Christmas Tags

It's nice to make your own tags for Christmas gifts sometimes especially for the special people in your life.  I've designed a selection using Woodware stamps but in keeping with the theme for last week , quick Christmas cards, they could just as easily be mounted onto a card blank for a speedy card. Here's what I came up with.  

 All the tags I've used I have made myself & they measure approx 6" x 3.5" with the bottom corners rounded with a corner rounder punch. For the above design I've  sponged some red & green ink onto the tag & the stamp I've used is FRS029 Holly & Ivy Tag. I've added some punched holly leaves using the yellow holly punch & paper from perfect Prints pad "Dark Spots". The "ivy" leaves at the bottom come from the peach maple punch. To finish add some Card Candi & tartan ribbon.

 Here we have a craft card tag & the stamp set is FRS025 " Snow Post". I stamped the main image onto white card & coloured with pencils. I cut this out & mounted into the image which I had stamped onto the tag. To finish I  added some strips from Perfect Prints pad "Tis the Season" & some green rik rak braid.

Lastly I took a plain black tag & stamped the sentiment  from the stamp set JGS457 Hand drawn Greetings using Brilliance Moonlight White inkpad. I highlighted the letters using a white gel pen & the stars come from FRS345 "Seeing Stars".To add a little sparkle I've  added some Mark Richards s/a Crystal Stars & white spotty organza ribbon for the tie.

All products available from:-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

The Canvas of Curiosities

Here's something I've had buzzing around in my mind for quite some time now if only I could find some "me" time. Sound familiar? At last I got to rummage in the darkest corners of my craft room (& jewellery box) & let my imagination run riot. As you can see, minimalist it ain't! Planned  & carefully executed....nope!! But isn't that what "mixed media" is all about?  It's about gathering around your crafting cauldron & seeing what your crazed (in my case!) mind will produce. Sometimes it goes wrong & after much chest beating it goes in the bin but in this case.. well I'm quite proud of my result. May I present my "Canvas of Curiosities" !

 

 OK so I started by taking a A4 box canvas which had been lurking at the back of one of my cupboards for a while. Using a stencil & Dreamweaver white embossing paste I pasted  the textured flourishes in the corners then when dry I painted the whole thing with black gesso. So I could have used black paste after I'd applied gesso but guess what? Only had glossy not matt. So next came the fun bits. I took some Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish to added some gorgeous blue sheen to the canvas & pasted bits. I also sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer mists in Antique Brass & Pink Ice.

 Now it was time to go mad with the glue gun & use all those jewellery pieces  which you know you'll never wear again but which you're loath to put in the bin. The heart you see in the above pic I made with my Melt Pot when I first had it (had to have one, ask me how many times I've used it!!) . I used a silicone mould UTEE & embossing powders but to age it a bit I've given it a coat of metallic acrylic paint & the gilding polish. You can also see some skeleton leaves (used to love those!) 

So the keys to life on the tree of life? A bit cryptic perhaps. You never know what you're going to find when you have a rummage do you? I unearthed the little tree which I found in a pound shop intending to enamel it in said Melt Pot but I'm glad I didn't now. Now you may notice the "trails" of hot glue left from my glue which I didn't notice until I'd done my photos (muttered curses!) however the more I looked I kind of liked the cobwebby effect which seemed in keeping with the general look I'm going for so I decided to leave them. 

 At one side I added some old paint brushes with some chains, shells old earrings.

 More jewels, buttons & charms.

 Lastly I went over the whole thing with the gilding polish & sprays & left over night to dry. 

Here it is on the wall & as you can see I've allowed the chunky chain to trail off the canvas a bit. I'm really pleased with the end product but the only trouble is... I can feel another one coming on!! Now where did I put all those other treasures??  

Quick Christmas Designs

All materials used available from:-

ww.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

 This week we're looking to make some quick Christmas designs & I got carried away & made 3 so you can see how quick they were to do. They may look a bit more than a quick card but trust me gentle crafter they are easy to do! Here's how......  

