Wine Bottle Tag

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials

designer paper

glitter

adhesive

ribbon

Tools:

Sizzix Big Shot

Tim Holtz Tiny Tags die

corner chomper

circle die or template

The theme this week at Winter Wonderland was to trim a tree.  It's taken me all week to get motivated for this one, I almost thought I was going to miss this week.  But that is what I love about challenges, and they wouldn't be a challenge if they didn't push me and force my mind in directions it wouldn't normally go.

Anyway, the designer paper is from Webster's Pages, which you can get digitally, but this one I bought from my local store.  The tag is a strip of paper 11" x 3.5", scored at 3.5" to create the top part of the tag.  The corners have been rounded and I used a circle template to make the hole for the hanger.

The baubles are both little round tags cut from the tiny tags die which have beengiven a liberal coating of  vintage style glitter, but any circle punch or die would work.  I've used some thin gold cord to create the hangers and tie tiny bows at the top of each ornament, and a strip of red ribbon with a bow across the top.  I wish I had been able to capture the glitter better on camera, the baubles sparkle like jewels, so pretty!

Christmas Lights

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
Free christmas lights digi here
Tilda sitting with candy rubber stamp
Momento Tuxedo Black ink
Copics markers
silver gel pen
Glossy Accents
silicone
corrugated card
designer paper
tissue tape
silver beading wire
adhesive


Tools:
scallop border punch
scissors

This cute little Tilda isn't perched on a card, but rather a 4" pizza box, you can find an excellent tutorial at Split Coast Stampers.

The Joyeux Noel comes from a Bo Bunny paper, fussy cut around the edges and inked up a bit, and the scalloped bottom is cut from the same paper.  Tilda's perch is a strip of corrugated card, inked with white versa ink and then a strip of tissue tape is places across the middle.  A length of silver beading wire has been twisted around the strip of card and little curlicues formed at top and bottom.

The Christmas lights are a free digi you can find here.  I reduced them in Word so they were size appropriate and then once coloured I used a silver gel pen on the screw part of the bulb, and glossy accents on the glass part.

Going back to my old habits I have used silicone to adhere Tilda and the light bulbs.  Silicone is used in 3D decoupage (also called paper tole) and it is preferable to mounting foam as you can use tiny little amounts, it adheres to just about anything rapidly and the pieces can be angled for further dimension.  The only thing you must do if you use silicone is seal the back of your images with an acrylic medium (glossy accents will work), otherwise it will form a stain over time.

Challenges:

Winter Wonderland:  Light It Up

Humbug! A Sweet Treat

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
white card
"Santa Called" image from here
sentiment from here
tickets from here
large matchbox

Tools:
printer
snowflake embossing folder or plate
sizzix big shot
border punch

The theme this week at Winter Wonderland is white on white, only the image is allowed to be coloured.

I looked through the other cards entered into the challengee and was in awe, but as I was looking at these beautifully embossed and die cut creations I was thinking to myself that I couldn't make anything like that because I have so few dies and tools still.

So for this challenge I wanted to do something totally different, go back to grass roots and make something that was fun, clean and crisp, and easily duplicated for very little cost.  This is also equally suitable to give to kids and boys/men of all ages.

I have used an oversized matchbox as the base for my easel card, measured the sides and face of the box and multiplied that by two, and then measured the height of the box and cut a strip of paper to suit.  I ran this through my sizzix with a Fiskars snowflake plate, but Fiskars plates can also be used with a texturing tool which is only a few dollars, and it will give the same embossed effect.  Alternatively you can buy pre-embossed and textured papers in the scrapbooking section of most craft shops.

The easel card is made just like any other easel card, and I made sure that I attached the base of the card to the matchbox first, then glued the wrapper of the top of that, for a neat, seamless top. 

The ticket I made myself, with a combination of the blank ticket template I listed above and the sentiment, simply merging one of the top of the other so I had the sentiment I wanted.

I lined the inside of the box and the front panels of the drawer with the same snowflake pattern, in fact the whole box was made with about half a sheet of plain white card, very economical!  A little diamond set brad forms the knob on the drawer.

