Christmas present dioramas are more work than a simple bow but they're also but more fun and way more interesting. You can make these holiday scenes to match the person you're giving the gift to.
Yup! It's a surprise Tuesday post. I wanted to give you a close up view of the Christmas wrapping I did this year and if I didn't do it on a Tuesday (instead of when I regularly post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) I wasn't going to be able to fit it in before Christmas. If you read my post on Diorama Present Toppers a few weeks ago you know that I topped all of my presents with little winter scenes. I only had a couple of them done at the time so I wanted show you how they all turned out, and how I got the look.
This is Betty's present. A skating rink and bench. The figure skates are an ode to her Christmases past. The snow on this present and on all the other presents is just regular spray snow that's been allowed to dry. The pond is hot glue.
I made the skates out of high rubber boots that were on a Bratz doll from Dollarama. I just cut them off, painted them white and hot glued on some bent wire for skate blades.
The bench is a section from a miniature white picket fence from Dollarama. I broke it apart and glued it back together in the form of a bench. The fence also came with a tiny Christmas tree which I used on another present.
This is one of the original Diorama present toppers you saw earlier in the month. The skis are made from popsicle sticks and I made the boot imprints in the snow with a potato stamp I carved.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
Not all of the presents are entire scenes. Some of them just feature a simple tree. If you're looking to make diorama present toppers but don't want to spend all the time it takes to make skates (like a lunatic) then just adding a tree instead of a bow has almost as much impact.
But of course, it has a little more impact if you add in a truck with hay bale in the back. The most important things with these dioramas are the little details. Like running the truck through the snow as soon as you spray snow it so you get tracks. Without the tracks in the snow this present topper is good. WITH the tracks it's enough to make a Restoration Hardware stylist spit carefully curated antique square head nails with jealousy.
Another one of the original present toppers I showed you a few weeks ago. A black road with silver sparkles embedded into it. On top of the car is the little tree that came with the picket fence.
This might be my favourite. It's a snowy scene with a flatbed truck making its way down a winding, snow plowed road to deliver a Christmas tree to a homestead. Complete with red mailbox.
This car was originally a firetruck, but having a firetruck racing towards a house at Christmas seemed like a slightly bad omen so I broke off the back of the firetruck with a pair of pliers, which resulted in a little flatbed.
I've never had so much fun wrapping Christmas presents in all my life. Ever.
I feel myself filling with rage every time I think of someone opening them, so that might be a problem. Other than that, I suspect it's going to be a happy, happy holiday.
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Madeleine Whitfield
I think if I lived at your house, I would actually get these things done!
Karen
You would. I'd force you to. You'd hate it and me within a week, lol. ~ karen!
Mary W
I'll never get tired of looking at your toppers! The hot glue and tire tracks are genious. I think I will make a little scene for my mantle just cause they are so stinkin cute! I will be adding a tiny bit of yellow to the snow near the tree just before adding the tiny dog. Just can't stop myself.
Chris
I LOVE these gift wrapping ideas! So creative.
Chris
Monique
Everything is so cute..Pinned so I can glean for 2015.
You're so funny too!
Karen
Thanks Monique ... you're thinkin' early, lol. :) ~ karen!
Jenifer
I just found this on pinterest and immediately thought of you and your gift-wrapping extravaganza! (Show-off!) I am thinking of next year this will be included in a mantle or center piece...
http://www.fynesdesigns.com/handmade-bottle-brush-trees-yarn-twine-garland-rope/
Dana
These are amazing!!!!!
Karen
Thanks Dana! I know! I realize that sounds stupid coming from me, the one who created them, but I KNOW, lol!! I love them. I just do and I'm not going to pretend to be humble about them, lol. ~ karen!
Laura Ingalls Gunn
In the early 70's my Grandmother Mary got these lovely boxes ( heavy black lacquered cardboard with a separate lid) that had "Saks Fifth Avenue" written in gold across the top. On every single birthday and Christmas, even before the wrapping was completely off, I would hear "I want my box back." EVERY SINGLE TIME for 30 years. I'm thinking you can get away with this same trick. "I want my wrapping back."
It was irritating for awhile, then it became the stuff legends are made of. My cousin and I still laugh out loud about it.
I guess you know I would give a million dollars to hear that phrase uttered just one more time. Sniff.
Karen
!!!! That made me laugh SO loud. I think we all have family things like that. For our family it's my mother signing birthday and Christmas cards in very, v e r y light pencil. Then she tells you to erase her name and use the card again on someone else. So I loved and appreciated the box story. Be happy for the memory. It's a great one. ~ karen!
