Today {before i begin explaining the process of how i created my vintage tannenbaum tree} i have a surprise. I saved one last kit to giveaway to one lucky reader, such as yourself. consider it a little treat from me & kenner road to thank you for your continued support and to thank you for coming here so we can share our passion for vintage things & pretty paper.

to win, make sure you post a comment telling us what your favorite tree trimming memory is before midnight on december 6th. i’ll draw a winner on december 7th from all of the comments and post that person’s name here, on the 7th. and, because we’ve had a lot of prizes go unclaimed lately {seriously!!} the winner will have 48 hours to claim the prize or we’ll redraw a new name and the original winner will forfeit the prize. and of course, our international friends are always welcome to enter. ;)

now, to enter to win remember to leave your comment at the end of the post. until then… let’s get to trimming this tree!

Supplies used : tannenbaum kit {alot of these elements are vintage and you can certainly substitute the paper and elements as you choose if you don’t have the kit}. craft wire {i used two sizes – 20 guage copper & 32 guage silver. both of these are widely available in craft stores}.

tools used : scissors, edge distressor, hot glue gun, foam squares, dry adhesive, zip dry {wet adhesive}, butterfly punch, pinking shears.

step 1 : attach your vintage sewing bobbin to the vintage tin with hot glue. just a little is needed.

step 2 : create four tiers of wire tree branches.

i like my branches to look very homespun so perfection has no place on my tree. i simply cut a 2 foot piece of wire and and then created a branch by wrapping the wire together. i also left a small loop {see picture above} in order to create an end that wouldn’t allow my mini ornaments to fall off.

after wrapping the branches i attached each branch by wrapping one end of the wire around the bobbin and then wrapping the other loose end the opposite way. i create four tiers of three branches doing this and had each tier of branches get slightly smaller in length so that the top row was smaller than the bottom.

this is a good look at what your branches will look like before you add your ornaments. isn’t he cute? you’ll notice i added a small piece of the 7gypsies gaffer tape to the bottom to just add a little color. we’ll be adding the bird next :)

step 3 : add your bird tree topper.

i backed my two bird cutouts with the red gaffer tape so that the plain side wouldn’t show when i stacked my birds on top of my tree. then i added a white tab {that i stamped with a kenner road stamp} and applied them to my birds with mini foam squares.

then i put three mini mercury glass beads on the white enamel pin and glued the pin to the top of my bobbin. before gluing i used a kraft knife to push a small hole into the wood so the glue and pin end would have a reservoir to rest in. you will have to hold this in place for a few minutes while the glue dries.

after the glue dries, attach your birds together using mini foam squares in between so that they pop out a bit. then you can slightly bend each tail end and each head for a bit more dimension.

this following picture also shows the ribbon and jute cording wrapped around the pin & bobbin. this will be the very last thing you do AFTER you create all of your ornaments as this is all of your extra ribbon & jute cording and you’ll want to make sure you use what you need to for your ornaments first. i’ll remind you about it again at the end ;)

step 4 : create your ornaments.

for these last steps i’ll give you basic instructions for the ornaments that you might have questions for. most of these are very easy to understand just by seeing the images but, please note i saved every single scrap of paper, tissue, etc as i was creating. i love adding these smaller bits back into other pieces {as you will see} and hope some of these ideas help you see that even the smallest bits & pieces can create beautiful things.

also, i did not back all of these ornaments with the red gaffer tape but you certainly can if you choose to, it does add a finished look and makes the ornaments pleasing for both sides, but there is some intricate cutting required with some of them do to the punch-outs, etc.

punch out the butterfly center and use a 1/16″ hole punch to punch a hole at the top and bottom of the center of the butterfly. thread your enamel pin through one hole at the bottom, thread on two white snowflake beads and thread through other hole. secure the pin with gaffer tape on back and add ribbon.

take your butterfly punch-out from the previous piece and attach to the front of the domino with a mini foam square. wrap a piece of ribbon around each side {attaching with dry adhesive} and tie at top. then add loop for hanging.

