Christmas Ornament - Peachy Keen

I had this adorable mouse already coloured in and cut out in my Christmas stash.  I know it is from an old Peachy Keen set but not sure which one.  The background is a Spellbinders die - large scallops.  I used craft glue to adhere the card stock to the felt.  I hand sewed the edges and lightly filled the inside of the ornament.

If you are wanting to have a new set of different, fun Christmas ornaments for your tree then using your stamps and felt shapes is the way to go.  I would not think they would last until the next Christmas season but then new stamps will be out by then and you can create a whole new set of tree decorations.

Christmas Ornament - Fox

When I was first told the theme for the Christmas Tree Festival was British wildlife I knew I did not have too many dies that would work.  We were out and about one evening in our local town and I saw a few shop window decorations that were interesting.  This fox was a decal on a window so I took a photo, printed it in black and white in the size I wanted and cut it out to use as a template.  This was an easy shape to cut out with felt and I just had to add a few bits of white and black to finish it up.

The background felt shape is a Spellbinders die - large scallops and the foliage bit came from some scraps I had in a container of left over die shapes.  Not sure but I think it is a Marianne D die.  Under the fox I did some felting with strands of white wool.

Christmas Ornament - Butterfly

Whilst looking through my craft drawers I found my stash of silicone moulds and this butterfly one amongst them.  I used Stampin Up Clay which is white in colour and left the butterfly in the mould to air dry.

As there are 2 butterflies in this mould I used the smaller one to experiment on as it was the first time I had used Stampin Up Clay.  I found that Distress inks and markers worked well and I used a combination of these on the butterfly.  Once dry I topped the body in the centre off with Distress Stickles and the tips of the wings off with Stickles as well.

The butterfly was glued onto 2 Spellbinder heart shapes cut from felt.  I lightly stuffed the white heart shape to give the ornament a bit of dimension.  Again I used the Felt Glue which worked well.

Christmas Ornament - Cottage Cutz Mouse w/Sunflower

I just love how this ornament turned out.  The mouse is so cute !

For the background I die cut 2 x Spellbinders Scalloped Circles out of white felt.  The sleigh is a Marianne D Creatables die, the mouse is from Cottage Cutz Mouse w/Sunflower and the reindeer antlers were taken from the Cottage Cutz Festive Owls set.  All the die cuts were done out of card stock and adhered on with Felt Glue.  The "reins" were just to lines of embroidery thread.  I did add a little glitter glue onto the sleigh to jazz it up a bit.

Once the glue was set I stitched the two scalloped circles together using a zig zag pattern and added some filling in to give it a bit of body.  With card stock being rigid it is best not to add in too much filling.

Christmas Ornament - Cuttlebug Christmas Tree

This old Cuttlebug Christmas tree die is perfect to cut out of felt.  I glued the tree onto a Spellbinders Circle cut out of white felt and decorated it with an Impression Obsession Rabbits die (glued on) and added a beaded string plus a couple of buttons.

Christmas Ornament - Cottage Cutz Winter Owl

I thought hearts made for a good Christmas ornament shape.  This is a Spellbinders die and I used Cottage Cutz Winter Owl for the topping.  The owl and accessories were mainly cut out of felt with a few bits being card stock.  I found the more delicate parts of the dies were not so easy to cut out of felt as they tended to break up too easily.  I must say how impressed I was to be able to use Cottage Cutz dies with craft felt.

Christmas Ornament - Cottage Cutz Squirrel

Many of the dies I dug out for the Christmas Tree festival decorations are old but it is certainly fun to be using them again.  For this ornament I cut out 2 Spellbinders Mittens, added a piece of red felt on the top of the front one only and needle felted the bottom of the mitten using individual strands of white wool.  I thought it would be cheaper and easier to use wool instead of trying to source white felting and waiting for it to be delivered.  The joys of living in a rural part of the country !

The squirrel is from a Cottage Cutz die as is the present.  The squirrel was cut from card stock and I used Distress inks and a sponge to darken certain areas.  Again I used Felt Glue to stick the squirrel to the felt.  It really is an excellent glue.

