Idea of the Month

Vellum Luminary

Add a beautiful candle-lit glow to your holiday season with this gorgeous luminary made from vellum!  This idea was shared on the Close To My Heart® Consultant bulletin board a few years ago, and it has never failed to be a hit at my home demonstrations.  Most often, the hostess and her guests end up taking the lit luminary into a darkened bathroom and closing the door.  After that, I always hear a whole bunch of "oohs" and "ahhhs!"  What better compliment could I get, LOL?  

Step 1

Start with 1/2 sheet of vellum (8-1/2 x 5 -1/2").   Using the fancy edgers of your choice, trim the top edge approximate 1/4".  Then, using a dark blue ink (I used Outdoor Denim), sponge the entire piece, heavier at the top and lighter at the bottom.  Hint: don't even bother sponging the bottom inch or so.  Important:  Be sure to allow the ink to dry for several hours (or overnight), or dry it with a heat tool before proceeding.

Step 2

Tape 2 cassette tape cases together and lay them onto the vellum, lining up the top of the cases with the top of the vellum.  Draw a light pencil line on the vellum along the bottom edge of the cassette cases.

Step 3

Ok...pay attention here; this is probably the trickiest part.  (Important:  Do not proceed with this step, which involves embossing, until you have dried the dark blue ink, as described in Step 1.  Otherwise, embossing powder will stick where you don't want it!)  Ok...Take a full-size sheet of scrap paper and cut through it lengthwise in a wavy pattern with regular scissors.  Find your pencil mark on the vellum (remember: your fancy-cut edge is always at the top!).  Lay one of the straight edges of the scrap paper along your pencil line, so that you are covering up the bottom inch or so of the vellum.  Take the other piece of scrap paper, and lay it over the top portion of your vellum so that the wavy edge is positioned above the first piece of scrap paper. Leave about 1" to 1-1/2" of exposed vellum between the 2 pieces of scrap paper.  Sponge embossing ink onto the exposed vellum.

Step 4

Remove the scrap paper.   Use embossing ink to stamp trees onto the vellum 2 or 3 times.   Then stamp snowflakes all over above the "hills," also using embossing ink.  (NOTE:  back in 1999 I could not show actual Close To My Heart® images on my site, so I hand-drew trees and snowflakes using an embossing pen.  Trust me, the stamps look a whole lot better!).  Cover the entire piece of vellum with white embossing powder, shake off excess powder, and heat.  You should have something similar to the above photo.

Step 5

When the vellum is cool, turn it over so it is face-down.  Place the cassette cases on the vellum again, lining them up with the top of the vellum and centering them from side to side.  "Wrap" the vellum around the cassette cases like you would wrap a present, leaving the top open  (now do you see why we don't emboss all the way down to the bottom of the vellum?).  Tombow Mono Adhesive works very well for this.  Be sure you do not wrap the vellum too tightly!   

Step 6

Remove the cases.  You should have something like this (see above photo).  Crease the corners with your fingers, if desired.

Step 7

Place a tealight inside the luminary and light it in a darkened room.  Gorgeous!  CAUTION: vellum will burn if the flame touches it!  ALWAYS place the luminary on some sort of dish or plate, and keep the luminary out of drafts!

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