 This is based on a 5x7 white card blank with a red & green mat & layer. The candles have created from some strips of corrugated & textured card from my stash (approx 3cms wide & varying lengths) & then I've clipped a semi circle from the top with the yellow punch.The flames of the candle come from gold mirror card & are the petals punched with the yellow orchid punch. The flowers come from Woodware's "Santa Flower" punch which is great as it embosses as it punches. The flowers are teamed with gold holly leaves also from a yellow punch. The sparkly background I made by covering a piece of flat white card with DS sheet & covering with Stampendous crystal glitter- easy to do if you don't have a piece of glitter card to hand. Here are the punches used.

Punches again for this fella & he's sitting on a 5 x 7 craft card blank.This has a piece of white vellum on the top which has been passed through a swirly embossing folder. The snowman face is made with the 3" circle punch & strips of red card  for his scarf which have been embossed. Card Candi for his eyes & to embellish &a scrap of orange card for his nose. The sentiment, which is from FRS622 Santa Post Elements, has been printed onto a punched circle & given the silver Stickles treatment.

 Lastly we have a really quick card as the background is all done for you! It comes from Craftwork Cards 8" x 8" paper pad "Christmas Cheer". I've punched some stars from the other papers in the pad using the green 1" punch & formed them into some Christmas bunting. The sentiment comes from JGS457 "Hand Drawn Greetings". Just to make the design pop I've added some Platinum Stickles.

Christmas Table Decorations

 FRS337 Gingerbread Men

2” holly & leafy branch punch (blue).

 1 ½” holly punch (yellow)

 Brilliance Graphite Black.

 Bright green & holly green card for punching. Gold mirror card.
A4 Red card.

Woodware Cork sheet. 

Red fabric marker. 

Gold wire. Red beads.

 Red & white organza ribbon.

 Stickles Frosted Lace.

All available from:-www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

Other materials:-

 20cm polystyrene ring. 

Gold wire. Red beads. 

We're looking at decorations for our festive table this week & OK I admit it I'm cheating... again!! This was a project which I designed for a workshop at Liberty Craft few weeks ago but why reinvent the wheel?! Here we have a wreath which can be hung or is just as at home being used as a candle ring for the table (although I would probably say use a battery candle for health & safety reasons). Here's how...

1.     Place the ring on top of the red card & draw around with a pencil. Cut out & set aside.

2.     Take pieces of patterned paper & tear into strips around 1” wide.

3.     Using PVA glue cover the top of the ring with the paper alternating the pattern. Set aside to dry.

4.     Stamp the Gingerbread Men (GBM) onto the cork sheet twice. Colour hats bowties & buttons etc. with red. I found that fabric pens of permanent marker dried best & quickest on the cork.

5.     Carefully cut out the individual Gingerbread men & set aside.

6.     Punch dark green holly leaves with blue punch & ferns with the bright green card & leafy branch blue punch. Punch gold holly leaves with yellow holly punch. Use a DEET give some vein character to the holly leaves.

7.     Glue the red card circle to the back of the wreath.

8.     Tie ribbon to top of wreath. Glue first GBM over ribbon. Position remaining 4 evenly around wreath & glue in place.

9.     Arrange holly & fern leaves around GBM. Use glue gun to adhere red beads among the leaves.

10.  Cut the gold wire into even portions (you have 1 metre) fold in half & curl each half around a wooden stick to produce corkscrews.

11. Make holes at intervals in side of wreath & add a little hot glue to folded end of gold curls before inserting into hole.

12. Add Frosted Lace Stickles to GBM .  

Here's the wreath hanging.

 A closer look

Woodware November Sketch Challenge

 Materials used:-

FRS624 Santa's Silly Jumper

Skaura Gelly Roll Glaze pens

Versafine Onyx Black

Stampendous detail clear embossing powder

Perfect Prints paper pads Fruit Stars & Bold Stars

Stickles Silver & Stardust

A5 card blank

All available from;-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

For our monthly sketch challenge I've chosen "Santa's Silly Jumper" from Francoise Read which is a wonderful fun design with plenty of scope for "colouring in" ! I've printed with black & embossed with clear powder which I always chose to do when using Sakura gel pens as the embossed outline contains the flow of the gel. I've made 2 copies & used the second to cut out the small rectangles for the bottom of the large image. The background is made from the Perfect Prints papers  but that's not part of the sketch. All the sentiments you can see come with the stamp set & to finish I've added some sparkle with the Stickles.

