Day Two of the 12 Days of Christmas swap

Day Two of the second group's 12 Days swap belongs to me. Never let it be said I would miss an opportunity to throw in a mini tutorial along with the gift I made.


Those of you who follow my blog, saw a teaser of this back in November. Because this was day two, I hand drew the "2" on wax paper using white glue. I tried to control the glue as it came out, but some of the "2s" are better than others.


I spent an insane amount of time placing plastic confetti birds on the glue, and unfortunately, made the "2s" a bit wonky.


Next, I added single layers of facial tissue to the tops, using watered down glue. Be sure to dab the glue/water mixture on at this point. The tissue is quite fragile and tears easily.


Allow to dry, preferably overnight.


After the "2s" were dry, I cut them to size, then backed them (still with the wax paper on them) with dictionary pages, again using white glue, this time full strength again. Then I sewed around the piece.

For the paper, I used some deli paper and painted them fun Christmas colors. Since the deli paper was a bit see through, I backed them with sheet music. Then I inserted the art square gift and sewed the package shut using the longest straight stitch I could get from my machine. I made a small tag and stapled it to the string I left hanging, in hopes the recipient would be able to easily pull the string freely. Click to see them larger.

While I was looking for ideas for pages for the first 12 Days swap (Dec. 13-24), I learned the doves I had created were not turtle doves. In fact, the more research I did, I found that turtle doves are smaller than other doves, and have a beige body. The turtle dove's tail is key, though, because it is wedge shaped, with a dark center with white borders and tips.


So I dug out my black marker and beige stamp pad, and went to town on the doves. The words in their beak are stamped (yes, I stamped) on seam binding. It was already doubled, so I didn't have to deal with raw edges. I printed a portion of the 12 Days song, colored it with Staz-on/alcohol mixture, then sewed the front to the back (which contains my personal information). I added the two doves using foam dots for lift. Click to see them larger.

Since today was my day, my blog pick is one that I missed in the first set of 12 Days. Patt of Patt's Ponderings was featured on Day 8 of the previous 12 Days swap. I just learned about her blog, and wanted to feature it today. Patt hasn't been blogging long, but she makes some lovely ceramics, along with altered art. I hope you will visit Patt's Ponderings today.

And I'm going to try to get around to visiting everyone who left such wonderful and heart felt comments while I was gone. Seems like I haven't been around so long, I have no idea where to begin. But I'll try to visit today or tomorrow, since I'm still working on a few Christmas gifts.