Clear Scraps Project Post

Hi Ya'll,

Tami here on the blog today to share a holiday project with you.

Have you started your Christmas crafting? Still need a few more festive items, or maybe a gift or two? Don't forget the neighbors and those "surprise" gifts you might need.

Clear Scraps has lots and lots of great designs and products for all your holiday projects. 

This project combines several of Clear Scraps' products into one merry and bright bit of Holiday decor…

The chalkboard look is a trend that is still going strong; and here it serves as the background and really makes the colors pop!

Although this project calls for some hand painted elements – the pine boughs – believe me, you don't have to be an artist to get the look. The boughs are easy to create.

Here's how I made the project step by step.

I started by painting Clear Scraps' Rounded Jumbo Wood Tag with black chalkboard paint…

Next, I stenciled "JOY" at the lower right of the tag using the ABC Lower Case Letters Stencil Set. I used a sponge brush to "pounce" white paint through the stencil to create the look of chalk. Use blue painters tape to hold the stencils in position…

Snowflakes were added using the Nordic Snowflakes Stencil, white paint and the sponge brush. Use blue painters tape to secure the stencil as you move it around the tag. It's also helpful to tape of portions of the design you don't want, or the edges when the design you are using is close to the edge. Let each stenciled area dry before moving on to the next to avoid smearing the paint…

Touch up any mistakes with the black chalkboard paint…

Decide where you want your boughs to be and using white paint, add one branch to each side. Start with a small flat brush to paint the branches, then use a medium flat brush to add the pine needles. With the brush held sideways, I started at the tip – the part away from the branch and pulled down to the branch. I repeated until I felt each branch was full enough. The white paint helps the green paint that is added next show up brighter and some will show through to look like snow…

Next repeat the process of adding the pine needles using green paint. I darkened a bit of green paint with black to create a darker shade to go over the branches and to add a few darker needles into the boughs.

While the tag dried, I worked on the embellishments. I used both the X-Mas Bulbs and the Star Bulbs Chipboard Embellishments as well as the Tall Bulb Mini Shaker. Since I wanted the bright colors to really pop; I painted the chipboard pieces and the front piece of the shaker with white paint first. Then I painted the ornaments lime, green, pink and lavender and the shaker piece blue. I left the "strings" white and painted in caps in silver. I found it easier to paint the ornaments while they were still attached to the chipboard frame. Once they were dry, I cut them apart…

The chipboard pieces needed to be backed with something so the background would not show through the designs on them. So I traced them on silver metallic foil board, then cut them out, slightly inside the lines. I also cut a piece to fit the back piece of the shaker…

The designs on the ornaments are intricate, making it hard to use a liquid glue to adhere the foil board to them. So I used a dry adhesive on the back of the ornaments. This made it easy to adhere the foil board to the back of the ornaments without glue getting into the cut outs. Adhere all the foil board pieces to the backs of the ornaments and the the back of the shaker…

Assemble the shaker, placing Sprinkles Winter Flake Mix inside it…

Arrange the ornaments as you like on the tag, trimming any of the "strings" on the ornaments if needed, then glue them down…

A string was added using silver rick rack at the top of the mini shaker, and small bows made with silver cord were added to the tops of the other ornament strings. A big bow made with silver wired ribbon was tied to the top of the tag to finish it off…

Supplies:

Clear Scraps: Rounded Jumbo Wood Tag, ABC Lower Case Letters Stencil Set, Nordic Snowflakes Stencil, X-Mas Bulbs and Star Bulbs Chipboard Embellishments, Tall Bulb Mini Shaker and Sprinkles Winter Flake Mix

Other: American Crafts: Black Chalkboard Paint, The Crafter's Workshop: Heavy Body Acrylic Paint: Spun Sugar, Kale Smoothie, Grape Jelly, Blue Jelly Bean, Licorice and Raspberry Sorbet, DecoArt: Americana Margarita Acrylic Paint and Plaid: Silver Anniversary Acrylic Paint, Grafix: Silver Metallic Foil Board and Artists-Tac, Beacon Adhesives: 3-in-1 Glue, Wired Silver Ribbon and Vintage Silver Rick Rack and Cord

Tools: Foam Brush, Small and Medium Flat Brush, Sponge Pouncing Brush, Blue Painters Tape, Pencil and Scissors