Pop-Up Christmas Card with Pam Bray's Christmas Collection

Hello everyone!  Can you believe it is December already?  My how time flies when you are having fun.  And speaking of fun, I am having so much fun with Pam Bray's new Christmas stamp sets.   If you know anything about me, you know I love dimension, and I found this fabulous pop-up fireplace card on my Silhouette.  It was just what I needed to hang my stamped Christmas stockings and place my gift box.  Yeah, only one gift so far, but it is early.  LOL 

I am also linking up with the Unruly Paper Arts Christmas Link Up Party.  Check out the rest of the bloggers' projects there.  

Here is the front of the card.  I folded a print card stock in half to make a 5" x 7" card, stamped and colored  Santa onto white card stock and cut around him, adhering to a 3" doily.  Dear Santa ... was stamped onto a note card from the paper collection, and a Santa definition from my Silhouette added.

And here is what you see on the inside.  Isn't this fabulous?  I cut the pop-up out in full once, and two more times in the parts I needed so I could have the base (beige), the red bricks (red), and the wooden mantel (tan).  I ran the tan mantel piece through a woodgrain embossing folder and darkened the grain with a brown ink.  The red piece was embossed with a brick embossing folder and highlighted with a white ink.  Now to hang the stockings with care, and set the first present nearby.  

Here is a view from above.  You can see the stamped sentiment from Pam's Christmas Collection 2, stamped in green StazOn and die cut with a fancy labels die.

Here is a close-up view of those cute stockings and present that I stamped onto white card stock, colored and cut out to hang on the mantel.  I used a red Pico embellisher pen to make the berry dots on the garland, and on the stockings.

Supplies: 
Sin City Stamps:  Pam's Christmas Collection and Pam's Christmas Collection 2 
Spellbinders Fancy Labels die 
Card stock:  white, beige, tan, red
DCWV Handmade Christmas paper collection  
Copic markers in reds, greens, yellows 
Ink Pads:  Green StazOn, Memories Black, brown distress, white chalk  Irresistible Pico Embellisher: Love Letter Red  

Thanks for stopping by today, and please be sure to check back often.  I am going to be sharing some more fun Christmas cards using these two stamp sets, and of course, there is always so much more inspiration from the rest of the team.   Have a wonderful, creative week! 

Barbara

Craftwell Guest Designer - Christmas Cards Made Easy

Hello everyone, and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!   I am so excited to have been invited to be the guest designer for Craftwell today.  Craftwell USA makes the eBrush, the Teresa Collins Cut 'n Boss and eBosser machines, and extra large embossing folders.

Speaking of embossing folders, I received this beautiful Teresa Collins Bella Rose embossing folder to use for my post today.  This is a very large (8-1/2" x 11") embossing folder, and it will emboss an entire sheet of paper.  Can you imagine what you can do with an entire sheet of beautiful embossing?  I can, and so here are a couple of projects that I made with my one sheet of beautifully embossed paper.

This cute coffee mug and matching Christmas card used less than one entire sheet of embossed paper.  As you can see, the mug is made entirely from a piece of the rose embossed card stock.  The card, however, is embellished with fussy cut pieces of embossed roses and adhered to another piece of red print card stock (from My Mind's Eye All is Bright paper collection) that I embossed with a Spellbinders M-bossibilities (Nobility) embossing folder.  I then highlighted that embossing with green ink.  I love how you can enhance any paper, even a print  paper, and make it more suitable to your project.

Here, I have added some Christmas picks to the mug for a beautiful table decoration, but this would make such a quick and easy gift that you could fill with candies, tea, or even hot chocolate packets.

And here is a close up of that card that looks so complicated, yet was so easy to make.

I could not stop there.  You see, I was able to borrow the Teresa Collins eBosser machine from a friend, and so I wanted to give the machine a good workout while I had use of it.  I had this very intricate die of snowflakes, and these edger dies, as well.  I had always had such a problem getting complete cuts with my die cutting machine.  Well, let me tell you, the eBosser machine is now on my wish list.  It worked like a charm, as you can see from this beautiful Christmas card I made, again, in no time flat.

