Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Altered Project Shares

You are all in for a treat today! Our Altered Project designers have been busy, creating up a variety of different Christmas and winter themed projects to share with you today.

Altered Christmas Canvas, by Wendy Antenucci.

I was looking for a large piece of Christmas art to put on my mantle so I decided to make one. I've taken a few of Christy Tomlinson's online classes, so I used a few of her tricks to prepare my canvas.

I first stamped a music background on tissue paper using Staz-on ink and then applied that to my 12x12 canvas. I used various mists, paints, masks, rub-ons and glitter to further added touches to my background.

I then layered strips of papers on my canvas to form a tree. A few Christmas words, presents and of course a train for my little boy added those special touches to my canvas. Other than a strip of Christmas Tree paper everything was made from everyday supplies and yet they became a wonderful Christmas piece of art.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Party Dress, Miles of Smiles; Thankful: Perfect Day; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Asparagus; Winter Wonder: Toasty, Icy; Christmas Wishes: Trees for Sale; Finally Fall: Bliss; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red, Green, Brown-Cream; Ciao Chip Everyday Elements: Stars & Hearts, Borders

Christmas Tree, by Wendy Antenucci.

I've made these trees before and while they are really quite easy, the impact when they are done is wonderful! I cut strips of 1"x6" paper which I folded in half and stapled at the top. Taking a cone, start from the bottom and hot glue the strips on your tree, alternating as you go up the tree. This time I chose to cover a chipboard star with some paper and tie twine through the button holes. I added different buttons scattered throughout the tree for a finishing touch.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Asparagus; Birthday Girl: Party Dress, Miles of Smiles; Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power; Button Market: Stars, Merlot Flowers, Fruit Punch, Outdoors

Pine Cone Ornament, by Wendy Antenucci.

These ornaments are made from a Styrofoam egg and a heart punch - and yet combined the effect is amazing! I like to use a 1" heart punch (or die-cut machine) and you need about 1.5 pieces of paper to finish the project. Once you have cut all of your hearts, I like to fold them in a mountain, valley, mountain pattern to make them easier to cluster together. Start at the bottom of the egg and roll one of the hearts push this firmly into the tip of the egg. From that point you will hot glue your hearts around the egg shape, taking care to alternate each row, the hearts will face to the rolled piece. The perfect last minute touch is to add either a flower or large bow at the top with a hanger for your ornament and then I used Stickles (icicle) to highlight each piece of the pine cone.

Supplies:
Thankful: Burlap

Christmas Wreath, by Shellye McDaniel.

While shopping at my local scrapbook store this week I ran across these cute acrylic trees! I first envisioned a banner made with the trio, but after assembling I thought they would look so sweet attached to a straw wreath.

I started by tracing the tree pattern onto the "North Pole" paper, cutting out and then machine-stitching to the acrylic sheet. Next, I made triangular insets from pieces of the "Christmas Love" and "Candlelight" papers and then edged them in a red ric-rac trim before attaching to the tree shapes. Layering a circle with scalloped circles made the perfect background for the chipboard letters spelling out JOY.

Wanting to personalize the wreath, I made a banner using the Designer Tape, baker's twine and alpha stickers. I added the banner to the trees using Glue Dots. I love that the dimension really makes it look as though it's hanging!

Finally, after attaching the three trees together (also with Glue Dots), I secured it to the straw wreath with a thin gauged wire. A large gingham bow completed the top. It looks so merry and bright hanging on our front door!

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Christmas Love, North Pole, Candlelight, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron, Orange Stripe, Piggy Piggy Stripe; Button Market: Tie Dye; Ciao Chip Elements: Stars & Hearts; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy Punch

Winter Themed Candy Jar, by Sheri Feypel.

I picked up these glass jars to house my overflowing collection of buttons and quickly realized that they would be very easy to alter. So, now I need to find more for my buttons. Instead of wrapping one piece of paper around the jar, I chose to cut them into strips. It worked out much better as I didn't have to worry about the seams matching up. Yay me! On this one I attached a large snowflake ornament that I altered with Winter Wonder. I cut small strips of paper and folded them in half, arranged them in a circle on top of the snowflake. I then topped them off with a cute sticker from the Alpha+Bits Stickers. I attached it to the jar with on glue dot and then secured it with twine. I wanted the receiver to be able to enjoy the treat contained in the jar and have a removable ornament.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Borders, Slopes, Cute Cuts, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers

Christmas Themed Candy Jar, by Sheri Feypel.

For this one I used the Christmas Wishes line. I kept it pretty simple using only one pattern for the body of the jar. I cut each strip and put them on in the order that I cut them to keep a nice flow. I then added the tree from the Chipboard Icons, topped it off with a few Miniature stickers. I also added a sticker to the little glitter ornament, I brought it all together with twine, wrapped around several times and finished up with a bow.

*Tip, when I add the miniature stickers to projects like this, I put a little bit of baby powder on the back to remove the sticky. This way the stickers are not all unruly getting stuck everywhere.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Trees For Sale, Chipboard Icons, Miniatures

Accordian Card, by Sheri Feypel.

My first idea was to make a set of miniature gift cards, I had a few pieces of 3x6 cardstock scraps. I decided to attach them all together to make an accordian. So my card idea quickly tuned into a card/decor idea, two gifts in one! I started with a cardstock base and covered each square with a different pattern. I arranged my letters where I wanted them to be on each square. I then added all sorts of embellishments; flags, stickers, snowflakes. Once that was all done, I glued down my letters.

For the cover I went pretty simple because all of the fun was inside! I wrapped the closed accordian with twine and added a Miniature tag. The twine and embellishment can be easily slipped off the card for the receiver to open.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: North Pole, Candlelight, Gifts Galore, Cute Cuts, Borders, Quadrants, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers; Button Market: Outdoors, Red Flowers; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch