Christmas Ornament Tutorial for Framing

Hi Friends!

I am super excited to post today because I have crossed off #9 on The List! I even have a pretty easy tutorial on how to finish them.

But first,  a little story. On Saturday afternoon we were driving to my son's Christmas Concert (3 year olds singing Christmas songs would melt even the iciest of hearts, tbh) and I mentioned to my husband that I wasn't feeling very fulfilled creatively. I read a number of blogs and follow a number of crafters on Instagram and seems like they are just finishing projects left and right and I'm not getting anything done. As I was unpacking all of my sewing and crafting supplies, I realized I have WAY WAY WAY too many projects that haven't been started (hence, this blog and a topic for another day) and that overwhelming feeling has been following me around for the past couple of weeks. So last night when we got home and the kids passed out in their beds I realized I had to make the decision to actively work to get my projects done.

I thought about what I could accomplish in about two hours since I still need a decent amount of sleep and realized I could probably put together all of the Christmas ornaments I had cross stitched and hang them on the tree this year!

I used little plastic gold frames for these ornaments. My mom bought me a whole bunch a few years ago and now it is time to use them. These frames didn't come with any backing in them so I used the cardboard on the back of a giant pad of paper I bought the kids from the Dollar Store as backing.

I used the frames as a guide to cut circles out of the cardboard and backing material.

Happy Little Circles

 I then used the cardboard as a guide to cut out the cross stitch material as well. Holding it up to a light helped to center the cross stitch.

Sometimes, I have a good ideas!

I used Elmer's Multi-PUrpose Spray Adhesive.

I used old Thomas the Train placemats as work surface. Be aware, though, that Elmer's Glue has a wide spray area; my 12 1/2" square ruler was just to the left of this placemat and it got covered in glue. 

No Glue

 Spray that circle!

Lots of Glue!

I stuck the backing material to the sticky side of the cardboard circle. As you can see, my cardboard circles and my fabric circles were somehow not the same size. I just cut the fabric to fit the circle.

How hard is it to cut circles?

I sprayed the opposite side of the circle and stuck the cross stitch onto it, trying very hard to make sure the design was as close to the middle of the circle as possible.

Yes, the Gingerbread Lady has no eyes. 

 Once I had both the cross stitch and the backing material on the circle I just kind of jammed it into the frame. I had to do a little finagling with scissors to get the thing to fit but they turned out fine.

Santa

Church

Bird

Candy Cane Heart

House

A few thoughts or, rather, learn from my mistakes.

1. After you cut out the cardboard circles, make sure that they fit into the frame. The first one I made, I used the inside of the frame to make my cardboard circle and after I had cut both the backing fabric and the cross stitch pattern I realized it was too small for the frame.

I wasn't feeling the joy when I realized I had done this! 

2. There's nothing saying you have to use the fabric on the back; I did because I thought it looked pretty. That being said, if I had to do it over again, I might have layered a piece of lightweight batting between the cardboard and the cross-stitch design in order to give it a little more....oomph. 

3. I've had these for so long but I'm pretty sure they are all JanLynn designs. 

That's it! I'm so happy to finish something that was on my List! What's even better is I have crossed off two more items (one by default but it still counts, right?). I'll be talking about the next one later in the week. 

So, what are you working on these days? Trying to get ready for the holidays? Anything you want to submit for December CraftBusters? Remember to get your submission into me by December 30 in order to win a $25 gift certificate to JoAnns (US Residents only, please). 

Have a Happy Week!

Kate