Home Stretch Holiday Craft Marathon

This week is my last opportunity to finish up the planned Christmas crafts and new decorations for our home, and I've been working in a bit of a frenzy to get it all done by December 22 Christmas Eve. With able assistance from my 4 year old granddaughter, Miss A, I think I'm on track to have most everything completed in the next couple days.

Here' s a picture of my drawing/crafting board this week -  total chaos. And it's my own fault. I designed a few die cut ornaments along with this year's Thanksgiving cards, then tucked a few into the card I sent to my mother. Well, she loved them (makes me happy) and asked me to make lots  more so she could send them to friends and family all over the world. OK. I can do that. And I did - and they're in the mail, and it's time to make some for our home now.

So this week there are literally hundreds of cut out gingerbread men, families of snow men and dozens of  die cut Christmas tree strips, trios and singles stacked all over the studio and the kitchen table.  I'll use some of the trees in triplicate  to make flame less votive candle wraps. The single cutouts will become gift tags and embellishments for greeting cards or place cards or they'll be perfect as tiny ornaments. The long strips - which I actually designed first - will become paper garlands for the tree and stand up decorations for the mantle, table tops or window sills.

Die Cut Snowman Family Paper Garland

I've had quite a lot of fun using my Silhouette Studio design software and Cameo craft cutter making all these die cut decorations. I could never have crafted all these detailed little gems without a computerized craft cutter. That machine takes the work out of cutting and puts all the fun back into designing paper crafts. I love my Silhouette Cameo - visit the link and you'll see more about it at my web site.

 Christmas Trees with Tiny Gingerbread, Die Cut Garlands and Votive Wraps

I can make my garlands and cutouts in many different sizes all at once. I can also cut multiples of a popular design, like the snowmen garlands.  I'm cutting the snowman family garlands from tabloid size white card stock and they come out just the right size to fit two on each window sill with some trees and gingerbread men alongside. I bought a ream of white card stock in 11x17 and saved oodles of money and time. To create even longer strips (for encircling the tree, for instance) I just tape the 16 inch sections together.

Silhouette Cameo craft cutter in my studio

Here's the cutter deal I recommend. You get the cutter, Silhouette Studio software,  plus craft tools, cutting shape files and a download card to buy more shapes from the Silhouette store. The Silhouette Studio software (basic version) that lets you draw, print, and cut just about any image or font from paper, vinyl, fabric, card stock, magnet material and lots more is free and their software support is good.

I upgraded to the software designer license after I tried out my cutter so I can import files I've created already in Adobe Illustrator. You don't need to upgrade to get started with all the features including the print and cut capability which is perfect for making shaped stickers from clip art or printables.

Make Your Own Retro Hip Wayfarers - Cool, Man

Got a party or masquerade event coming up soon? Snag a sheet of these hip papercraft sunglasses to add to the insanity  fun.

Retro Sunglasses Template

Retro-style Wayfarers sunglasses to make an instant mask or toy for kids of all ages - even you boomers who probably still have your original shades. You can print, cut out and put together these knockoff replicas with nifty brads at the corners; add some to your party favors or photo booth props. We recommend printing your papercraft retro sunglasses on heavy photo paper for extra shine but any card stock will do the trick.  Free for any noncommercial use - if you want to share, share the link or the web site page.

Paper Craft Owl Mask

Owl Mask Printable

Whooo will you be for Halloween? Why not a wise owl? All you need is this printable Paper Craft  Owl Face Mask, craft knife and yarn or elastic thread to make your own wise own face mask.

This is just one of more than a dozen free printable masks at Clip Art and Crafts.

My New Favorite Craft Gadget

Craft Cutter Die Cut Word Art

I've tried plenty of tools and gadgets for crafting and sewing, but the latest addition to my craft room is definitely one of my favorites. I've got a shiny new Silhouette Cameo craft cutter and I'm already getting loads of ideas on how to use it. I've been testing it out with the fonts I already had on my computer, and I'm making cutting shapes from my own coloring page art and digital stamp drawings. This is way-cool fun!

