Our Christmas in July tree has an Agatha Christie theme. Our last ornament, created by Lorraine Masonheimer, is inspired by Agatha Christie’s famous amateur sleuth Miss Marple, her love of tea and solving crimes.
The ornament’s design mimics the shape of a tea bag complete with the tea, the string, and the tea tag. The tea bag side of the ornament is held together by torn pages of book. The front sports a color copy of a cover from a Miss Marple book—in this case—A Caribbean Mystery.
The burlap-like ribbon is tucked behind the cover to give an island feel to the design. A metal keyhole represents Miss Marple’s snooping detective skills. As a nod to Agatha, a color copy of her eye is lurking behind the keyhole. The tea tag has Miss Marple enjoying a cup of tea and the string is replaced with rope sporting a hangman’s knot. This is one ornament that hangs on the tree as two.
The ornament’s design mimics the shape of a tea bag complete with the tea, the string, and the tea tag. The tea bag side of the ornament is held together by torn pages of book. The front sports a color copy of a cover from a Miss Marple book—in this case—A Caribbean Mystery.
The burlap-like ribbon is tucked behind the cover to give an island feel to the design. A metal keyhole represents Miss Marple’s snooping detective skills. As a nod to Agatha, a color copy of her eye is lurking behind the keyhole. The tea tag has Miss Marple enjoying a cup of tea and the string is replaced with rope sporting a hangman’s knot. This is one ornament that hangs on the tree as two.
Supplies
Bulldog clip 1.25”
Foam core ¼”
A chipboard tag
Vintage patterned cardstock, a coordinating solid color, cream cardstock
Book pages
Color copy of a Miss Marple book cover
Color copy of Agatha Christie,
Rope trim (thin and ½” wide)
Metal scroll embellishments (small & large 1 ½” – 2” wide), metal keyhole embellishment,
Multi-medium matte
Pop-up squares
Flower punch, round punch ¼”
Glue dots, scissors, x-acto blade, black pen, color pencils, thin wire, black self-adhesive pearls
Step One: Ornament Base
Cut the foam core into two 2 ½” x 4” rectangles. Cut the top corners at an angle as shown. Punch a ¼” hole in the center of the top of each triangle as shown. Cut the vintage paper to two 2 ½” x 4” cutting the top two corners at the same angle as the foam core. Cut the chipboard tag to 1 ½” x 2 ½”. Trim the coordinating paper to 2” x 3”. Also, cut two 1 ½” x 2 ½” rectangles from the same coordinating paper. Set aside.
To form the teabag shape, glue the bulldog clip to the foam core as shown. Let dry.
Step Two: Tear, Copy & Glue
Tear several pages from a book or photocopy pages from a book. Use the multi medium matte to glue the torn pages around the bottom, sides, and top of the ornament base and set aside.
Make a color copy of the cover of a favorite Miss Marple book. Reduce the cover to 1 ¾” x 2 ¾” and cut out. Make a color or black & white copy of Agatha Christie. If your book doesn’t have a photo of Agatha, make a copy of any face you have available. Reduce the copy to fit one eye into the round part of the metal keyhole and cut to fit. Glue to the back of the metal keyhole.
Step Three: Connect & Assemble Bag & Tag
Cut about 14” of thin rope trim. Thread each end through the holes and tie a hangman’s noose knot using glue dots to secure the trim.
Glue the vintage paper onto both sides of the tea bag. Glue the coordinating paper to the front of the tea tag. Reserve the remaining piece for later. Glue the Miss Marple cover onto the 2” x 3” coordinating paper. Place several pop-up squares onto the back of the 2” x 3” coordinating paper. Cut two 1 ½” pieces of ½” wide rope trim and pull apart as shown. Glue to the back and adhere to the front of the tea bag.
Step Four: Create Miss Marple & Tea Cup
Using cream cardstock, draw a 1 ½” x 2 ½” Miss Marple. Draw a tea cup ¾” x ½”. If desired, place your cursor over this image, right click, scroll to Save Image As and place it onto your computer's desktop. Open a word document, draw a text box and insert the image into the box. Size Miss Marple and the tea cup to the sizes given above, print onto cream cardstock, cut out and glue to the front of the tea tag.
Step Five: Color & Assemble
Then, glue Miss Marple to the front of the tea tag. Using the vintage paper scraps, cut out Miss Marple’s coat, hat and hat band and glue to her cutout. Color her face flesh with pink cheeks. Draw her eyes and mouth with a black ink pen. If desired, use small black pearls for her eyes. Using a flower punch, cut a flower from pages of a book, glue to her hat band & place a small pearl into the center of the flower.
Color the teacup using color coordinated pencils. Place a pop-up square on the back of the teacup and glue to Miss Marple as shown.
Step Six: Metal Embellishments
Type, size, cut and glue the words Miss Marple to the front of the metal scroll embellishment. Thread the fine wire through both sides of the metal piece. Glue the two wires to the back of the tea tag as shown. Take the remaining 1 ½” x 2 ½” coordinating cardstock and glue to the back of the tea tag. Glue the metal keyhole to the tea bag overlapping the cover art. Center and glue the small metal scroll embellishment at the top of the ornament.
Step Seven: Hang
Drape the ornament over a few branches to hang.
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