Cuts stamp, and with our first giveaway, you can treat yourself to it, too! 

The second prize up today includes must-have adhesives for any project from our friends at Therm O Web!

Happy Holidays, Friends! We know you’re busy making cards, sending cards, capturing memories in your beautiful layouts, and sharing JOY with your friends and loved ones, so let us help make all of that even easier with this fun assortment of must-have iCraft Adhesives from Therm O Web. This prize includes our brand-new Jumbo 3D Foam Tape Roll, 1/8” thick tape that’s perfect for making shaker elements or when you want extra dimension behind photos and embellishments. Our new 3D Foam Squares are 1/16” thick, packaged in a handy dispenser box, and available in White or Black. Prize also includes Zots Dots, UltraBond Liquid, and a variety of our double-sided adhesive tapes and sheets, perfect for all kinds of paper projects.

  •  iCraft Adhesives:
  • NEW 3D Foam Tape Jumbo Roll
  • Sticky Dots Die-Cut Adhesive Sheets
  • Easy-Cut Adhesive Sheets
  • Easy-Tear Double-Sided Tape
  • NEW Ultra Bond Pen-Style Adhesive
  • NEW 3D Foam Squares Dispenser Box
  • SuperTape Extra-Strong Double-Sided Tape
  • Zots Medium Adhesive Dot

But wait there’s more…today’s winner will also receive a handmade card from Susan R. Opel herself! 

To enter to win both of today’s prizes, leave a comment on this post below by December 21st at noon ET. A winner will be selected at random and announced here on the blog on December 22nd!

We’d love for you to check out both of today’s generous partners and follow them at the links below for fresh inspiration and ideas! Come back tomorrow for day two of our celebration!

Honey Bee Stamps: Shop | Blog | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Therm O Web: Shop | Blog | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube