Snowflake tree topper

My Christmas treehas been in desparate need of a new topper for some time now and I've finally got round to doing something about it! I decided this 3D snowflake from Tando Creative would be the perfect thing for the job.

At approx 95mm x 95mm it's a good size for a tree topper. It would also make a great hanging decration and there are two other styles available so you could ring the changes, too!

I painted mine with Precious Metal paint in Mother of Pearl and because the intricate shape is pretty enough, I kept the embellishment fairly simple with just a few pearls, gems and micro beads.

The board is thick enough to push pins into to finish off the tips of the flake and accomodate a coiled wire to slot over the top of the tree. I snipped my pins down with pliers so that I didn't have to worry about keeping the full length of the pin perfectly straight so that it didn't poke through the surface of the board.

Supplies:
3D Snowflake Style 1 (Tando Creative - find Tando stockists here)
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor (Mother of Pearl)
Flat back pearls (The Works bookshops have mixed sheets for £1 at the moment)
Gem stickers (in my stash for years!)
Micro beads (these are steel ones sold for nail art)
Dressmakers pins
Copper jewellery wire



Thanks for stopping by!

More bauble inspiration!

Here's the second of the cards inspired by the photo in Monday's post (scroll down to the next post if you'd like to see the original photo and first card).

I went long and thin for the card base on this one to echo the shape of the steps and then used punched circles to represent the baubles - some are heat embossed with a backgrounder stamp and gold powder, some coated in crackle paint and others embossed in a Cuttlebug folder and then treated with Rub n Buff to give them a richer finish.

Ruched silk ribbon and a sprinkling of pearls keep the opulent mood going and provide more textural interest.

It was a bit of a nightmare to photograph this one with the reflective surfaces and textures but I think you get the idea!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Scalloped Tiles backgrounder
Vintage Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko
Versacraft by Tsukinko (Autumn Leaf)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Paper:
Kraft
Cryogen white
Metallic gold

Other:
Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger (Rock Candy)
Detail embossing powder (gold)
Squeeze punch by Fiskars (large and medium circles)
Silk ribbon
Pin
Flat back pearls
Cuttlebug embossing folder (Textile Texture)
Rub n Buff by Amaco (gold leaf)

Thanks for stopping by!

Bauble inspiration

Over on the Bubbly Funk forum some of us are taking part in a "25th Club" where the aim is to make a certain number of Christmas cards by the 25th of each month. I've been rubbish at fulfilling my quota so far but as I set the challenge theme this month I thought I'd best get my finger out and actually make something!

I set an inspiration challenge using this photo which I found online in this blog post (other pretty photos there too!).

If you haven't played with inspiration challenges before, the idea is to take any aspect of the photo and create something inspired by it - you don't need to recreate what you see, just use something like the shapes, colours, composition or whatever takes your fancy.

Here's the first of mine, I have another one to share later in the week.

For this one I took my inspiration from the gold and copper tones, the snowflake on the wall, the textural effect of the grouped baubles and the contrast of the tiny bit of black from the handrail.

I inked up my embossing folder with Brilliance ink, embossed some gold cardstock and then sprinkled copper embossing powder over the whole thing. Dry embossing in a plastic folder can tend to make the raised parts of the design a bit staticy so you need to give the whole thing a really good firm tap to get rid of the EP on those areas and use a paintbrush if necessary to get rid of any stray bits.

Stamps:
Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line from Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Coffee Bean)

Paper:
Cryogen White
Gold metallic
Black

Other:
Cuttlebug embossing folder (Victoria)
Detail embossing powder (copper)
Snowflake Wonder dies by Spellbinder
Bead chain (cheapo Christmas decoration stuff)
Amber gem (still using my Secret Santa supply from Caroline!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Ice queen!

I've been playing with Tando chippie again - still trying to kick start that Christmas feeling so I can get a head start on cards! I decided to use the separate snowflake flourish that comes in the set with the snowflake plaque to make a wintery brooch. It would be good on a bag or jacket, I reckon.

I used a freebie CD to cut a freehand ice shard for the base. The Tonic Studio scissors go through easily and I find if you warm the CD up a bit with your heat gun first to soften it you're less likely to have it crack or shatter as you cut.

I covered the snowflake flourish with a couple of coats of silver UTEE and rubbed pearl and turquoise Perfect Pearls onto it while it was still warm, concentrating more colour towards the bottom of the shape.

A couple of smudges of Glossy Accents to hold a little sprinkling of silver micro beads finishes it off.

Supplies:
Snowflake plaque by Tando Creative (find Tando stockists here)
CD
Versamark by Tsukineko
UTEE (silver)
Microbeads (these are actually steel ones sold for nail art)
Glossy Accents (as adhesive)
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Perfect Pearl and Turquoise)
Brooch pin

Thanks for stopping by!

A bit of bling

A new month means a new object to make over at Something Completely Different and for August the team is asking us to make torsos at ATC size. I used Ruth Ann Zaroff's mannequin template from Mirkwood Designs {here} but changed the size and proportions to make it more ATC-friendly. She's a curvier model this way :o) The theme for our torsos this week is "bling".

I confess I'm not very good at bling - either in my personal style or in papercrafting. So although I really did try with this week's challenge the bling is still on the subtle side! I used a row of tiny nail art gems to define the waist curve along the right hand side. The other idea of having a necklace looked dreadful and ended up with me cutting the deep neckline and sitcking onto another blank torso to get rid of the gluey bit where the necklace attempt had been!

The swirls were embossed in clear for an emboss resist with Black Soot Distress ink swiped over.