Inside I have placed hard boiled sweets that we call humbugs, perfect for those who go around during the holiday season exlaiming Bah!  Humbug!

Winter Fairy Christmas Card

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
cardstock
Distress Ink:
* Victorian Velvet
* Bundled Sage
* Vintage Photo
* Aged Mahogany
Basic Grey Digital Papers:
*DSH-621 Yule Log
*DSH-630 Tree Skirt
watercolour paper
Wee Stamps Digi Winter Fairy
paper doily
Sparkly Fluff
pink glitter glue
various embellishments

Tools:
paper cutting/scoring tool
flower paper punch
holly punch
printer

I love working with Sylvia Zet's images, so sweet!  She is printed on water colour paper and painted with distress inks.  She has a touch of pearl pink paint on the centre part of the wings topped with a light coat of crackle medium.

The little flowers were made with two sizes of a flower punch cut from water colour paper, I love the texture this paper has, the edges are brushed with distress inks, with a wee little pearl for the centre.

Challenges:

Basic Grey - Sketch
Totally Gorjuss - Christmas in July
Crafty Catz - Christmas in July
Winter Wonderland - Fairies or Angels
Cuddly Buddly - Petals and Pearls

Edwin's Holly Wreath

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
Martha Stewart Holly Punch
two shades of green paper
adhesive
Rock Candy Stickles
red seed beads
Edwin as Santa Magnolia Mini Worlds
Copics:
Reds: R25, R27, R29
Greys: C-3, C-5, C-7
Browns: E11, E21
Buckle: Silver Gel Pen
White trim: Opaque White pen
wooden curtain ring
green acrylic paint
red ribbon

I know we aren't supposed to rave over our own projects, but I love the way this one turned out, so cute!

I started with a wooden curtain ring and gave it a lick of green paint.  This ensures that any little gaps in the holly leaves won't be noticed.

I used two shades of green, and two textures of paper also.  The darker green has a weave pattern to it, the lighter green is mulberry paper and has that lovely, rugged texture to it.  Chomp, chomp, chomp with the holly punch! I also cut the leaves apart so rather than dealing with a pair of leaves, I could glue on individual leaves.

Here's the first circle of holly leaves going around the inner circle.

Then the second circle of holly leaves going around the outer circle.

A final ring of holly leaves is placed directly on top to finish the wreath and little clusters of red seed beads are glued around for the holly berries. A touch of fairy dust (aka Rock Candy Stickles), a ribbon and a wee little Edwin.

Challenges: 

Winter Wonderland - Holly and Ivy
Polka Doodles - Christmas in July
Christmas Stamping All Year Long - All About You
Jellypark Friends - Christmas in July 
iCopic - Anything but a Card

Santa's Chimney Matchbox Ornament

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
matchbox
manila card
brick texture embossing folder
Copic Markers
silver gel pen
glitter glue
wooden bead
string
Distress Inks
* Frayed Burlap
* Fired Brick
* Aged Mahogany
* Walnut Stain
* Peeled Paint

Tools:
Tim Holtz Texture Fade
* brick wall
Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers die
* mini flourish
Sizzix Big Shot
scissors
Martha Stewart Holly Punch
Magnolia Mini World rubber stamp

The challenge at Winter Wonderland this week was give it a little lift, by using wet or dry embossing.

Part of what I enjoy about the challenges is choosing something that is out of the ordinary to work with, try and do something unexpected, so I had it in my head that I wanted to use the brick texture fade for this and be a little different.  But how?  The other thing I love about the challenges is how it gets my creative juices pumping!  In my head I have half a dozen different ways to use the brick texture in a Christmas project, but I had been wanting to make a matchbox ornament for weeks, so....

I inked the raised side of the texture fade with frayed burlap before putting the paper in and running it through the machine, to get some ink deep into the crevasses.  Then the embossed areas are inked with fired brick, walnut stain, aged mahogany and a little more frayed burlap.  It's then cut into small rectangles and glued on all four sides of a regular size match box.  Looks just like a chimney!