The first project I designed and cut was a welded die cut of my granddaughter's name using a font on my computer and a sheet of heavy embossed card stock from my stash of Nana's Kids Cardstock Collection  by Die Cuts with A View.

I've had this lovely heavy weight craft paper for a couple years; the last project I made with these cute designs was a set of party hats for Anya's 2nd birthday. If I'd had this cutter then I could have added each child's name to the front of their party hats.

I'll be using my Cameo cutter to create some Oma-designed fancy cupcake wrappers for her 3rd birthday bash. Maybe I'll even make some standup table decorations or a very special paper doll ... stay tuned for more projects from the Cameo craft cutter.

PS I think I'll be adding freebie die cut shapes to my web site this year!

On a Whimm: Fan Heart Shamrock Tutorial

Make these unique paper shamrocks in flower pots to decorate a window sill or table top for St. Patrick's Day.

Super cute, and easy to make - found 'em here: 

On a Whimm: Fan Heart Shamrock Tutorial and will be adding them to the green an crafty ideas at St. Patrick's Day Fun for Everyone.

Printable Heart Shaped Eye Glasses Craft Sheet

Add some fun to the kids  Valentine's Day party with this easy paper craft activity. "Each free Groovy Goggles printable craft sheet makes one funny pair of heart shaped eyeglasses in red and hot pink.

Heart Shaped Eye Glasses Craft Sheet

Leprechaun and Shamrocks Printable Greeting Card

Whip up last minute St. Patrick's Day greeting cards, stickers, gift tags or labels with the fine and free shamrock and leprechaun printables for St. Patrick's Day at the Pastiche Family Portal.

Choose from full color stickers, bookmarks, greeting cards and paper crafts or color your own cards, shape papers with lines and St. Patrick's Day coloring pages.

Happy Birthday Paper Craft Printables

It's my first born daughter's birthday today, so in her honor here's a birthday cake clip art plus a go-with decorate-it-yourself birthday cake craft sheet.

Birthday Clip Art Collection

Printable Christmas Bookmarks

If you need a quick stocking stuffer, oversize gift tag or inexpensive holiday craft for seniors or the kids, these free printable Christmas bookmarks will do the job in style. All you need are your printer, some heavy paper or card stock and scissors. Jazz  'em up with some glitter and a fancy ribbon tassel ... easy and fun!

More Bookmark posts

Christmas Printables Collection

 Christmas Printables for Home or Classroom includes dozens of resources for printable paper crafts including Stickers, Cards, Gift Tags, Bookmarks, Activity Pages, labels, writing papers (for that letter to Santa) and decorations large and small.

NEW! Christmas Paper Crafts

There's a whole lot more to Christmas paper crafts than cut out snowflakes and looped paper chains in this new Christmas Paper Crafts feature. You'll find dozens of links to free holiday paper craft patterns and projects you can make from cardboard, boxes, magazines, recycled cards and scrapbook papers.

These aren't just kiddie crafts, although there is a good selection of kid-friendly Christmas crafts. There are some beautiful but easy paper ornaments, garlands and free printable greeting cards along with creative ideas for gift wrap, tags, labels and ornaments.

#1 Fan Mask Craft

I love recycled crafts and Halloween so this mask making project is a favorite. You may have seen flat cardboard fans given away at county fairs and political rallies. These masks are basically the same thing, except they've got your favorite musical artist's face on the front.

If you have no album covers, take heart. You can still make a #1 Fan Mask from a photo or a cereal box ... read on.

How to Make a #1 Fan Mask
If you've got a bunch of old vinyl record album jackets hanging around, you can recycle the jacket fronts into celebrity masks on sticks. You could also use cereal boxes or magazine photos if they've got celebrity faces in jumbo head shot sizes. You'll need a face image that's approximately life size, so it will cover your face ...

Cut the face out of the album cover, cereal box or magazine page leaving just a slight margin around the face and hair.

Glue the face image to card stock; trim excess card from edges after glue dries.

