Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Some of My Christmas Projects

I hope you all had a great Christmas. Here is the project that would have been the last week to Christmas. I will offer this as a tutorial for free in the New Year, but will change it up to a valentine theme.

This is a mini album I made as a gift. I used Laura's tutorial from her blog Following the Paper Trail. She has some excellent ideas on her blog. She is amazing!

Here is a mini, that I made with a kit I ordered from Deux Shabby Chic. They had an extra Eskimo Kisses kit and I just had to order one.

And last of all, here is a photo wallet I made. Nothing fancy about this, but it turned out cute.
Yesterday I had some little visitors over to do some paper crafts. It was a fun afternoon. I took pictures and will post them soon.
Thanks,




Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Just want to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thanks,

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Card Making Day 2009

I am quite a bit late posting these images, but better late than never.

In November, my cousins and my sister and I got together again for another year of Christmas Card Making. Above is a cousin with several of her cards. She made multiples of each. I think each year they get prettier. It takes us all afternoon, but usually everyone goes home with about 20 - 30 cards finished.


This is my sister and her cards, again she made multiples of each.

And here is the star of the day, another cousin, she made the most cards ...she is amazing...zoom, zoom! Just look at all those cards! And she did not make as many multiples, but some are.

There was also another cousin there, but due to a family incident she left early. She made multiples of this card. I finished several up for her that she had started but then had to leave.

And this was the card I worked on, I tend to make one card and make multiples of it for everyone. I am way behind this year. I normally make 50-60 cards total, so far only 25, but working on trying to get them all done. I wonder if I will ever get things done early?
I hope you enjoyed a peak at our fun day. I look forward to it every year.
It is not always easy to get everyone together, but we are always glad when it works out.
Thanks,




Thursday, December 17, 2009

Eskimo Kisses Mini Video


I completed a kit I bought from Bona at Deux Shabby Chic, called Eskimo Kisses. It came with all the materials you need to create a mini, but you design the layout. It was very fun to do and did not take me terribly long. I am planning to offer similar kits in the new year but with a twist.

I took pictures and video but I will post pictures another day, today you can view the video. I have made several changes since filming so it looks a bit different, but it is still close. The pictures show the finished mini with the changes.

I now wish I would have bought two because I hate to part with the original. I like to keep the first one on display in my craft room and them make other to give away.

I hope you enjoy seeing what I did with the kit. If you do, please leave a comment, they are always appreciated.



Thanks,

On the Last Week to Christmas...

Dream Create and Share gave to me...One last chance to buy any of the 12 weeks to Christmas tutorials!

These tutorials are no longer available! Thank you for the great response to these, I hope you enjoyed creating wondeful projects and gifts from these!














I hope you have enjoyed these tutorials. I think you have, since they have gone over so well. I look foward to doing this again next year!


Thanks,



Monday, December 14, 2009

12 Tags of Christmas Remake

I thought I would try to make several of the 12 Tags of Christmas 2009, from Tim Holtz's blog. Mine are not exactly as his. I did not have a lot of the materials he used. I tried to challenge myself to recreate several of them, using only the materials I already had. Above is my version of his day 1 tag. I was really pleased with how my snowman turned out as I did not have a suitable snowman stamp and freehand drew one on white card stock, cut it out. White embossed the snowflakes, sponged black ink over the snowman, tried to rub the black off my snowflakes, but ended up reheating them and adding more white embossing powder. Love how it turned out!

Here is the day 2 tag, well my version, this is hardly close to his. I did not have a metal flower, and this was my largest label stamp, oh well, the Merry Christmas fit inside.

On day 3, Tim showed a plaid technique and actually posted two tags. I tried my hand at making a plaid print and then used my images to recreate my version of his tag.

Day 4 was very fun, I really had to work hard to get close to this one but I think I was successful. For this tag, I did buy the bells from the dollar store as I had nothing even close.

I then skipped ahead to day 8, as I was struggling with what to use as substitutes, but this one I had a bit of an idea so this is what I ended up with.
So what do you think? Did I come close? I really enjoyed making them. They are time consuming, and not sure I could part with them. If I manage to get any more made I will post them as well.
Thanks,




Thursday, December 10, 2009

On the 2nd Week to Christmas...

Dream Create and Share taught to me...how to make a wonderful snow globe!
This waterless snow globe is made from acetate. You can trim it any way you would like. I thought Dasher fit nicely so it is called Dashing Snow Globe.

Here is another I made using the retired stamp set called It's Snow Time. (I love that set)

Can you believe it is only two weeks until Christmas? I know I can't...it has arrived so fast, and seems to arrive faster each year.



Thanks,




Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Tim Holtz #8 Tag tutorial

Every year for the last three years, Tim Holtz does a 12 tags of Christmas. He uses a #8 Manila tag that is 3- 1/8" x 6 -1/4". I have not been able to find that size in my local craft store or office supply stores.

These are the two most common sizes available in my area. I don't mind ordering tags, but when shipping is more than the item, I try to find a way to make do. I cut up a file folder so that I had several rectangles cut to the above measurements.

I then used my ticket corner punch to angle to top two corners on the short end of the tag.

As you can see, it is pretty close the the corner cut out of the next smallest tag.


This next step works because I have the Table Setting die. But if you look at Tim Holtz tags they use a simple circle. If using the circle for the hole reinforcement, I would glue a 1/2" circle to the top center and then punch out the center with my crop o dile on the largest hole setting.

But since I have this die, and my sample tags have a similar reinforcer, I am using this small part of the die. I cut it out using close to cocoa paper, but kraft would work well too.

I then folded the die cut in half.

Then I added some Tombow adhesive. A little goes a long way!


I then placed it over the top center of the tag, as shown, and held for a moment to give the glue a chance to set.

Then using the larger of the two holes on my Crop o Dile, I punched a hole in the center.

Voila...#8 Manila tags, and they went together quite quickly.

I had all these made in no time. Now I am off to try and make some of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. I will be using supplies I have on hand to see how close I can come with my supplies.


I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial and to try out Tim's tags, you can view his blog here.
He has the ones so far for this year and also has link to 2008's and 2007's.
Thanks,