The back of the ornament showcases the brick texture.

Once the "chimney" has been made, the rest is just a matter of laying embellishments until you get the result that you want.  I used a corrugated card mini flourish, a Christmas ticket by Tim Holtz, some string, a silver tree charm and a sprig of holly with a splash of glitter glue.  The image is a Magnolia Mini World, and wow they are so teeny that they make the brush nib on a copic look like an oversized crayon! 

The inner tray of the matchbox is coloured with brown copics, as is the bead, which is threaded through the top with string to act as a hanger for the tree.  Small treats can be placed inside and hung on the tree.  I had so much fun with this that I plan to make a *lot* more like this!  Fairly quick to put together, very inexpensive, and the scope for creativity is enormous!

Challenge entries:

Winter Wonderland, use wet or dry embossing.

Simon Says Stamp and Show is show some embossing, it's going in there too!

Snowman Parts Gift Box

Technique:  Papercrafting

Materials:
patterned paper
Snowman Parts digi
Distress Inks:
* Victorian Velvet
* Vintage Photo
* Walnut Stain
* Milled Lavender
* Faded Denim
water colour paper
adhesives
ribbon, bling etc

Tools:
aqua brush
printer

The Winter Wonderland challenge for this week is red and green must not be seen.  It's actually tougher than I expected, especially as I had decided I wasn't going to use blues either.

I started with another Domino box, these are my favourite things to work on at the moment!  Here's what it looked like before I started doing anything to it.

The edges have been inked with walnut stain before gluing on the patterned paper.  The gorgeous paper was the inspiration for the whole box, the warm chocolate colours with dusky pink and plum.  Usually I choose a paper to compliment the stamp, I loved this paper so much I did it the other way around!  Ink the edges again with walnut stain after they have been glued into place.

You can download the paper for free from here.

The digi is coloured with distress inks, I love the soft, warm look they give The patterned paper really is the star here so I choose to keep it simple with just a ribbon, and a flower made from snowflakes.  This box will be perfect filled with marshmallows and pretzels (snowman parts!)

Before I go I wanted to share my little adventure this afternoon. As I was working on this box hubby came bouncing into the house yelling "There's a koala! There's a koala!". He had gone out to the car and he saw a koala running along the road, when it got startled it ran up the tree in our neighbour's front yard. To give you an idea of just how rare and special this is, I have lived in suburbia almost all of my life, and this is the first time in my 40 years that I have ever seen a koala just wandering around!

Christmas Buffet Card

The card viewed open

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
cardstock
digital stamp
Copic markers
adhesive
patterned paper
button
ribbon

Tools:
paper cutting/scoring tool
scissors

The challenge at Winter Wonderland this week was a Christmas Buffet,  where we were offered a smorgasbord of patterened paper, 1 charm, ribbon, snowflakes, buttons/gemstones or brads, and from that list we had to choose three.  I chose patterened paper, a button and ribbon.

The past two weeks I had done very cutesy cards, this week I wanted to get away from that and try something with a vintage feel.   The image I used is actually a colouring book image that I found on this site.  Aren't they just gorgeous!  Incredibly detailed, and quite challenging to colour with copics when scaled down to a size suitable for cards, but the end result was worth it I think.  I took the 'christmas buffet' theme a step further and chose an image that suited that theme also :)

The patterned paper is Basic Grey, Dasher, which you can download digitally from their site here.  The tag that I used is included in their Dasher Starter Kit.

The card has a half flap on the front, so the centre back of the card shows.  I'm new to card making so I am not sure what that style is called?  I felt it suited the narrow image I had chosen nicely though.  The card is finished with a sprinkle of glitter, one button with a teensy bit of ribbon. 

