Wall Decor {winter}

What better way to add a festive touch to your home than with your own hand crafted design? Large or small, intricate or simple, paper or fabric - no matter what you choose to create any wall decor will add a happy detail to your home this season. No need to pay a lot of money for it - just get out your Fiskars tools and a few supplies!

To get you started three of our design team members are here to share their ideas-

Designer: Susan Weinroth
When I was asked to create a holiday wall hanging for this article, I couldn’t help but want to create a fun little mini quilt to hang on my wall, or from my mantle for Christmas.  Mini quilts are a great way to add a touch of homespun warmth to your décor for any season.  My “Merry & Bright” Christmas Mini (finished size 18x21 inches) plays off of the tree pattern in the Basic Grey for Moda print that I used in the bottom of the quilt.

To create your own mini quilt similar to mine, start by drawing a triangular pattern for each “tree” on cardstock, trimming, and using it as a template.  Trace your template onto the backside of your fabric print, and cut it out using Fiskars No.5 Microtip scissors.  Lay trees flat on a larger background square (mine was brown and measured 16x15). 

Once you determine where you’d like them, trim smaller rectangular “trunks” from fabric, arrange trunks where they should go, and then appliqué stitch TRUNKS FIRST to fabric base (you won’t need to stitch the top part of the trunk as it will be covered with the tree).  After trunks are stitched down, rearrange trees, and appliqué stitch.

Use scrap pieces of coordinating colors to create a strip that will lie on the left side of your tree block. 

Trim panel of tree fabric, using Fiskars rotary cutter and mat, for the bottom of your mini quilt.  Arrange panels together, pin and sew to create mini quilt top.  Layer quilt top with batting underneath and backing under that, baste and quilt. 

I used a freemotion stippling stitch around my trees, and straight line stitch everywhere else.  Bind your quilt, again using the Fiskars rotary cutter and mat to trim strips, and attach loop to hang from back.  Use the XL Fiskars Twinkle Twinkle star squeeze punch to punch a star from cardstock to use as your template.  Trace star shape onto wrong side of fabric, trim, and stitch to top of each tree with a button.

Designer:  Lisa Storms
As soon as I saw this quote in a friend's Facebook profile, I knew it would make a perfect wall hanging gift for her for the holiday season as she is obsessed with butterflies.  There aren't many opportunities to fit butterflies into winter décor! 

 I originally had out the new Woodland Tree Shape Template to create a winter scene, but when I noticed there were lots of hidden snowflakes pieces in the branches, I changed course and decided to focus on one large snowflake.  I really enjoy building snowflakes from scratch!

I cut out one side of a branch using the Ultra ShapeXpress on a craft mat and flipped the paper over (not the template) and aligned the branch template up with the side previously cut to complete a mirrored design.  Cut five "branches" in total.  Trim two 6" squares of white cardstock and punch each corner with the new Romantique 3-in-1 Corner Punch.  Fold each square in half twice to mark the center point.  Cut from the side of each punched design to the center five times. 

Align and adhere all of these snowflake pieces to a star outline cut from the Stars-1 Shape Template with the branches at each of the star's "valleys" and the corner-punched pieces at each "peak".  Trim branches to fit onto circle if necessary and top with a circle punch at the center to cover up where all pieces meet.

Cover a large chipboard circle (mine was traced from a dinner plate) with patterned paper and trim edges with new Retractable Fingertip Knife on craft mat. Ink edges brown and adhere snowflake and layered butterflies from Butterflies-1 Shape Template at center topped with stacked buttons, quote, and Snowflake Pop-up Punches.  Punch two holes at top using 1/16" Circle Hand Punch to tie on hemp twine hanger.  Tie a twine bow onto each side to complete wall hanging.  Now all I have left to do is decide if I can actually give this up or if I will end up just keeping it for myself! 

Designer: Kendra McCracken
I adore wall quilts. And I adore embroidery. And of course, I adore Christmas! So with the assistance of the ShapeBoss Christmas and ScrapBoss Winter Wonderland Stencils, I've combined these 3 things I adore to make a Christmas themed wall quilt. I kept the design of my quilt simple, using a 12 square format, each of the finished squares being 4". And rather than quilt a pattern onto the blocks, I've made a tied quilt, tying short lengths of embroidery floss at the intersection of each of the squares.

To make my quilt appear a little more complex, I divided some of the squares into smaller sections using fabrics that coordinate colorwise, yet have contrasting patterns to them. For some of the squares, I used a plain cotton muslin material and embroidered my designs on them. The simplicity of the muslin actually allows the embroidery to stand out against all the busy patterns I have going on the rest of the quilt.

When cutting my squares for the quilt, the solid blocks were cut to 5". 
Using 1/2" seam allowances, this left me with 4" squares when I was finished.
For the squares that are made up of 2 pieces of fabric, the cut size for each of those sections is 5" x 3".
For the squares that are made up of 4 pieces of fabric, the cut size for each of those sections is 3" x 3".
And, finally, for squares that are made up of 3 pieces of fabric, I used a 5" x 3" and (2) 3" x 3" sections.

To create my embroidery patterns, I traced the openings from the Scrapboss and ShapeBoss templates directly onto the front of my muslin fabric and used a variety of hand stitches to cover the outlined patterns.  When creating the patterns, it's important to remember to not embroider all the way to the edges of the squares as 1/2" seam allowances have to be factored in.

Once I had all my patterns embroidered, I stitched all my squares together using 1/2" seam allowances, created a sandwich of a piece of backing material, some quilt batting, and my quilt top.  I finished it all off by adding a binding to the edges of the quilt to hold it all together.

The hanger for the quilt is made from 2 short lengths of ribbon tied together with a knot in the center of them and the ends tacked to the back of the quilt using hand stitches.

We hope you've enjoyed these ideas and that you find a way to put your supplies and talent to use in your home decorating!

By Fiskars Design Team