Crisp, Clean Air!

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K!!! (For those of you who "get" this ... you are my tribe! For those of you who DON'T ... you should Google it ... and then make sure you see the movie I am referencing!)!! I just gave my blog a VERY badly-needed facelift (It's been WAAAYYYY too long!) ... and I made something with the LUSCIOUS new Nature's Poem DSP!!! Oh how I LOVE fall ... and ALL the colors!!

With all of the CRAZY out-of-control fires in the Western US (especially poor California!), the air quality in Salt Lake City has been absolutely RETCHED for the past three weeks. I'm talking about air you can CHEW, guys! It's been soooo hot ... and with the air being so thick it kills your lungs and your eyes!! On Friday morning I saw the first glimpse of blue sky I had seen in FOREVER ... and I went outside for an early-morning run ... it was AMAZING! So, between being able to run AND being able to craft something for fun within the same 24 hours, I am pretty stoked!!

This ornament ... how stinkin' caYOOT, right??? I should have taken pictures as I was making it to show you "how to" at every stage. However, I never expected it to turn out so fun, so I was NOT preparing ahead of time! I will do my very best to try and describe what I did.

I ended up cutting out eleven 2-1/2" circles and eleven 2" circles (you can use either your circle punches or the Layering Circles Framelits to accomplish this). I also cut out an extra 2-1/2" circle from the same DSP, and an extra 2" circle from one of those cardboard inserts that come in your new packages of DSP ... you now which one I mean, right??? The cardboard circle serves as a base for the ornament, and the extra 2-1/2" circle will cover the cardboard on the back of the ornament when you are all done. Ya with me so far??? GOOD!!

Take the 22 circles you have punched and make them into little "ice cream cone" shapes. Wrap them so that each one makes a little point at the bottom ... I used a glue dot to secure them together (placement shown by arrow in picture). When you are all done making the little cones, you are going to make two miniature "wreaths" ... one with the "big circle" cones and one with the "little circle" cones. (I reversed the paper on the small cones to the other side that I exposed on the large cones ... adds depth and dimension!! You could also wrap them all the same way for more uniformity!)

If you start with the large circle cones, take two of them and lay them next to one another so that they are touching from the pointy tip to the part of the cone that opens up ... I used a glue dot (or two!) to stick them together (again, use picture to reference for glue/glue dot placement). Keep putting them together in this fashion until you have made a "wreath" with the large cones and then repeat with the small cones. I HOPE this makes sense!!! Once you have both wreaths completed, you are ready to assemble!

Place the larger of the two wreaths onto the cardboard circle you punched earlier ... you can either use glue dots or some Multipurpose Liquid Glue to adhere it. Next place small dots of glue (or the glue dots) to position the smaller wreath directly on top of the larger wreath ... now you will have a double-decker wreath and will just need to add a "hanger" and the center of your newly-formed "flower" ornament.

I used some Crumb Cake Bakers Twine to make the hanger for my ornament. I single crochet a long strand of it until I got it to the desired length (I didn't even use a crochet hook ... just did it with my fingers!). I then attached the ends of the "hanger" to the cardboard disk on the back of the ornament and then proceeded to cover the back, to hide the cardboard circle, with the extra 2-1/2" piece of DSP I punched earlier.

For the center, I used the very smallest scalloped circle from the Layering Circles Framelits. I rubbed some glue onto the top of the circle, then proceeded to spiral a piece of bakers twine to make the center ... I did a smaller layer on top of that one with an additional piece of bakers.

If you have any questions so that I can clarify this, just shoot me an email (my email link is in the sidebar). Overall, this is SUPER easy to make and didn't take much time! I want to make a BUNCH more to hang from my fireplace mantle as soon as the weather cools off a bit! (And wouldn't these be SO PRETTY with some of the new CHRISTMAS DSP???)

Stamps: NONE
Paper: Nature's Poem DSP
Ink:  NONE
Accessories: Nature's Twine, Layering Circles Framelits Dies (or circle punches ... 2-1/2" and 2"),

The next couple of weeks are going to be a whirlwind ... one road trip and one day-trip to Disneyland will be happening!!! Happy Birthday to ME!!!