Idea-ology Christmas Candy Shop - Part 2

Alright! Post number two of the Christmas Candy Shop! In the first post, I covered how to make the sugared letters, and the faux chocolate Santa and bells. Today we are going to cover two more candies and then I will address how to pull the entire thing together in the last post.

For the peppermint candies, I bought some lollipop sticks from the candy area of my local hobby store.

 

Then attach the peppermint stripe Design Tape from the Idea-ology Christmas 2020 Design Tape down one side of the Lollipop stick.

Do your best to line up the stripes and attach another piece down the other side of the lollipop stick.

 Mine had a bit of a gap in the back, but I really wasn't worried about it. Once I put the candy cane sticks into the piece, I just made sure that part was facing the back on all of them.

 I cut the sticks into 3 pieces, but you might want to measure and cut the size that will fit wherever you are putting the candy.

 

To make them really look like candy, they need to be in a wrapper. So I cut apart the packaging from some Distress Paper and made the wrappers for my candies. It is very easy to do and is a perfect way to recycle.

 

For this packaging, only the front was clear, but that was enough for what I needed. I did a rough measure with one stick and cut enough for the candy cane sticks I had made.

 

Next, roll the candy cane up in a piece of the cello paper, and twist the end around very tight, so that it keeps the wrapper closed. If it is too long, trim off the end once it is twisted.

Here you can see that the little gap in the back of these didn’t show at all.

The next candy I used Idea-ology Baubles, colored them with the same alcohol inks as the glitters. To attach the glitter, I rolled the colored baubles in some Distress Collage Medium, then I quickly rolled it in the matching Distress Glitter that I used for the letters. You need to set them aside to completely dry.

Once they are dry, cut some more cello to wrap these as well.

Wrapping these is a little different. You have to fold the cello in so that one side lays over the other on the Bauble. As you see above, you have to hold it in place.

 

Again, you need to twist one end the same way you did with the peppermints. If it is too long, then trim it.

When you have a little pile of them to put in the corner, they look so yummy! 

Don’t wrap all of the sugared baubles because you will want to use some of the silver metallic tree.

That's all there is to two more types of candy to make. Tomorrow it is on to assembling this project.

 I'm always so very, very grateful for the support you show me by visiting here, leave comments, send messages, and such. I truly appreciate it!

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

 

Idea-ology Christmas Candy Shop - Part 1

 

Remember my Halloween Candy Shop? It was a lot of fun to make. So much so, that I decided to make a Christmas Candy Shop using Tim Holtz Christmas Idea-ology. To keep this from being a little overwhelming, I'm going to write a couple of blog posts. Today's is going to focus on the sugared CANDY sign, and some of the faux chocolates in the shop.

To begin with, I needed some colored glitter. This is very easy to do. Get a few disposable condiment cups, Distress Rock Candy Glitter, Alcohol Inks and a stir stick for each color. Put some Distress glitter into a cup, then a few drops of the Alcohol Ink color you want. Stir it until the glitter is an even color, adding more drops until you get the shade you want. Then let it dry. I used Crimson, Wild Plum, Sunshine Yellow, Lettuce and Pool, but you choose the colors you want.

While the glitter is drying, you want to get started working on the letters. The glitter will need something transparent to stick to so the Tiny Lights show through it and make it shine like sugared letters.  This has to be done in a couple of steps. Begin by putting the Stencil Chip Letters onto the nonstick mat on the Glass Media Mat. Then Carefully fill each letter with Glossy Accents and set them aside to dry. TIP: if you have both the regulation and travel glass mats, I did this on the travel mat so that I could set it aside on a flat surface to dry overnight. If not, just do this step as the last thing before you quit creating for the day.

This is what they look like as they are drying. They need to dry competely and not be lifted at all until then.

Once they are dry, carefully peel each Stencil Chip off the nonstick mat. You should be able to see though the Glossy Accents, but there will be a little bit of texture from the mat, but it's not an issue.

Transfer the letters to the glass portion of the mat, and fill each letter again with Glossy Accents.

Then generously cover each letter with a different color glitter and again, let it dry for several hours before shaking the glitter off.

You should end up with what looks like colored sugar in each letter. If the color isn't what you want, you can paint some of the Alcohol Ink colors onto the back of each letter to give them more colors. I will come back later to address how to put the letters in the shop.

Right now we are moving on to the Tiny Bells. I pulled out all of these bells (not the jingle bells) from the package of Tiny Bells. The next two "candies" were inspired by some Easter candies Tim Holtz made last year. He covered some eggs with foil and colored them. So I used his idea for some chocolate Christmas candies. It was so fun! Thanks Tim for the inspiration!

I used some foil candy wrap that I purchased from the candy aisle at Hobby Lobby. It is the same thickness as the foil on Candy Kisses. If you don't have a candy section in a hobby store near you use Candy Kiss foil. I crumpled part of a square and put it in the bottom of the bell.

Then I cut the foil into quarters and used one quarter to cover the bell like it was a chocolate bell.

The more you squeeze it and work it flat, the more it looks like the chocolate bells that come in candy assortments all over the US at Christmas. To make it really look like a chocolate bell, I painted each one with a different color of Alcohol Ink. These were really fast and easy to do. Also there is a little hole/hanger in to the top of each bell. Poke a hole through the hanger at the top and tie some thread through it so that it looks like a chocolate bell ornament.

