La Befana

It's tradition here in Italy to hang up stockings on the eve of Epiphany (January 6th), much like we do in America in hope that Santa will fill them with treats and presents if we were good.  In the same way, Italian children hope that the Befana will come to fill their stockings.  La Befana, according to legend, is an old woman that flies on her broom and comes to each house to fill stockings with either treats (if the children were good) or coal (if they were bad).  Although this image sounds like our idea of a witch on Halloween, the Befana is simply an old woman that kind of looks like a witch but is not magical or scary according to the story.

I was curious about this tradition so I did some research. Apparently, the name "befana" is coming from "Epiphany" – Epifania, in Italian. The three Wise Men, stopped along the way to visit the infant Jesus, and asked this old lady for directions to Bethlehem.  They asked if she wanted to go with them but she declined, worried about how hard that journey could be. But after the Wise Men left, she regretted her decision and decided to go on her own. But not knowing exactly where Jesus was, she went to all the houses in the area and decided to leave gifts wherever she found a child, to be sure not to miss Him.

I thought today was the perfect day to share a craft done some time ago, but put out right at this time of the year. I started from a template from SVGCuts and adjusted it in order to have a stocking to hang on a door knob. I've seen a lot of treat boxes on door hangers but couldn't find one in a stocking shape. Thought it would be cute if you wanted to give to someone in an office.  It was originally a stocking-shaped box with a lid.   I embellished it with a lace file also from SVGcuts but altered.  The lace was only on one side to be used as a border but I wanted the lace to be on both sides.  I also added slits in the middle so that I could weave a ribbon through.

Happy Epiphany to everyone!

Getting Ready for the Holidays!

The holiday season is already upon us!  Looked out the window the other day and it was snowing, which is a bit earlier than usual this time of year.  Anyway, just thought I would get into the holiday mood and share a project that I created which was inspired by all the creativity going on with my sister's blog http://sisterstamps.blogspot.it/.  There were a lot of wonderful projects shared regarding this reindeer image I had created for Sister Stamps.  I was inspired to use this image and make it a rocker with a treat box in-between.  Hadn't seen anything like this yet so had to create my own,...on my favorite new toy, the Silhouette Cameo.

I also wanted to share this snowman that I made using the svgcuts download.  Their 3D projects are incomparable and such fun to make.

Ok, this was just a quick show and tell. Thanks for visiting and here's to a happy start for the holidays!

The Pumpkin Coach

Welcome to my blog! In my first post, I would like to share what I did for my nieces for autumn. I found this beautiful set from SVGCuts and I thought it would be a perfect theme for the season. I’ve always been intrigued by three-dimensional paper-craft and the cutting power of the Silhouette CAMEO® allows me to explore this area of crafting more easily. I have recently got this plotter – thank you, Sis! – and I am really excited to try out the many templates available out there. Given I have just started working on this new hobby, assembling and customizing this pumpkin coach box was a bit ambitious for me, but I loved doing it and I am pretty happy with the results. 

 Since I had my nieces in mind, I tried to keep it young, romantic, and a little “princessy”. Went with the glittery papers and a light palette. As I was constructing this, though, I made notes in my mind about what I would do for next time.  Would’ve like the door to actually open and would want the wheels to be mounted on axels so they could really work instead of just glued on.  It will take some planning and adjusting beforehand, but it will make for a new challenge the next time and won’t seem like I’m just doing the same thing over and over.

I have to admit, I didn’t get too creative with the decorations. It is not too different from what you see on SVGCuts , but it’s still a great project to do and had lots fun.   I filled the pumpkin with candy as it was during Halloween when I gave it to them. They seemed thrilled to get it, and pulled all the candy out immediately.  Hmmm, so was it the pumpkin or the candy that they were thrilled with?

You can use it also as a lantern!

When he edited these photos, Guido played a little with the filters to create the frosty-wintery look you can see below, and I think this could be a good inspiration to create a version of this craft for the Holiday Season!

See my link section on the right if you are interested in SVGCuts or Silhouette CAMEO®.