Stamps:
Beautiful (Rummage Bin line at Cornish Heritage Farms)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko
Tim Holtz distress ink by Ranger (Black Soot)

Other:
Detail embossing powder (clear)
Nail art gems
Copic marker (to colour the neck)

Thanks for the challenge girls and thanks for stopping by!

Continuous effort

I signed up for a postcard swap over on UK Stampers. I thought I'd go the whole hog and make something that really could be mailed as a postcard rather than feeling it had to go into an envelope for protection. Here's what I did (Linda, look away now if you'd rather not see before it reaches you in the flesh!).

I had a play with the bouncing brayer technique to make the background (tutorial {here} if you've never heard of this), inking up with three different Distress inks - perfect for the current Gingersnap colour challenge of yellow, orange and red. Then I overstamped the keys and script in Spiced Marmalade, used bubble wrap and gesso at top right and bleach stamped a couple of small clocks before adding the sentiment and clock face in black ink.

I gave the whole lot a spritz with Krylon sealant to give it a bit more protection as it goes through the post. The lace wasn't quite the right colour so I swiped over with a Copic marker before sticking it down firmly and then sitching it along the edge and stitching the sequins in place to be sure there was nothing loose going on. I stuck the whole lot to another piece of cardstock so the back was neat.

Stamps (all Cornish Heritage Farms):
Time to Stamp (Rummage Bin line)
Key Elements (All Things Considered line -in stock here at Bubbly Funk if you're in the UK)
Key Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Paper:
Smooth white

Other:
Lace by Prima Marketing
Sequins
Gesso
Bubble wrap
Bleach
Krylon Matt spray sealant
Gold thread

Hope Linda likes it! Thanks for stopping by!

Half time oranges...

Actually, they're more like end of game oranges since this is my last chellenge as Guest Designer with Something Completely Different. Thanks for asking me girls - it's been a fun month! This is the last week of making tags and our challenge today is a colour one: orange, blue and brown.

This is one of the very first stamps I bought - it came in a mixed lot of used stamps on eBay. It has a checkerboard border round it but I just trimmed out the central portion with the picture as it was then the perfect width for my tag.

The houndstooth pattern is stamped with a light coloured pigment ink onto a tag which was cut from chocolate coloured cardstock - I like the soft effect this gives. I added some Sakura Glaze pen on the cut piece of orange to give the segments a wet sheen and other than that I think it's self-explanatory!

Stamps:
Oranges by Hampson Arts
Fine Houndstooth Scrapblock (Cornish Heritage Farms if you're in the UK, Bubbly funk has this in stock {here})

Paper:
Simply heavy chocolate
Smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Versacraft by Tsukineko (Sand)

Other:
Copic markers
Sakura glaze pen (orange)
Sewing machine and thread
Extra large eyelet by We R Memory Keepers (antique copper)
Jute twine

Thanks for stopping by!

Going round in circles

It's Friday so it must be Something Completely Different challenge day! We have five Fridays this month so we're not quite done with tags yet, one more to go after this week.

Today's theme is... circles! I went a bit mad with a couple of punches for a layered, textured kind tag by sticking my punched shapes onto a base of white card coloured with Peeled Paint Distress ink and sanding to shabby it up a bit. I love this cute little alien and thought it would be fun to have him peeping through a porthole.

A few buttons keep things round and add some extra texture. I wrapped a bit of craft wire round a paintbrush handle to finish it all off with some springy alien antennae (broadcasting friendly messages, of course).

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Little Guy (Kim Hughes line)

Paper:
DCWV

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Peeled Paint)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Fiskars squeeze punches (medium and large circles)
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Circles Large - to cut the top of the tag)
Copic markers
Inkssentials white gel pen by Ranger
Craft wire
Linen thread
Buttons

Thanks for stopping by!

Vintage Christmas snowflakes

I know it's only July but that means we've reached that point in the year where next Christmas is nearer than last! I haven't been doing well with my effort to make a few cards each month but maybe a few non-card projects will help get me kick-started!

This beautiful snowflake plaque is one of Tando Creative's new releases for Christmas 2010. It's so lovely that I thought it would be fun to make something that would stick around rather than being here and gone on a card. I've turned this one into a vintage style ornament to hang on the tree.

I used gesso on the whole piece and then added Rub n Buff metallic wax over everything except the snowflakes. Those were treated to a bit of Rock Candy crackle paint and topped off with pearls.

The sentiment panel is also coated in crackle paint. I've found in the past that putting it over Copic colouring makes the colours bleed so I tried something different here - adding the Copics over the top of the paint. It worked well and gave a nice variation in the colouring because of the cracks.

I rescued some crystal chain from my "might come in useful" box of broken jewellery etc. I reckon it's been in there for 20 years! A metallic cord hanger made from twisted thread finishes it off.

Supplies:
Snowflake plaque (Tando Creative - find Tando stockists {here})
Winter Vintage Signage stamps set (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Versafine ink by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Rub n Buff by Amaco (Gold Leaf)
Copic markers
Gesso
Distress Crackle paint by Ranger (Rock Candy)
Flat back pearls
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Classic Ovals Large)
Crystal chain
Metallic thread

Thanks for stopping by!

Elegant anniversary

Anniversary cards always feel a bit tricky to me - you feel you need to get the masculine/feminine balance right somehow when you're sending to a couple! I went for creating my own "designer paper" here by doing some repeat stamping in a tone on tone kind of way with a big, ornate roundel stamp. The ivory and dark red were the couple's wedding colours.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
So Happy (Rummage bin line)
Ornamental Beauty (Rummage bin line)
The word "happy" from Birthday Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Simply linen natural
Dark red (unknown maker)

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Flower by Prima Marketing
Flat back pearl
Sewing machine and thread

Thanks for stopping by!