Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

This morning I got a bee in my bonnet about making a Christmas wreath for the front door of the basket shop. You get to play along while I make it.

The last time I bought some of those scrap booking scissors with the shaped blades I started experimenting with them for miniatures. I found that two of them make excellent holly leaves in miniature. One is the Fiskars "seagull" blade and the other is some off brand. You can see the shape of the cut from this first photo. The Fiskars "seagull" is the same blade that I used for the trim on the roof of the basket shop. That is the one with the large scallop between the little points. If you cut on one edge you will get the holly. If you cut the other way you will get something like a bay or magnolia leaf. The other one is the one with the small scallop and then a point between. What you do to get the leaves is cut the length of the blade into the paper. Then flip them over(or the paper)and cut again right next to the first cut. After a couple of tries you should figure out which side goes where. Experiment with the scissors you have.

I used the green Strathmore drawing paper for these. After I got a bunch cut out, I cupped them by running the small stylus down the center of each one lengthwise.

I then took a piece of chenille stem and formed it into a circle about the diameter that I wanted the wreath. I started at the top of the wreath(where I joined it) and went down either side gluing the leaves on by the top end only. I let the bottom point curve up or down unglued. I kept tucking the point of the new leaves under the loose end of the leaf above it.

Then I decided on trim. You can use whatever you want. I have made candy canes from Fimo a few times to trim. This time I took the easy way out. I used these. They are "fruit" from cheapo fake flower bunches that I purchased at Wal Mart. I pulled them off and threw away the flowers. They make great miniature fruit. They are actually tiny foam balls and depending on the season, they come in lots of great colors. I just snip them off with my fingernails and glue them in a bowl or on a wreath. In this case I used shades of the red ones. I also used a few flower stamens that you can get at Michael's and other craft shops in the flower department.

When I finished gluing those to the wreath it was essentially done. You could put a bow on it or other decoration of your choice. I chose to leave it simple. Here it is.

Stay tuned. I am in a Christmas decorating mood. You may get stuck with that kind of thing for at least until the six year old's mind wanders again.

See you tomorrow.