Here's the sketch

Christmas with Stix2 & Sizzix

I've been playing with some Sizzix Thinlet dies again with Stix2 sticky & sparkly products.

  

Stix2 Products used:-

 S57361 2 in 1 glue pen 

S57126 Clear Foam Pads

S57304 Rainbow White Iridescent Glitter

S57076 Seed bee'd & Fine Glitter Red

Stix2 5x7 white card blank 

Here I've used the new Stix2 2 in 1 glue pen to add some Ulta Fine Iridescent glitter. I've also used the Stix2 clear mounting pads covered with Ultra Fine red glitter to embellish the  corners of the design.

Stix2 Products used:-

S57361 2 in 1 glue pen 

S57126 Clear Foam Pads

S57304 Rainbow White Iridescent Glitter

Stix2 6 x 6 white card blank 

S57103 Double Sided Tape sheet (A4)

Tinted Blue card

For the snowman I've covered a piece of flat white card with the DS sheet before die cutting the body. After assembling the snowman I've covered with the glitter. For the background I punched some stars paced them onto the blue card & then removed the second backing sheet before adding glitter. I've used the clear pads again at the corners of the card. 

Christmas Greetings for the Men in our Lives

Materials used:-

FRS 623 Noel Tags

6 x 6 white card blank.

 Black card for stamping. 

Silver mirror card for layering & trimming.

 Paper from Craftworks Card 8 x 8 pad “Tartans”. 
Punched circle of silver pearl card.

Versamark pad. 

Stampendous Detail silver embossing powder.
 Brilliance Graphite Black

Versafine Onyx Black.
 Silver Nailheads. 
 3.5” circle punch (yellow)
All available from:-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

I'm really cheating this week I admit! 

This design I used in a workshop a while ago but I just felt that it fitted the bill

 perfectly for the theme this week

1.  Place your card blank with the fold at the top. Score & fold half way along the front horizontally so that the fold is pointing upwards. (Mountain fold). This forms the easel card.

2.  Take the black piece of card & wipe it well with an anti stat bag. Using Versamark, “ink” your stamp well before stamping onto the black card. Cover with silver embossing powder & remove any stray specks of powder with a soft brush before heating with a heat tool.

3.  Trim the image to edges of design & mount onto silver mirror card with just a narrow edge showing.

4.  Add the tartan paper to the bottom of the front of the card & to the bottom of the inside. Also attach the narrow bands of silver trim. Attach the image to the front/top of the card.

5.  Stamp the silver punched circle with the appropriate sentiments taking care to line up the circular stamp! Add to the centre of the bottom tartan band using a foam pad. This forms your “stop” bar.

6.   Stamp “Noel Tags” onto the inside of the card using Versafine. Add the silver “Nailheads” to the letter of the silver embossed piece & to the bottom silver strip.   

Here's a look at the stamped inside of the card

Tim Holtz "Wildflowers" from Sizzix

I've recently acquired this lovely set of Tim Holtz Thinlets dies from Sizzix & have had great fun playing with them. I did this one for our anniversary last week (Dave knows that the cards I make for him are only "on loan" !) We have the Woodware "Love Collage" printed with Momento London Fog for the background & the sentiment comes from "Hand Drawn Sentiments". 

Stix2 Calendar2016- November

Here we are at November & the penultimate page of the Stix2 calendar. As it's remembrance day this month I wanted to go with a poppy theme. I have used Woodware's FS228 Field of Poppies with JGS267 Grasses in the background. I have kept the look mainly monochromatic just adding a splash of red for the poppies. All the card used comes from the Stix2 "tinted" range.