Angels

Happy Monday!!!


It's all systems "go" around here today as I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I managed to get some MAJOR projects off my plate this weekend ... one of which was finishing and sending off to print a scrapbook for my family.  Yep - I actually used my MDS from start to finish and ended up with an album!  I'm not gunna say it was *easy* or that it was as simple as drag and click ... and just *maybe* there were some very bad words being spoken by little miss potty mouth over here but I got there in the end ... and REALLY ... if I wasn't so flippin' anal retentive it WOULD have been as simple as drag and click *lol*.  I now think I know quite a bit about that digital system.  In fact ... after creating my album I cracked off some Christmas Cards to print for Mom and for me ... and that WAS just a matter of drag and drop!  I can't wait to see the final album in about 1 1/2 weeks!

So!  Another one of my major projects I bring to you today.  I wanted to do a tutorial on how to make the cutest stinkin' paper angels EVER ... in the HISTORY of paper angels!  Check these out!

(insert squeals of excitement here!)
I.  LOVE.  THEM.

I can't take credit for them, however.  I've seen many beautiful versions of this little beauty all over Pinterest and the SU website.  To create mine I CASED an angel made by fellow demonstrator Beth Tetzlaff.  I don't know if Beth has a website or not - but she should - hers are gorgeous! 

These are really so very simple to make!  Not *quick*, but simple!  I made 30 of them for my club ladies ... and it took about 5 hours or so ... but they are SO worth it!!  I will be making more for our own Christmas tree ... these are definately keepers!  To help you make your own I took pictures while making them ... so here ya go ... a picture tutorial for you!

 

Do you need words?  Ummmm - ok ... you know how I like to *talk* ...

 

Start by punching out Whisper White card stock with the Bigz L Gift Bow Die (page 37 of the holiday catty - $40.95 ... MAN am I glad I bought this baby! ... well worth the money for this project alone!)

 

The die cuts out all of these pieces EXCEPT one of the little dove-tail pieces.  You need to run another piece of card stock through the machine to get the second tail.  Oh ... you need an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece for the majority of the pieces ... and then a piece of scrap for the second tail ... 3" x 2" ...

 

You don't need the small rectangle piece at the bottom of this picture - just throw it away ... 

 Now!  For my first kick at the cat I adhered the whole thing together using the super strong sticky strip.  When I came to make 30 of them I figure out that life was WAY too short for that ... so instead of tape I used my Crop-a-dile puncher and punched holes in all the spots where you see sticky strip:

Let's just go with the sticky strip tutorial, shall we?  Not rocket science here - peel off the top and stick the bow together:

... and the other side ...

That's the bottom bow done ... and makes the bottom wings of the angel.  Now assemble the top bow/wings ...

...

Now attach the two bows together ... 

 

Ta Da!  When I made 30 of these I did the same thing but instead of using the sticky strip I had a brad handy and just threaded each piece onto the brad.  Much faster ... and you don't get that static(y) top piece of the sticky stip hanging onto your fingers for dear life!!

Now for the dress of the angel ...

Run the tails through any embossing folder you like.  I chose the retired Vintage Wallpaper folder (I'm still choked they retired that one!) ...



Sticky strip them ...

... and overlap them to stick them together .. .

Now let make the head ...
Using my silver glimmer paper I punched out a scallop circle with the teeny little 7/8" scallop circle punch.  The only reason I did this was to save paper ... no need to waste!  (This piece is used in the centre of the angel)

I then went in with my 1 3/8" circle punch and punched it out:

THEN I went in with my 1 3/4" circle punch and punched it again.  NOTICE that the 1 3/8" circle isn't centred ... I did that on purpose ... I wanted it to be a halo effect - see below ...

So here are all the pieces for the head ... oh!  The head itself is the 1 3/8" circle punched out from Pink Pirouette card stock.  Blush Blossom would be better but it's retired ... and I don't have any :(

In the next picture I applied a lot of snail to one of the head pieces.  Don't do that!  When will I learn that LOTS of snail just isn't good enough! ... grab your Tombow white glue and use THAT on the head ... (so pretend the snail in the next picture is glue!~)

Stick an 8" piece of ribbon or eleastic chird to the gluey head piece ...

... then put the halo on ,...

... then put the top head piece on ...

Now we just put the whole thing together!

On my first angel (where these pics are from) ... I put all the pieces together and poked a hole through it with my paper piercer pokey tool. NOT easy to do ... look at all the layers! ...

Nonetheless ... that's what I did.  I started with punching a hole in the centre of the scallop circle piece and the wings ...

... easy enough ...
... then I used a pencil to mark on the body piece where to punch the hole ...

... and punch ...

... and put the brad through the whole thing ...

Again, after doing 30 I had it down to a fine art.  Hope these instructions aren't too all-over-the place.  Essentially, I would go with punching holes in all the pieces ... and then after the body is put together ... use your Tombow to glue the head on.  If all that fails, e-mail me and I'll walk you through it *lol*

Here is the final product again:

 So pretty!

 

I hope that inspires you to make something special for your tree.  Pop in again when I'll show you that Christmas shoe (well, that's the PLAN anyway ... )  Until then ... have a super stampy day!

 

 

Tam