Handmade Holidays Blog Hop

Welcome to the Handmade Holidays Blog Hop!!!

Calling all crafters! We’ve gathered designers from some of our favourite manufacturers to show you ways to create something from the heart this holiday season. This 3 day Hop includes over 60 stops with inspiration brimming from every corner. Explore all thoughtful and frugal handmade gifts you could make for the holidays, all in one place on this Hop!

To sweeten the Hop, we’re offering a gift for you! For every comment you leave on the blogs in the Hop, you’ll be entered to win a prize pack from one of the participating manufacturer sponsors!

Donna Salazar Design's is giving away this beautiful package:
**Winner MUST be in the US. We are very sorry but international entries can not be accepted for this particular prize due to its weight of the Zutter tool**

Visit the list of blogs below and leave a comment on each by Nov 7, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST. Each day we will be sharing a brand new list of blogs with brand new projects for you to explore, be inspired by, and create from! 

Clearsnap – http://clearsnap.blogspot.com
Spellbinders  http://www.spellbinderspaperarts.com/Community/Blog.aspx
Hampton Art - http://blog.hamptonart.com/
Zutter – http://binditall.blogspot.com/
Graphic45 – http://g45papers.typepad.com/
Donna Salazar Designs – http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/
The Twinery - http://www.thetwineryblog.com/
Authentique Paper http://authentiquepaper.blogspot.com/
Glue Arts - http://gluearts.blogspot.com/
Jan Hennings – Glue Arts http://papercraftpleasures.blogspot.com/
Kim Sonksen – Donna Salazar Designs  - YOU ARE HERE, RIGHT NOW
Jamie Harper – Hampton Art www.jamieharper.typepad.com
Jenny Suchin – The Twinery http://www.suchins.blogspot.com/
Heather Conklin– Authentique Paper  http://goldiecar.blogspot.com/
Gloria Stengel- Graphic 45 http://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/
Christine Emberson - Spellbinders http://hope-chances.blogspot.com/
Julie Overby – Spellbinders http://joverby.blogspot.com/
Mary Dawn Quirindongo – Clearsnap http://mypinkmexico.blogspot.com/
Lea Sanders – Zutter http://leasanders.wordpress.com/
Tara Orr – Graphic45 http://eachmoment-onlyonce.blogspot.com/
Patti Milazzo – Glue Arts -  http://pattimilazzo.blogspot.com/
Emily Lanham – Authentique Paper http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Jessy  Christopher – Donna Salazar Designs - www.teacherjessy.blogspot.com

Cheers to creating gifts from the heart this holiday season!
 Happy Hopping

Before you start off on your hop, would you like to see what I have whipped up for ya?

What about this lil’ fella brightening up your home or to be given as a small gift?

You can leave it as is or fill it with some candy, small gifts (maybe a voucher?) or whaterver else you can think of.

So, how did I do it?

First gather a sheet of 12 x 12 double sided paper. It is not essential that both sides have a pattern but you can be so much more creative with it if it does. I chose the “Do You See” paper from Donna Salazar’s 

Weathered Winter line 

As I wanted my ball to be fairly small, I decided to cut the paper in half so I was left with two sheets of the size 6 x 12 – for one ball one of these pieces is sufficient.

Now you will need to cut the sheet into individual pieces, making sure that the length of each strip is 6”. The width depends on personal preference and I decided to go with 1” wide paper strips.

I decided that I wanted to showcase both sides of the paper in alternating strips and I wanted to add some wintery-kind of texture to them. First I sprayed them all with Vanilla Smooch Spritz by Clearsnap Inc and sprinkled some white embossing powder randomly into the still wet Smooch Spritz.

The edges were then inked with Cat's Eye Chalk Ink in chestnut roan

 Isn't the effect marvellous? It turned out so much better than I anticipated.

Now you will need to gather your strips and punch a whole on both ends of each strip - I find it easiest when you place them all on top of each other and use the Zutter Hole Punch and Hammer, that way you can be sure that the holes are all in the same area.

Now you can secure the top on bottom with the aid of some Zutter Rivets. They snap together so easy and hold the strips together perfectly.

But how do you get this array of strips into a ball? Well, you will have to fan them out and the easiest way to achieve this is to bend the strips with one hand like this:

With your other hand you will be able to fan out each strip, you can start from the inside out or vice versa and your ball should start to look like so:

Once you have finished arranging the strips you can think about how to decorate the outside of the ball.

I hand-cut a small tag from one of the Artistic Papers of Donna Salazar Designs and stamped it with a holiday image, using various Cat's eye chalk inks. From the "Weathered Mosaics" paper I cut a sentiment mosaic into smaller tag and attached this to the stamped tag

Finally I cut some leaves from the fabulous 8 x 8 Spring In Bloom papers pad of Donna Salazar Designs and added some Fairy Dust Glitter in Sugar Shimmer by Donna Salazar for Clearsnap to the edge for an added "frosty" look.

There you have it - a quick decorative ball, which can be used to house small gifts.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and don't forget to leave a comment on all hop stops in order to be in with a chance to win some FABULOUS prizes (just in time for the holidays :)))

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