Wednesday, December 3, 2014

12 Days of Ornaments - Day 3!


Hi all! It's a little late in the day, but I'm so excited to share today's ornament. It was inspired by one I saw at Lowes. Again, I immediately thought that it could be recreated with a die. Tim Holtz's Vintage Market die, to be exact.

The exciting part for me was trying to come up with a way to recreate the galvanized metal that the inspiration ornament was made from. I think I discovered a pretty cool solution. Read on to see how I made it!

Begin by cutting out the words to spell 'noel' from chipboard. For the first set, cover the chipboard with foil tape before cutting. The next two sets are cut from plain chipboard. For the fourth set, cover a piece of chipboard with foil tape, but place it tape side up on the die, so that the back of the letters is covered with foil.

Stack your letters and glue - keeping the foil-covered letters on the top and bottom layers, so that the ornament is foil-covered front and back.

 When the glue is dry, sand the letters lightly, being careful not to fray the edges.

Next, cut strips of foil tape slightly wider than your stacked letter (mine is just over 1/4" wide) and apply to edges of letters. Some letters are easy to do in one long strip and some may require a couple shorter pieces to get around the edges. Use a thin tool like a bone folder or dull edge of a knife to smooth the foil down.

To give the foil the look of galvanized metal, dab lightly with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint. Let it dry for a bit, but not totally. While it's still tacky, dab a bit of Black Soot Distress Paint onto the letters. Immediately pounce it with your finger to blur and smudge it. Let letters dry completely.

 To finish your ornament, glue the letters together. I used a combination of Beacon's 3-in-1 and hot glue. Mostly because I was in a hurry! When the glue is dry, screw two idea-ology eye hooks into the top of the letters and tie with jute string. Attach jingle bells with a jump ring and you're done!

I love how this looks on my little tree with the ornaments from Day 1 and Day 2! In case it isn't obvious, I'm going for a vintage/nature vibe with all of these. I hope you're enjoying them! I'm having an absolute blast coming up with them.

All the supplies I used can be found at Inspiration Emporium and Amazon (chipboard) via the links below. Remember to use my coupon code - stamptramp - to save 10% on your order at IE!





Day 1

Day 2
Above are the links for the previous ornaments. I hope you're inspired to try some of the techniques I've used. If you do, be sure and link to me and let me know what you've made

Thanks so much for stopping by - see you tomorrow!

25 comments:

  1. They are all Awesome Shelly!! TFS! :D

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  2. This is totally awesome!!! Love the finished look!

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  3. Those are so cool Shelly! they really do look like galvanized metal!

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  4. Such a wonderful project! Thanks for sharing!

    Hugs,
    Alexandra

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  5. Awesome ornament Shelly! The letters look like metal, the foil tape was a great finishing touch!

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  6. Love your technique- great look! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. Very clever! Thank you for the tutorial...well written and photographed.

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  8. I love how this turned out, Shelly! I love how you're constantly exploring new techniques and ideas.

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  9. Your ornaments are turning out amazing! Love that you are sharing these with us each day - thanks!!

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  10. Way cool......I would never have thought of this on my own!!

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  11. Shelly, I love what you are doing with this project! Your work is always top notch!

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  12. Awesome! Love seeing your projects each day. Using the foil tape for a finished look is terrific thinking!

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  13. Annnnnd.....fabulous! This is ingenious what you've come up with. I love layering the chipboard and that metal tape is getting a workout. Can't wait to try these. Also pinned! thanks so much for the great ideas. Already ready for #4.

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  14. Way cute ... ( been busy hadn't seen them ... went back to check them all out) !

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  15. Absolute Genius! I love it~! I've been trying to figure out how to get this very font and here I have it! Who knew!?? I didn't even think of this!

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  16. So clever - they really do look like metal.... love this project. x

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  17. I had to pop over and see how you did this!!! Wonderful creation!

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  18. This is so cool, Shelly. Like I keep saying, you are the Queen of Faux Finishes! I love galvanized metal and was thinking of doing a metallic tag for one of my 12 tags this year. I must try this technique and see what I can do with it. Thanks so much for another fantastic faux finish!

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  19. OMG!! Another AMAZING ornament, Shelly!! And soooo easy!! I love how you made this chunky, faux-metal ornament out of all of the layers of chipboard and foil tape!! Just Love It!! Just WOW!! XOXO-Shari

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  20. This is crazy cool! Looks like real metal, and the dimension is amazing. TFS! =)

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  21. These are fabulous, Shelly! What a great way to use those alpha dies - these really look amazing!

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  22. Ingenious! They're so cute too!

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  23. All three are wonderful Shelly. Your NOEL looks so real - just like metal and I love that it looks galvanized rather than shiny too. And the bells are perfect!!! BUT... my fav is still day 1 - the lantern. We have that very type of lantern - rustic ones - all over the ranch. Your red one is SUPER FINE!!! Can't wait to see the next ornament - this is so FUN. You are making my holiday spirit brighten!!! j.

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  24. Is there a way to purchase these ornaments from you?

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Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I appreciate your comments so much!