My dear friend sent me a wood box that previously held notecards because she knows I'm mad about boxes.
I did a streaked paint job in black on the bottom and then applied flat latex in cream to the lid. I lightly sanded over the cream paint to give it a roughed up look and then did an image transfer using Citrasolv on top.
Because the box has a textured finish, the image is all vintagey looking which is what I was aiming for.
My simple gift wrapping this Christmas was done with my typical kraft paper wrapped with white bows and adorned with gold glitter salt dough stars.
I am lucky enough to have a ton of off cut fabrics from a bedding factory, so my ribbons and bows are ripped into strips using the offcuts, but you can certainly use old white sheets that are destined for the rag bin.
The simple salt dough recipe is:
1 cup of salt (get it at the dollar store, it's cheaper than the grocery store)
2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of water
You may have to adjust the water/flour by a bit, and I always add a bit of oil, about a tablespoon. This keeps the dough from sticking to your hands. Once you've rolled the dough and cut out your shapes, bake at 200 degrees for about an hour. You can also leave them to dry for a day or so.
I brushed my stars with Mod Podge and then sprinkled gold glitter all over.
I used a stamp set to mark the name of the recipient, and I'm going to see if I can stamp right onto bare dough ornaments because I think that would be a cute presentation too.
I crafted these adorable Christmas soldiers today using felt, some gold braid I found at the fabric store, and some gold beads.
After assembling and gluing the front of the soldiers, I traced out the finished soldier on a solid piece of black felt and then glued front to back to add some stiffness to them.
I made this simple wreath today with a wreath that was destined for a yard sale this fall, and a bunch of dollar store snowmen that I had collected over the years and wasn't using anymore.
I added a few recycled jingle bells and some pine cones I had found on the ground during a summer picnic.
