Holiday Luminaire

For the past few months I have been lucky enough to be able to enjoy an evening with a small group of crafty friends.
We get together in the first week of the month at one of our homes and just relax, chat and craft a little. Usually everyone works on a project they have already started but as it is so close to Christmas we discussed maybe organizing a specific craft for the holidays everyone would enjoy.

I can't take credit for the project idea itself, that was all Linda's. She came across a photo of a holiday luminaire made from a recycled jar featuring a paper silhouette scene around the outer edge. We then worked together to organize supplies and instructions.
The most difficult part was to find a template for the silhouette scene. We wanted to make the project simple but provide everyone with the opportunity to make it their own without needing the skill to draw a design themselves.
I looked through my various dies and large punches and came up with the idea to use some of these as stencils to create a scene of choice. This worked rather well and only required the windows to be cut free hand.

Here is one of my luminaries (yes, I made more than one)

These are the basic die (and bare tree punch) shapes we used:

I always find it such a pleasant surprise when I am able to use some of my paper crafting supplies in a new and unexpected way.

To create my silhouette scene I started by drawing a base line a few inches from the bottom of my black cardstock for the ground. I then placed various trees and houses along this line and outlined them with pencil. The scene was then cut out using scissors or a craft knife. I actually used both, scissors for the basic outline and my craft knife to cut out the  "in-between" spaces and windows.

The results were this lovely scene:

 

I used a strip of double-sided adhesive tape along the bottom edge of my jar to attached the paper. The top of the jar was then finished with paper raffia, a little gold wire and a Christmas charm.

  

I quite like how this turned out and made a second one for my sister. I could see several of these sitting on a fireplace mantel or window sill for a very pretty holiday decoration.

And these are not limited to Christmas. I am now thinking of making some for next Halloween changing the scene a little by adding bats and ghouls, maybe a witch. I'll have to see what dies and punches I have that will work best

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections black
Dies used for templates: Happy Home - SU, small & large fir tee - Sizzix (original red)
Punch: Mega bare tree - EK Success
Misc.: mason jar, raffie/ribbon, brass charm, wire.
Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.