I used several Spellbinders edger dies, the Joy Craft snowflake circle die, and the Teresa Collins woodgrain embossing folder. 

And here is a closeup of those delicate, intricate snowflakes.  The eBosser gets my vote from now on.  

 

I hope you enjoyed my set of Christmas cards and coffee mug for home decoration or gift.  I also want to thank Craftwell for asking me to be their guest designer today.  It was such a pleasure to design something for you and to hopefully inspire you with their fabulous products.

I am also linking this project up with the Unruly Paper Arts 12 Days of Christmas Link Up Party.  You can join in the fun, too, or just sit back and enjoy the inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative week!!

Barbara

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just want to take a moment to wish everyone a wonderful holiday, and many blessings to you all!  I made this card especially for you!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Barbara

Around the World Blog Hop

I have two posts today, one for Altered Pages and this one for the Around the World Blog Hop.  I hope you can take a minute to check out both of my posts today.  To view my project for today's Altered Pages blog post, please scroll down to the bottom of this post and click on OLDER POST.

My wonderful artist friend, Joe Rotella, asked me to join the "Around the World Blog Hop".  He gave me four questions to answer, allowing me to share a bit about myself with you!  So, here goes.

Wine Lover's Home Decor Project

Hello everyone!  If you've been following along this month, then you know that the Altered Pages design team has been creating some awesome projects using a super cool product called  Craft Attitude.  The more I use this product, the more I fall in love with it.  

Ten Minute Christmas Cards

Hello all!  So glad to see you today.  I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy on these cold days.  With this cold weather comes the desire to get a start on my Christmas cards.  I just got this stamp set of adorable penguins, and a very Victorian style girl holding a sign.  I could hardly wait to put stamps to paper and get started coloring and embellishing.

My first card uses this adorable penguin from the Penguins on Ice stamp set.

Directions for Penguin Card:

1.  Cut olive card stock to 8-1/2" x 5-1/2", fold in half to make 4-1/4" x 5-1/2 side folded card.

2.  Trim red print paper to 4" x 5-1/4", adhere to card front.

3.  Use Labels 22 die to cut gold card stock layer.   Stamp penguin onto white card stock with Memento black ink and use smaller size Labels 22 die to cut out.  Stamp Merry Christmas onto a scrap of white card stock with Olive Green Pastel chalk ink.

I find it is always best to stamp my image first, then determine which dies I have will work best.  

4.   Color image with Copic markers, edge with Vintage Photo distress ink to give it an aged look.  Use pop dots to adhere this piece to the larger gold print die cut layer, then to the card front, as shown.

5.  Trim stamped sentiment with a straight ruler, then use decorative edge scissors to trim both sides.  Edge with Vintage Photo distress ink and adhere to card front below focal image.

6.  Punch 8-9 holly leaves from the green print paper.  Edge with Peeled Paint distress ink and glue beneath pop dotted focal image in upper right and lower left corners.

7.  Add Crystal glitter glue to hat and snowflakes.

Directions for Vintage girl holding blank sign:

1.  Cut Cherry Red card stock to 6"x12", fold in half to make a 6" square top folded card.

2.  Trim print striped paper to 5-3/4" square.  Use decorative corner punch on all four sides and edge with Krylon gold leaf pen.

3.  Stamp holly in upper left and lower right corners, first with Olive Green Pastel chalk ink.   Using a stamp positioner, stamp the holly again using the Memento Cottage Ivy ink.  This brings back the fine detail lines over the chalk ink, while the chalk ink acts as a colored-in background. 

In the photo above, the upper left image is stamped with the chalk ink only.  The image below shows the detail after stamping over the chalk ink.

4.  Adhere this layer to the card front.

5. Using the larges oval frame die, cut out the green print  and the white card stocks.  Stamp and color the girl holding blank sign image on the white oval and edge with Vintage Photo distress ink.

