Simple Paper Ornament for Christmas

I wanted to try to make an ornament to decorate the house last year. Neither my boyfriend or I were raised to be festive, so we don't even have a tree. My parents are Chinese immigrants so not only were they working hard to make a buck, it was even harder to assimilate and learn American customs. Anything "American" was always brought home from whatever my brother and I picked up from school. My boyfriend immigrated to America when he was 12 from Belarus, so these doings are even more foreign to him. He was born Jewish by heritage, but never practiced the lifestyles of one due to antisemitism in Belarus. I am 26 now, closing in on 30 in a blink of an eye, and it got me thinking about how I would raise my children being that their parents are coming from completely different backgrounds. What do we integrate, what do we not integrate? I decided that it would be healthy to introduce everything to them, so they are well-rounded. This step in minimal decorating of the house was a small branch stemming from that original tree of thought.

So what I did was scour the net for interesting, simple ornaments that I can make from paper. I came across a Modern Paper Ornament from Chrisjob. You can follow the link to follow the instructions on how to make it.

You can see how it measures up next to me and next to one of my cats. Instead of bright colors, I opted for more subtle ones--we have a lot of dark and modern styled furniture. The silver ornament was also originally cut using white cardstock. I proceeded to paint it with silver acrylic paint and sprinkled on a generous amount of fine silver glitter. It is dangled with floral wire because I had it and I knew it wouldn't draw too much attention from a previous project I worked on with my friend, Jenny, for her wedding decorations.

Now I'm wondering if this winter will be as mild as the last one since I keep posting about last winter's holidays. lol

Die-cut Machines a Must Have!

Until I got a die-cut machine, everything was done by freehand. Cutting out something as simple as a circle took a lot of time even if you drew it out in "Paint" first and traced it. Sure, each template is expensive for any machine, but if you're really getting into the world of scrapping and card making this is a real time saver! Your images are clean cut and that as a result, helps you create a neat look.

For the Practical Paper Crafter

When you are first starting your collection, it is important to decide what shapes and designs you can picture yourself using more often than not. I made the mistake in the beginning of getting things that I saw people using maybe once or twice, but realizing in the end that I should've gotten those dies that made flowers instead. This goes the same for stamps. I also buy things seasonally, so that I don't overwhelm myself with expenses. I'm not one to go for the newest items. Once I built up a nice enough foundation of supplies to make basic cards, I waited until after the holiday to buy clearance items to use for the following year. (ex. I look for things for the following Christmas right after the one that had just passed.)

Five Materials Plus Die-cut

All you need is cardstock, paper/patterned paper, glue, your die-cut machine with your choice of die-cut template, and a simple paper cutter to create a quick and simple card. Below is a quick card that I put together for one of my daycare kids last winter. It isn't elaborate and it gets the point across. The tiny snowflakes were made from the Cuttlebug and the center snowflakes were cut out from The Slice machine, Seasons Design Card. You have the option of using only solid colors or patterned paper--both create an interesting look against the white--just mix and match lighter colored snowflakes and darker ones to create a layering effect.

Optional: I had some rub-on stickers laying around, so I used it for the greeting but you can just stamp or marker it in as well. The additional glitter glue used on top, added a "wow" factor for her. The card is a child-friendly project that you can do together for fun--just be sure to supervise them while they're operating any die-cut machine as they all use blades.

Have fun!