Fan-fare Tail Turkey

     As Altered Eclectics is a mixed media, recycled challenge blog I decided to try making something for the festive season, this would work well for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

     I saw a book folded turkey on Pinterest and though it would be fun to make one, this one turned out a bit big for a table decoration, maybe a smaller book next time.
     This book was rescued from a recycle bin so I have not trashed a perfectly good book, it was going to be pulped, now it has a new lease of life.
     Half the book has been cut away and removed, retaining the hard cover for stability. Each page is folded over to form the front of the turkey.
     The tail is some old music manuscript, again rescued from pulping, rolled in to cones and glued to form a fan shape.

     The base of the tail was a little messy so there is a small semi-circle of music covered card glued on to tidy it all up. The bare spine is also covered with a piece of paper taken from the first page so that it matches the inside cover making it all very neat and tidy.
     The head is traced from a free digi and then mounted on card and tucked into the body. The surrounding hard cover could be decorated with fir cones, leaves, holly, or anything else you wish to use to add a little colour.
     Altered Eclectics is an anything goes challenge, anything BUT a card or ATC, so come over and show us your projects.

I would like to enter Bernard the turkey in the following challenges:

We Love To Create - Anything Goes

Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Paper Baubles

     Welcome to my project for CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge for this month. As the challenge name says it's anything made with patterned paper, cards, layouts, decorations or gift boxes, it's up to you what you would like to create.

     I have had these paper strips for a long time so it was time to use some of them, they're all 12inches long but only 1.5inches wide. They're single sided so I stuck two together with PVA glue, one green and one red.
     Once dry I cut one 4", 2x 4.5" and 2x5" long. The shortest strip is the centre piece with one 4.5" and one 5" stuck on either side of it. Attach some ribbon for hanging in between the centre and one of the 4.5" strips.
     Once the top is secure the bottom can be stuck, by matching up the bottom of each strip the longer strips are forced to curve. I had a large gap in the centre so I filled that with scrolls of the same strip glued to the centre strip.

     To decorate the bauble I wanted to add some gem stars but the only ones I had left were pink, alcohol pens work beautifully on gems so that's what I did to get my yellow stars.
     Decoration has been kept simple with two stars on each side, one top and one bottom, but ribbons, tassells or bells could be added to this simple shape.
    This is a great decoration to make with children as no machinery or sharp tools need to be used, they often come up with some amazing creations as they're not held back by how they think it should look. Being paper it's also a safe decoration to have near the bottom of the tree where little fingers can reach them.

     If you keep all of one colour strip facing one way as the bauble turns it will 'change colour'. You could make giant decorations to hang in large hallways or public buildings and once Christmas has finished they can be recycled.
     Come over and join us at CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge with your creations, you have a month to bring your creations over to show us.

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

Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Allsorts 387 - Let's Make A Start On Christmas

Foiled Again

     We'll all need a few thank you cards and tags after Christmas so here's a way to use up some of those patterned paper scraps you have hanging around, you know the ones, too small for a major project but too big to throw out.
     The tag is stamped with a script stamp Old Letter in purple, the smudges are part of the stamp...honest!  The word thanks is from the Butterflies set, this has four beautiful butterflies, all different, stamped in black.

       Using one of the butterflies stamp the tag and a scrap of patterned paper in black ink. The butterfly on the tag is not coloured in but the butterfly on the paper will be, using the Stix2 glue pen and foils.
    This glue pen is a permanent adhesive when used  while it's blue but when it is allowed to turn clear it is a repositionable glue. It is best to work one foil colour at a time, draw the glue on and leave to go clear, lay the foil over the glue with the pretty side up and press gently, remove the foil sheet and repeat as required. You only need to accent the markings with foil as its already patterned.
     Cut out the paper butterfly, you won't need to cut round the antenna as the butterfly on the tag will provide those. Using the glue pen stick just the body of the paper butterfly over the blank one. Put a foam pad under each wing, close to the body, this will make the wings stand up slightly.
     All that remains is to add ribbon, this ribbon was white before it was coloured with an alcohol pen to match the foils.


Materials list - available from your  local craft shop
Woodware Craft Collection - FRS614 Old Letter
                                          JGS483 Butterflies
                                          Versafine Ink Imperial Purple / Onyx Black 

Stix2 Anything - S57361 Glue Pen
                        S57324 Large Tag White
                        S57050 Foam Pads 2mm
                        Transfer Foils
                        Organza Ribbon 15mm

Playing The Blues at The Male Room

     Welcome to a new colour challenge at The Male Room, we would like to see something masculine using blue, orange and yellow.
     After a recent visit to the show at Ally Pally I have some new stamps and a mask to play with. The background is made using an Indigo Blu stamp and mask with the yellow and orange Distress Inks. This layer of inking has been dried before stamping with a Visible Image stamp using Distress Ink and then clear embossing powder.
     To keep it simple it is then trimmed and stuck on to a blue card making it very flat and quite thin which is perfect for UK postage rates.
     Please come and join us at The Male Room, we have lots of inspiration to help get you started.

Colour Challenge

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

Love To Scrap - Anything goes

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

MHK Designs - New Year Greetings

     This is the last of this months new releases from MHK Designs, a perfect set for decorating a new year gift or making the odd new year card you may need to send. New Year Greetings teamed up with Christmas Past paper set works well for this bottle label, a nice way to decorate a dinner party gift.
     The star design from Christmas Past looks fine for new year, celebratory but still in the seasonal colours, this is printed on card, an A4 sheet will yield three bottle labels.
     I die cut a hole just big enough for the neck of the bottle, then die cut a decorative collar for the hole and rounded the corners. The image is left black and white, so is the greeting, both are die cut with a mat layer that matches the collar. These panels are stuck on to the label with foam pads, the back of the label is blank which is perfect for writing a message to go with your gift.
     Please pop over to the MHK Designs blog and look at all the inspiration we have for you, you still have time to comment with the chance to win one of the new releases.

New Year Greetings

Christmas Past

MHK Designs - Perfect Poinsettia

     Another new release from MHK Designs is this lovely Christmas set called Perfect Poinsettia, for this card I have teamed it up with Deck The Halls paper set.
     The image is printed on white card, coloured with alcohol markers and then die cut, for the mat layer I have die cut a scalloped edge circle in matt gold. The greeting is treated in the same way as the image and mounted on thin foam pads over a layer of paper from Deck The Halls. It didn't look quite right straight on to the red card blank so I added a small white mat layer. It is thin enough to be standard post in the UK, which is a must at this time of year with so many to send out.
     We have lots of inspiration for you over on the MHK Designs blog, plus a chance to win some of the new releases so please pop over and take a look.

Perfect Poinsettia

Deck The Halls

MHK Designs - Wonderful Wreath

     For our third new release at MHK Designs we are going festive with Wonderful Wreath.

     My project is all made in tradional colours but the beauty of a digi stamp is you can colour it however you wish and make it any size you like.
     This was printed out twice so that I could decoupage some of the leaves and the bow. It is coloured with alcohol markers and finished off with some red glitter glue for the berries.
     The layers are die cut and mated on a red card blank. The greeting was die cut, after trying it out on paper first, coloured with ink and then mounted on thin foam pads across the wreath. There are a mixture of greetings on this set to accommodate various feelings toward the festive season.
     We have lots of inspiration for you over at MHK Designs blog, plus a chance to win one of the new sets.

Wonderful Wreath