6.  Sponge Olive Pastel chalk ink through the die on the green print paper.  I removed the center before adding the ink, so the paper frame is underneath the green metal die in the photo below.

7.  I adhered all pieces together, and offset the green print framed piece over the white framed piece before attaching to the front.

8.  Punch three snowflakes from gold vellum and stamp one of the small snowflakes in the center with Emerald Green StazOn ink.

9.  Make a double bow with the gold rayon seam binding and adhere around the top of the frame, adding one of the snowflakes to the center of the bow.

10.  Adhere the two remaining snowflakes to the lower left side of the frame, pop dotting only one snowflake for dimension.

Supplies:

Sin City Stamps:  Penguins on Ice
Dies: Spellbinders Labels Twenty Two; Lea'bilities frame oval curves
DCWV Christmas Made paper stack
Card stock:  Olive Green; Cherry Red; Gold Vellum, White
Copic Markers:  R37, R39, YG21, YG 23, E71,
Snowflake punch (Emaginations)
Fiskars decorative corner punch
Holly leaf punch (McGill)
Stamp positioner
Ink Pads:  Olive Green Pastel Chalk; Memento Cottage Ivy, Black; Blue Hawaii and Emerald Green StazOn; Vintage Photo distress
Stickles Crystal glitter glue
Ruby red glitter Liner
Krylon gold leaf pen
Colored pencils:  black, white, flesh
Gold seam binding

Whether you are making 1, 10, or 100 Christmas cards this year, both of these cards can be made very quickly.  I hope you enjoyed my project today and that I have inspired you to get busy on your card making for the holidays.

So be sure to stop by the Sin City Stamps online store for all your seasonal stamps, and check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team on the SCS Blog.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative weekend!

Barbara

The Robin's Nest Craft Engineer's Contest

Hello everyone!  I am really excited about my project today.  I was looking for some "paper craft engineering" ideas to enter into The Robin's Nest Craft Engineer's Contest.  The only requirement is to "create your most unique, imaginative and exciting project ever.  Just make sure that at least 75% of your project is made up of The Robin's Nest Products."  There is still time to enter. The contest is open to all through 15 November, so get your projects in.  The prizes are fabulous!

DATE: 

 Oct 1 - November 15, 2014

Prize:  

1st Place Prize

$500 in Products from The Robin's Nest Website

The 1st prize winner will also have $500 product donated to their local craft store

Great way to support your local Scrapbook store

2nd Place Prize

$250.00 in Product from The Robin's Nest Website

3rd Place Prize

$100.00 in Product from The Robin's Nest Website

Audience Choice Prize

$200 in Products from The Robin's Nest Website

Anyway, the search began for that most unique, imaginative and exciting project ever.  Then it happened.  I saw this on Pinterest.  I knew immediately that I had to try to make one of these myself.  

Kirsten Hyde shared a template she sketched for this car, but there were no instructions, at least none I could read.  It was in Norwegian.  So I made a mockup of the template to see if I could figure out how to put this thing together.  Well, I'm a persistent little bugger, so I came up with my interpretation.  I think it turned out pretty well for not understanding Norwegian. 

Supplies Used:

The Robin's Nest:  Khaki Glitter card stock; Wineberry Glitter card stock; Silver Glitter card stock; Gold with Gold Glitter card stock; Hunter Green with Gold Glitter card stock; Goldenberry dew drops; Large Clear Dew Drops
Martha Stewart pine branch punch
EK Success small five petal flower punch
Dewberry Glimmer Mist
1-1/2" wooden wheels; mica piece, various metal beads and findings; lace and trims; mini flowers (Prima); Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold mist; Bead Landing cone shaped beads; Melting Pot; Clear Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (UTEE)

I am not going to give much direction since I would have a very difficult time explaining what I did.  It was mostly trial and error.  But I do want to share how I made these sweet little flowers for the back.  I first spritzed the back side of the Wineberry glitter card stock with Dewberry Glimmer Mist so there would be color on the back of the flower petals.  Then I punched out 16 small flowers using this punch from EK Success, and cupped each one with my embossing stylus on a piece of fun foam.