Dana
Such a great story! :) Love it!!!!
Peri Aplin
Absolutely adorable. I'm always looking for something different!
Carole
Gosh, I love them all - so creative and clever and just beautiful. I bet you had so much fun doing this. Your family should save the paper. LOL.
peg
love them all!!!
Patti
I'm printing this post and saving it with my Christmas stuff so when it comes time to decorate my newborn grandson's presents in years to come I'll remember to do this... even if I decorate only one present like this it's so special! Beautiful work Karen!
LazySusan
Awesome. As is your house. As are you. Merry Christmas!
Tigersmom
These are so amazing. Creativity and its need to be let out are often misunderstood by those who don't have it. Girl, you have it.
I take comfort in knowing you feel rage at the thought of your work being trashed, too.
I have a question. (Big surprise, right?) Did the trees that are not shaped like Christmas trees come from the Dollarama and did they come like that or were they part of a larger spray that you cut down?
Oh, and one more....how did you accomplish the black road with the sparkles embedded in it?
I now have plans to do something like this next year with the two ceramic houses I found at an estate sale, but in a more permanent set-up and not on gifts because I would get enraged at their demise and that's also a bad omen for Christmas, you know like a fire truck en route to a house.
And I don't work for Restoration Hardware, but I may have spit a few nails when I saw these.
Karen
Hi Tigersmom. Thanks! The regular trees are also from Dollarama and they came exactly as is. They're GREAT! All I had to do was pull the branches out and fiddle with them a bit so they looked good. The road is black chalkboard paint. Before it dried completely I sprinkled silver sparkles over it so they embedded in the road. ~ karen!
Tigersmom
Brilliant! Thank you.
Tracie
It's my Mom's birthday today, Karen, and I have to admit that I skipped over every post to make a comment tonight. I usually like to read them, but tonight I am having wine, and toasting my mom, and didn't have time for that. I decided to take a break from uploading pics and remembrances, to have a gander at your post. I cried at your wrappings. The one with the tire tracks got me...and the skates, are you kidding me? And those footprints. And the skating rink, and the trees. Thank you, Karen, truly! Merry Christmas, and happy belated birthday to you....xo
Karen
Thanks Tracie. I hope you're doing O.K. It's a rough time for you. ~ karen
Laura Bee
I made one! No time for more. But it was so much fun. Sorry about the terrible photo. My camera is a cheap one purchased by hubby to replace my really nice camera I dropped. Bah.
https://www.facebook.com/ByElleBee?ref=hl#!/ByElleBee/photos/a.680741355322752.1073741830.220912104639015/848857791844440/?type=1&theater
Karen
I saw it in the Linkz. It looks GREAT!! I'm so jealous of your little trailer and car! Looks like a mini Cooper maybe? Anyhow it looks perfect! ~ karen
Laura Bee
Thanks! It's a Fiat - and the giftee & his wife own a trailer & Fiat. (Not that they go together in real life) Well, the fiat is more hers, but I wasn't going to stick some big truck on there! lol
Mindy
LOL, I was thinking midway through, they're too fun to open. They'll be ruined!!! Clearly this is a problem. Maybe you should have made them decoy presents. Empty, awesomely wrapped boxes. The real presents are in the closet, wrapped up in newspaper.
judy
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-This is so sweet and nostalgic and makes me think of those pictures of old that showed a real old fashioned American Christmas where children received warm mittens, and Hats and an orange and perhaps a candy cane or two. Oh-and a sled made by Dad would have been the height of the kids life. I have to be a scrooge and say that children can't appreciate what they get when there is so much the floor is groaning. We started a tradition in our family of holding back a # of gifts because they ripped through them so quickly it took all the fun out of the moment. They complained but I think they kinda liked having some gifts throughout the day. Happy holidays to everyone. Karen has a wonderful group of followers-funny, witty and smart............and probably all exceedingly good looking too!
Linda G
Wow, Karen! These are lovely, just like everything you do.
Did you practice your techniques (the potato stamp in fake snow, in particular), or get everything right on the first take?
Jane
A bonus post! Love it! Thanks for the surprise.
The gifts are beautiful!
Nancy Blue Moon
You are so creative Karen..don't you ever change that..no matter what anyone says..Who could receive a present like that and not get a big smile on their face?..before they even know what is inside..Why?..because you can girlfriend..