The card when closed

I had a look through all the challenge entries this week, the quality is simply stunning!  Over the moon to have  had two cards chosen in the top three now, thankyou! :o)

Pretty in Pink Winter Wonderland Challenge

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
cardstock
designer paper
Distress Ink:
* Victorian Velvet
* Bundled Sage
* Vintage Photo
* Aged Mahogany
watercolour paper
Wee Stamps Digi Winter Fairy
Sparkly Fluff
pink glitter glue
various embellishments

Tools:
paper cutting/scoring tool
Fiskars Border Punch
printer

The challenge over at Winter Wonderland this week is Pretty in Pink  As my range of copics is still very limited to traditional Christmas reds and greens, that meant using a water colour palette with my distress inks and choosing a dusty pink, so I wanted a project that was a little vintage, but not the grungy type of vintage that is so popular, I wanted a soft, feminine feel.

I found the idea for the 'book card' here.  The photos are clear and easy to follow, and the measurements in metric, which is a bonus for me!  All the edges on my card are sponged with Victorian Velvet, and I used a Fiskars border punch for the edges.  If you haven't made one of these before they come together quickly and easily and are perfect for giving small gifts inside.

I purchased the Wee Stamps Winter Fairy digi from Cuddly Buddly because it allows me to download instantly, rather than waiting for someone to email me the image.  She is printed with a laser printer onto water colour paper and then painted using the palette listed above.

Her wings are highlighted with glitter glue, and her fur trim is done with Sparkly Fluff.

The sentiment I used for inside the book is from here.  Tonnes of fabulous word art freebies on the site, so spend some time checking it out.

The designer paper I used was a digital freebie that you can download here.  Another site with a large selection of free digital papers to download, worth the visit.

I had a great time putting this card together, learning some new techniques and a new card style.

Bentley With Poinsettia Christmas Card

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
cardstock in red, white and black
cobweb paper in red
glue stick
gold glitter glue
Sparkly Fluff
PVA glue
Bentley with Poinsettias digital stamp
Peeled Paint Distress Ink
No 10 red crochet thread
gold leaf

Tools:
paper trimmer & scorer
snowflake embossing plate
1.5mm crochet hook
2.00mm crochet hook
Sizzix Big Shot
Tim Holtz Alterations die
* Mini Flourish
* Tags and Bookplates
Copic markers:
Browns:  E31, E33, E37
Greens: G02, G05, G07
Reds:  R22, R27, R29
Greys: C-0, C-3, C-5

Christmas Flowers was the theme for the challenge over at Winter Wonderland this week and this gorgeous little Bentley digital stamp was perfect.  Bentley is coloured with copic markers, with a touch of gold glitter glue in the centre of the poinsettia.  His little friend has a touch of Sparkly Fluff to trim the hat.

The card is a 6" easel card made from red card stock.  Although it doesn't show up in the photo the white card has been run through the Sizzix to emboss a snowflake pattern onto it.  Two strips of red cobweb paper have been criss crossed over the white card, and then the image of Bentley was mounted to a piece of black card and glued into position.

The flourish is from the Tim Holtz Mini Flourish die, cut out of white card and coloured with copics and distressed with Peeled Paint ink.

The pattern for the poinsettias is actually a snowflake pattern.  Make two, one with each size of crochet hook, this will give you a large flake and a small flake.  When layered they will look like a flower.  The centre of the flower is made with gold seed beads and PVA glue, with a touch of gold glitter glue.

The original pattern can be found here.   

Ch 4, sl st into 1st ch OR make magic ring.

Round 1: 12 sc in ring; sl st in starting sc. Pull magic circle tight, but leave opening big enough to allow stitches inside it to lay flat.

Round 2: *Ch 2, dc in next sc, ch 2, sl st in next sc; repeat from * around 5 times, sl st in sc of final sl st of Round 1.

Round 3: *Ch 4, dc in next dc, ch 4, sl st over next sl into sc below; repeat from * around 5 times, sl st in final sl st of Round 2.

Round 4: *4 sc in next ch 4 sp, ch 2, dc in next dc, ch 2, 4 sc in next ch 4 sp; repeat from * around 5 times, sl st in final sl st of Round 3; bind off. Weave in ends.

 

To prop the easel card open I created a 'santa buckle' using the rectangular book plate covered with gold leaf.  I have left the centre blank to hand write the recipients name.

I hope you enjoyed my card, it is only the second one I have made, and my first attempt at colouring with copics.