I layered four petals together for each flower, and this is the result.  Aren't they sweet?

But I was not done yet.  I melted some clear UTEE in my melting pot and dipped each flower into it, glazing it, for a glass look.  If you look carefully, you can see them in the photo below. They are the darker roses between the pre-made flowers I added.  I also added the pine bough sprigs that I had punched from the Hunter Green glitter card stock.  

I added lace and trims, and cut out various shapes from my Silhouette cut files using the Gold Glitter with Gold card stock, adding gold and pearl dew drops here and there.

To make the headlights, I glued the large clear dew drops to a filigree cone shape, bending the tops back to allow me to glue the dew drop to it.  

Here is a view from above.  I added a thin piece of mica to the windshield for strengthening the windshield frame.

I painted four wooden wheels with white acrylic paint, then misted with Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold. These were glued to a wooden dowel and placed beneath the car.  

Oh yes, and what would any respectful vintage car be without a rear bumper?  I had these large curved beads so I used the plain silver one for my bumper, and the fancier one for decoration on top of the seat back.

A few more views from each side.  The bumper strips were cut from the Silver glitter card stock, while the body of the car was cut from the Khaki glitter card stock.  I brought a bit more of the Wineberry glitter card stock color into it by covering the inside and seat with it.

Well, that's it!  I hope you enjoyed my vintage car as much as I enjoyed making it.  It was a struggle there for awhile, but I am happy I persevered and was able to finish it.  

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you will vote for my project at The Robin's Nest.  You can vote for your favorite once per day from 1 November through 30 November.  

Have a fabulous week!

Barbara

Hinged Box Hostess Gift and Craft Hoarder's Anonymous Blog Challenge #19

Hello everyone, and welcome back!  Well, it's a new month, and a new sponsor.  The Altered Pages design team has the great pleasure of playing with Craft Attitude this month, which is an inkjet printable film that  enhances any project and can be used on just about any surface.

I am also entering this into the Craft Hoarder's Anonymous Blog Challenge #19.

Challenge #19 For All that You Do, Thank You!
Create a "thank you" gift for this challenge. It can be a Thanksgiving hostess gift or a simple thank you card. It can be a "thanks for helping me out of a jam" present, or a "thanks for being you" scrapbook layout. As long as your project says, "THANKS," enter the challenge! We want to see you de-hoard some of your stash and say thanks to someone! (Your project does not have to be Thanksgiving-themed!)

Since the gift-giving season is upon us, I thought I would make a simple hostess gift.  This one is Thanksgiving themed, but could be changed for any occasion.

Supplies:

Altered Pages:  AP 2250 Thanksgiving Placecards collage sheet; Thankfully Grateful collage sheet; Kaisercraft Forget-Me-Not paper pad; Glass Glitter (Champagne); Esterbrook & Co. English Oval Point 788 Pen Nib; 3D Crystal Lacquer; Mulberry Paper Flowers
Craft Attitude printable film
Daisy lace border punch
Silhouette machine and cut files (3D Hinged Box)(Ornate Frame)
Feathers

Cut 3D hinged box from tan card stock using Silhouette machine and cut file.  Follow directions for assembling box.  Cut mats from blue print paper in the Kaisercraft Forget-Me-Not paper pad and adhere to box.  These are included in the cut file.

Print six sets of place cards from the AP 2250 Thanksgiving Placecards collage sheet onto white card stock, first resizing them to measure 2-5/8" x 4" when folded to fit inside box.

Print the turkey image (Indian girl with turkey) from AP 2250 Thanksgiving Placecards collage sheet onto Craft Attitude printable film and allow to dry.  Then punch out with 1-1/2" circle punch.

Figure 1

Color two large mulberry paper flowers with distress inks to match flowers in the paper.

