Christmas is early this year...

In my package from Graphic 45 I got the Christmas Past paper pack, which is, of course, DIVINE. I love every single sheet of paper there, and it is exactly the kind of patterns and colours that bring back memories from Christmases a long time ago. I could easily use photos from when I was little, and celebrated Christmas at the farm, with Grandma and Granddad, only, I don't have any here.

Anyway, I have wanted to make a tree like this, and these papers were too pretty not to use. I cut out a semi-circle, using a kitchen plate as a template, and glued the edges together to create a cone. I cut the pattern papers into stripes of 2X1/2", and folded them over a knitting pin, glueing the ends together. You can see on the second photo what they are supposed to look like. Then I glued them onto the cone, starting from the bottom and working my way up. I adhered the cone to a knotty branch I found in my garden, using a hot glue gun, and decorated it with a few buttons here and there.
These alphas are just darling, aren't they? They are from Tattered Angels, and are in a pack with butterfly framed letters. I will show you more later with those butterflies. Here I have only used the letters, sprayed them with Glimmer mist Brick, and covered them with Glossy Accents.

I made an ornament hanger too, by accident, really. The ornaments are pre-made ones from Panduro Hobby, which I bought at their outlet store in Malmö last time I was there. They were a bargain, and I bought three of each. So of course I had to alter some of them with these papers. And then I started thinking about how to display them while photographing them. It's not like it's time to take in the Christmas tree any time soon, and get one to use only as props... no. I came up with this solution - a hanger for tea-light lanterns which I got a while ago. One of the lanterns broke, and I've had the hanger in a closet since. So I decorated it a little, and it turned out fairly OK.

Here's a closeup on one of the ornaments:

If you want to see more of what I made, keep an eye on the G45 blog, for lots of other projects, and a tutorial too, eventually.

Have a nice weekend, dear blog readers.