Christmas Ribbon Tree With Pearl Star

Happy holidays everyone! Tammy here with a fun ribbon Christmas tree tutorial using my favorite Hot Wire Cutter from Proxxon Tools.

Supplies used:

Tree form

Ribbon

Proxxon Hot Wire Cutter

Straight pins

Smoothfoam

Ann Butler Designs Iridescents from Earth Safe Finishes

Star image

How I made it:

Cut ribbon pieces about 6 inches 

Fold them in half and secure each one with a straight pin.

Print and cut out a star image and trace the image onto a piece of Smoothfoam

Cut the Smoothfoam as shown in this tutorial video:

I painted my star with Ann Butler Designs Iridescents from Earth Safe Finishes in the Russet color

I added pearl push pins as decorations to the star 

Secure the star to the top of the tree with more pearl push pins.

I love how my tree turned out! It looks so cute with the Rustic Christmas Wreath I made in my last post. I hope this gives you some ideas on how easy it is to use the Proxxon Hot Wire Cutter. 

The possibilities are endless!

I love to see your projects! Tag me on Instagram @TammySmithSantana

xoxo Tammy

Thunder Gourds - How to

These are called "Thunder Gourds" and as you can see I make different looking ones, but the purpose of each one is to create the sound of thunder.

The Supplies Used in this project are:

Medium/Large Gourds ( I have found that the bigger the bottom of the gourd, the deeper the sound)
Synthetic Drum Head
Adjusted/Stretched Spring (Similar to the spring on a screen door)
Wood burner (on some)
Paints, Stains
Suede cord
Drill
Proxxon Jig Saw STS 12/E
Foot Switch FS
Heat Gun (Not a blow dryer, it won't get hot enough)
Glue ( I use CA glue from Satellite City in California)

To start with you need to cut the bottom off your gourds:

Can you see the pulp inside the gourd in the top or bottom picture? Well every bit of that pulp and the seeds have to be cleaned out before you can continue with this project. There are many different tools which can be used to clean a gourd and once you get all of the stuff out except for a few little pieces left behind, you can use drywall screen and then sandpaper to get the inside very smooth.

Drill a hole on either side of the top of the gourd, thread your suede thru each outside of the gourd and tie into a knot on the inside but then pull your threaded suede up on the outside for a hanger.

After it's cleaned you can paint the inside to give it a nice look. I then burn different designs onto the outside of the gourds and use paints or inks to color the gourd or the design.

    

As you can see, the saw is used to cut holes of different shapes and sizes into the gourds. You must put holes in the gourd in order to let the sound out. 

Once all of this is done, you sand the bottom of your gourd flat, apply a thin bead of glue around the edge and attach the synthetic drum. After the glue is dry, trim your drum to the edge of your gourd and use the heat tool to shrink the drum tight to the bottom of the gourd. (There is a video on YouTube showing you how to do that) 

Take the end wire of the spring and puncture a hole in the bottom of the drum and then twist your spring onto the drum head. 

Grasp the top of your gourd and shake it and listen to the sounds of thunder coming out! The first few Thunder Gourds that I made, scared our oldest dog 'cause he's terrified of thunder and lightning! lol Now he turns and looks at me to make sure it's me and not the weather before he gets scared.

Once again, my Proxxon saw has made my Gourd Art making easier!!

Barbara Moore

Create a Vintage Christmas Scene in an Illuminated Rustic Shadowbox

My partner, Joe Morgan, loves vintage decorations, especially Halloween and Christmas! A Rustic Shadowbox made from reclaimed lumber (pallet wood) was the perfect frame to showcase some of the miniature animals he has collected. This vintage Christmas scene is illuminated with 20 LED battery powered lights.

Proxxon tools make it easy to work on a small project like this. The scale of the tools is perfect for a project this size.

What You’ll Need

• A rustic shadowbox with a recessed back – check out this blog post to learn how to make one out of reclaimed lumber
• 2x4x8 Smoothfoam block
• 1 sheet of paper to use as the background of the scene – anything from wrapping paper to scrapbook paper to art paper
• Pencil
• Battery operated LED light string (20 lights)
• Black felt
• Snow glitter
• Vintage animals, Christmas tree, moon, etc. to create your scene
• Vintage pipe cleaner
• Quick dry liquid adhesive (I love Aleene’s Quick Dry TackyGlue)
• Hot glue gun (I love AdTech’s glue guns and glue)
• Proxxon Cutter THERMOCUT 115/E (bench top)
• Proxxon Hot Wire Cutter THERMOCUT 12/E (handheld)
• Proxxon Professional Rotary Tool and drill bits (1/16 works great!)

