Christmas Lampshade

As it is that time of the year, I thought I would show something different that a card.  This lampshade can be put on your Christmas table to decorate it.  Although you can use a real tealight, it would be better to use one of the artificial lights that you can now buy.

If you do use a real tealight, ensure that there is enough clearance at the top and sides to enure that your lampshade does not catch fire.  This needs to be done on a heavyweight parchment and is very quick to make as there is no whitework or cutwork. 

The holly leaves and berries outline was first drawn in Tinta ink. I used the perforating semi circle tool the create the border and then cut between the perforations to get the finished shape.  I then went around the border with gold Tinta ink.

The berries and holly leaves were painted with Pintura paint and then embossed from behind to add depth.   I then drew some poinsettia flowers onto red parchment paper and cut them out.  I embossed from behind to take out some of the colour and also to shape the petals and glued these onto the shade and heavily embossed the centre. I then added a few gold beads to the centre of the flower leaving the heavily embossed part to form part of the centre.  I then used some double sided tape to attach both sides to form the shape.  As it is a heavier parchment, the tape does not show quite as much.

Mr and Mrs Snowman

This is a nice light card for Christmas. There is no whitework or cutwork which makes is quicker to make. It is a card that I really like making and has a real winter feel to it.

The snow people were traced onto the parchment in white tinta ink and the snowflakes with silver tinta ink. The pattern was then pierced.

The snow people were coloured in with tinta ink and Perga Liners and the white parts were then embossed and stippled. Then they were shaded using a blue Perga liner.

The snowflakes were coloured from behind using the Perga Liners and the lines of the pattern were embossed to make them stand out more.

I then drew a double border around the top, bottom and right side of the card and just a single border on the left side of the card with silver tinta ink. I then added a shiny pale blue insert and then cut the edges of the card with decorative scissors to finish.

Found: One Craft Room

After some clearing out



A few weeks ago, I decided that it was about time that I reclaimed back my craft room.  For the last few years, I have just used it to store all my craft stuff but then got fed up of having to buy new card and products as I could not find the original ones that I had bought.  Things seemed to come to a head when I couldn't find an embossing folder that I wanted that I knew that I owed and ended up buying a new one.  I had been putting everything in the craft room and things were just stacking up and I didn't know what was there anymore.  Also, I was finding that I was doing everything downstairs in the living room and there was not really a table high enough and that I was getting a sore back from bending over so much . It was especially so when making my Christmas cards this year and things were not easily at hand.



overflow of stash



The photo above was after I had cleared a lot out and put elsewhere (photo right) until the room had been cleared.  I had forgotten to take a photo before I started although I am not sure that it would have shown just how much was in the craft room - no photo is that big!  It got to the stage where under the stairs was completely full, the craft room was so full that I was not able to walk in there and my stash was starting to overflow elsewhere.

I was going to wait until I had a few days holiday this month but then decided that it could not wait and there was possibly more than I would be able to do in the few days that I was going to have. It was time to be ruthless and only keep what I really needed and could not do without. I had tried a few different crafts such as silk painting and Precious Metal Clay but had not done them for a while so it was out with them.

Craft Room after being cleared

I even realised that I had four sewing machines and that I was never going to use them so two of them ended up at the tip.  I ended up taking 3 full car loads of rubbish down to the tip - and that is without all the magazines.  I did keep all my stash of material for patchwork and quilting but did get rid of any small scraps.  It was amazing to see what material I actually had and don't think I need to be buying any more for quite some time.

I had magazines on Parchment Craft, Quilting and Card Making going back to 1994 and these are also going to end up in the recycling bin but first I am scanning in all the articles and patterns that I want and keeping them electronically which will take up a lot less room.  A small 2 inch flash drive is taking up a lot less room that 6 stacks of magazines each 3ft high and that is only what if left.  It is going to take some time to go through all of the magazines extracting what I want  so I still have a stack of magazines but am getting through them.

Now organised

Some of the books that I no longer wanted I gave to my local library as they were in immaculate condition and other people will then be able to get pleasure out of them.  I was surprised that they took them but they seemed really grateful and meant that I got rid of the straight away.  Even if they don't put them on the shelves but sell them, it will given them funds to buy other books.

I was hoping to finish it a lot sooner than I did but suddenly ended up with orders from 4 people to make some Christmas cards for them and as 1 person was sending her cards overseas it meant that things had to be  put on hold for a little while although the main thing was that I had cleared the desk and so was able to utilise that for my embossing and glittering. 

I still have a little more to do but everything from the craft room and under the stairs has been put it its place and I know where everything is and can even get to it.  I will now be able to do more crafting and as can be seen from the photos above - a lot better than before. 

