Here are some wood pieces I painted with chalkboard paint & used different materials (inks, paint, twine, chalkboard felts, gel, etc.) for all of these freehanded designs.
The Cheeky Naughty or Nice Paddle– all two sold, the third sold at silent auction for my day job’s christmas party for united way Happy Holidays Gold Tree – still available Happy Holidays with small reindeer head– still available Happy Holidays & Gold Gel– sold Merry Christmas Gold Tree– still available
Let me know what you think, I am thinking of making more next year & might try to sell some on etsy.
If you see anything you might like here just email me, glass vases also still available, click here to view (Link to vase post to come)
Center pieces are always great to have to dress up any holiday party table, you can use anything from flowers to candles & set a warm, festive mood.
This project was inspired by the Halloween centerpiece I made for my home/Night of Fear Festival table.
While out shopping with my mom the inspiration hit, we saw the aisle of ribbon at Michael’s & I instantly thought of my halloween vase & how I could create holiday centerpieces. While we were at our local Dollarama, it was close to closing time, I had a last minute idea to grab some small ornaments to add a little sparkle to the vases to make them complete.
In total I decorated 9 vases and 2 jars with lids.
Here is what you will need:
glass vases, glass jars with lids – Dollarama or Michael’s white denim – Michael’s ribbon, burlap wrap, twine – Michael’s/Walmart/Dollarama Small ornaments – Dollarama glue gun & glue sticks – Walmart/Dollarama
Here was my process:
Made 1 sketch to isolate my idea, then started to wing the ribbon designs one by one with different layers of ribbons or burlap wrap, using hot glue to attach the material to the white denim I picked up (this comes in a roll that is about 6” high). While making these I found the white denim was a great to use not only as a base for the material but as another rustic element integrated into the design.
I wanting to make sure the “sleeves” made for the vases were removable (so they could be washed if need be) this denim was key, it is woven tight enough that the hot glue did not go through the material onto the glass; therefore, the sleeves were not glued to the glass & are removable.
Step 1: Wrap the denim around the vase so it had about a 1/2 inch overlap, this will be the seam used to glue the material around the vase – in retrospect I realized this project could of been done not just with hot glue but sewn together as well.
Step 2: Keep the denim flat & layout the other ribbons/burlap wrap & cut to match the denim’s length.
Step 3: Layout the designs you want to make with all the different layers of ribbons & glue to the denim
Step 4: Prepare the ornaments, mine had small pieces of ribbon for hanging on a tree that I removed so the twine could be use to wrap the ornaments around the vase – be sure your twine is long enough to go around the vase & tie into a bow in the back.
Step 5: Wrap the ribbon “sleeves” around the vase & hot glue the material (or sew) the 1/2 inch overlapping seam, finish off by tying the prepared ornaments around the vase – you can also go one step further and glue the twine to the seam in the back to better secure it in place.
Let me know what you think of this project & if you make any on your own please share with me on my social with the #inspiringdeisngsvase
You can also see real time posts of what will come next on my social.
Starting the process with thumbnailing some rough sketches to map out designs; this initial process is very important, it is more efficient & you have less mistakes when you plan your work out.
I then painted some 96# Bristol Board paper with different colour inks, carved my stamps & stamped away! once the stamping ink was dry I used my jumbo Recollections Lever Stamp to cut tags out of my stamped designs, put together different sets, packaged them using sandwich bags & the extra inked strips of paper.
Here are some of my sketches, final sketches, stamps & packaging:
The office I work at full time is having their 6th annual holiday shopping show, I did not participate last year but was convinced to participate this time around to sell some of my illustrations & paintings, then I thought “why not make some holiday related items to sell?” With my November not being as crazy as my October I will be able to find the time 🙂
I plan on trying to make some hand crafted holiday cards, gift tags, wooden pieces and other holiday crafts. I went to my local Dollarama, Walmart & Michael’s Craft store for some supplies I needed to complete my process: a few sets of blank cards & envelopes, some wooden pieces, a jumbo paper punch & some 96lb Bristol paper, glass vases, ribbon & more.
To see more of my work follow me on my social to see real time posts of what will come next.
Noelle Fontaine Design & Illustration 