For a recent swap my partner wanted elf themed things and I hit on the idea of creating an elf smashed between two panes of glass. The idea was inspired by the fabulous Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book
http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Cottingtons-Pressed-Fairy-Book/dp/1862057001/.
What can I say, my sense of humor is a bit warped. Now I can tell my kids "Of COURSE Santa exists. See, mommy caught one of his elves and hung him on the tree." I'm sure the mental scars will fade eventually. The elf was hand drawn and painted with watercolors before being scanned into my computer and printed in a smaller size.
Unfortunately I don't have any process pics but here's a written tutorial.
Supply List
Drawing of an elf
Watercolors or art pens
Glitter tape
3.5 x 5" pane of glass (I got mine for $.80 in a hideous little frame from Goodwill)
Transparency film/sheets (The one I used is for an inkjet printer to create transparencies for overhead projectors to be used during presentations)
Ribbon
Clear Glue (I used Aileen's 3-in-1 clear glue)
Scissors
1. Color an appropriately sized drawing with watercolors, art pens of whatever medium you like. If the image is too large and you have access to an art program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements you can shrink it to the right size later.
2. Scan the image into your computer using a scanner.
3. Trim the image in Photoshop to clean it up, adjust colors etc. Make a copy of your image and flip it horizontally putting the two images side by side.
4. Print out the final image on nice card stock.
5. Cut out the two images and glue them back to back so you have one piece with your colored drawing on both sides.
6. Use a tiny bit of clear glue to secure the edges of your image to the glass.
7. Cut a section of transparency sheet the same size as your glass. Lay it over the glass with your colored drawing sandwiched between.
8. Secure/seal the edges of the glass and transparency by wrapping them with glitter tape.
9. On the back of the ornament glue the ends of a ribbon strip to each side to act as a hanger. Allow glue to dry for at least 24 hours.
10. Enjoy your new pressed image and go hang it on the Christmas tree.