To finish off I attached a loop of ribbon on the top and lightly sewed it in.  I then sewed around the edges leaving a small gap to insert filling in before closing it up.  I am not overfilling these ornaments especially the ones I am using card stock toppings on as the card stock needs to sit as flat as possible for it to look nice.
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Christmas Ornament - Cuttlebug Tortoise

When I was looking through my die stash I nearly forgot about all the old Cuttlebug dies I have.  I found this tortoise, added a Christmas hat from one of my Cottage Cutz dies and did some basic felting using a little wool.  I separated the strands of the wool making a small loose ball with each one before using a 2 needle felting tool to adhere it to the felt background.  It is a bit time consuming but I like the end result.

The outside scalloped circle is a Spellbinders die called Petite Scallop.

Christmas Ornament - Spellbinders Owl

After volunteering to make Christmas ornaments for a local charity Christmas Tree Festival I started to go through my stash to see just what I could create.  The theme is British wildlife.  Easy for the locals but being from another country I had to look up as to just what constituted wildlife here.

My first effort was this owl made with the Spellbinders Owl die.  I used craft felt and bought some amazing felt glue which helps a lot as hand sewing is not my strong point !  For the eyes I used some scraps of ribbon and a couple of dark beads.  It was a lot of fun.

La Pashe Flippin Stamps - Golfer

DH needed a birthday card for a fellow golfer and retired vet so I thought I would give this stamp another go.  I have previously struggled to get a decent image having tried many different ink pads.  Since I now have a Misti it makes it a lot easier and quicker.  I used Momento Tuxedo Black ink on special Copic card which I purchased from Flourishes a long time ago.

The colouring in was done using Copics.  The cats are from an Impression Obsession die and the dog is an Art Impression stamp.  The background paper is from my large stock of old Creative Memories and the 'window' was made using 2 dies from Spellbinders Rectangles large.

Sizzix Big Shot Pro Die - Popcorn Box and Treat Cup

I was searching through my Big Shot Pro dies for a large box and could not find anything suitable to hold the biscuits I planned on baking for a donkey charity fair.  This was, of course, a good excuse to look for a new die and I am very happy I did.  I think this is a die which will be well used now and in the future.

The card stock is from an old Stampin Up pack and is thick (around 300g or so) which is necessary for this large box.  The punch art donkey is my own design made with punches and dies which appear to be no longer in production.  The ears are a Stampin Up punch (some sort of petals), the oval used for the face is a tag from an Ellison die, the muzzle is a Spellbinders rose die, the tuft of hair is a Creative Memories punch and the nose and eyes are Fiskars punches.

Peachy Keen - Valentine Cupids

Better late than never with this Valentine's day card which was all made up in time, I have just been too busy to post it.  I saw the idea for this card on Pinterest and have been back to find it so I could give the person credit but cannot seem to locate it.

The card stock size is 12" x 6", scored at 3" and 9".  I then decorated the 2 front sections with heart paper from my stash and, using the largest Spellbinders Heart, positioned and taped the die, cutting side up (very important) onto the card stock where the mouse image ended up.  In other words, the inside of the card.  I then ran it through the Bigshot and was a little disappointed at ending up with an indentation on the inside of the card.  Once I had die cut the heart for the image I realised the indentation helped a lot with the exact placement of the heart inside the card.

The Peachy Keen image Valentine Cupids was stamped onto watercolour paper using black Archival ink and coloured in with a paintbrush and  Distress Inks Victorian Velvet, Iced Spruce and Picked Raspberry (for the bow).  The sentiment is from the same Peachy Keen set and was die cut using MFT First Place Award Ribbon.

MFT - Let's Toast

Going through some of my dies the other day I found the MFT (My Favourite Things) die called Let's Toast.  This die set includes a label which slots over the neck of a wine bottle and various dies of glasses plus you can also buy a stamp set with sentiments.

I find it better to die cut the label out of fairly thick card stock otherwise the score line just below the cut out circle can sometimes cut right through.  The background paper is from my Creative Memories stash, the sentiment is from the Let's Toast stamp set and it was die cut using Spellbinders Wonky Rectangles.  To finish off I decorated the label with a wine glass.

Hobby Art - Coastal Scene-it

Another Inkylicious Visions Watercolour background.  On it I stamped a couple of images from a set by Hobby Art - Coastal Scene-it.  The one cliff did have an additional part to it which I blocked off with a small post-it note.  I coloured the cliffs in with a Marvy Le Plume Gray marker and added the sentiment which is also from Hobby Art, the stamp set is By the Sea.  The white card stock used for the sentiment was a bit bright so I toned it down by using 2 Spellbinders Ovals from their Classic Ovals large and small sets to create a rim on the edge of the white oval.  Cut the smaller of the two first, then the larger one.  I use masking tape to hold the die in place.  One could place both dies together on a magnetic sheet - just thought of that option !

Penny Black - Flower Festival

It is not too often I reach for a flower stamp even though I do have quite a few.  When I was looking through the The Penny Black blog I noticed a great card from guest designer, Therese Calvird, on 29 December 2014.  Her instructions on video were good so I thought I would case her card using a stamp from the Penny Black Flower Festival set.

The image was stamped multiple times with Momento Tuxedo Black ink onto a gloss card stock.  I then used Copics YR000 / YR00 / YR01 for the petals, T3 and T1 for the flower centres and G94 / G82 / G21 for the stems and leaves.  The sentiment is from the Kaszazz stamp called Greetings and it was also stamped using Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  The oval die cuts are from Spellbinders and the topper was matted onto a light green card stock and then onto the card using Stampin Up Stampin' Dimensionals.

Tonic Balloon Weight Keepsake Box Die

I have been really busy in my craft room scrapbooking Xmas gifts.  Need to scrapbook 40 pages in all by the 25th and I am only just under half way there !  The upside is the pages are 8" x 8" which does make it a little easier.  Couple that together with larger photo's and it is relatively easy.

The other day on a visit to a local craft store I spied this Tonic die which I convinced DH to buy as a Xmas gift for me.  The die was not the easiest to cut out - I needed to use the Big Shot Pro and seem to have a bit of uneven pressure on the rollers.  Had to do a bit of hand trimming to finish it off.  Also struggled with the underneath part as it did not make sense.  Usually I am good at fathoming things out but this seemed to defy logic.  I think I need to try it again.  The Spellbinders scalloped and classic ovals with the Marianne D Rudolph die were used on corresponding sides to cover over an experiment which did not work out.

The idea of this box is that you cut out all four sides with a Tonic die (none of my extensive die collection worked) to get a lantern effect.  Then pop in a battery tea light, attach to a balloon and send off into the sky.  Not something I would do so I will stick to using it as a treat box.

Inkylicious - Bird on a Wire

This is a Hero Arts card with score lines top and bottom.  The dies are from the Spellbinders set Resplendent Rectangles with the orange paper being a scrap from a Creative Memories pack.

The Inkylicious stamp Bird on a Wire was purchased at a recent craft show here in the UK and I will say it was not a good idea to stamp it onto watercolour paper.  I think a smoother surface would do the stamp more justice.  I coloured the birds in using Distress Ink and a blender pen.  The sentiment is one from Gina K Designs Purr-fectly Delightful.

Peachy Keen - Skatin' By

I'm back after moving countries - what a mission !  All my craft goodies are still to be shipped and we are hoping to have them in the UK by the beginning of December.  Just as well I made a lot of Xmas cards in advance and bought them over in my suitcase.  I even bought an ink pad and sentiments for the inside but forgot to pack an acrylic block.  Oh well, I was looking for an excuse to find a craft store and now I have it !

This Peachy Keen Skatin' By penguin was coloured in with Smooches and cut out.  He was mounted on 2 Spellbinders Pinking Circles and then on 2 Spellbinders Classic Circles.  The background paper is from my stash and the sentiment is a Hobby Art one called Christmas Greetings.

Looking forward to spending my first Northern Hemisphere Christmas.  Hope it snows !!

Cottage Cutz - Build-a-Poinsettia

No, I have not dropped off the planet but I have been very busy with our upcoming overseas move.  I had no idea things could get this stressful !!

Here is another Xmas card made using Cottage Cutz Build-a-Poinsettia die.  The background is a scrap free from a magazine and on the petals of the flower I did a little bit of Stickles Xmas Red to give it a bit of a festive look.  The sentiment is Hero Art Holiday Cheer in Archival Crimson ink die cut with Spellbinders Resplendant Rectangles.

Peachy Keen - Skatin' By with snowflake background

Peachy Keen has such happy stamps and this little chap is no exception.  He was coloured in using Siren Smooch and Stampin Up Dusty Durango for the beak.  I have a whole lot of different colour Smooches and find them ideal for Christmas cards when a little extra sparkle is called for.

The background is Spellbinders Impressabilities Snowflake used as a stencil.  I sponged it with Distress ink Weathered Wood.  It is a quick and easy background and I think it complements the image.  The sentiment is from a Penny Black set called Let it Snow and punched with an old Fiskars squeeze punch which I see is no longer available.