Gift Holder - recycled

Whenever I see a container with potential I pop it away for possible future use.  I was going to make a gift box for these 12 hand crafted cards I wanted to give to a friend but, as per usual,  I ran out of time. 

I grabbed hold of some new paper I had just bought at Simply Creative here in Cape Town.  The paper is called DCWV The Bella Armoire 12 x 12 pack.  The most time consuming part was to trim the paper to the shape of the box - that took all of 5 mins !  The top is a Martha Stewart border punch done on both the black patterned paper and then a strip of white cardstock popped in behind it.  The ribbon used is from Kaszazz in Australia.



Sizzix - 3D Pop-Up Sleigh with Santa

I made these 2 sleighs as a decoration for the Xmas table.  The sleighs are from Sizzix and the Santa is Art Impressions Santa Front & Back with the gift sack trimmed off.

The sleigh was made with quite thick cardstock and I did not use the inside box which comes with the die as it was too small.  Instead I made up one wide enough to accommodate the image.  I decorated the back of the box with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and the sides are normal white cardstock run through the die, embossed with the CB Swiss Dot folder and trimmed with a Martha Stewart border punch.

The image was stamped with black Momento ink onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloured in using Copics.  There was a problem with one of the Santa hats so I used red Stickles to cover it.  I then filled the sleigh with some praline chocolates which sat on my desk for quite a while.  Obviously DH did not spot them !!

Gift Basket

This is a surprisingly quick and simple basket to make.  I found the easy instructions over at The Little Blue Room and decided to make the largest size one out of a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock.  It turned out bigger than I thought but then I had this idea of adapting it to hold cheeses for a Xmas gift.  It was ideal and quick to decorate.

The basket was made out of a fairly sturdy cardstock - I think it might be from a SU pack.  The large scallops around the top are from the SU die called Tasteful Trim.  The "tab" in the middle of the handles is a Nestabilities Circle and the handles were hand cut using a corner rounder to finish them off.  All edges were Distressed inked.

The sentiment stamp is CI-142 from Crafty Individuals and the image, which I did identical on either side of the basket, is Morris Skiing from Motivet.  I cut the image out and mounted him on a Nestabilities Oval.

I think this basket has a lot of potential for birthday, Mother's Day and Easter gifts.

Cottage Cutz - Santa's Clothesline

This is my last Xmas card of the season and I thought I would use this cute die from Cottage Cutz.  The pieces are relatively easy to fathom out but it does help if you are good with puzzles.

I thought a long card would be perfect for this die and I used a CB border embossing folder on the bottom.  As the folder was not long enough I joined it up in the middle and hid the imperfections under Santa's jacket.

I must admit the die was a bit daunting when I looked at it but working through each item of clothing, constantly referring to the picture on the packet, made it a lot easier than I thought it would be.  The assembly was also not too hard and it helped starting at both ends and working in towards the middle.

Wishing one and all Happy Holidays, may you have a safe, peaceful and happy time with family and friends.

Hero Arts - Thank You Definition

This week we needed a thank you card for someone very special and I wanted to do something different.

The background stamp is Hero Arts - Thank You Definition stamped using Sepia Archival Ink and lightly Distressed inked.  The couple of Cottage Cutz dies used are Mouse w/Sunflower and Picket Fence Mini which I recently picked up at a local store for 50% off.  I know I will be getting a lot of use out of this one.

The mouse and sunflower were cut from scraps and I used a variety of Distress inks on them.  It certainly made a welcome change to do a thank you card after all the Xmas projects that are littering my craft desk.

Penny Black - Christmas Giving - Label 2

This is the second label in the Penny Black set of Christmas Giving.  It is easy to cut out and the colouring in (using markers) took no time at all.

To finish it off I matted it onto a Spellbinders Classic Oval and a Scalloped Oval.

Christmas Punch Art - thank you card

As we have been invited to spend Xmas day lunch with friends I thought I would make a thank you card which we can pop into the cheese basket we will be taking them. 

This is a small square card on which I used another one of my punch art plum puddings with the Cottage Cutz Holly Berry Mini die on top.  It is matted on a Spellbinders Floral Doily Motif and placed on cardstock on which I used an embossing folder called Leafy Flourish from Craft Concepts.  At last, a company that actually puts the name on the embossing folder and not on the packaging we throw away !

Penny Black - Christmas Giving Label

I have been a fan of Penny Black stamps from when I first started crafting and was delighted when I found this tag set.

The image was stamped onto watercolour paper and using markers and a blender pen I coloured it in.  The rest was easy matting it onto 2 ovals and a Spellbinders Beaded Oval.

Crafty Individuals CI 142 - Xmas card

Alright, I am officially weary of making Xmas cards and for the last few I took the easy way out.

I found this interesting background paper in my stash, added the Crafty Individuals stamp and Cottage Cutz Holly Berry Mini and made 6 cards in one evening.

Perhaps next year I will feel more like Xmas.  Coping with a fractured foot (the second of the year) and bad side effects from an IV drip I recently had (I won't mention being bitten by a tiger as well) seems to have dampened my spirit just a little !

Clear Dollar - Filled with Cheer

This Clear Dollar set had a couple of options for the inside of the stocking and I choose the gifts and the mouse which I trimmed down.

I paper pieced the main section of the stocking, used markers on the balance and glitter glue on the top of the stocking.  The embossed circle behind the image is made using the CB Swiss Dot folder and I matted that onto a couple more circles from Nestabilities circles dies.  The blue and gold paper is one I picked up from a scrap pile at a local paper store.  The sentiment is from Kaszazz and it was punched out using a SU Word Window punch.

Wild Rose Studio - Pickle on Igloo

I just adore penguin images and this one is so cute.  Using Momento Ink I stamped the image onto Copic paper and coloured in using Copics.

The image was die cut with a Nestabilities Wonky Rectangle and matted onto a Fleur de Lis Rectangle.  Not sure where the sentiment came from - I tend to browse through all the stamp sets, pull one out, stamp and put it back straight away never taking note of which one I used.

Plain & Simple Xmas card

Whilst looking for some Xmas paper I found this Kaisercraft sheet from last year.  I found I could make 6 cards from the 12 x 12 sheet, pop on a Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two with a sentiment from a free set (came with a magazine) and in no time at all I had a card.

Peachy Keen - Winter Peekers

I was not going to post this card as the colouring in is not good at all, but I really had nothing else.  I am way behind on all my projects.

The snowman is from Peachy Keen PK327 Winter Peekers & Phrases and he was coloured in using Aquamarkers - still have to get used to those !  The red scalloped circle and ribbon set up was left over from last year's unused Xmas toppers and I added a larger green circle made from locally sourced sugar paper, embossed with the CB Swiss Dot folder and lightly distressed around the edges.

The sentiment is from Kaszazz and the die it is on is from Clear Dollar Tabs and Tags set.