Make an Ornament Challenge - Block Art

I attended a Woodware Retailer Day back in September and one of the projects I made was this Christmas ornament designed and inspired by Woodware designer, Jane Gill.

There were so many inspiring projects that weekend but this really fits our ornament theme over on our challenge blog this fortnight.

I thought this was such a brilliant idea and a great way of using all the wooden blocks lots of us are busy removing our rubber from!  Are you dis-mounting yet?  I spoke to a lady in the shop this week who wasn't doing it yet so perhaps I should explain...  As our wood mounted stamp collections have grown and grown over time, lots of us are finding storage difficult and as more people are getting used to using unmounted stamps, it seems logical to remove the rubber from the wood blocks to save storage space.

I don't know what everyone is doing with the resulting pile of wood but we gave a lots away when we moved out of the shop to a customer who has a wood burning stove.  I think this is a much better use for them.

I'm sure this idea will suit us crafty hoarders who don't like to throw things out, we can simply alter them!  I think it is a perfect idea for a gift or an alternative to making a card, the greeting can be put on the back and can be made on any theme appropriate to personalise it for someone.

Anyway, back to this ornament, we used the following products that you'll find on our new website, it may look a long list but I'm sure you'll have some of the things.  The Clearly for Art film is a very interesting new material and I'm sure it will work really well with Jane's other large flower designs, not just the Christmas designs.

Block Art - inspiration from Jane Gill

Large wooden stamp block
Clearly for Art
Woodware JGCL551 Christmas Verses
Woodware JGS260 Festive Background
Woodware JGS256 Christmas Rose
Sakura XYKT49 Identi Pen - Black
Sakura 41301 Pen-Touch gold pen
Woodware Peel Off Pens (red and green)
Lucky Squirrel PS8/TR Translucent Shrink Plastic
Stampendous Embossing powders, Red Dragon and gold ep
Burgundy card
Pale patterned 12" x 12" background paper
Woodware Crafty Edger starter set
Mark Richards Cluster Gems - Autumn
Woodware RIB09 Olive green ribbon
Woodware GG3 Red Glitter Glue
Plier punch, Versamark pad, crafty glue, hot stuff mat, ds tape, Glue dots


Cut background paper to fit all around the block with a little extra for overlap.

Stamp and emboss the wording background on the middle of the landscape paper.

Place the end of the block on the back of another piece of the background paper, draw around, cut out and fix in place.

Use wet glue to ensure the embossed paper is stuck down firmly over all the wood surface.  Allow to dry.

Punch ribbon border with the crafty edger, the ribbon pattern comes with the starter set.

Thread the ribbon through and fix the ribbon ends to the back of the punched piece.

Fix this to the block.

Make a tag with shrink plastic stamped with a greeting, make the hole before shrinking!

Attach a ribbon bow to the tag and use the same ribbon to tie the piece to the ribbon border.

Stamp the flower onto Clearly for Art using black Staz-On ink and cut out.

Turn over and colour the reverse of the flower with red and green peel off pens.

Using a black Identi Pen, draw patterns such as swirls or dots.

Put the flower onto a hot stuff mat and heat for a few seconds using a heat tool.

Shape the film quickly to a desired finish.  Apply more heat if you need to reshape any parts.

Fix the flower onto the block with a few gluedots.

Decorate with cluster gems and apply some red glitter glue to the centre of the flower to finish.

Hopefully you've managed to get down this far and are interested in entering our Ornament Challenge.  Our design team's work is, yet again,  truly awesome!!!  There are so many different ideas so hope you will join us and share yours with us too.

Have a great weekend!

Jill x

PS:  A little reminder... All orders in the shop or online placed before 15th December qualify for a chance to win a fantastic shabby chic bag. See the post below for details!!