fill mini glass bottle with rhinestones and glue button to top for lid and wrap wire around center with long tails at each side. cut out two center squares of large bingo tag and punch 1/16″ holes at the “0″ in “30″ and the “6″ in “60″. thread wire tails through and coil ends into spirals, this will hold the wire in place.  attach garment pin to hang.

punch butterfly out of the two square piece you cut from your previous ornament and staple a mini staple in the center. apply to crown with mini foam square and wrap ribbon around top and loop to hang.

attach wire to key and thread two mercury glass beads and one snowflake bead before creating loop and twisting ends back round wire to close.

attach domino and mini word ticket that has been trimmed and edged with pinking shears. add garment pin to hang.

this one’s my favorite :)

i created a blanket stitch around the milkcap by first creating 1/16″ punched holes and then threading the wire in a simple blanket stitch. it took some patience and a little time but looks so cute. when that was finished i added a row of 5 snowflake beads for some dimension by threading them on wire and then attaching to the back through the punched holes. add some ribbon to the top to hang.

distress edges of large tag. create a small rosette by pleating the crepe paper {about 4′-6″ is all you need} that has been doubled by folding lengthwise in half. attach a button threaded with jute cording to center of rosette and attach garment pin to hang.

pleat a 6″ piece of crepe paper to circle tag and attach with dry adhesive. type or hand write a favorite holiday saying on the manila tag your trim came wrapped on and trim into a simple banner, attach with dry adhesive.

attach top tag to bottom with a mini foam square making sure to line up hanging holes. type another festive word and attach to top of top tag. thread a mercury bead on the flower’s stem and thread through a 1/16″ hole punched at bottom of large tag. coil end of flower stem to keep the bead on. attach garment pin for hanging.

stitch another pleated 6″ strip of crepe paper and trim ends with pinking shears. attach to pear tag and top with another trimmed ticket saying and enamel pin. attach garment pin to hang.

wrap domino with wire and create loop for hanging. apply trimmed ticket remnant to top and attach trimmed crepe paper edges as desired.

attach another piece of crepe paper to skinny tag and trim bottom edge into banner points. add button threaded with ribbon and another festive word saying. hang from ribbon.

create gaffer tape ribbon and add bingo circle and festive typed greeting. hang from garment pin.

wrap bottle with wire and create loop for hanging. add gaffer tape to bottle and jute cording and fill with half of the remaining flower stems.

attach vintage dennison label to tag. thread remaining mercury glass beads and attach to tag by threading through two 1/16″ pu8nched holes on each end, secure in back. slide remaining flowers through and use garment pin to hang.

type “believe” on last vintage dennison label and attach to glass bottle. glue remaining snowflake bead to bottle {glue so snowflake edges poke into bottle} and use garmnet pin to hang.

step 5 : wrap remaining ribbon around top of bobbin and display.

i hope you enjoy this kit just as much as i have adored creating it for you. please remember to leave a comment to enter the giveaway and i hope you have an amazing holiday season filled with good wishes and lots of holiday cheer!

How that is related to scrapbooking, you ask?…Well, I knew when I got Elementary the Sept. Kenner Road kit and saw the Cosmo Cricket Fitting In paper and The Boyfriend Chipboard clothesline that I wanted to make a sign for my laundry room.

I, of course, love the vintage look and the Jillibean Soup corrugated letters  reminded me of the texture of the old laundry washing boards..with that same rippled look.

So, a laundry sign was born but not just any laundry sign…..but because my husband and I have a bit of a wicked sense of humor and laundry is such an arduous task, I decided to make a funny sign. I had saved the vintage flashcard from the kit for a special project, my word was “some”…so I worked that into my sign.

I have a collection of old clothespins, that really I have used quite often in crafting projects, they have come in quite handy.  I used a very cheap frame from Ikea, painted it black with a bit of chippy red…scraped it up a bit and sanded it smooth.

The rest is quite easy to figure out.

