Category: Tutorials & Tips

Assorted tutorials to help you learn something new.

Silhouette Ornaments

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

For me, how I decorate for Christmas isn’t especially different from how I decorate the rest of the year.  I still look for bargains, multi purpose items, and ways to add personal touches, usually involving more glitter than usual.  So, when I decided to decorate our entertainment center, I knew I wanted to make some special ornaments as placeholders for our silhouette art.

So, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby where I found white ceramic ornaments.  They were originally $1.00 each but 50% off.  Following these same instructions to create the silhouettes, I sized our profiles to 2 inches. 

Then, I centered the silhouettes on the ornaments.

 Using a pencil, I lightly traced the silhouette. 

To fill in the silhouettes, I used normal acrylic paints and a small paint brush to get the detail. 

Ideally, I would have used a ceramic specific, heat set paint, but I couldn’t find any at Hobby Lobby.  I did, however, find four cute ornament hooks ay Hobby Lobby for $4.00 each. 

I had to alter how the ornaments hung, because the ribbon was threaded through the hole, making them hang sideways.  To fix that, I added a small loop of wire, then a ribbon for hanging.

Fortunately, that solved the problem and they now hang beautifully on our entertainment center.

How many handmade ornaments do you have?  If you’re like my mom, most are ones your kids have made in school.  What is your favorite ornament and why?  Did someone special give it to you?  What meaning or significance does it have?

2010 Gifting: Silhouette Art

Published on by Our Humble Abode6 Comments

Raise your hands if you love silhouettes as much as I do.  No, I’m not talking about the Silhouette cutting machine; I don’t have one, but would love to.  Personalized art and silhouettes are great, heartfelt gifts for parents,  grandparents, friends and family members. 

If you like the idea and look, but don’t know how to make one, read carefully, I’m giving you a step by step tutorial.

First, prevent your small child from moving all over.  Use food as a distraction to get a clear, complete profile picture, such as this:

Then, open said photo in Photoshop or another editing program.  Closely crop the photo around your subject and resize the photo to fit your frame. 

In Photoshop, add a new layer and name it Silhouette.  Select the pencil or paintbrush and set the size to 5 pixels.  Carefully outline the profile. 

Here’s a tip:  To get a nice, clean outline, hold the Shift button down and click closely in rounded areas.  This will prevent your cursor from going crazy, following your very unsteady hand.  If you don’t have an option to outline the profile, simply print the photo to the right size and skip to the cutting.

Once you’ve outlined your subject, click on the background photo again.  Add a new layer and fill with white, or simply hide the photo and print on normal printer paper.

Carefully cut the silhouette out, keeping as close to the lines as possible. 

Then, place the cut silhouette on your final cardstock, facing the opposite direction you want the final design to be.  With a pencil, trace on the back of the black (or whatever color cardstock you want).  Carefully cut out again, rounding the bottom. 

You now have a custom silhouette, ready to adhere to a background cardstock and pop in a frame.  Or, you could skip the second round of cutting and trace the silhouette on a painted 8 inch by 10 inch canvas and carefully fill in the silhouette with paint.  For Mother’s Day, my two sisters and I make 6 8 inch by 10 inch canvas silhouettes with one profile each of us girls, Ben, Vincent and Everett.  My mom loved them.

If you don’t have the time or tools to make your own silhouettes, send us your profile pictures and for only $5.00 we’ll make a digital cut out design for you.  For more personalized gift ideas, visit our Etsy shop or e-mail us at ourhumbleabowed@gmail.com to discuss your options.

Oh, Deer

Published on by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

Here’s a Christmas craft project that is great to get the kids involved in.  To start, you’ll need a package of clothespins, all purpose glue, small oogly eyes, mini pom poms and thin ribbon. 

To make the reindeer ornaments, start by gluing two clothespins together with a loop of ribbon between.  These two clothespins make the legs.

Then, glue another clothespin to the front, turning it the opposite direction, making the head and antlers. 

Apply a small dot of glue to the tip of the clothespin and place a red, brown or black pom pom.  Glue two eyes at the curved area .  Flip over and glue another white or brown pom pom tail on. 

Allow everything to dry overnight and hang on the tree.  Sorry, but I don’t have a photo of that last step, these are all gifts.  Have you made any Christmas ornaments lately?  What are your favorites?  If you have pics, please leave them on our Facebook page for all to see.

Have a Ball

Published on by Our Humble Abode12 Comments

Are you ready for another Christmas craft project?  You are?  Good, I’ve got just the craft for you, a Christmas ball ornament wreath.  To start, you’ll need to acquire a roll of floral wire, a wire wreath form, tons of cheap plastic ball ornaments and a sheet or two of felt to match your color palette.  It also helps to have a glue gun and plenty of glue sticks handy.

I got a large form from Hobby Lobby for $3.47 and nine packages of ornaments from Target’s dollar section.  I chose all silver to keep it timeless and go with any color palette in the years to follow.  Seriously, the best deal I’ve found.  Get an assortment of sizes, too.  I used 2 1/2 packages of the small (16 per pack), 5 of the medium (8 per pack) and 1 large with 4 per pack. 

After you gather your supplies, start by cutting a piece of wire about two feet in length.  For this part of the process, use only the two large sizes.  String the wire through the top of the ornament.  Wrap the wire around the wire form and twist the loose end to secure.  Then, wrap the long end through another section of the wreath form, go back up and add another ball.  Basically, you’ll make a zig zag pattern with the wire to connect the ornaments on a few long wires. 

The zig zag will help keep the ornaments in place.  They will still move around a little.  This is where the glue gun comes in.  Place a few little dots of hot glue where the ornaments meet and allow to dry.  This step is most easily done in small sections.  I don’t recommend waiting until you’ve attached all ornaments to glue. 

Continue attaching the ornaments until you’ve covered the wreath form.  You will have spots where the wreath form is still visible, just as I did with the pine cone wreath I recently made.  If you have visible areas on the very inside or outside of the wreath, wire small ornaments in place, gluing to keep from moving. 

Then, hot glue the smallest ornaments onto the larger ornaments to fill any areas you can see through those ornaments. 

Again, continue until you’ve covered all areas.  If you want to add a splash of color, you can add a bright bow, hang an ornament in the center of the wreath or choose a brightly colored ribbon to hang the wreath from.  The possibilities are endless. 

To prevent from scratching the surface the wreath will rest against, hot glue small pieces of felt to the back or the wreath form. 

Hang on your door to add a ton of Christmas cheer and greet your guests. 

Still looking for Christmas decorating ideas?  Fret not, we’ll share another DIY idea tomorrow, but you can check out our Christmas tree in the mean time.

How To: Cloth Napkins

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

This is a very simple, eco-friendly project.  Cloth napkins would make a great addition to a kitchen and dining inspired gift.  Add a set of napkins to a set of pretty dishes and it’s a great, usable gift. 

To make a set of napkins, pick a pretty quilting or linen type fabric.  To get 4 napkins, buy 1 square yard of fabric.  Cut into 18 inch squares.  Fold opposite sides in about 1/2 inch.  Iron to make a nice crease.  Then, fold the other sides in 1/2 inch or so, ironing to crease. 

Fold opposites over again and press to crease.  Pin in place to hold the shape.  Iron opposite sides again and pin.

Set your sewing machine to a close straight stitch.  Allign the edge of your presser foot with the edge of the napkin and sew.  When you reach a corner, keep the needle down, raise the presser foot and turn 90°.  Continue sewing until each napkin is complete.