The last one for today is to make a faux chocolate Santa. I took the thin foil and crinkle it. Then I attached it to the Idea-ology Santa using a small brush and collage medium. This helps flatten out the foil and make it look more like a chocolate Santa. Then do the same thing you did with the bells, paint the foil with Alcohol Ink. I use a pallet with the alcohol ink colors  and blending solution in one,

You can see the back here and how I left what would have been white parts, like the trim on the coat and hat, to be silver. It looks like a chocolate Santa! 

At this point I was getting really excited, but I needed to make a few more candies. I'll talk about those tomorrow. For today, these three items take quite awhile and are definitely the things to concentrate on first. 

Have fun glittering and foiling!

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Christmas Apron - Sizzix Chapter 4

A couple of the Sizzix Chapter 4 releases from Tim Holtz were the Merry and Bright thinlits, and the Festive Stems which are a Bigz L steel rule die. A steel rule die can cut chipboard, fabrics, felt, thin leather, and other thicker materials. It gives you more options than just paper. I decided to try my hand at a little bit of sewing and use them to decorate an apron.

To begin this process I stopped by the fabric store and purchased this Wonder-Under Fusible Web with the paper backing.

It comes on a roll and you cut the size you need. I also purchased thick felt in several colors. They were in the same section of my fabric store. Then I cut the wonder-under and felt the same size using my Tim Holtz Tonic Fabric Scissors.

You place the Wonder-Under onto the felt with the webbing side down onto the felt. This is important! You do not want the webbing facing the iron. Now, heat your iron according to the directions on the plastic sheet that comes with the Wonder-Under. It needs to be dry, no steam. Then iron the paper backed webbing onto the felt. This process will melt the webbing and the paper will be adhered to the back of the felt. Then you just run it through the die cut with the paper on the back side of the die.

Once the shape is cut, gently peel the paper backing off the piece. Place it where you want it to go, and then iron it into place. The webbing will again melt and the piece will be adhered into place. If this it an item that will not be washed or handled a lot, this would be enough of an adhesive, but since we are making an apron, we will need to sew it into place. I also lightly drew a circle so I knew where the wreath would go and the merry would be in the center.

This thinlit die that cut the word Merry, made a lovely, thin greeting. I wasn't confident in my sewing skills enough to attempt to machine stitch over this, so I stitched it by hand with a needle and thread. You will see that the thinner felt material I purchased to go through the Merry and Bright thinlet die started to fray as I stitched. I actually decided I liked it so I used the Tim Holtz poker tool to fray it a little more all around the outside.

Next I cut and adhered the greenery. I used a camoflage felt that I found and I really liked the light and dark spots as I thought it gave the Festive Stems a little more interest than the flat green color I tried first. So I cut multiple stems and then adhered them on the same way I did the Merry. Then I did go ahead and machine stitch over each needle.

I also cut the holly berries from the Festive Stems and after I ironed them on, I hand stitched each one of them to give them a little added security and detail.

The stitching gave this piece not only more permanence to withstand machine washing, but also added definition and interest. 

This apron was a little time consuming because of all the stitching, but it really isn't a difficult one to make. And what a great way to add some festivity to the kitchen for the holidays. 

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Warm Hugs - Snowscape

Who misses warm hugs? I know I do, so I thought this Olaf inspired Medium Etcetera tag would be a perfect holiday make for 2020. I was thinking this might be a cute thing to put into a coffee area, or on a tiered tray, or even an entry table.

To make this tag, begin by doing a messing painting of the tag, with Picket Fence and Speckled Egg Distress Paint. It doesn't need to be perfect, just get some paint on it. Then cut a 6x11" piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock with the Arctic background die. It's very easy to repeat this and make it look like it was all one cut. Save the bits that poke out, we will use them later.

When the paint is dry, adhere the background onto the tag with Collage Medium. Put a nice even level of it over the paint and then evenly press the background into it, all over. You can use a brayer if you want to be sure that ye get all the air bubbles out and that it is definitely stuck to the tag.

 Cover the front of the tag with a nice layer of Distress Collage Crazing Medium. Let it dry naturally.

Then paint the entire top of the tag in Stormy Sky Distress Paint. When it is dry, wipe the entire background with Picket Fence Distress Paint and work it into all the recessed areas, but then wipe it off before it dries.

The central part of the tag is made by cutting More Distress Watercolor Cardstock in white, Chipped Sapphire and Candied Apple from the Shadow Alphanumeric Dies. I pieced together the cents by using a lowercase c and the ends of a lowercase l.

The bottom section features the Colorize Snowscape. All of the parts were again but from Distress Watercolor Cardstock and colored with various Distress Inks.

I placed the Papercut Christmas 2 Snowman next to the river with his arms out ready for a warm hug.In this picture you can that I added a few of the poked out pieces from the background and attached them all over the tag. Then you can see that I sprayed the entire tag with Distress Resist Spray and then dusted it with Rock Candy Distress Glitter to give it a wintery sparkle.

And that's it! A winter slogan tag with a decorative scene across the bottom. This is a fun project to make and I hope it got your mind working, not only about ways to use some of these dies, but even ways to display your makes.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I really appreciate it so much. The comments and support mean so much to me!

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!