Authentique - Colourful Christmas

Hello, Lynn here to show you a the make and take I did at our Christmas Crop. We made special Christmas cards using a Kaisercreaft Card Creations Die and papers from the delightful, Authentique - Colourful Christmas Collection.

These die sets come in distinctive packaging with black and white polka dot trimming, so they are easy to spot in the shop. The pack includes the three dies, full instructions and a magnetic sheet so you can store them easily and safely.

For a card base measuring 4" x 6" cut a piece of cardstock (Kraft Bazzill) 6" x 8", with the card laying horizontal on the board, score vertically at 2" & 4". The finished card will fit easily into a C6 size envelope, and allow for any lumpy embellishments too.

Using the reverse side of 'Colourful Christmas Four' cut a piece just a tiny bit smaller than 4" x 6", ink the edges with Distress Ink and stick to the inside of the card. With the card in horizontal mode, make a soft pencil mark at the centre (2" down from the score line x 3" in from the sides). Using the smallest of the three dies, line it up (just under the mark) and lightly tape in place with low tack tape. This will form a stopper for the easel card. I used a Sharpie to mark the centre on the back of the dies to make lining up easier. BEFORE CUTTING ...

 

... Flip the card over and take the 'Colourful Christmas Five' paper and cut two pieces just a tiny bit smaller than 2" x 6", ink the edges as before and stick to either side of the fold on the front of the card. Again with the card in horizontal mode, lay the flat side of the larger semi circle die against the fold in the front of the card, at any position along the fold you choose, and tape in place as before.

Run the card with the two dies attached through the die cutting machine. Remove the tape and dies carefully, erase any pencil marks. Ink all around the card edges including the die cut shapes. Play around with the folds, working them back and forth until your card sits correctly as an easel.

With a piece of cardstock (Kraft Bazzill) about 4" x 6" and cut the third die from the set (the bauble) and a greeting (Crafter's Companion - Merry Christmas). Then the fun bit - using Creative Expressions - Cosmic Shimmer - Glitter Kiss (Frosty Sparkle) add layers of gliter to the die cuts. This gave my choice of cardstock the look of a sugared cookie.
Please see Julie's review of this product from earlier this year.

Punch a 2" circle from a scrap of coloured cardstock. Stick the bauble over it and trim.  Then stick the whole thing to the raised area of the card using double sided 3D foam pads.  Tie a bow in some narrow ribbon to place at the top of the bauble. Add the greeting and any more embellishments you require.

Here are a few made from the same paper collection.

Thanks for looking & Merry Christmas
Lynn x

Christmas Cropping!

We are Christmas cropping tomorrow at Otley Village Hall, and it's a slightly different set-up to normal. The shop will be open from 9am, and I hope to close it at 10.15am. The village hall will be open from 9.20am, so you can shop and go straight to the hall. There will a Christmas Challenge Kit, instead of our usual layout, 2 free make & takes, and of course Christmas Bingo! So, lots going on - just remember to do your shopping first!

set sail

this is a home decor piece i have been working on using the prima St Tropez collection

the wooden anchor i bought ages ago, saw it and thought that it would be great to alter.

The "set sail" was stamped with my free set of nautical stamps from a paper craft magazine

and then i went over that with my pyrography set so the words were etched into the anchor

starting at the base of my anchor i made a film strip from grunge board, which i coloured using distress oxides and mists and some stamping.I then cut  my photos to fit into the apertures layered this with patterned paper from the 8x8 paper pad. Added metal cogs and left over  fishnet chipboard. made a paper flower to the base.

working up to the top of the anchor, i made 2 more rolled paper flowers and some more chipboard. Finally at the very top another flower and a small glass bottle containing shells and the small circular waste from sequins in gold and silver.

G45 Winter Wonderland

Hello again, it's Anita with you today.

I have been playing with some sheets from the stunning festive collection from G45 called Winter Wonderland. It is a Scandinavian inspired collection with the addition of swallows, robins and traditional holly berries and poinsettias.

I thought for a change, rather than create a scrapbook page, I would make a bauble for our tree and a couple of cards to start off the pile I need to make ( I am so NOT a natural card maker and really struggle with them!)

So, I started with a large glass bauble which I removed the metal hook and top from until I had finished it. I cut lots and lots of strips from various sheets, with widths ranging from 1 cm to 1.5 cms and into lengths of 6 inches long.

Woodland Whimsy
Scandinavian Sampler
Yule Post
Pretty Poinsettia

I rolled each length up into tight little coils and then popped them into the bauble before they slightly un-ravelled. I carried on until the bauble was almost full, then popped the hanging hook and metal top back on. The top was a shiny silver and didn't really sit well with the vintage tones in the papers, so I cut a thin strip from one of the sheets and wrapped around the top. Then cut a few short lengths of organza ribbon and tied them onto the hanging hook to finish it off. I think I will probably make a set of 4 or 6 to put on our actual Christmas Tree when we get one. I always look forward to our annual visit to the local Christmas Tree farm to pick one.

These papers also lend themselves well to creating cards.....and as I am not really very good with cards, it was an ideal opportunity to use the Rustic Holiday sheet with its decorative panels to adorn the front of my cards. I also matted each layer with some Antique Gold mirri board.

And then popped on a few red flat backed crystals just to finish them off.
So now I need to pull my finger out and make a little pile of cards to give to my fellow crafty friends when we next meet at our Christmas crop.

,

There is a vast selection of paper collections from G45 over on the shop site and they cover all sorts of themes.....or if you specifically wish for the Christmas collection I have used today, you can find it here.

Warmest wishes
Anita xx

Elfis is in da house with Doodlebug

Hi Tracee with you today and I have a really fun layout to share using Doodlebug's Milk & Cookies collection. A couple of years ago I created my own human version of "Elf on a Shelf"  For 15 days I posed in different "Elf" situations, this was my 'Elfis' impersonation! I have never scrapped these photo's and the Milk & Cookies collection is such a fun line that the two went together perfectly.

Elvis was a superstar and so I cut out the Star circle cut file to be the main feature on my page, I put some patterned paper behind some of the bigger stars. Each month Vanessa sends some goodies to use on my pages and I save them all in a little bag and pull them out sometimes it's a couple of months later before I use them, the "Daily Details" frame was originally plain white cardstock and I used silver embossing powder to give it sparkle. I drew a  striped border all around the page as it didn't quite look finished somehow.

I used the sticker sheet from the Milk & cookies collection to make a little Christmas cluster next to my photo. I used a sticker from a sheet of Bella Boulevard "little bits" and cut it into pieces to spread across my page. 

In recent years I have collected American Crafts Thickers and my drawer is full to bursting, new ones keep appearing in the shop and I am almost powerless to resist, I was happy to use some these foam ones on my page. I added a wood veneer speech bubble that said "Perfect" but it wasn't right for my page so I covered it with some stickers to make it fit what I wanted, I quite often do this.

Hope you are all ready to craft for Christmas, if you are stuck for inspiration there are lots of lovely things in the shop to get your creativity flowing take a look here

A Perfect Christmas with Echo Park #1

Hi all, it's Anna back with you today and I'm here with my first Christmas post with the lovely Echo Park ~ A Perfect Christmas collection! 

I will be sharing a few Christmas makes with this collection. I love Christmas and Christmas shopping. I love the feeling of buying or making something that I think the recipient will be really pleased with. 

First up, some Christmas tags! 

I began by using this sheet in the 'A Perfect Christmas' collection. I cut out a selection of the tag designs. 

Then I found some tags to use along with some Christmas embellishments.
I changed some of the string on the tags to gold twine and added some punched out Christmas shapes, wood and sticker embellishments. 

Now I just need to find some matching wrapping paper, pretty bows and ribbons and I'm ready to wrap my Christmas gifts!

Thanks for looking, I hope I've given you some festive inspiration for Christmas crafting! 

Have a great week. 

Anna 

X

Creative Journaling with Odds and Ends

Hello everyone,

I'm back this month with a post all about creative journaling, and how to put a page together when you've only got scraps left! I created this page primarily with some scraps from the Turn the Page collection, a few puffy stickers from Amy Tangerine, the ends of two washi rolls and the last of some enamel dots.

Before I start, yes I am a crazy dog lady who bought some hats for her dogs... I promise they were just for a photoshoot! Haha. Firstly, I used a strip of the #05 paper from Turn the Page, to create a flip-up insert in my creative journal. This maximises the space in my journal, and means I can create multiple layouts per page! To do this, I cut a strip to size, and secured it at the top of the page with washi so that it can flip up... so simple! Later, I will reinforce the washi with some selotape to ensure it stays in place.

My layouts are always simple, and quite similar. I adhered some doilies at the bottom of the page, and layered my photos on top of these. I felt that the page needed a title, so I used some old stickers from Simple Stories in the bottom right-hand corner. I then put together some embellishment clusters with the puffy stickers, washi and enamel dots.

To finish off the page, I stamped the date and doodled around the edge. I'm sure I've said it before, but I really feel that a few doodles finish off a layout when you just can't quite figure out what it's missing.

So there we have it! I hope you're all well and that you enjoyed my photos.

Chloé

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