Christmas Craft Creations Birthday

 

     Over at Christmas Craft Creations this month it's our First Birthday and we are celebrating by having a Birthday prize pot, you might want to take a look at our theme of No Stamping, then come and join in the fun.

     I started this with some lovely blue card that used to be a folder, using a snowfall die I cut the holes into it. 

     The trees were cut from silver mirri card and stuck onto the blue card. I then trimmed the blue card so the trees were on the edges.

     Backing the blue panel with a white mat layer makes the holes into falling snow. Placing this onto another blue layer before going on a white card blank framed the whole panel.

     The finishing touch was to add some deer die cut from silver and grey glitter card.

     A very simple Winter card all done with die cuts, mostly from the John Next Door range.

     Come and join us at Christmas Craft Creations this month, just remember our theme is 'no stamping'.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Winter Wonderland - Peace On Earth

Sparkles Christmas - Trees

Jingle Belles - Peace On Earth, Recycle Something

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas

Spring Flowers

     A new challenge at The Paper Funday begins today, the theme this month is Spring. My chosen image is a digi stamp called Scribbled Flora from Fred, She Said.

     I chose to print my image on green card rather than white, it gives the colours a different look and saves colouring in the background.

     For the colouring I have used some inexpensive metallic markers from Scribblicious, there are six colours in the box. Some colours came out showing more metallic sheen than others but on the whole I think the experiment was worthwhile.

     For the grass area at the bottom I used a watercolour pencil, it came out a little more subtle than the pen would have and adds another shade of green to the mix.

     I die cut a Kraft frame and stamped woodgrain on it, there was a noticeable join on the left where I had to match up the stamping, so I chose to cover it with a few flowers.

     The frame was mounted on 1mm foam tape to give it a little dimension and a more realistic look.     

     I printed the image again on white card and used the same pens to colour the flowers. The colours came out a little brighter but not too noticeable. 

     Each flower head was cut out, shaped with a ball tool and then added to the frame, now they look like they were always meant to be there.

     It's quite a simple card with no greeting so it can be used for almost any occasion and as it's nice and thin it will go standard post too.

     Come and join us at The Paper Funday with your Spring creations, anything as long as it's made with paper or card and follows our\theme.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create - In The Garden

Dream Valley - #245 Springtime

Make My Monday - Easter or Spring

Hoppy Easter

 

     Hoppy Easter everyone, enjoy your weekend and keep warm!

     Things are beginning to get back to near normal, I don't suppose it will ever be quite the same again but I for one am grateful to still be here and glad to have crafting to keep me busy. March had a few surprises, that's why it's been rather quiet on here, but after Easter it should all return to it's normal erratic self. Keep crafting and stay safe.

Kaleidoscopic Explosion

     Another sample made for John Next Door using the Deco Butterfly Collection, these dies really are pretty useful on their own.

     

     This card is based on the traditional exploding box, it's just a butterfly shaped box.

     From cream card I cut two of the large solid butterflies and made an explosion box without any flaps. It's just the framework with a few tweeks so it sits behind the butterflies without being seen.

     

     As the back butterfly can be seen I decided to cut two filigree shapes in dark brown card to cover the solid cream shape, they are only attached down the body leaving the wings to stand out.

     It's just like a normal explosion box in that it will fold flat for posting, it will just need a large envelope to hold all the insects.

     All of the smaller butterflies were cut in coloured card, each one was then made with opposing colours of solid and filigree, no two are the same.

     To get the butterflies flying I have used some strong acetate, the thin one couldn't hold the weight of the card very well. They are all attached with redline tape at various angles so they all 'explode' out of the large shape.

     I did find that the back shape had to be trimmed down at the bottom by an eighth of an inch to stand correctly, the weight of the flying shapes was trying to pull the whole thing forward and they didn't stand tall.

     This is another of those cards that looks complicated but really isn't and with dies like this you can put your own twist on it by changing the look of the box.

Materials used 

JND212 - Butterfly collection Dec Large Butterfly

JND211 - Butterfly collection Deco Butterflies dies

S57320 - Thick Acetate

S57262 - 3D PVA glue

S57085 - Ultra Clear Tape 6mm  (Redline)

   Other items from stash

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

CCEE Stampers - #2110 Butterflies

Craft Rocket - #79 Use Dies and/or Spring

Mod Squad - Beautiful Butterflies

Through The Craft Room Door - Mar 9 Anything Goes 

Lemon Shortbread - #141 Anything Goes

Day Of The Month Card Club - #25 Learn About Butterflies

Christmas Flowers

     This months challenge at Christmas Craft Creations is Christmas Flowers, it doesn't have to be a card either, we accept scrapbook layouts, ATC's or 3D projects.

     This card is based on an idea I saw on Pinterest by Lucy Abrams, thank you Lucy. 

     The card blank was covered with a patterned paper from stash, wrapping the paper over the spine for a neater presentation.

     I then cut a mat layer to fit the card and die cut two poinsettia shapes out of it.  The shapes were cut with a deliberate 'off the edge' look. I also cut the greeting in the red same card.

     Using a dark red and cream based backing paper gives the whole card a vintage look, especially after the addition of Distress ink.

    

     Using Distress ink I coloured all the edges of the red card to darken them a little and coloured over the greetings too.

     The idea was to mount the red panel on foam over the patterned paper, but I found it a bit too fiddly to get foam into the flower centre, so I opted to stick it flat on to the paper. The greeting was stuck flat on to the card, at opposite corners.

     Using a gold pen I ran around the entire red card layer with a stitch pattern, this was nice but didn't show up at certain angles. To make the stitching more obvious I then used a fine line black pen to run alongside each gold stitch.

     I also drew around each greeting to make it stand out more. There is a gold pearl in the centre of each flower to help pick out the gold in the stitching.

     It's almost flat so would go as standard post, I shall choose a more basic shape next time I try this so I can use foam tape to lift the top layer a little.

     It may a little early in the year for some of you to be making cards for Christmas but the more you do now the easier it will be come November, so come and join us at Christmas Craft Creations once a month....or more if you wish...to build up that stash of cards.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

The Holly and Ivy - #90 Anything Christmas

Merry Little Christmas - #32 Anything Christmas

Fezziwigs Festive Frolics - Vintage Christmas

Christmas 24 - #029 Tic Tac Toe (Die Cut, DSP, Pearls)

My Time To Craft - Christmas Flowers

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas - #532 Anything Christmas

Moon Gazing Hare

 

     This is a birthday card I made for my friend, she loves hare's and fairies. I was so engrossed in making it I forgot to take any photos of the process, not that you need them as I'm sure you can see just how easy it was.

     It started with a square of white card, a large toadstool stamp and Versafine black ink. I have to say having a stamp platform has revolutionised my work, I can stamp a silhouette with confidence now, safe in the knowledge that if I miss a bit I can stamp again in exactly the same place.

     I then die cut a circular mask for the moon and placed it partly over the top of the toadstool. With the moon masked I used a stencil, a couple of blending brushes and some Distress Inks to create a subtle background in the centre of the card. This technique was picked up from the amazing Eileen Godwin.

     With the mask removed I stamped the fairy, the two small toadstools and the hare with Versafine black ink. Once dry I used a watercolour pencil to add a touch of yellow to the fungi and a little shadow beneath the hare and the toadstools to ground them.

     The sentiment was added, again in black, there is no reference to a birthday so she can frame it to add to her growing hare collection.

     A little thin black mat layer before going on a white card blank sets off the stamping. The final touch was to add some Stardust Geli glaze to the fairy's wings, just enough to catch the light but not to over power the image.

     I didn't know that a moon gazing hare is an ancient symbol of growth, abundance and good fortune, rather nice for a birthday card.

     

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Animal Friends - Hare / Rabbit

Country View - Silhouettes

Just Us Girls - #574 Animals     Chick of the week

The Fairy and The Unicorn - Anything Fantasy

Entomology Box

     John Next Door has some new dies out this weekend, this project is made with the Deco Butterfly collection. I am fascinated by these insect displays but don't like the idea of harming anything for the sake of art, so why not make it with paper.

     The large rectangular die has no outer cutting edge so it can be used to make a window, as luck would have it I already had a die for a shallow box that was just the right size. It's easy enough to make a box but using a ready made die is so much faster.

     The box was cut from dark brown pearl card, there is also a stand on the back cut from the same brown card. Each butterfly has a solid die cut gold shape stuck underneath to accent them.

     Adding the acetate to the inside of the lid proved interesting, I had to use very narrow redline tape on the 'bars' of the design to stop them bowing.

     

     The inside of the box was too dark without a backing paper, so I used a digi paper and printed it to be very pale, just enough to give a hint of a pattern.

     I cut three of the filigree butterflies in brown card and the three corresponding solids from ombre paper. Each butterfly has a stamen folded in half and stuck to the back to create the antenna. These insects were then added to the backing paper on thin foam tape, making sure they would appear in the centre window of the lid.

     For the added information about the butterflies I used a small ticket die, each one cut in kraft card and edged with brown ink to age it.

     The words on the tickets are from a script stamp in my stash, it's an acrylic stamp so I was able to ink just the word I wanted and carefully bend the stamp so only that word was in contact with the card.     

     The foliage is die cut using some of John's past dies, shaped and coloured before being added to the tickets. The other items are whole cloves, which give the box a great aroma, and two chopped down cotton buds to look like chrysalis.

     There is a ticket just below the largest butterfly with a greeting stamped on it. This was partly because the wording was right and partly because the script matched the other tickets.

     All the tickets were mounted on foam tape to give them a little lift inside the box.

     I now plan to trawl through my stash and find any insect stamps and dies I have, then I will make a larger project including a variety of bugs because I enjoyed making this one so much.

     These boxes appeal to both sexes, by changing the colours it can be tailored to suit it's recipient, imagine a box full of beetles for a young boy.

Materials used 

JND210 - Butterfly collection Dec Frame die

JND211 - Butterfly collection Deco Butterflies dies

JND120 - Foil Rose Leaves dies

JNDAD016 - Elderflower dies

S57320 - Thick Acetate

S57262 - 3D PVA glue

   Other items from stash

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

The Male Room - #148 Not A Card

Creative Uncles - #14 Wildlife

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything With a Critter

Day Of The Month Card Club - #25 Learn About Butterflies

Crafty Catz - #541 Anything Goes/ Dies or Punch

Mod Squad - Beautiful Butterflies