Collage

Collage

Morning everyone!

Are you beginning to panic?

To help you stay calm we

have a lovely collage for you

today from

Karen Gist:

Gently remove the book covers from the ring bound spine.

Cover them with pieces of printed paper using matt medium

I have an old dictionary and a ready reckoner

that I use for this

Collage small pieces of patterned paper onto

some copier paper

I used scraps that I have but you could use any

type of paper, magazines, etc

Paint over the covers with DecoArt Cobalt Teal Hue

As it is a transparent paint, the print shoes through

nicely.

Stamp the smallest stamp from the set using Stazon

and when dry flick some white acrylic over the top

While this is drying stamp and emboss the large flower

head and the stem onto the patterned paper collage 

Cut out and glue to the cover

Replace the covers onto the ring bound spine and

decorate with ribbon and beads as shown.

I attached the beads by threading them onto cotton 

adding a line of Liquid Glass and then laying the

beads over the top before carefully pulling out the cotton.  

It is such a quick and easy way of going it.

Materials used:

A6 Book

PaperArtsy Eclectica ELB16 

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Cobalt Teal Hue

DecoArt Mixed Media - Matt Medium, Liquid Glass  

Beads

Ribbon

Thank you Karen

I think this would make a lovely gift

and not just for Christmas.........

See you tomorrow

Mickie xx

Red and Gold

Red and Gold

Hi Everyone

The Countdown begins!

Did you remember to get

the Advent Calendars out?

To start the new month

we have a beautiful card from

Crafty Field and here she is to tell

you about it:

Red and gold is such a classic, 

I love to use it for Christmas cards 

as it gives an opulent and elegant feel.

By using a background stamp with the 

"Triple Time Stamping" technique 

you get a totally different look 

and here I have added a twist by not using 

mats behind my embossed panels but 

changing the colour of the middle panel instead.

This is how I did it:

Using embossing ink, I stamped and embossed in gold

 the Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card Ornate Floral, 

once on white card and once on red Mirri card.

From the mirri card I die-cut a 5 1/2" square 

and a 3" square from the centre.

From the white card I die-cut a 4 1/2" square 

also from the centre, trying to be as accurate

 as possible as the design is symmetric 

and will need to match up when layered.

Here I am trying the layers of embossed card 

and a piece of black ribbon. 

As you can see the stamping isn't perfect on the middle square 

(Mirri card is slippery) and this gave me idea 

to try the ribbon on top rather than under this panel 

before consigning it to the bin.

Thankfully it worked, so I added my sentiment, 

die cut from gold cardstock on top of the ribbon.

At this time of the year it is difficult to catch enough sun 

for a decent photo but I managed to catch enough rays 

to show you the shine in this close-up.

I hope I have inspired you to try this technique, 

or one of the many variations...

Supplies:

Impression Obsession - Ornate Floral 

Versamark Inkpad 

Gold Embossing powder 

Mirri card 

Merry Christmas die 

Card Base 

Ribbon

Great start to the month, thank you

Crafty Field

See you again tomorrow everyone

Mickie xx

Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar

Hi there

Today we have the last in our Christmas Countdown

from Dawn Heald:

I have made an Advent Calendar box tower. 

These little boxes can be built into different shapes too, 

like a tree, one full wall of drawers or even just put together 

in sets of three or four and built up the same way as I have done. 

Once you have your build, you can decorate as you like, 

simple or the full works. 

I do hope you try this. 

A layer of just four box drawers with the easel card on top makes a nice gift come greeting.

I used a score board to make mine which adds 

the extra measurement needed for the box slider wrap. 

If you are making this without one add on 2mm or 1/8th of an inch

 to the measurements for the box wrap. 

To make this project.

For the boxes, cut 24 pieces of card to measure 5" x 4". 

Score in 1" on each side. 

Fold along score lines then cut out triangles from the corner squares. 

Glue these tabs and fold up and stick to make the box. 

Cosmic shimmer glue is perfect for box making. 

Grabs straight away, two presses and its dry. 

Repeat for all 24 pieces of card. 

The finished box will measure 2" x 3".

For the wrap/slider that goes around the boxes, 

cut 24 pieces of card to measure 3" x 8". 

Score along the long edge.

