Challenge Ornament: Cutting Out the Materials

Using your ordinary scissors and the Challenge ornament itself with its inch margin of bare canvas as the template, cut out the backing fabric and the fabric to go under the ornament to show through the holes on the front. (If you aren't going to use fabric to show through, just cut the backing fabric.) Above you see my black felt and my gold lame cut and laid out with the Challenge ornament itself.

You also see my paper xerox copy of just the design in the photo. Use that as the template to cut out the finishing foam. In the photo above you see the two pieces of black finishing foam, one turned black side up and one turned white paper side up. The white paper protects the sticky side from gluing itself to my long hair.

You also see something new--I decided to pad my ornament with quilt batting. I cut two pieces of that using the paper pattern as the template. If you don't want your Challenge ornament slightly padded, you can omit this step. If you want to use quilt batting, you can buy a roll of it at any crafts emporium or sewing store. It comes in a sheet that is rolled up like a jelly roll. Unroll it a bit and cut two small bits from the end. Remember to use regular scissors for this part and all the steps above, too.

Next, we'll start to assemble the ornament.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Challenge Ornament Supplies

The first step in finishing Gay Ann Roger's Challenge ornament is to take the canvas off your stretcher bars and trim the finished NP design, leaving about an inch of blank canvas all around the edges. The second step is to make a xerox copy of the trimmed Challenge ornament. Cut the copy out but instead of leaving the 1 inch margin, cut it right up to the edge of the design area. In the photo above you see the ornament cut out with its margin of blank canvas, and the paper copy being trimmed right up to the edge of the design.

You also see the other supplies which will be needed: fabric for the back of the ornament (I choose black felt), fabric to put under the ornament (I choose gold lame, but note this is optional although you will need something underneath to hide the ornament's innards since this design doesn't cover the canvas totally), and a product called finishing foam. I bought a package of finishing foam sheets in assorted colors. My sheets are 6x9 inches and are acid free. They come in assorted colors but the back side is covered with glue. You peel off the protective paper and can glue anything you want to the sticky side. I am using two pieces of black finishing foam. You see one piece with the black side up and one with the paper protective side up that is peeled away to reveal the glue. You can get much larger individual pieces of finishing foam in most crafts stores. It is sold under various brand names and comes non-acid free, without the glue, in all sorts of colors, etc. Just check the label to be sure what you are buying.

If you don't have pre-glued finishing foam, you'll need glue. I prefer an acid-free glue stick. I bought mine in the scrapbooking section of the crafts emporium. Don't put your threads away yet. You will need them in finishing the edge of the ornament. If you have pretty beads or a charm that might look good on your ornament, put it with your finishing supplies. Of course you'll need scissors, but use regular scissors instead of your stitching scissors so you don't dull them cutting the finishing foam.

The next step is to use those non-stitching scissors!


Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow