Years ago my Mother-in-Law made us all plastic canvas snowflake ornaments as part of a 12 days of Christmas care package. We decided we wanted to share this pattern with you. I wanted to add a new twist to it. In this family we LOVE photo ornaments, both making and getting them. Hint Hint!! My tree needs some cousins on it this year. I thought this would be so cute with a picture in the middle. Even better, my photo ornament is a pin, so it can be used in other ways as well.
Here is Nana’s ornament taken apart. I wanted to show you how hers looked with the white thread. She used a white yarn that has a shinny silky thread running through it. If you look closely at the top picture you can just make it out. That shinny thread adds to the look of this ornament. White with a silver thread running through it would also be nice.
1. Here is your basic template. You can buy squares of plastic canvas or a larger sheet of it. Simply cut out the above shape out of your plastic canvas.
I wanted you to be able to see what I am doing so I used blue embroidery floss for this tutorial. In reality you would want to use something thicker than embroidery floss.
2. Hold the end of the floss to the back of your project. It will get hidden by the stitches you will be making. For this you will need something like 4.5 yards of yarn for each half of the snowflake. I used an entire hank of embroidery floss which is 8.75 yards total.
I suggest you cut yourself a 4.5 yard length of yarn. Thread it through an yarn needle and position your needle near the center of the yarn. This way you will only have to pull half the length of the yarn through the canvas at any given time.
Follow my directions for working in one continuous string around the ornament.
3. For the most part I am going to let my pictures explain the steps.
4. You will always bring the needle back up through the starting hole as you work each corner of the X. This will make a loop around the back side that will be identical to the front.
5. Down again through the next hole and then back up through the starting point.
6. Each corner will go like the picture above. Stitch from right to left inserting your needle through the holes that the arrows point to.
7. Still working from the same starting hole now stitch towards the center of the canvas. Follow the arrows from left to right.
8. After you finished the stitches towards the center of the canvas come back up through the starting hole. Insert the needle down through the hole shown above to the right of where you started.
9. Now put the needle back through the top of the same hole you just went through and pull it through. Bring your needle back up to the top of your canvas and go down through the hole to the right of the one you just went through.
10. Work your way around the next corner of the X. These are the hands of my 5 year old helping me out with this ornament.
11. Here you can see that we have gone all the way around the next corner to the opposite side of the next section. I have pulled the needle up through the starting point to repeat the above pattern with this side. Work your way all the way around the ornament in this fashion. The last thing you will do is weave around the edge of the side you started with.
12. Now to secure the end. Put the needle up through the bottom of the hole that you did your last loop in as shown above.
13. Insert the needle behind the decorative stitches and pull it through. Put the needle through the hole indicated by the arrow above and repeat this process. Simply snip off the end of the yarn.
14. Now follow the same pattern and make another one.
15. Place the X’s you just made one on top of the other as shown above.
16. To secure the halves together simply pull the corners of the back X forward to lock them in place between the sides of the top X. It will look like the picture above when you are done.
Now to make the picture part of the ornament.
1. Roll out Fimo or Sculpty clay (the kind you have to bake for it to harden). Roll it out to a 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter shape that is no bigger than 1.75 inches in diameter. Bake according to package directions.
2. I edited this picture using Photoshop elements. I removed the background (I wanted the background to be a crisp white for this) and cropped the picture into a circle shape. I resized the picture down to 1.5 inches (the inside diameter of my cut out clay). Once I printed it out, I used my 1.5 inch circle cutter to cut out my picture.
3. Paint Mod(ge) Podge over the top surface of your clay shape. Press the picture on and let dry. This will take about 15 minutes. Now go back and apply a coat of Mod(ge) Podge over the top of the picture. Repeat one more time. The label on the Mod(ge) Podge suggests spraying a clear coat over the dried project to seal it and eliminate the slightly tacky finish the Mod(ge) Podge leaves.
How do YOU say Mod Podge? I say it Modge Podge, always have and always will thus the (ge) tacked on to Mod. I am with Anjeanette on this one, they need to change their name!!!
4. Use your trusty E-6000 to glue the pin to the back of the clay. You will know what I am talking about if you have seen Anjeanette’s Tutorials that require glue.
This is THE GO-TO glue when you want it to hold like no other. You will have to break up the Clay before it will release it’s hold. Even then you will have to use a knife to scrape the clay off the glue. The glue will remain forever on the pin. (I tried to reuse a pin by removing it from an earlier project that broke. I got the pin off but the project is in tiny crumbs in the trash.) Seriously go out and get some from your craft store if you don’t already have some. Keep pliers handy because once it has been used a few times you will need them to get the cap off. If your tube gets plugged and the glue won’t come out, use a toothpick to clear out the nozzle.
Once the glue has dried pin the picture to the front half of the snowflake ornament canvas. If you have two children make a second pin and fasten it to the other side of the snowflake. Be sure to remember to put the child’s name and date on the back of the pin.
The reason I used a pin on the back of the clay picture is so that whomever the lucky person is that gets your lovely gift can remove the picture pin and use it elsewhere to enjoy it all year long.
Katrina
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