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I know that most of you probably don't even want to think about it, but, yes, Christmas is just around the corner. My personal Christmas tree is decorated entirely with handmade ornaments made by me or purchased at craft shows over the years. I haven't done any new ones in awhile and I wanted to incorporate my new-found love of digital scrapbooking and designing this year. So, I came up with the ABSOLUTELY PERFECT hybrid project! Sugar Cookie Ornament Frames! Baked in my digital oven with love; frosted with cherry, mint, chocolate, lemon and vanilla icing and sprinkled with sugar, these digital cookies look good enough to eat!
They are large in size (around 6" tall), so you might want to resize them smaller if you are going to hang them on your tree or use in a digital layout, or leave them large and use as window decorations! There are 30 cookie frames and 14 ribbons in this set. Of course you won't use the digital ribbons if you decide to go hybrid.
Here are some hybrid suggestions:
1. Open the cookie file of your choice, make a duplicate copy, and close the original file. Resize if desired.
2. Print a draft copy (you can use the monochrome setting on your printer for this if you like so you don't waste the color ink).
3. Cut out the shape and use it to trace the shape onto heavy cardboard and cut out your cardboard shape.
4. Choose your photo and place it in back of the ornament. Resize the photo to fit as desired and erase any photo edges that are still showing.
5. Print your ornament on photo paper of your choice. You may choose to print 2 copies (one for the front and one for the back) or make another of the same shape with a different photo for the back. Make sure they are sized the same before printing.
6. If you are going to add any hand journaling, now is the time to do that if you intend to laminate your ornaments. You do not have to laminate them, but it does help protect them from dust.
7. I like to laminate my printed copies before cutting. If I am going to use a cardboard center as described above, I will laminate them at home using Avery Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets.
8. If I am not using a cardboard center, I cut out the ornaments and adhere them back to back and take them to a local print shop and have them laminated with 10 mil laminate (about a thick as a drivers' license). If they use legal size you can fit more than one on a sheet. If you decide to use this method, be careful not to get the glue too close to the edge when adhering back to back -- the heat from the laminating machine will melt it and it may ruin your hard work.
9. If you are using a cardboard center, after you have adhered your printed copies to the cardboard, you may want to ink the edges or glue a narrow ribbon or metallic cord around the edges to give a finished look to the cardboard. If you have laminated your ornament and would like to add any "real" elements such as glitter or sequins, you should use a little piece of emery board or emery cloth to roughen the laminate slightly so that it will accept the glue. There may be some adhesives out there that are good for slick surfaces, but I am not aware of any at this time.
DOWNLOAD HERE and HEREIf you have any questions or suggestions, please post them in the comments section here on my blog. I will answer questions here.