Steps to Follow

1. Cut the paper to fit the shadowbox and adhere it with the quick dry adhesive. This makes the background for your scene.

2. Use Smoothfoam to make the contour of the ground. First, decide on the maximum height (most likely at the back of the scene, the depth (give yourself about ¼” from the front to show the wood of the shadowbox) and the length (the opening of the shadowbox). The foam in our shadowbox is about 1” tall, 8” wide and 2-3/4” deep. Use the bench top Proxxon Cutter THERMOCUT 115/E hot wirecutter to cut the foam block to the desired dimensions.

3. To continue making the contour, use the handheld Proxxon Hot Wire Cutter THERMOCUT 12/E to “carve” the contour of the ground. Make it slope to the front and dip up and down, just like snow drifts.

4. Adhere the Smoothfoam to the shadowbox using quick dry liquid adhesive.

5. Decide where you want lights to shine through the back of the shadowbox and mark the spots lightly with a pencil. Use the ProxxonProfessional Rotary Tool and drill bits to drill the holes. You can vary the size of the bits if you want different sized “spots” of light.

 


6. Adhere the lights to the back of the shadowbox using hot glue. Line up each bulb with a hole you drilled. Work your way from one side to the other. We tried adhering the lights with electrical tape, but it didn’t stick. Other tapes didn’t work well either. Hot glue worked perfectly!

7. Cover the back of the shadowbox with black felt. Adhere it with quick dry adhesive. This prevents light from peering out the back of the box when you place it on a shelf. You can also adhere the back of the battery box to the shadowbox. Just be sure to position it so you can slide the top back and forth to change the batteries!

8. Cover the Smoothfoam with quick dry liquid adhesive and apply the snow glitter.

9. Build your scene and adhere the pieces to the foam with quick dry adhesive.

10. Optionally, decorate the front of the box with vintage sparkle pipe cleaner, adhered with quick dry adhesive.

 Do you collect vintage decorations and trims! Everyone at Create N Craft loves the look of old-time goodies! Check out the boxes we went through to decorate our shadowbox!

What are your favorite vintage finds! We would love to know. Mention what you like in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!
Joe Rotella

~Santa Clause is Coming to Town~ PROXXON DT Wooden Whimsy Project by Sherri Welser

Santa Clause is Coming to Town"

Wooden Whimsy by

Sherri Welser

Christmas time  is my most favorite time of the year and I love to decorate my house with beautiful white lights and whimsy! To create this whimsical wooden piece I used wooden scraps from the recent building  of my  art studio. The Santa shape was a broken piece of 2 x 4 so I just went with that shape(  it resembled an old fashioned Santa with his tall hat on). For the birdhouse hole I just found a 2 x4 with a knot hole in it! I also wanted it to look distressed so I did some steps below to create that look. So come and join me for some holiday whimsy!

~Supplies~

PROXXON Scroll saw-DSH-E

PROXXON Delta Sander-OZI-E

Scrap pieces of 2 x 4 - from 1-2 feet in length

Acrylic paints ( white, black,skin tone,red,blue and green)

Modeling paste

Palette knife 

Glue gun/glue sticks

Crooked wooden stick for the walking stick

 Vintage metal key

Paper  holiday ephemera

Gold Gel Pen

~Steps~

1) Decide what size you want to make your wooden cut outs and cut them using the Proxxon Scroll Saw DSH-E

2) Using the Delta Sander OZI-E sand the edges of the pieces.

3) Using the acrylics paint all your wooden pieces and let dry. I used the Tim Holtz line of distressed crackle paint for the birdhouse in white after using a blue ink pad to add some color as a distressing factor.I also added a small broken piece of stick for the perch on the birdhouse.

4) Distress  the edges of the other pieces with a sepia ink pad.

5)To assemble, I used the glue gun to glue things in place.

6) Use the skin tone paint and paint an area on Santa for his face and beard.

7)Use the modeling paste to create the  beard on Santa and the effect of snow on the wooden pieces with a palette knife and let dry.

