Christmas Ornaments

I know, I know. Enough with the Christmas stamps already! It is a bit early for all this Christmas stamping. I promise once the Stampin' Up! convention is over, I'll put all the Christmas stamps away for a few months.

These ornaments are my 3-d swap for the SSUS convention group swap. Actually, just the snowman one is the swap and I made 18 of them! The others are for a special friend. (I don't want to ruin the surprise!)

Anyway, these turned out even better than I had hoped when I saw the Jolliest Time of the Year stamp set in the new Fall & Winter Collection. Even though I have tons of Christmas sets, I don't have a lot of good Santa images and this guy was just perfect! I love the look of wonder in his eyes as he dances around in the snow.

The ornaments come in a 3-pack from Ranger. They are called Inkssentials Memory Frames and come in polished chrome, antique copper and black patina finishes. I used the polished chrome in the 2 x 2 inch size. They also come in 1.5 x 1.5 inches and 1 x 3 inches! The frames do not have any glass in them, so you'll also need to pick up some Inkssentials Memory Glass from Ranger. They come in the same sizes as the frames and you can choose between clear and frosted glass. I used clear glass on mine, but I want to order the frosted now to see how that would look. You can buy all of this from skybluepink.com. They have great prices & fast shipping. I've ordered bracelet blanks and mini dominoes from them in the past as well.

So, for each ornament you will need 1 memory frame and 2 pieces of memory glass. The frames don't have a back, so your ornament will be two-sided.

I stamped the snowman, Santa and tree images with jet Black Stazon ink on 2" x 2" pieces of watercolor paper. (I actually stamped the front & back with the same image.) Then I colored in both sides with my watercolor wonder crayons and an aquapainter. The great thing about watercolor paper is that it is thick enough to stamp & watercolor on both sides without anything bleeding through. On the outside edges of the snowman, I applied a little bordering blue color to make the snowman look even whiter. This is a trick I learned from Julie Ebersole.

Once the paper was completely dry, I made a sandwich by sticking the watercolor paper between 2 pieces of memory glass and then inserted it into the frame. The manufacturer recommends that you don't open and close the frame more than once. The hinges aren't really designed for repeat use.

To finish it all off, I tied a 12 inch piece of bashful blue taffeta ribbon on as the hanger. I love the new taffeta ribbon so much! It is super lush! I plan to add the rest of the colors to my next order. ;)

I think these ornaments would make great gifts! Besides stamps, you could put pictures of your kids inside or their own tiny artwork. Maybe a wedding picture for newlyweds. I think the possibilities are endless!

Stamps: Jolliest Time of the Year
Ink: Stazon Jet Black
Card stock: Watercolor Paper
Accessories: Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Ranger Inkssentials Memory Frames, Ranger Inkssentials Memory Glass