It's a DIY Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like a DIY Christmas! Hello, friends...Shellye [1] along today with a quick home decor project and even quicker card using the new "DIY Christmas" Collection from Simple Stories!

First up is a 3-D distressed star that I purchased from Hobby Lobby; they have some really beautiful wood pieces available that require no painting, just a little embellishing :)

[2]

There are a couple of different ways that you can go about getting the right size star for the inner-part of the shape. Press a piece of wax paper down into the shape and then use a stylus or pencil to trace the pattern onto the wax paper. For mine, I used a piece of vellum and stylus for tracing. Cut the shape out and then transfer onto your favorite DIY Christmas paper. And if you're inclined, add a trim of baker's twine around the edge of your shape after you've glued it in place...this will help to hide any imperfections.

[3]

Next I made a trio of basic paper-pleated rosettes by cutting two strips of 1.5" paper for each. Score the strips at every 1/2" mark and accordion fold. Glue the two strips together, end-to-end. Punch a 1.5" circle for both the front and back of the rosette and glue in place at the center. Place a heavy bottle of glue or small punch on top of the rosette until it has dried.

[4]

I embellished around the backside of the rosettes with a silver tinsel trim that I found in the Christmas aisle at Hobby Lobby. The poinsettias were made using the "Layered Poinsettia" dies from Spellbinders [5]. To the centers I added one of the larger enamel dots from the DIY Christmas Collection. There are so many ways that you could decorate such a star...just have fun experimenting with this crafty Christmas collection!

Lastly I have a quick, quick card! This quick card was made even quicker with the new DIY Christmas A2 Kraft Card Bases [6]!

[7]

Using the 6X6 Paper Pad from the collection, I cut the chevron paper to 4"X5.25" and then trimmed away a portion of the chevron pattern. Next I cut a matching sized paper from the holly pattern and adhered it to the card front.

[8]

The chevron paper was then lined up with the holly paper (top and bottom) and attached with foam adhesive. I used some of the baker's twine from the Tags & Twine [9] and made a border along the edge of the cut chevron...I like to use a fine-point glue pen for this.

[10]

You will find really cute tags and die-cuts in the DIY Christmas Tags & Twine [9] set, the A2 Card Layers [11] and Chipboard Stickers [12]. Make an assembly line of prepared card bases and have the kids and grands help decorate the fronts!

I hope that you've enjoyed the spotlight on this ultimate papercrafting collection!