A Crafty Christmas Part 1

Christmas has come and gone; and for me, it was a success.

I had very little money. I’m talking $20 to find something for my mom, my dad, three grandmas and an aunt (the pets and hubs had their own budget, and those gifts were purchased long ago).

I had to get crafty.

Where does one go for crafty inspiration? Pinterest, of course.

Starting with the oldest, my great grandmother, I decided to make her a mixed media wall picture inspired by this:

First I started with a backdrop of old book pages and some scrapbooking paper that I thought would go with her color scheme. I mod-podged (homemade of course) the paper to a canvas I already had on hand. Then, I chopped up a lace doily and mod-podged it down the center. Leaving me with this:

 I achieved the auburn edging with some embossing powder.

After the base was done, I had to assemble all the little pieces. This was the hard part. I started by making little wire and nail polish flowers, which were a pain in the bum. Nail polish is very hard to work with. I ended up with a little chemical buzz at the end of it.

Starting with wire I had around and a pencil, I made five small little loops with the help of the pencil to keep their shape, twisted them together with more wire, and shaped it into a flower.

Make sure you use cheap nail polish since you have to pour a puddle onto some wax paper and swoop the wire loop through it slowly until a film forms, leaving a lot behind.

Next were the paper flowers that came from another Pinterest pin:

I bought a package of four different complimentary colored cardstock for $3 on clearance. The pattern came from the pin and hot glue was on hand.

Basically, cut, glue small to big, and form as you go. Pretty simple.

Then, I gathered some craft odds-and-ends I had in all my junk drawers, buttons, fabric flowers, etc. and hot glued everything together.

Lastly, I cut some butterflies out of my pile of scrapbooking paper, covered them in embossing powder, and glued ‘em on.

Voilà!!

Total cost: $3. One project done, four to go.

What'd you craft for Christmas?