Gather up some wooden paint-stirring sticks (the kind you get at the hardware store when you buy a gallon of paint). Or, if you've got some old wooden rulers around, they'll work too - and you'll be doubling your recycling efforts. You could even cut a wooden yard stick into 3 fan-mask holders. (Side note: Years ago roller-type window shades had wooden sticks in the bottom - if you have any of those hanging around, recycle those into handles.)

Paint the sticks if you wish, or leave them natural. Let paint dry.

Attach the cardboard cut out faces to the sticks using tacky glue or duct tape.

Enjoy your celebrity status by holding up your fan/mask to disguise your face ... or keep your cool. You can get really fancy with this project and attach a sign or another face to the back side of the stick.

Celebrity Photo Fan Masks
For another version of this project, print out enlarged photos of anyone - family, pets, celebrities. Find lifesized portrait pictures or enlarge them using a color copier, scanner or your computer and a good graphics editing program. Print the enlarged photo onto card stock or heavy paper and proceed with the project instructions above.

The best results come from photos that are life size with the subject facing straight ahead (or you can get silly and use a back of the head picture instead!).

Here are links to a few photos of famous faces available at Wikipedia.com that you can use to make your own celebrity face masks or mask-fans:

Barack Obama
Pres. Bill Clinton
Pres. George W. Bush
VP Dick Cheney
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Angeline Jolie
Hillary Clinton

PS Don't throw the vinyl albums away! You can recycle those into nifty bowls and wrist cuff bangles ... directions to follow in a future post.

US Flag Iron Ons

Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4th - make your own banners, tote bags or tee shirts from free iron on transfers with patriotic designs.

Designs include flags, stars and stripes, peace fingers and remembrance poppies for US and Canada patriotic crafts.

Roses Bookmark for Mother's Day

Make a beautiful roses bookmark Mother's Day gift for Mom, Grandmother or any mom or mother-to-be.

Print on bookmarks card stock or paper. Laminate or sandwich between layers of clear contact paper. For spectacular results, print on heavy photo paper to show off the beautiful red, yellow and orange roses.

Script quote printed on this printable Mother's Day bookmark reads "The Mother's Heart is the Child's Schoolroom."

St. Patrick's Day Stickers

Make party favors, labels, gift tags and cupcake picks with these easy to use printable St. Patrick's Day sticker sheets.

Irish derby, shamrock, leprechaun and a tiny Happy St. Patrick's Day label all on one printable page.

Fat Tuesday Fun - Mardi Gras Coloring

It's time for Mardi Gras party fun for all ages. Kids and adults will find Mardi Gras coloring pages and masks to color at Mardi Gras Coloring Fun. All pages are free to print for personal use.

Mardi Gras Masks

It's time to make printable masks for Carnival season - print out these full color paper craft Mardi Gras masks with fancy features - Mardi Gras 2009 (Fat Tuesday) is February 24. Add some glitter and feather trims for more pizazz.

These free masks are easy to make: print, cut out, add ribbons to tie on. Get fancy and attach your Mardi Gras mask to a stick along one side to make a masquerade ball style mask. Let the Good Times Roll for Mardi Gras!

St. Patrick's Day Mobile Paper Craft

Find the gold at the end of the rainbow with this lucky shamrocks paper craft mobile. This paper toy's popular all over the world for St. Patrick's Day. It's even been downloaded and used to teach English in Asian classrooms.

Print, cut, assemble - full instructions on the craft sheet.

Printable Valentine Cards

It's almost Valentine's Day and most of the shops will be low or sold out of greeting cards in a day or so. If you haven't got the time or the cash to get an overpriced commercial card, you can print your own from this collection of 4 elegant and romantic free printable Valentine cards.

Print on card stock or heavy-weight glossy photo paper for extra pizazz, trim the edges and add a sentimental greeting inside. Free Valentines - with love from Pastiche to you. Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Card Bookmarks

Print and Cut Bookmarks for Valentine's Day

Two Valentine card bookmark collections to choose from, each with 4 bookmarks you can cut out to use for Valentine cards or gift tags.