White on white, and the first of the funkie junkies

Hello!

I have been inspired by a couple of different challenges for this make. The first is paper artsy's ''shades of white' which I found very difficult to stick to strictly, but I got close with this one! 

The second challenge is the Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas.  (Sponsored by the funkie junkie boutique) I'm really late to the party with this one, but I've been watching for a few weeks now and couldn't resist joining in-hopefully I might even catch up! This card is based on Linda's tag from week one where I took my inspiration from her woodsy theme - and of course, the reindeer.

I used a stampin up embossing folder then added a little iced spruce distress ink to bring out the trees I did spray the card with a white paint spray but you really couldn't tell at all so I added white chunky embossing powder to give the snowy effect. The little wooden reindeer is by do crafts, I gave it a light coating of white paint before adding it. The tag and holly leaf are by sizzix and the sentiment is handwritten. 
Well, that's all for now, hope you like it!

Gifts for the girls

Previously I have made little wooden bird houses in to Christmas tree decorations and I had thought I might do the same with these adorable little artC ones. At my hubby's suggestion I changed my mind and decided to make a baby girl's mobile but as the project progressed it somehow turned in to a decorative wall hanging!! At least that means there are plenty more ideas for future sets!

I started by laying out the bird houses and painting one side with fresco chalk paint.

The houses were easily assembled and glued using pva. I painted the outside in fresco pixie dust paint and made little hooks for them by twisting wire around some round nosed pliers.

I found some cute scraps of paper for the roof and cut them to size. I pushed the wire loops through the paper strips and glued them down.

I can't tell you how much I adore these little things!

I put scraps of paper in the back and stamped a carabelle stamp on to some painted card adding tiny pieces to the houses.

I cut a few more paper scraps to make 'nesting material' and bunting.
 

I painted a few kaisercraft wooden flourishes to go with the houses and assembled everything with ribbons and thread, tired on to a twig from the garden.

Materials;

Art C mini birdhouse set

Fresco paints

Wire

Archival ink

Carabelle wild nature stamp

Paper artsy stamp

Kaisercraft wooden flourishes

Ribbons

Jingle bells

This post comes with a 'fake snow disclaimer!' Hold on to your woolly hats folks, it's time to get Christmassy!

I started out with a wooden heart.

I gave it a coating of gesso, some grunge paste for a 'rough around the edges' look, and then a coating of fresco chalk paint.

I blended a few distress oxide inks over the edges, wiping back some of the ink with a wet baby wipe for a soft look. You might notice from this picture I had stencilled on some snow however I later sanded this off as I wanted a bigger area for stamping.

I used paper artsy set hpxm08ez and stamped the single tree and the tiny stars (from the top of the three trees stamp) in iced spruce ink.

I layered on a few more trees in a dark blue, then added the reindeer, embossing them in a sparkle embossing powder.

On the other side of the heart I stamped stars and snowflakes from paper artsy and one from a new woodware set.

I also added a little more ink around the outside. I rubbed the whole outside edge in clear embossing ink and used the sparkle embossing powder to coat it.

Using the clear embossing ink again, I dabbed patches of ink over the heart and sprinkled with chunky white embossing enamel before heating to emboss.

Finally I added die cuts from find it trading dies and sizzix and increased the glitter content just a little further using some stickles glitter. I wish the camera showed up sparkle a bit better! 

The reverse side was finished with a sentiment from woodware (and maybe, just maybe, some fake snow!!)

Hope it's inspired you to start feeling festive, I could definitely settle down in front of the fire with a hot chocolate and a chunky knit blanket now!!!

Materials;
Wooden heart
Gesso
Grunge paste
Fresco paint - chalk
Distress oxides
Paperartsy hpxm08ez
Clear embossing ink
Blue sparkle embossing powder
Woodware stamps - little festive branch
Woodware sentiments -Christmas cheer
Chunky white embossing enamel
Sizzix winter greens die
Find it hanging stars die
Stickles glitter glue
Heat gun


Challenges
Simon says stamp - snow white
Paperartsy white on white (and maybe a bit of blue... feel free to discount my entry if I'm pushing the theme too far!)