 Make sure you fold, crease and burnish each score line

 and butt this folded line against the edge of the board 

before scoring the next line. 

You need to score at 2" fold n butt then score 1" fold n butt,

 then score at 2" fold n butt, then score at 1". 

Repeat for all 24 pieces of card.

Then pop your box onto the wrap, fold up and stick flap into place. 

By doing it this way ensures your box can slide in and out easily.

Next cut 7 pieces of card to measure 5" x 5". 

These will be the foundation and provide a sturdy structure. 

Now build the tower.

 Start with the 5x5 card. 

Glue on 4 boxes around the edge. 

Glue another piece of 5x5 card on top. 

Then continue to build up in the same way till all boxes are used.

Time to decorate. 

I used sprays to colour my card. 

I would have done this before cutting up all the card pieces 

but I changed my mind on the look after making the boxes. 

I used Color Bloom Spray Summer Sky 

and made a lilac one with alchemy wax, 

Dylusions spray and water. 

I edged everything with a blue pro marker. 

Used buttons on the drawer fronts and hand written numbers 

punched out with circle punch and layered on a punched square.

To make my topper I made an Easel card. 

The background paper was from the overspray of the card pieces. 

I used the latest JOFY 48 Xmas stamps 

coloured with Distress inks for the feature, 

and Tando Snowflakes as a stopper, 

organza ribbon, clear gems and Detail sparkle medium for some bling.

Products Used:

Paperartsy stamps

Tando Minis

Buttons

Organza Ribbons 

Color Bloom Spray

Dylusions Spray

Imagination Crafts Detail Sparkle

 Alchemy Wax

Distress Inks

Stazon Ink Jet Black

Pearl card stock

White card

Certainly a project to while away the weekend and

get you in the mood for the forthcoming Festivities

Thank you Dawn

Mickie xx

Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar

Hi There!

Continuing this week theme

here is an idea I think you'll like from

Louise Thompson

To make the base board, give it a good coat of gesso

 and leave to dry. 

Then apply fresco paints in Nougat and Antarctic 

using a paint brush.

Add some Pixie dust using a spatula and then

 a little turquoise using a dry brush around the corners. 

Mix together the white fire and Antarctic paints 

and apply through the stencil in random patches 

across the board. 

Allow to dry. 

Stamp JOFY snowflakes in versa color petal pink and orchid, 

focussing mainly around the edges of the board. 

In the very centre of the board stamp Woodware’s 

‘wishing you’ greeting in orchid

Set the board to one side and make the advent crackers.

Cut 24 rectangles of white tissue or crepe paper, each 25cm x 14 cm

Cut 24 rectangles of Bo Bunny printed papers, each 7cm x 14cm

Cut 48 lengths of thread or ribbon each 15cm.

Wrap each cardboard tube in tissue paper 

and secure with double sided tape. 

Repeat with the strip of Christmas paper 

and tie one end of the tissue with ribbon. 

Add your choice of treat to the cardboard tube 

then tie the other end

Paint the Tando stars and advent numbers 

using the Fresco chalk finish paints. 

Add a layer of white fire metallic paint 

to the top of the numbers. 

Set aside to dry.

Fix the crackers in to your base board 

using double sided tape or another strong adhesive. 

Top each one with a star.

Add a number on top of each star. 

Use the leftover stars to decorate the centre of the wreath. 

Finally finish with accents of rhinestone stickles.

Materials used:

Large piece of strong card, or even better, wood

White Gesso primer

24 toilet roll middles (or wrapping paper middles cut down to size)

Fresco paints in Nougat, Antarctic, Pixie Dust, Turquoise and White Fire

Imagination craft stencil – Leaf swirl

Selection of coordinating Christmas papers (I used Bo Bunny candy cane lane)

Tando creative stars grab pack

Tando creative advent numbers

Woodware ‘wishing you’ stamp

Double sided tape

Versa colour ink pads – orchid, petal pink

White Tissue paper

JOFY Mini 07 snowflakes stamp

Non-stick craft mat

Stickles – diamond

Acrylic block

Heat gun

Ribbons

Lovely idea Louise - thank you

You could make a few extras 

and have matching crackers

for the Christmas table

Catch you tomorrow 

Mickie xx

PS  don't forget there's a Zini up for grabs

take a look at Wednesday's post............