Day 4 - Stars are Bright

Wow, what an influx of visitors to One Lucky Day...and we do feel lucky!  Thanks to Tim for sending you our way!  We have been friends with Tim for some time and have always found him to the nicest person.  Never a harsh word about anyone, only positive, generous and supportive of our creative endeavors. Thanks Tim!

After reading all your comments I have to say..."Who knew there were so many Christmas songs out there?"  I sure didn't!  So many of you loved, "Silent Night" and "Mary did you know?" and a lot of Bing Crosby mentioned.  I have never heard the song with the hippopotamus in the name for sure! But a ton of you had.   And only 2 people were disqualified for picking Feliz Navidad (just kidding). 

Thank you everyone who commented!

The winner of Day 3 of the 7 Days of Giveaways!

 Congratulations! 

 robyncal said...
Oh thanks so much for the 411 on how you made the flash card, was going to re purpose the WISH one I received in the spool kit!! I love Christmas music and can’t wait till Dec to start playing it, I love it when the kids sing songs especially "Mary did you know?” I think that is the name of the song. Thanks for all the gift packaging ideas!                                   
December 14, 2011 7:06 PM

 Robyn please email me at paula@2gypsygirls.com to claim your prize!  

You have 24 hours or it goes back in the pot!

Now on to today's tutorial...

Stars Are Bright

I started out today making something totally different and about 12 o'clock changed my mind.  Sometimes something comes to you and you just have to try it to see if it will work.  So today's project is less about technique and more about engineering and a challenge.  I say challenge because my blog friend, Leslie from Dallas sent me some great vintage files to see what I could make out of them.  And suddenly at 12:00 it came to me.  So Leslie, I hope I have risen to the occasion!

  (click on picture to make larger)

Our regular readers know I like to make things from stuff I already have at a home.  I almost did it this time except I did have to go to the hardware store for the wing nuts.  

I used a few chipboard house shapes (Collections Elements) I had in my stash and covered each of them in the file paper from Leslie.  If you wanted to cut your own house shapes it really wouldn't be hard, you will just need 4 or 5 different shapes and sizes.  The tallest one I am using here is about 4".

House 1 - Vintage earring - cut the back off and hammer flat as possible.
                  Words cut from an old book of poems (I love finding the right words for a piece)
House 2 - Vintage tatting
                 Idea-o-logy Keyholes
Gold Flower Embellishment - I bought this from Oh, Hello friend at the Renegade Craft Show last weekend.  I added the vintage pearls.

 Houses 3 thru 5 - Little Girl Ephemera (Collections Elements)
                              little red label - vintage
                              7 stamp - 7gypsies
                              gold puffed heart - stash

 House 6 - Idea-ology Plaquettes number
                 Adirondack Dabber Paint- Espresso
                 Door handle - clipped off earring back
House 7 - vintage watch face

I didn't photograph every step because I think you can figure most of it out just by looking at the piece.  So if there is something I missed just email me - paula@2gypsygirls.com

FOUNDATION
Adhere the paper to the chipboard with Multi Medium and let it dry.   
Sand the edges and ink with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
PHOTO
Cut out your photo.
You can use a family photo, just make a black and white copy.
Ink it up a bit to age it.

My little girls dress was plain so I colored it lightly with a colored pencil and gave her some detail.

TREE
I had a 2 1/2" bottle brush tree left over from the village kit since it had a broken base.
I removed the base,

then gave it a haircut.
I cut all the branches off the back so it could lay flat against the houses.
Tim's Tonic scissors worked like a dream to do this.

Next, I painted on some white glue,

then rolled it in a pan of glitter.  Set aside to dry.

DOOR
So I had this idea to cut a door in one of the houses.
I found it's better to cut the door in the chipboard first...bend it back and fort, then add the paper and re-cut along the same lines. 

I added some paper to the back of the door.
Inked all the newly cut edges.

But I need a door handle.  So here's the deal.  I went looking for some of Tim's hitch fasteners but I didn't have any.  So I'm standing in the middle of the room trying to think what I can use for a door knob when I noticed the back of a screw-on earring that I had cut off about a week ago.  When I cut it, it flew across the room and I couldn't find the remnant, until now.  What luck!

Because, look how good it worked.
I added a dot of E6000 and just squeezed the metal around the door.
Love making something out of junk.  Who knew what I was going to throw away last week would become this weeks saving grace.  Although I am quite sure the word hoarder might be involved if I thought that way about everything.
In the end I did added a picture of a man in the window so there would be something to look at when you open the door.

BASE
To make the base I used 3 parts:

1. A piece of a measuring stick about 2" longer than the length of your houses.
2. A piece of book board the length of your houses.
3. A piece of wood the same length of the book board (mine is 3/4" thick).

Use a clamp to sandwich the three pieces together like this.

Drill a hole on each end (thanks to my husband for his help...again)

I decided to use wing nuts to secure the three pieces.  This is where we leave and go to the hardware store.

Now were back...
I used Ginger Alcohol Ink to color the wing nut and screws.  The easiest way to do this is to just squirt the Alcohol Ink into a small bag.

Once dry, add the wing nuts to the foundation.

Now add the houses to the book board that is sticking up between the ruler and wood.

Now just move on to the embellish any what you want...that was the fun part!

I love how it turned out!  And it looks so good with all my gypsy books (most from my friend Sandra in Australia).  I think I may have a harder time giving away this piece than Peace On Earth!

If you would like to enter to win today's giveaway
to win "Stars are Bright" for your home, please leave a comment.

Today's question: What do you do to get "inspired" for the holidays?

Day 4 Giveaway is open till 12 midnight pacific time.  

Winner will be posted tomorrow morning and you will have 24 hours to claim your prize.

I thought I might end today's post by sharing my favorite song.  Mine is 'Breath of Heaven' by Amy Grant. Out of all the comments yesterday I believe I read that only 2 other people picked this song.  So if you have never heard this song before here is a link to a video I found on You Tube.  It illustrates the Saviors birth beautifully accompanied by Amy Grant's music. 

Happy Holidays!
paula