Masculine notebook, with a little shimmer!

Evening everyone! 

Today I'm sharing a little notebook I made using Seth Apter paperartsy stamps. There is a full step by step on the craft barn website but for here I thought is just show you the finished article. 

I'd like to enter this in to the following challenges;

Paperartsy pearlescent

Simon says stamp monochrome

Simon Wednesday anything goes

Materials;

Notebook

Fresco paint

Archival ink

Tissue paper

Fine liner

Metal corners

Wire

Kaisercraft wooden key

Alchemy wax

Pearly forest

Hi all,
 I don't know about you but Christmas card making is now well underway in my house. I was inspired this week by paper artsy's pearly theme. I like to go all out with shimmer and sparkle for Christmas cards and this was no exception. I chose a monochrome colour scheme so there was still some restraint in spite of all the sparkle!

Here is the card

I used stamps from paper artsy's hot picks Christmas collection. I started with a piece of pearly grey paper (unfortunately the shimmer from it doesn't really show up in the picture) Having masked of the bottom I stamped the trees a few times in black ink before embossing in clear sparkle powder. I added pearly white brilliance ink to create the snowy forest floor and finished with some liquid pearls for good measure!

I'd like to enter this card in to the paper artsy challenge and also Simon says stamps monochrome challenge.

Ttfn, Lou x

World card making day

Hi everyone!

I'm starting Christmas card making in earnest this week since I have a week off. It feels a little late to get going but I'm using some card-io stamps which I love as they are so easy to make quick but creative cards with. 

For this card I used a new set 'tiny Christmas' for the floral arrangement alongside stamps from a couple of older sets. 

I absolutely love these stamps, they hold so many possibilities, you are likely to see a fair few more cards made with them over the next few weeks!

I'd like to link this in to sss world card making day celebration. Head over there for loads of lovely ideas from around the world. I was fortunate enough to head up in to the Scottish mountains yesterday and see a heard of deer including a stag so this is my contribution representing the uk. Lou x

Acetate and Enamel

Hi there!

Having been tasked by the Craft Barn with creating something using acetate and enamel I decided clean and simple would work really well .  I selected a fairly basic set of resources to create three different clean and simple cards, suitable for lots of occasions.

Materials List;Sizzix die - bright bubblesSizzix die - Delicate lettersDistress inks - scattered straw, abandoned coral, wilted violet, lucky clover, mermaid lagoon.Acetate Enamel Acents - Grape soda, Forget-me-not, Lemon TwistCraft knifeSteel edge rulerBirthday stamp (by Craft work cards, similar one here)
For card number one I used a square white card and die cut 'bright bubbles' from it. 

Using a steel ruler and a craft knife I sliced about an inch off the edge of the card. 

I then added a piece of acetate the same size of the original card front and added the die cut bubbles back in.

I blended a few bright distress inks on to white card and die cut the bright bubbles die again.

I used the coloured die cut pieces to fill in some of the holes on the card.

I blended a little more ink on to white card, and cut out some lettering using another sizzix die.

I stuck these on to the edge of the acetate.

Finally, I finished the card with some dots of enamel.

For the next card I used the sizzix alphabet dies to cut out the word 'celebrate'

I backed them with a piece of acetate

I used some bright distress inks to create a rainbow effect panel.

With the rainbow panel cut out, I edged it with 3D foam mount tape and filled it with sequins and seed beads.

    

I stuck this to the back of the card to create a shaker. To finish the front of the card I dotted some enamel accents around the lettering.

 Using the point of my craft knife, I dragged out the enamel dots to create a splat effect.

 
And the finished card...

 For the final card in the set I sliced the edge off a square white card.

Using more of my rainbow inked card I cut out the letters 'happy'

I replaced the missing card with acetate and added a strip of white card back on to the very edge.

I stuck the lettering on to the acetate and stamped a birthday sentiment below.

Finally, the card is finished off with some more lovely dots of enamel accents.

I'd like to link this post to Simon says stamps clean and simple challenge.