My husband thought it was quite funny but alas, nobody heeded my call and did my laundry…oh well, there is always tomorrow!

~Katie

lisa truesdell

every month i feel like i am completely overwhelmed by the work that our guest designer and the creative team turn in. every. single. month. and this month, with the fabulous lisa joining us i was giddy as the pictures started flooding in last week. absolutely giddy!

as always, here’s my personal favorites. make sure you check out each and every gallery as all of the work is phenomenal. and make sure you check the end of this post for our reveal night giveaway winners… there are 5 extremely lucky winners!!

debee

dina

gigi

jessi

katie

lisa

our 5 reveal night donna downey canvas kit winners are :

144. LouAnn Says:
June 14th, 2009 at 6:37 pm edit

164. AllyW Says:
June 15th, 2009 at 7:04 am edit

73. Cathy B Says:
June 13th, 2009 at 8:24 am edit

116. takako Says:
June 14th, 2009 at 4:55 am edit

68. tina Says:
June 13th, 2009 at 7:35 am edit

send me your contact information {info@kennerroad.com} and we’ll get these out to you asap!

happy tuesday!

the project i am going to show you how to make today can be whipped up in as little as an hour with materials you probably already have on hand!

almost everywhere i go, i see these beautiful, multi-colored, collage style “bib” necklaces:

they were my inspiration for this:

supplies needed:

misc. embellishments (flowers, buttons, gemstones, brads,  beads, vintage ephemera… almost everything i used on my necklace were embellishments from older kenner road kits)

felt

ribbon/lace

glitter

(2) eyelets (crop-a-dile or other fastener tool)

glue gun

scissors

liquid glue or paper glaze

step 1:

cut a piece of felt into a triangle (or whatever shape you prefer). mine is about 6 inches across the top.

step 2:

arrange your larger elements onto your felt…. shift & move them around until you find a design that’s pleasing to the eye.

i stacked a lot of my smaller items onto layers of the prima flowers for a more “rounded” shape.

make sure you leave a little space on each upper corner to allow for eyelet placement.

glue all pieces down using a glue gun.:

step 3:

using a crop-a-dile, punch holes & place eyelets where you want your ribbon to thread through.

step 4:

fill in some of your bare spots with your smaller embellishments.

step 5:

using scissors, cut excess felt away.

step 6:

turn piece over , and thread ribbon  or lace through both sides.

your piece should look like this:

if desired, you can cover the back with another piece of felt or fabric.

step 7:

turn necklace over & loosely braid if you like, tie ends.

if you prefer, you can add large beading clamps on ends of ribbon & attach a jewelry clasp.

step 8:

now is the time to add any finishing touches to the front with paper glaze & glitter.

let dry & enjoy!

happy mother’s day!

i wanted nothing more then to stick them on my living room shelf and display them in all their beautiful vintage glory…i know!! they are fab!!

but…*sigh*…i knew kerry lynn was probably looking for something a little more creative then that, lol!!

so….i turned them into photo/note holders. a simple project that still allows for them to sit on my shelf…but makes them a bit more useful and a bit more cool;)

so here’s what you need…

your bobbins

2 clothes pins ( the wooden ones)

paint

light guage wire

glimmer mist

ribbon

what you do

paint your clothes pins, let dry.

spray some glimmer mist on, let dry

cut a loooooooooooong length of wire, hold your clothes pin to your bobbin and wrap some of the wire around the part of the clothes pin that sits against the bobbin holding the bottom part of the pin to your bobbin. press the clothes pin open and continue now wrapping wire around the top part of the clothes pin. when you are done, twist the ends of the wire together and cut off any extra length.

tie a bit of ribbon to the bottom of the bobbin,

press the clothes pin open and insert a photo or note, set on shelf or desk…and done!!!

we’re starting something new this month. beginning a few days before release night we’ll be showing off some of the scrumptious lusciousness in each months kits. this is part {a small part} of the add-on kit “almanac”.

happy thursday!

xo