Now to keep it like it!!

A Card for my Husband

This time I managed to make a card a few weeks before his birthday - I was not going to have the last minute panic that I had the previous year so started looking around for ideas early.

I do find it hard to pick different topics each year but when I saw this topper of a map, old car and motel sign in a shield, it reminded me of our holiday stay in Holbrook, Arizona this year along Route 66.  We had stayed in a motel along the old Route 66 and my husband loved it, especially as there were a few murals on the walls of nearby building of the Route 66.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that it was right for him and it would be great as an easel card which he likes.

For the shape of the card, I used Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities Large Labels.

The topper is from HOTP 3-D Papier Tole 8026 Vintage Journeys Die-Cut Paper Decoupage and the background papers are from HOTP Chocolate Paper Pack.  I stamped the greeting on the topper using the greeting from Paintbox Poppets. used Centura Pearl Ivory Card for the base of the easel card. 

I used the same Spellbinders and papers for the inside of the card and for the stopper I used a smaller version of the front topper that came on the same sheet and backed it with brown card.  I printed a verse on some of the Centura Pearl Ivory card and then cut it out with the smallest of the labels to complete the card.

I think that these papers make ideal cards for men and in this case hopefully bring back memories of our holiday.

 

Christmas Poinsettia

This is another card from Jayne Nestorenko's new Christmas range.  This is a beautiful stamp that can be used as either a medallion stamp or a flat stamp. 

The background lattice design was made by using a Hoogie Board and although not as quick as using an embossing folder, does mean that you can make it the size that you require and have the lattice design and small or as large as you want.

The ornament shape was made by using the largest of the Spellbinders  2011 Heirloom Ornaments.  The gold background was made by drawing round the outside of the die, the red card was made by using the die and the white was made by drawing inside the die.  Although on the workshop we cut out the white ornament and then stamped onto it, at home you could do it the other way.  The background of the stamp was coloured using Spectrum Noir pens.  I stamped the image 3 times onto red card and gold embossed.  I then cut out the images, each time with fewer petals to create the meadallion effect.  The layers were then glittered and layered  and I used gold Mica Flakes in the centre. 

The easel card was then assembled and finished off with ribbon.  I think that Jayne has really designed a wonderful stamp - especially with the foliage in the background.

New Stamps by Jayne

I spent a great Sunday at another of Jayne Nestorenko's workshops.  This was the Christmas workshop and was great as we were the first to use her new stamps.  It was touch and go whether this one would actually arrive in time for us to use it as it only arrived with Jayne on Friday. 

Jayne has designed a set of six new stamps that hopefully will be available next week and they are all stunning. 

This one is her Christmas Tree and it can be used for Christmas or just winter scenes.  It is a very quick card.  I first stamped the tree onto some Sparkle Card and embossed with Gold embossing powder.  I then cut around the tree  in profile but tore the bottom of the card from the stump to the edge.

I then embossed onto white card for the backround using the Winter Wonderland M-bossabilities and stamped and embossed a sentiment at the bottom.  I then added a piece of ribbon round this background and attached to my card.  I then tore  a piece of  Centura Pearl Snow white and attached this to the background and then attached my tree to the card.  I then used crystal glittler ti fill in the white spaces in the tree and also in the ground to create a snow effect.

Spectrum Noir Colourist Accreditation

Well, last week I was very pleased that  to hear that I had now got my Spectrum Noir Colourist Accreditation and can proudly display a blinkie to this effect.  I am just waiting for my name to appear on the list on their website and to receive my certificate.  I had first seen about this accreditation on Julie Woolston's blog - craftyjulie57.blogspot.co.uk - when she had got hers and then I received an email from Crafter's Companion. Like Julie, I didn't have that much confidence in my colouring.  The accredition is free for everyone to get and you need to download the test from their website www.spectrumnoir.com.  You then need to print it out onto the correct card or paper for alcohol pens, colour in, scan and submit to the email address provided.  There is a sample test for you to see what is expected but it is up to you what colours you use. 

 I was not convinced by the Spectrum Noir when they first came out but after sticking with them have found that I do like them and actually enjoy colouring with them.  I have enclosed two of the test colourings that I submitted - the first one is the nature landscape which I was really pleased with the way it turned out as I had not really used alcohol pens before to colour in nature.  The second one was an optional one that we could choose to submit so I chose to colour in Paintbox Poppets "Apple for Teacher" stamp as this is one of my favourites.

I am often very critical of my work so it was nice to submit it to the "experts" for their views.  What I like about the programme is that if your colouring is not quite up to scratch, they will provide feedback with suggestions on how to improve your colouring skills.  It is not often that you get that sort of service for free nowadays.  Luckily for me, I did not need it.