8) Use your chosen items of ephemera for decorating your whimsical pieces. Glue down with your glue gun.

9) Use your gold gel pen to do some detail work on Santa.

This is such a fun creative project and I hope you have as much fun as I did!

 Have fun and Happy Holidays!!

Make a Rustic Shadowbox from Reclaimed Pallet Wood

A shadowbox is a great way to display your favorite collection, frame a photo or piece of ephemera or house a miniature scene. Using reclaimed lumber, like the slats from an old pallet, is a great way to get a rustic or vintage look while re-using materials that might otherwise go to a landfill.

In this video, Joe Rotella, founder of Create N Craft, shows how to use a Proxxon Table Saw to create an 8”x10” shadowbox with a recessed back from old palette wood.
The Proxxon Table Saw gives you perfectly straight cuts and is can easily cut wood, non-ferrous metals, plastics, Plexiglas, fiber-glass reinforced sheets, foam and many other materials.

Are you a fan of vintage Christmas decorations? Well then, you're going to love how the finished box was decorated. Look for the blog post coming up on Thursday, December 10, 2015, for the finished project.

What You’ll Need

• Proxxon Table Saw
• Slats from an old pallet (2 at least 12” long and 2 at least 10” long)
• 1/8” plywood or Luan for the back (about 10” x 12” so you can trim it to size)
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Safety glasses
• Wood glue
• Hammer and finishing nails (optional)
• Corner clamp (optional)

Steps to Follow

1. Trim one end of each of the 4 strips of wood to be sure they are square.
2. Cut two pieces at 12” long and 2 pieces at 10” long.
3. Cut a 45° mitered corner on each end of each piece, about 1” from the end of the piece. That gives you 2 pieces 10” long and 2 pieces 8” long.
4. Cut a groove about 3” from the front edge of each piece, about ½ the thickness of the wood, and wide enough to fit the back panel. This gives you a recessed groove to hold the back in place.
5. Trim the 1/8” plywood to fit the groove of the shadowbox.
6. Assemble using wood glue. Optionally use finishing nails as well. TIP: A corner clamp makes assembly even easier.

Christmas Sled Centerpiece

Good morning everyone, Steph Ackerman here with a Christmas post today.  It's almost time for Christmas and center pieces are always fun to display around the holidays.  Proxxon's tools are definitely fun to work with and perfect for projects, both big and small. 

Supplies:
Proxxon Tools:  Delta Sander OZI/E
Smoothfoam
Earth Safe Finishes Chalk It Up Paint - Licorice; Cherry Jubilee
Christmas Picks

I love decorating for the holidays and a sled is the perfect Christmas decoration.  Since my wood sled was very rough, I used the Delta Sander to smooth it out before painting it.

 

There were a lot of small areas on the sled that needed sanding and because of it's shape, the Delta Sander was able to get into those spots.   The sander is the perfect size to access even the smallest of areas.

 

Once I finished sanding it, I painted the sled with Earth Safe Finishes Chalk Paint.  Once dry, I adhered Smoothfoam blogs to the sled and inserted Christmas picks creating a nice Christmas centerpiece.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

Cozy Rustic Christmas Wreath With Wood Accents

I love the soft feel of alpaca yarn but I don't know how to knit, so I thought why not make a wreath out of it? 

Supplies I used:

Proxxon Delta Sander

Wire wreath form

Alpaca yarn

Wood pieces

Colorbox Crafters Ink stamp pad in Crimson

Ann Butler background stamps

Zip ties

Decorative trim

Mounting tape

Floral wire

How I made it:

I started by wrapping the yarn around my hand about 30 times and securing the center with a zip tie. 

I clipped each side and trimmed each pom pom to be circular. I added each pom pom to a wire wreath base with floral wire as shown in this video:

I decided to add some wood accents. I sanded the wood pieces to make them smooth and flat with my Proxxon Delta Sander . I stamped the wood pieces with Colorbox Crafter's Ink by Ann Butler and also used the Ann Butler background stamps as shown in this video:

 After stamping the wood pieces I added them to the wreath by carefully stacking them one piece at a time with strong mounting tape.

For additional interest, I added some cute wired trim. It also helps keep the wood pieces secured to the wreath base.

I really love how soft and beautiful this wreath is. I may need to keep it up all year!

I love to see your projects! Tag me on Instagram @TammySmithSantana

xoxo

Tammy