Hello friends! I love the holiday season! The decorations, the smell of the tree, and the goodies that you only get at Christmas! I just love everything about it! I am happy to share the first in a series of three posts this week talking about the toppers and cards I created for the Tim's Facebook Live on 11/28. If you missed it, please go back and watch the replay (you can find it HERE on Tim's blog). When Tim and I talked about me creating some gift toppers for the Live I was super happy because I love making package toppers or anything gift related. So lets get started on the first 3 gift toppers. To prepare you must create some inked paper backgrounds to work with. Cut a sheet of the white Heavystock in half (just because it was easier to handle when coloring). Color both sheets of Heavystock with Rustic Wilderness and just a bit of Crushed Olive Distress Stain. It's better to cut more greens than you think you need. Once the paper was dry, use the Sizzix Mini Holiday Greens to die cut multiples of greens. Ink the edges of greens with a Blending Tool and your favorite color brown Distress ink. Using Picket Fence Distress Paint and the Splatter Brush, add a snowy effect over the cut greens. Let dry. Squeeze out some Candied Apple Distress Paint on your craft mat. Dip the rounded end of an upside-down paint brush to create berries. Let dry. Using your fingers, randomly rub Collage Medium over greens. Sprinkle with Distress Glitter. (to be honest, most times I just open the jar a press the die-cut with the Collage Medium into the Rock Candy - if the die-cut green is too big to fit in the jar, I just do one half and then turn it around and do the other. Simple as that) I'm used 2 of the Stitched Circle dies to create the wreath shape. The center circle that was cut out will be used in another project. I used Stitched Circles but any circle die can be used for the foundation. One thing that is not visible here is the Permanent Adhesive Sheet I added to the back of the Heavystock before I die cut the circle. That way, when I'm ready to add this to a package, I can just peel and stick. I clipped my greens into smaller pieces to create the tiny wreath. I also created a Velvet ribbon bow just by tying a tight knot in a piece of the Velvet ribbon. Leave the ends long till after it is adhered to the wreath. I decided to create some lighter greens to create contrast so I repeated the previous steps, only this time using Bundled Sage and Crushed Olive. Once the second round of greens were created I was ready to start building the wreath. I used a hot glue gun to add the greens to the circle. The hot glue stays dimensional when dry and that helps create dimension in the wreath. Once the wreath is finished, it's time to add the bow. Add a spot of hot glue. Immediately add ribbon to the glue. Press the knot of the bow into the glue and hold it for a least 30 seconds to secure to wreath and 'flatten' the knot. Push the ribbon tail toward the knot to create a bump. Add a small spot of glue on the wreath underneath (see the arrows) then push ribbon into the glue keeping the bump in place and creating the look of a bow. This technique works well when working with a thick ribbon such as velvet. To add the white berries, I used Nuvo Drops and a bit of Rock Candy for some sparkle. The wreath is so pretty on the top of the package. And the Velvet ribbon is the perfect color red. For the second topper, we're going to use the Sizzix Winged Impresslit. Again, we are starting with a round circle base - this one is 2" across. I clipped the greens just like the last time to prepare. Using Metallic Cardstock, I cut a few sets of wings in both gold and silver. This is a 3D Impresslit so remember to lightly spritz the paper with water before adding to the folder, then passing it through the machine 3 times to get the best impression. I love that the folder not only gives you a beautiful impression, but also cuts out the shape with very little halo. I wanted to add some dimension so I used a damp paint brush to pick up Walnut Stain Distress Crayon and paint it over the wings bringing up the details in the die cut. I used two 3D foam squares to adhere the wings to the circle. By raising the wings, it will allow the greens to slip underneath quite easily. Again, using a hot glue gun for dimension, add your greens until you are satisfied. I also added a clippings sticker from the Christmas sticker book. Even though it is a sticker, I used Collage Medium to secure it to the metallic paper. I love how this one turned out with the mixed of greens and holly. I think this would look even better if it had wide ribbon tied around the package and underneath the topper. For the third topper I used Metallic Kraft-stock - Confections. This paper pad has multiple colors of pastel Metallic paper that is perfect for a winter vibe. I used the same Mini Holiday Greens die to cut the Kraft-stock. I also repeated the Collage Medium and Distress Glitter step to create a frosty look. This time I created a ribbon slide by cutting a 2 1/2" acetate circle, then punching holes on each end with a standard hole punch. I slipped grey Velvet Ribbon through the holes as shown below, with enough excess on each side to wrap around my package. Once the ribbon slide was on the package I was able to add just a dot of hot glue to secure the the ends of the ribbon to each other (not the box). That way the entire topper can be removed from the package to open the gift. I used hot glue to add each branch to the acetate. I personally liked creating it right on the package because I could see how big/wide to make it. I wanted it thicker so I added a second layer. I used Collage Medium and Rock Candy to glitter two bells. Once dry I was able to tie the two bells together with string, then hot glue them to the center. I tied a small bow and hot glued it right above the bells to cover the string. I love how the dots on the metallic wrapping paper work with the Metallic Kraft-stock and the grey ribbon. Yummm... Well I hope you enjoyed today's gift toppers. I'll be back on Wednesday for more Christmas package toppers using Flair buttons. See you then! now carry on, paula