Vintage Heirloom Christmas Tree: Take 2 (white)

Here's my second Vintage Heirloom Christmas Tree. I was getting ready to cut it out in solid white when I saw a new paper design by Adrienne Looman called Mistletoe Kisses. I liked it so much that I decided to see how a print would look on the project. I buy digital paper, mainly from Snap Click Supply (and usually on One Buck Wednesday!). Tree pattern is from SVG Cuts.

I love the way it turned out. So different than the green one, which I love too!

The photo of the tree with the lights on shows a pink tint to it, but you can see from the photo above that there is no pink in the project (or in the light bulb). I was told it was probably the white balance, but I'm not sure that's something you can change with an iPhone photo.

And, when it got even darker, the tree got even pinker! It didn't look pink at all in reality, but it's sort of cool. I'm thinking a pink tree could be awesome.

This has turned into one of my favorite projects. I'm sure I'll be making more of them. The completed tree stands 17"-18" tall.

Merry Christmas Tree!

Heirloom Christmas Tree

I think I have found my new favorite project. The Heirloom Christmas Tree is designed by Mary at SVG Cuts. I can't fathom her brilliance in designing this pattern so well.  She definitely has an engineer's mind. This is a take on the ceramic Christmas Trees from the 50's. My husband remembers having one in his home.

 It's amazing how it all goes together. The instructions give you a visual as to mountain and valley folds which make the pieces almost fall into their peaks. There are eight sections of two pieces each, so when broken down and assembled it's very logical. The tree sits atop the base, so if you need to change the light bulb it's easily accessible. It has an electric candle light inside that illuminates the little bulbs and the holes in the tree.

Here's a view of the bottom, showing the hole where the candle light goes.

The base of the lamp is fairly straight forward. The very bottom has three layers of cardstock, so it feels sufficiently sturdy. Mary suggested getting an LED bulb which has low wattage, but is much brighter. I think I'll invest in one of those.

Here are a couple more views!

As an afterthought, I decided to replace the glitter paper star at the top of the tree for one that is used for the actual ceramic trees (like the bulbs). I noticed that before when I lit it up and it was dark, the star was just lost as there was nothing illuminating it. This star doesn't light up a lot, but it does light up a little bit, and in certain light it's quite bright. It seems that the LED bulb illiminates outward very well, but not so much upward. The star is really quite pretty. It is made by the same company that makes the bulbs (Darice). It took a little maneuvering and thought to get a little insert piece I made  into the top of the tree, since the bottom of the tree had already been closed up. But, with some trial and error I was able to make a tool out of a dowel and a piece of chipboard, and insert the little piece into the top so that the star could be inserted into it.

Hope you enjoyed this Heirloom Christmas Tree. You can  get the pattern to make one yourself by clicking the links at the top of this posting.

Enjoy decorating and planning for Christmas! I sure am!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Give Thanks - Cornucopia

Thanksgiving is at our house this year, so when a new challenge came up on the Sizzix Eclips FB page that mentioned home decor as one of the options, I immediately thought of making a centerpiece for the table. All of the cut files used are from SVG Cuts (svgcuts.com).

I've always wanted to make or even just have a cornucopia, so here is my version.

The cornucopia is in the Happy Thanks SVG Kit. I needed it a bit larger, so I scaled it to 150% of the original. I cut a separate set of the panels and put then on the inside as well. It's about 9" at its full length.

The pumpkin comes from the Bedtime Stories SVG Kit. This one I made a bit smaller, at 85% of the original. The top comes off of the pumpkin, but I chose to glue it shut.

The acorns are really my favorite part of this project. They come from the Acorn Autumn SVG Kit. I had made a couple of them in 2012 or 2013, and loved them. For this project I needed a smaller acorn, so I made two of them at 50% of the original.  Some files just don't work well if you shrink them that much, but this one worked great. And, as you can see, they are little boxes. How cute are they? Here they are with their "mommy." I just want to pinch their cheeks, or their caps or whatever!

The leaves were made with various SVG Cuts collections/kits, as well as some from the ECAL shape library. I designed the paper and printed it myself, and then did some extra inking on them as well. And, the little banner was made in Photoshop.

I'm so grateful to be able to create these fun projects. And I'm thankful for friends and family who are so supportive of my crafting.

Happy Thanksgiving!