Day 6 - Twelve Days of Christmas Celebration & Giveaway

Good morning dear friends.

Thank you for all the well wishes and virtual chicken soup!  I am feeling much better today...even my chest cough seems to have faded...must be all the lovin' you have sent my way...and of course, my dear hubby taking care of me!

We are experiencing a winter storm here this morning.  It's snowing and blowing, but oh so cozy inside.  I was surprised to see my hubby sitting on the couch saying his morning prayers, when I got up at 7.  He decided to work from home today rather than battle the bad road conditions.  He has to travel about 40 minutes to work on mostly rural roads, which are usually the last to be plowed.  It will be nice to have a little company today, other than our three kitties and dog, Jack.

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Through the years, I have accumulated two special collections of Christmas decorations...one is nutcrackers and the other is Santas.  I LOVE vintage Santas, Belsnickles or Saint Nicholas.  I think they are my favorite to display, and I'm always looking for more.  As a matter of fact, I'm kicking myself for not purchasing one I saw this weekend at a local craft sale.

With this theme in mind, today's tutorial is for

Vintage Paper Santas

You will need:

Brown paper grocery bags

paper towel or tp cardboard roll

Facial tissue or stuffing

Tacky or hot glue

Tape

Vintage Santa Images (provided below or you can use your own)

1.  Cut two pieces of brown grocery bag to 8 ½” x 11”.  You will iron one of the sheets so it is nice and flat, to feed into your computer.

2.  Copy and paste the Santa images onto your computer.  Adjust the image to fill the page.  Print the image onto the brown bag sheet piece that you ironed.

3.  Holding both sheets of brown paper together, cut around the image leaving about an inch margin around the image.

4.  Slightly flatten one end of a tp roll.  Place and tape the rounded end of the tp roll to the center bottom, and the backside of the Santa image sheet. 

5.  Slightly wad up Kleenex or stuffing and place them above and around the tp roll.  Loosely tape in place.

6.  Run a line of glue around the back, top half of the Santa imaged sheet.  Lay the sheet over the blank sheet of brown paper.  

7. Slide the glued side so that about ½” of the back sheet can be seen.  This makes the back sheet smaller than the imaged side, and gives some depth to your Santa.  When the top side starts to stick, apply glue to the bottom half of the imaged paper, again sliding the top paper so that ½” of the back paper can be seen, and glue down.

8.  Once the glue is set, trim the extra paper on the back sheet so it’s even with the Santa imaged side.  Trim the bottom edges of the brown bag sheets to make the Santa stand on its own.

9.  Spray with a matte sealer to give them a little extra glow.  Arrange in threes for a more pleasing display.

You can also use this idea to make ornaments for your tree.

Simply print smaller images, omit the paper tube and stuff lightly, glue all the way around.  Attach hanging ribbon by placing a small hole in the top.  You can use other holiday images for ornaments as well...use your imagination and have fun.(Kids& Glitter tutorial)

Here are the vintage images I used:

Today's giveaway question is:

"Do you have any special collections you like to display at Christmas time?"

See you tomorrow!