Having creative friends, it's a good thing!

Let's face it, the best ideas come from other great ideas. I do believe as Tolstoy said that "art is imitation". We have to have seen something beautiful in order to know how to recreate beauty.

I am fortunate to have many creative friends. They inspire me and help get my own creative juices flowing. And we take care of each other... nurturing each other's ideas, helping bring them to fruition. Sharing our talents.

Char at Crap I've Made recently recreated these awesome peace ornaments from PB. I had been eyeing some fun ornaments in the Ballard Designs catalog, so I followed her lead and recreated my own spin off incorporating the peace sign.

Here's theirs:


And here's mine:

I even have a few simple clear ball ornaments along with that I simply painted peace signs onto using glitter glue (you know, the cheap stuff your kids like to play with?).

Now I'm not as neat as Char. I didn't cover my edges or anything. I also don't do great, detailed tutorials with step by step pictures. I just don't like to, lol. But i will tell you exactly what I did, and I will show you more pictures and other ideas that have spun off this one.

Materials used:
cardboard
dove template (see below)
scrapbook paper
silver sharpie
mod podge
triple thick
brush for application

First, trace your template onto cardboard or other stiff backing.

Cut out and repeat with your scrapbook paper.

Before cutting out the template drawn on your scrapbook paper, find yourself a cup that is about the right sized circle for your distressed peace symbol. Find a corner to trace the rim of the cup on - you want just a hint of it to show. *Lightly* trace your circle and fill in the remainder of the peace sign. Get your silver sharpie out. If you look at mine closely I just barely shaded in my peace sign, I used quick, short, straight brush strokes on either side of the single line I'd drawn with my pencil, keeping the thickness even all the way around. I realize not everyone can freehand this kind of thing, but it really just takes a little bit of practice. You might want to play around with a scrap piece of paper first. :)

Now you are ready to cut out your scrapbook dove and mod podge it onto your cardboard backing. Now, I call these ornaments but mine are not actually hanging on my tree. I opted to stick them in with evergreen boughs in various places around my house - in a bowl as a centerpiece, and on my mantle. If you want it to serve as an actual ornament, you will obviously need to punch a hole before you apply the mod podge.

Let the mod podge dry about 15 minutes and apply your triple thick as a top coat. let the triple thick dry for at least 20 minutes. The triple thick is shiny, so it makes the ornament look classy, not like you just slapped some paper on an old piece of cardboard! Love that.

Here are some additional pictures!

In a bowl on the center of my craft room table (and the big reveal on my new craft room is coming very soon):

A spin off - just brown craft paper with silver polka dots:

And since I was really feeling the natural color scheme Ballard has going on this year, I made a paper chain:

Lastly, here is a full shot of my mantle, with little silver birdies tucked in there, a crystal bead wreath, some ornaments up inside my sconces, and who knows what else to come... I'll continue to add to it, probably:

Enjoy!!!

*This project was entered into the contest at: