Reindeer Games

 

Today I am going to show you how I made this cute Reindeer Games sign.

 

The idea came to me when I was putting together one of my Rudolph Tea Light

Ornaments which you can find for free download a few posts back.

 

I got to thinking how cute he would be if he had a true round nose and started

looking around my craft room.

I came across some mini ornaments I had left over from a project last Christmas.

They were pink, blue and green and they were the right shape but still to big

to fit the tea light ornament.

 

Well, one thought led to another and before I knew it I was enlarging the

original Rudolph file so the nose would look in proportion to his face.

 

Once I got it done I didn't know what I was going to do with a Rudolph head

that big so again, I looked around the craft room and found a sheet of

foam board and the idea of a sign was born.

 

I posted my sign on the MTC forum and several of the members wanted to

know how it was made so here is a short picture tutorial.

 

I am just going to show the basics of how it is made.

Make your sign individual to your taste!

 

The picture below shows the supplies I used to make my sign.

Most of them came from the Dollar Tree.

(You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

 

The basics you need for your sign are:

1 sheet of foam board

1 small christmas ornament (mine were 1 1/2" diameter)

1 tea light

The enlarged Rudolph file which I have included at the end of this post.

 

To start, cut and assemble the Rudolph head and set aside to dry.

 

Next, I cut my piece of foam board in half with an exacto knife.

You can cut it to any size or shape you want.

 

I then took the red Sharpie marker and ran it around the edges of the

foam board to give it some color and contrast. You could

also use 3/16" ribbon and glue it around the edges.

I also ran the marker around the front edges of my sign too.

I placed the marker on the edge foam board and drug it

all the way around. If you place the tip of the marker as show

in the picture above, you can use the edge as a guide and get

a nice straight line (for the most part anyway).

 

I took a piece of trim and glued it on the front along the edges

of the marker line I drew. 

This trim covered any imperfections in marker line.

If you make a sign with curves, be sure to use ric-rac trim

or a bendable trim so that it will bend around the curves

without waving and gapping.

 

Once you have all your trim glued down, set it aside to dry.

As I didn't have a red ornament to use for the nose I made do with

what I had on hand which was a pink ornament.

I took my red Sharpie marker and colored the whole thing.

Once it's dry, you may have to give it another coat.
(If you look close, you can see where I started to color the bottom red.)

 

If you don't have a red one and have to color your

ornament in this fashion, it is best to use a lighter color one as it

gives the best color.  You can use a darker ornament but as you

can see in the picture below it will make deeper red color.

(The solid red one is the finished pink bulb from above.)

Now take your Rudolph head and position it on the foam board

how you would like. DO NOT GLUE IT DOWN YET!

Take your ornament and place it in the cut out for the nose

in the Rudloph head and push down gently to make an indent

in the foam board. 

Remove the ornament and head piece and score the paper on the

foam board with an exacto knife or the point of scissors.

 



 



Place the ornament back over top of the score lines and push down gently

so that you make and impression on the back side of the foam board.

 

Cut around the impression with an exacto knife or score with scissors

and push the ornament through the paper.



 

You can now glue your Rudolph head in place to the foam board.

Insert the ornament into the Rudolph head.  You can

glue it in place if you want but I found it stays in place well by

itself and can be removed for storage without the fear of breaking it.

Now just decorate any which way you want.

I used snowflakes from a punch and coated them

with clear glitter nail polish. I adhered them to

my sign with foam dots to give some dimension.

 

I also have included in the file the Reindeer Games

 wording if you choose to use it

(I also coated the wording with the same nail polish).

 

Once the front of the sign is finished being decorated,

glue your modified tea light to the back of the sign

 

I want to use my sign indoors so I added a ribbon hanger.

You could use the same method of adding a hanger

that I include in the MTC files but I chose to add a ribbon

directly to the sign.  To do this I cut a piece of ribbon the

length I wanted. I then took some of my quilting pins

and cut them in half as they were way to long and

would have come out the front of my sign.

 

I then layed my ribbon in place and pushed the

cut pin into the ribbon and foam board at an

angle so that it is sandwished in between the front and back of the sign. 

Also, make sure to insert the pin from bottom up like in the

picture below.

This way there is no way the weight of

the sign will pull the ribbon loose.

 

Now all that is left to do is to admire your new sign!

 

Now, I know that I am not the best at explaining things so,

if you have any questions at all just leave them in the

comment section and I will answer them there

so everyone will benefit.

