The Grinch + Other Printable Art (DIY Holiday)

Happy Black Friday, friends! Hope you scored some hot deals if shopping's your thing. I skipped the stores this year and grabbed my bargains online yesterday. 

Today was my day for hyper-drive Christmas prep. Now I'm SOOO crazy tired tonight!!!! It was a decorating spree all the day long, that seriously just ended about 5 minutes ago. But my last project of the night just might be my favorite of the season....take a peek and let me know if you agree!

Isn't this pure fun?!? Both the Grinch movie poster art and the Grinch subway art quote are free art downloads from Pinterest. To access these and hundreds of other amazing holiday art, visit my Christmas Printables board at http://www.pinterest.com/anaallen/christmas-printables. 

For this display, I used an old oversized frame that's been collecting dust in the garage, and I wrapped it with yarn and twine. It's a really simple project, but it is time consuming. It took a few hours, but it was totally worth the time. It turned out perfectly! If you want to replicate this look, you'll need: 

Materials: 

- Two 8 x 10 Grinch printables

- 1 Large frame ( I'm guessing it's at least  12 x 16) 

- Red yarn & green twine 

- Glue gun

- Scissors

- Chevron gift wrap 

- Scotch tape

Directions: 

1. Remove glass and backing from frame. Set glass aside. 

2. Wrap front facing portion of backing in chevron wrapping paper. Attach your Grinch art to the front of the chevron covered backing, using scotch tape. 

3. Wrap (and wrap and wrap and wrap...) straight portions of frame in red yarn, using hot glue to secure yarn ends to the back of the framing. 

4. Wrap corners of frame in x-shape using green twine, and hot glue to secure twine to back of framing. 

5. If the back of your frame is now too thick to reattach the glass securely (mine was!), use small dots of hot glue in non-visible areas to reattach the art and the glass to the frame. Now hang it up and applaud your patience in wrapping that frame, and in your clever decorating skills!

And here's a quick peek at my annual real tree, which coordinates so well with my new Grinch art:

And here's a close up of the topper, which I changed this year.... I also switched from red lights to green LED lights this year. (My red lights cast a pink glow that was throwing off my whole vibe....I'm really pleased with the green, though!) And you can see the snowflake window display previously featured,  pushed back to frame the tree. 

I also took a few ornament close-ups so you can see some of the prints I used as ornaments on the tree this year:

The " Merry" gift tags make amazing ornaments. 

These chalkboard gift tags are my new fave this year. They look perfect on my tree! (You're also getting an inadvertent sneak peek of some other home-made ornaments that will be featured in future episodes of Sass-N-Crafts.)

I've got so much more to show you, but no more energy left to make it happen. (That's why there's always tomorrow....) Hope this entry inspires you to create your own custom Christmas displays!

Stay sassy,

- Anna

 

Christmas Banners: DIY Holiday

Here's hoping everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving - that you ate yourself silly and spent quality time with the people you love! We went to my sister's gorgeous new house in Camden, Michigan and ate ourselves silly and spent quality time with the people we love. 😉

Given the holiday (and the fact that it's after 1:30a and I got very little sleep last night and I've got a busy weekend ahead) tonight's post will be brief, but totally worth your while. Here's one quick pic of just one of my festive holiday banners, that reads "Merry Christmas," compliments of free Pintetest art downloads. (I am so very thankful for Pinterest!) 

Lately, I've been going a little wild with the many hundreds of free Christmas printables available on Pinterest. It's a veritable gold mine of holiday cheer! If you want to feel like a kid in a candy store, but substitute art for candy, take a look at my Pinterest board dedicated to Christmas prints. 

http://www.pinterest.com/anaallen/christmas-printables/.  

****Disclaimer:None of the art I've used is mine - all credit is due the originating artist, which is why I'm sending you to my Pintetest board to visit the artists' sites directly. I downloaded all my selected art and converted all my art files as PDFs, and didn't necessarily retain their site locations. If you're my pal and you run into trouble with a piece of art you've seen me use, email me and I can send you a clean Adobe PDF file. 

At any rate, on my Pinterest board you'll find links to all of the art featured in today's post, plus tons more. Totally worth the trip! Here's another banner from Pinterest:

(It's a bit fuzzy due to poor lighting, but it says, "Be Merry!")

I'll be showing you more of the best of Pinterest holiday art over the next few days. It makes such great gifts, and great decor. But for tonight, here's yet another banner I assembled and put up tonight: 

This one is super cute...it's gray with snowflakes and says "Let it Snow." (It's just too dark to get sharp pics tonight.)

For today's banner projects, you'll need the following supplies:

- Free Pinterest banner art, printed on good card stock. ( I had all my black & white copies made by an online company who shall not be named due to some severe customer service and print quality issues, and did all my color copying at Office Max. Color copies are about 50 cents each self serve, and they let you use your own paper; you can also buy 110# paper, which is nice and sturdy, for only 8 cents per page.) 

- Scissors

- Ribbon, twine or yarn

- Single hole punch

One last pic of my family room banner before you start your own project... this one is black & white chalkboard, and also says, "Let it Snow." It's really well done, though I really can't whole-heartedly support the sentiment. I'm already fed up with Michigan snow. 😖

Back to the task at hand, already! Here's your.......

Completely Self-explanatory Directions: 

1. Cut your banner pieces

2. Use your single hole punch to cut holes in your banner pieces. (I did single holes in smaller pieces, like the Merry Christmas and smaller gray "Let it Snow" banner, but used two holes in the two larger fireplace banner pieces, "Be Merry" and the black & white chalkboard "Let it Snow.)

3. Assemble and secure your banner pieces along your ribbon, yarn, or twine. (I tied some, glued some, and used ornament hooks with some. You pick the method that works best for you.) 

4. Drape your banner across your fireplace mantle, along a bookcase or mirror, or as wall art. You can even use it as garland on your tree! 

So stroll through my Pinterest holiday art, and pick your own banner project. I'm so excited to see what you create, and how you use it in your own decorating scheme, or as a special gift for some lucky pal. But tell me about it tomorrow...this sassy chica has got to get to bed pronto. Tomorrow is the day we pick our real tree for the living room, and get that bad boy fully decorated. 🎄Cannot wait!!!!

Until then, stay sassy, my friend!

- Anna