Crafting for Christmas

I couldn't post these prior to Christmas, because some of them were given as gifts.  I also failed to take pics of the items that I gave away, so am dependant on the pics given to me by the recipient.  I wanted to try using the butcher paper method of inkjet printing on fabric, and these are the resulting projects.

You can iron butcher paper onto lightweight fabric, cut to printer paper size and print your photographs onto the fabric side.  The butcher paper then easily peels off, leaving you with personalized fabric with which to craft.  I did find that heavier fabric didn't work in my inkjet printer.  I tried tea dying some of the muslin I was using.  Unfortunately, this seemed to plump up the fibers just enough to jam my printer.  Not all printers are the same though, so experiment to see what works for you! 

I used calico fabric, burlap, vintage lace, embroidery floss, satin ribbons and vintage buttons to create tree ornaments featuring old family pictures.  A bit of quilt batting wrapped around cardboard worked well to stiffen and plump them up a bit.

I gave some of these ornaments to family for Christmas, and kept a few for myself.  In addition to tree ornaments, I also used injet images printed on parchment paper and inserted into antique bottles.

This is my Great Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Chapin, standing in the lake, wearing her ever so fashionable wool swim suit.  I filled the bottom of the bottle with a layer of sand and pebbles from the very lake she is standing in.

I did a second "bottled Great Gramma" that I placed in this shadow box, for my Sister.  I decopauged the box with pages from an old hymnal, because Mary Elizabeth was very musical.  The twigs, pebbles and dried foliage were all gathered from the area in which she spent much of her life.  The lace and beads are vintage.

As long as I was playing with antique bottles, old sheet music and vintage handmade lace, I made this, just for fun!  I'm considering how I might create a special topper for this bottle, or maybe I'll use it as a reed diffuser with some yummy smelling oil.