 

Here is the MTC file with the enlarged

Rudolph head and the Reindeer Games wording:

 

Reindeer Games Sign



 



Until next time, 

Penguin Tea Light Ornament

 

Who doesn't love a little penguin at Christmas time?

 

 

To add some dimension to this ornament I embossed

his face piece with a swiss dots embossing folder.

I wanted to shape the center of his bow tie with

a stylus before I attached it but forgot.

 

 

This ornament is made a little different than the others

as I have removed the flame from the tea light candle so

that just the bulb is left. 

When the ornament is lit, the light shines out from under

and around the beak piece.

 

 

I have included full instructions on how to remove the flame 

in the notes of the MTC file which you can download

for free at the end of this post.

 

Hope you enjoy making a colony of penguins!

 

Click the link below to download the free MTC file.

Penguin Tea Light Ornament



Until next time, 

Christmas Owl Tea Light Ornament

Todays cutie is a Christmas Owl.

 

 

He goes together quickly once you have all

the pieces cut out.

 I colored the tea light flame orange for his beak.

 

When making the cut file, I wanted some dimension

to his chest crest (is that what you call it?) so I

added some cut lines and slightly pulled them

up with my fingernail.

I then inked those edges to make make them

stand out more.

If you don't care to ruffle your owl's feathers (pun intended),

I have included in the cut file an optional plain chest crest. 

 

Wouldn't this little guy look cute made up with

designer Christmas papers?

 

 

The back of the ornament is done the same way

as the rest of the ornaments I have posted.

This step isn't necessary but it give such

a nice finished look from the backside.

 

If you would like to make your own

Christmas Owl Tea Light Ornament

you can download the MTC file here:

 

Christmas Owl Tea Light Ornament

 





Until next time, 

Snowman Tea Light Ornament

Are you all sick of these ornaments yet?

If not, today I have made a Snowman Tea Light Ornament.

 

 

He didn't come out exactly as planned but he is cute non-the-less.

I think  it has something to do with his eyes being white on

a white background. To remedy this, I went back

and modified my original file to include an optional

black shadow layer for around eyes. 

After he was put together I wished I had run a black

Sharpie marker around them. It would have made them

stand out a little more. 

 

Being that there isn't a lot of color to him I tried to give

some dimension to the ornament where I could.

To start with I used glitter cardstock for the band on his hat.

It's flat looking in this picture but really does stand out.

 

 

I had planned on embossing his hat pieces but got so engrossed

in putting him together I forgot.  I think that would have been real cute.

To add more dimension I used foam dots to make the brim of

his had stand out along the top rim.

 



If your going to add the foam dots, like I did, color the edges of the dots

before you adhere the brim of the hat to the template.  I wasn't thinking

about the dots being white and they stuck out like a sore thumb when

you looked at the ornament from the top.  I was able to sqeeze a

Sharpie marker in there and get them colored but was afraid the whole

time I was coloring them that I was going to get the

 black permanent ink on the red glitter paper.

 

I used an orange Sharpie marker to color his nose.

I didn't snip the tip of the candle flame off this 

time and it looks just like a tiny carrot nose!  So cute!

 

To finish him off I added a corncob pipe to his mouth

and a snowflake to the hat band that I had glittered up

with fingernail polish. 

 

If you haven't tried it, glitter nail polish works great for

craft projects.  On this snowflake I used a clear polish with

iridescent flakes.  It not only shines and sparkes but it gives

the paper body (stiffness) which you can then shape.  I also

bought some red and gold glitter polish at the dollar store

which I use to coat the heads of brads, etc. 

Works wonders!

 

Your going to want to make sure to read the notes section of the

 MTC file as the full instructions with optional assembly

ideas and tips are included.

 

You can download the MTC file here:

Snowman Tea Light Ornament

 

 



Until next time, 

Mrs Claus Tea Light Ornament

I thought Santa needed his mate so I

made a Mrs. Claus Tea Light Ornament!

 

When I say the pictures don't do this beauty justice I mean it!

She is just as cute as can be in person.

 

Besides having no photography skills, I usually finish up my

projects when it is dark and have to take pictures under

energy saving light bulb and try to correct

the color and brightness in my photo editing software

which I'm not good at either.

 

 

When I made her glasses I used Glossy Accents on the

lenses.  It was looking so good until I got impatient

to put her all together.  I used my heat gun to hurry up

the drying and it started to bubble up.

 

I don't know if you can see in the picture but there is

definitely texture to her glass lenses.

In the end, I thought it looked like she was outside

in the cold and they frosted up.

Well, that's my story and I'm gonna run with it!

I used a silver glittered cardstock for the frames

of her glasses and I really like how those came out.

 

I'm not to sure about the mouth piece. On the

next one I may just draw it on and see what it looks like or

just use black cardstock instead of the pink.

 

I was going to use my sewing machine and do some

decorative stitching on her hat but changed my mind

and used the maribou trim. I trimmed it down so that

it would be the proper scale for the bonnet and I now have

itty bitty feathers all over my craft room.

 

The full instructions and supply list are in the MTC file

which you can download here:

Mrs Claus Tea Light Ornament

 



Until next time, 

Gingerbread Man or Woman Tea Light Ornament

I have another cutie for you today,

a Gingerbread Tea Light Ornament!

(Excuse the bad picture with the shadows)

Your just gonna have to ignore his crooked little face

as this is my prototype. It's 3:38 a.m., I just finished

him up and am to tired to make a good one.

 

With this file I have included a second set of eyes

and a bow in case you want to make a

Gingerbread girl.

 

About the bow, you may just want to use

ribbon as the bow I have included isn't

the easiest to put together and a ribbon would

give some dimension.

 

Hope you enjoy the MTC file

which you can find here to download:

Gingerbread Tea Light Ornament

 





Until next time, 

Elf Tea Light Ornament

Here is the next installment of the tea light ornaments.

A cute little elf.

I wish my pictures were better but it's night and
we use the energy saving bulbs which do
not allow you to take good pictures.

 

He goes together quickly as there is only 3 pieces to him

not including the eyes.

 

I was in a hurry to finish him up tonight so I could get him

posted for you all so this isn't my best work.

He's still "wet" and looks cross eyed but you all get

the idea of the basic file. 

 

I won't be using cotton balls for the trim again as

it was a pain in the but to work with.  I had the cutest

maribou trim but it was a little to large for the brim

of his hat so I went with the cotton as it is what I had

on hand.

 

I added the little jingle bell to the pom of his hat and

it sounds so sweet .

 

Here is what he looks like lite up.

 

And in case you want to know what the back of

the ornaments look like here is the reverse side.

 

Hope you enjoy the file!

You can find it for download  here:

Elf Tea Light Ornament

 

 





Until next time, 

Santa Tea Light Ornament

I had such fun making the Rudolph tea light ornament yesterday

that I thought a Santa would be cute too.

 

This was my first go at making a file from scratch with Inkscape and

then transfering it into the Make The Cut software.

 

 

 

I don't know if you can tell in my crappy pictures how cute this little guy is!

This was my prototype and to my surprise it all fit together

perfectly the first time.

 

 

I embossed the beard, mustache, hat brim and hat pom and

shimmer misted them to give the ornament some sparkle.

 

Again, I cut the tip of the tea light "flame" off and colored it

with a red Sharpie marker.  When it was all put together I

decided to rub a little blush under his eyes with a Q-tip.

If your going to try the blush, I suggest you test it on a

scrap piece of cardstock first as you only need the tiniest

amount.

 

At this point I should have left him alone as he was just

as sweet as could be but, I decided to add more

dimension with a Pearl Pen to the hat and pom. 

As soon as I started I knew it was a mistake!

It distracted from the embossing and Shimmer Mist and spread out to much. 

Then to top it off, I set it to my side to dry and ended up sticking my

elbow in it and messed it up totally.

 

I will deconstruct this one and start over but I wanted to get the file

uploaded so that you can make your own without waiting for me

to do so.  Christmas is fast approaching and I know everyone

is eager to make their projects now.

 

You can download the MTC file here:

Santa Tea Light Ornament

 

 



 

 



Until next time, 

Rudloph Tea Light Ornament

Over on the Make The Cut forum, someone posted a link to the cutest Rudolph Ornament
that used a tea light to make the nose light up.

I thought the idea was so clever.

I got to thinking that it would be cute just as a Rudolph face too so I got busy

and designed my own.

 

I really like the way it came out.

 

I used Make The Cut software to design the ornament.

As I can not draw worth a lick, I only used shapes from within the software

and then some node editing to make the file.

 

Here is a picture with the lights off and his nose lit up.

 

 

If you would like to make your own, here is the MTC file.

Rudolph Tea Light Ornament

 

Full project instructions and details included in the MTC file.

 

If you have any questions just leave a comment and I will get back to you.

 

 

 



Until next time,