Christmas Rosette Wands: I Feel the Love

Happy Friday, my dear friends! I hope you've had a blessed week. :o)

It's been nearly two weeks since my last post, but for good reason! Last week was filled with festive family time and this week I've been fervently crafting away at this project. As mentioned in previous posts, I had my heart set on making some rosette wands for this month's I Feel the Love collection. Our crafty gifts are going to children who will be spending Christmas in the hospital. It is heartbreaking, but I am ever thankful to Madison of Funky Cards for giving us a way to bless those sweet kiddos.

My gift to them: Twelve different rosette wands to brighten their hospital rooms. :o)

I painted bamboo skewers in glittery silver and gold acrylic paint and paired each rosette with two different ribbons. Twirling action is a must with rosette wands! :o) It was impossible to capture all of the detailing that went into these, but I tried. I'll show a few at a time for a bit of a better look. Enlarging will help since I cannot gush about each one, despite the innate desire. ;)

The sweet candy cane paper for the center rosette is one of my all-time favorites! It and many of the twelve rosettes are patterns from Graphic 45's Nutcracker Sweet Collection. **swoon** The rosette topper contains a bunch of Christmas morning elements that I cut out from various papers in the set. The tree is decked out in red rhinestones and topped with a sparkling heart of love. The candy cane ribbon is velvet, which I hope the kids will enjoy. It is a given that Star Dust and rhinestones are used throughout every wand. :o) The other two pretty rosettes are topped with Spellbinders Fanciful Holiday trees, decorated with rhinestones. The white background is embossed for extra snowy texture.

Reindeer and The Nutcracker ballet... they needed to be represented in this set! :o) The reindeer rosette papers are from K and Company, while the gorgeous pointe shoe paper is from Graphic 45. On the left, the sparkling reindeer is cut from the Noel cartridge and I gave him a layer of SnowTex to prance around in. The middle deer also has a SnowTex ground, with sparklified antlers and red rhinestones to serve as holly berries. The sweet ballet dancer was carved out from a Graphic 45 paper, sparkled up, and set upon a snow-embossed backdrop.

Guess what other theme was essential? TREATS! :o) Gingerbread cuties frolic around the purple rosette, with the main one sporting a trendy twine bow. Christmas sugar cookies are the theme in the center, with individuals cut out for the rosette topper and sprinkled with caramel-colored rhinestones. See the snowman cookie? He's giving the children his sugar cookie heart. :o) On the right we have a plethora of Christmas candy! It is topped with a portion of a sweet tag, upon which I stamped "Be Merry" from My Craft Spot's "Joy to the World" stamp set... and I couldn't resist adding a border of crystal and red rhinestones to symbolize candy cane coloring.

Lastly, the snowy set! Nutcrackers and snowflakes abound, complete with varying designs of rhinestones (and ribbon that is trying to be all willy nilly). Kudos to my sweetheart who happily made an emergency run to Michael's when I ran out of sparkles before I was done decorating the snowflakes... I am truly blessed! The center snowflake is from Art Philosophy.

The backs, which I couldn't bear to leave empty:

All but one of the rosette papers have a festive or wintry reverse side, so I left a border of it visible. The snowflake bases are cut from Elegant Edges and stamped with another sentiment from the Joy to the World set. The 'we' represents me and my sweetheart... although he didn't physically assist in this set, he gave the encouragement I needed when fatigue or design-uncertainty would set in each night. Indeed these appear simple, but they require a lot of work. He is very much a part of all twelve wands.

I hope my super sappy love twirls into the hearts of every child at Children's Hospital Central California. I always pray God's healing love over the things I make for those in need, faithfully convinced that they receive it. I'll certainly say an extra special prayer for these kids on Christmas morning. There is still time to join us in this very special collection. :o)

Challenges entered:

 *Craft Your Passion~ Holiday Edibles (The set of three containing candy canes, gingerbread men, and sugar cookies... and the candy cane in the first set)

 *Crafty Ribbons~ Use at Least Two Ribbons

 *Cute Card Thursday~ Snowflakes! (Throughout most of the rosette wands)

 *Decorate to Celebrate~ Holiday Choice (Christmas!)

 *Divas by Design~ Glitter and Sparkle

 *Fussy and Fancy~ I Love Christmas

 *Little Miss Muffet~ Tags or Gifts

 *Make It Monday~ Anything Goes

 *The Crafty Pad~ Add Some Glitter (Do not let my pictures fool you... I added it everywhere!)

 *Word Art Wednesday~ God's Goodness/Encouragement

Thank you for pirouetting on by today! I wish you a sparkly weekend of love, hugs, and all things beautiful. :o)