Monday, November 25, 2013

Chocolate Turkey Parade!


These started out as a very simple idea to turn Ferrero Rocher chocolates into pumpkins.  You know, just real quick, add a little stem and vine at the top??  Easy peasy.  But (always a but) I couldn't get past an idea I had in the middle of the night last night to make them turkeys.  My rosette-flower-obsession disorder got the best of me and I decided they had to be turkeys!!




I started out by making the tail feathers.  I used DCWV 5-1/2"x7" "Harvest Gathering" mat stack (last year's design) and chose several of the panels.  Cut them in half length-wise so I had two 2-1/4"x7" strips from each panel.  I scored them every quarter-inch, then fan folded them. 


To get the "tail" to stay in a fan shape, I hot glued the bottom 1/3 to an arch-shaped scrap cardboard piece.  I started by hot-gluing one side of the bottom end to the cardboard piece, then once that end was set, I added glue to the rest of the cardboard piece and laid the rest of the accordion piece down. This step allowed me time to squeeze bottom end together so it glued down into the fan shape I wanted for the tail feathers. 
To make sure it stayed in place, I hot glued another arch shaped cardboard piece across the front side, across the bottom, so the fan shape was secure.  I trimmed off the overhanging sides of the cardboard pieces.  I then colored the white piece with a brown copic just so it blended in some.

Next I made the turkey heads.  After rummaging through my supplies trying to decide how to do this, I settled on using a 1/2" circle punch, brown card stock, a couple of wiggly eyes, a holly berry stem and puff balls.

The holly berries came these mini pine cone clusters that I deconstructed and separated from the cones.

I punched a 1/16" hole through a 1/2" circle of brown cardstock, then slipped the holly berries through and positioned them so they would hang as the turkey's "gobblers" below their face.


Here's the heads ready for beaks.
The beaks are just little triangles cut free-hand from scrap orange cardstock that I folded in half.

I just glued the beaks onto the front of the face right above the berries/gobblers. 

Next I added a little puff ball to the backs of the heads as "necks" - and because I didn't want to glue the faces flat against the chocolate ball.
Puff balls being glued to the backs of the heads
Here's all the main parts ready to be assembled:






First thing to do is make the body.  With the chocolate ball sitting in it's little brown candy holder that it comes in, stretch the brown holder at one end so you can slip the tail feathers in.  Use a little hot glue on the bottom end of the tail feathers and along the back side so the fan of tail feathers is glued to the brown paper on the bottom and the back.




Next glue the heads on, The puff ball and head are so light weight, it just takes the teeniest drop of glue to stay on -- just enough to stick but not enough to cause the chocolate to melt!!






And here's a few pics of the finished turkeys!  There's going to be one of these guys sitting at the table at each place setting this year!




Happy Thanksgiving, friends!  May you be blessed and safe this Thanksgiving!!



TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

2013 Christmas Cards

These are Christmas cards I've made for my Etsy Shop.  It's almost overwhelming anymore to narrow it down to just a few that you want to make for the holidays!  I have stuck to some simple die-cutting and assembly for these ones!

This first card is one in a series of three that I've made so far -- all basically the same but different cardstock and patterned papers.
The poinsettia is created with Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die.  Love this die because it is a large die that will cut through multiple layers at once so it only requires one run-through on my Big Shot to cut all the pieces. 

I used a stylus to create a crease line in each of the blossom leaves then pinched them along the crease to create a partial fold in each leaf.  This gives the flower the great dimension it has.

The stamens in the middle came in a box that I got from Michaels; they come already clustered like that so they are perfect for this flower.  The glittery leaves were cut from a decorative pick that all the hobby and craft stores have piled up!

The background chalkboard-style patterned paper is by "Me and My Big Ideas" that I purchased as a single sheet from Hobby Lobby. 

These are the other two I made using the same steps:

This last one is my favorite, it just makes me smile and he was fun to put together!

The tree branch in the back is Memory Box, the snowman is made with a Basic Grey "Snowmen #2" die by Sizzix, and the sentiment is from Just Rite Clear "Large Fancy Holiday Sentiments".

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!