Adhere circle punched image to center of one flower, following manufacturer's directions.  Pinch and reshape flower petals, as shown.

I blitzed it up a bit by adding a line of 3D Crystal Lacquer around the turkey image and adhering the glass glitter.  

Print one of the images (Fig. 2) from the AP 2250 Thanksgiving Placecards collage sheet at its actual size onto Craft Attitude film.  Allow to dry.

Use Silhouette to cut out an ornate frame, resized to fit the image.  Cut one solid background frame and one with the window opening.   Add ink colors to match flowers.

Adhere the Craft Attitude printed image to the rectangle removed from the top frame, following manufacturer's directions.  Adhere frame piece over that, then adhere the whole piece to the solid background frame.

Figure 2

Punch lacy border from tan card stock, inking with colors to match the flowers, and adding a touch of brown ink.  Adhere around base of box.  Adhere ornate framed piece to back of box, as shown.

Adhere large flower to front of box, adding a pen nib and a couple of feathers, as shown.  I also punched out the words "Thanksgiving Wishes" from the bottom of the Craft Attitude printed image (see Fig. 1 above) with a label punch and adhered it to a second card stock piece, as shown.  

Here are a couple of the place cards that were printed to fit inside the box for gift giving.  I think this would make an especially nice, and different, hostess gift, don't you?

And here is the set of place cards inside the box.

Now, I am sure some of you are asking the very good question, why do I need Craft Attitude film?  Why can't I just print my images out on my card stock?  Well, here is a perfect example of the difference in image resolution achieved by using the film.  On the left, I printed my image directly onto my textured card stock.  On the right is the image printed first onto the film, then applied to the same card stock.  The difference is amazing.  Not only are the colors more intense, but the image allows the card stock texture to come through, like canvas.  I tried to capture that in Figure 2 above, but I am not sure it shows up as well in the photo as it does in person.  

Another reason for using the film is exhibited in my turkey image that was applied directly to the mulberry flower. It would be impossible to run that flower through your printer, but by printing the image onto the film, you can adhere it directly to the flower and it appears as though the image was printed directly on it.

So, I hope I have answered the big question, and that you are now inspired to try this fabulous product with Altered Pages beautiful collage images.  The possibilities are endless with these products.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check back for more inspiration using Craft Attitude and Altered Pages products.  

Barbara

Art Journaling with Sin City Stamps and Cottonwood Arts

Hello everyone, and welcome back.  This month, the Sin City Stamps design team will be sharing projects using some fabulous products from Cottonwood Arts.  I was lucky enough to receive their large canvas notebook.  It has thick chipboard pages covered with canvas, allowing it to hold up to lots of wet, heavy mixed media.

For my first project of the month, I made a journal page using my notebook, some stencils, rubber stamps, and lots of mixed media.

I have prepared a Snapguide tutorial for your viewing pleasure.  I hope you enjoy it.

Check out How to Art Journal With Cottonwood Arts Canvas Notebooks by Barbara Rankin on Snapguide.

Supplies:

Sin City Stamps: Art Journal 3 stamp set; Clockworks Inspired by Terri Sproul set; Flower Stencil, Entangled Stencil; Fleur de Lis die cuts
Cottonwood Arts Canvas Notebook (6.75" x 12")
Ginger Peach, Emperor's Gold Acrylic Glaze
Homemade Spray Inks:  Liquitex Prussian Blue and Sap Green Inks
Indian Corn, Cork Glimmer Mists
IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Wedding Dress IrResistible Texture Spray; Versamark ink
Detail Black embossing powder
Light Molding Paste
Cheesecloth
Mixed Media Adhesive
Metal filigree butterfly charm

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I always enjoy seeing you and I hope you are inspired to give art journaling a try, especially with these wonderful journals from Cottonwood Arts and stamping products from Sin City Stamps.  And check back often throughout the month to see what wonderful projects the team comes up with.

Have a wonderful, arty weekend, my friends!

Barbara