Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This time I thought that I would show some craft that I did not make but certainly love

Last year, whilst in Germany, we fell in love with  the German Candle Arches or "Schwibbogens" that we saw in all the markets.  The best ones were the original ones from Erzgebirge but they were rather expensive and we ended up with a small one from a market that was not from Erzgebirge.

We had told our friends in Germany that we had bought a smaller and cheaper one this summer and then found that in our Christmas Hamper this year that they had included an original Erzgebirge Schwiboggen and this was not small - it is 25.5 inches long.

Needless to say that this has pride of place in our window and looks lovely especially when lit at night.  

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and wish good health and happiness to you and your families.

Parchment Envelope Card

Although this card looks like an envelope, it is in fact a card.  It was made for a wedding card as usually these are rarely stood up. 

I traced the pattern onto plain parchment paper and then embossed the outer edge of the back of the card and also the dots in the pattern on the front.  I also lightly embossed the pattern of the outside front border. 

Then using Gold tinta ink, I drew around the dots and also filled in the pattern of the outside front border and the ring joining the two halves of the pattern. 

Using a grid I perforated where I had filled the pattern in with Gold tinta ink. and also the crosses on the pattern. I also perforated the shape of the card. I then stippled  the border on the front of the card.  Using a star tool, I embossed on the front of the card.

I then cut out the cross and also around the borders to create the shape of the card.  I then coloured the reverse of the parchment paper with Dorso to give the shade of pink that I wanted. 

To finish, I attached a piece of pearlescent paper to the inside slightly smaller than the border.

For my Mum's Sister

When my Mother remembers that I make cards, I usually offer to make a birthday card for her sister.  As she knew roughly what I was going to make, it did mean that I had to make her a different one.

I had used this pattern before to make an easel card but this time I made the parchment pattern a little smaller and mounted it with small brads on to  a black pearlescent oval card that I cut out with Spellbinders.

I then mounted this onto some snow white Centura card and cut out the sentiment from Britannia dies.

The bow was cut out from the Die'sire Christmas Bow Die onto a Double Sided Self Adhesive Sheet and then put Golden Sand Silk Glitter onto one side and attached it to the card.

When my Mother saw the card she was really pleased so hopefully her sister will be too.

Workshop with Sheena Douglass

As I had not been on a workshop with Sheena for some time, I decided that it was about time that I went on one and so booked myself on her workshop in Milton Keynes.    I was not sure what projects we would be doing but knew that it was not paint fusion and was keen to see what techniques she would teach.

 

We ended up making two projects and a great time was had by all - especially with the appearance of Father Christmas - in a kilt!!  Not sure where Sheena's husband Russ disappeared to when Santa appeared!!

 

The first of the projects was a wall hanging.  We started out by covering a mdf plaque with Pebeo Studio Acrylics gesso in white so that it would take the stamping and then stamped with Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic Sea Scape stamps.  We then coloured the sea, sand and images with Distress inks mixed with Pebeo Matt Gel to ensure that the colours stayed on the plaque. 

We then coloured some Centura Pearl with Luminate silk paint - which is absolutely beautiful - and then stamped and embossed images from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic Sea Shells.  These were then cut out and attached to the plaque which was then finished off with some ribbon.

The second project was a card and this took more time to do as we had to let the modeling paste dry before we could carry on.  We first covered most of the card with   Pebeo Studio Acrylic paint mixed with   Pebeo Gloss gel in three different colours to create the sky.  We then dabbed on Pebeo Studio white paint to create the clouds. 

Pebeo modelling paste was used to create the mountains and this was left to dry for a few hours before continuing with the rest of the card. 

The lake was created using distress ink mixed with the gloss gel.  The pink blossom was created by dabbing pink and white Pebeo studio paint onto the sky.  This was then stamped over with the Sakura stamp from A Little Bit Oriental with Black Stazon.

A lantern was stamped onto black card and embossed in gold, cut out and with 3D glue stuck on.

The card was then layered onto a few other layers.  The metal looking card was created with embossing black card and then adding Pebeo gilding wax which was absolutely lovely to work with and the effect was beautiful.

This was a great workshop and it was good to learn some techniques that I did not think of using but are very effective.

Card for my Husband

I was not going to make a card for my husband this year as although I normally do not buy card, I could not resist one in the Spurs shop that was a pop up of the ground.  By the time I had seen it, I knew that I was not going to be able to make one as good in the time so thought that he would have to have the shop bought one.

The night before, I decided that he would be disappointed without having his own hand made card so relented and decided to make a quick one for him.  I used Marianne Collectables die to cut out the shirt, shorts and ball in the correct colours and then stuck on the logos that I had printed out and cut to make it look more like the actual kit.  

I used a dark blue stardream card for the card base and mounted a white pearl card ont this and also used Spellbinders Lace Doily motifs - which for some reason does not look too girly.  I then added the Happy Birthday cut using Britannia dies to finish.

He was pleased and although loved his card from the shop - loved this one just as much and admitted he would have been disappointed without a card made by myself.

Mothers Birthday

I had seen this Peel Off transfer in Hobby Lobby whilst on holiday and just had to get it to make my Mother's birthday card.  It is by My Mind's Own and is part of the bohemian range which is now discontinued.  Usually I do not like these but these one really caught my eye. 

I attached tape around the edge of the base card and put gilding flakes on.  I stamped the side borders using Just Rite Classic Lace Edges 1 and instead of ink I used Cosmic Shimer Flake and Glitter glue and the put gilding flakes on this also.

Using Spellbinders Enchanted Labels 28 cut out the background in patterned tan card and then attached the transfer to some plain card and cut out using the second largest Spellbinders 5x7 Detailed Scallops.

I then pushed some netting through a ribbon slider to finish to card.

Jayne's Weekend Workshop - Part 2

I started the second day of Jayne's weekend workshop with a swim first thing in the morning which was a nice way to start the day. 

Day Two was going to see us make two of the remaining projects. Each group had voted on the previous evening to see which two of the remaining three projects that we were going to complete as we would not be able to complete all three.  Our group had decided to make the gift box and the Calendar. 

As both groups had chosen to make the gift box, this was done together with both groups and the tea lights were supplied to us by Jayne to complete the box.  The gift box holds 6 tea lights and it could be used to put chocolates in instead of tea lights.  

It was made with Kraft card and the use of the Hougie Board and Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments.  Acetate was used to make the window and also a compartment on the left side to hold a tag, which was a nice idea.  It also had a tab on the side of the box which was pulled to undo the box and put it what you wanted.  As it was in red and white, this was not my favourite project of the weekend though.

The next project was the calendar and this was one project that I really liked. It was mounted onto Kraft card that had been distressed to look like wood.  The focal point was made using Jayne's Winter Foliage stamps and distress inks.  The only extra stamp that was used was Inkylicious Worn paint stamp which was used to create the wooden effect in the background.  I just loved the look of this project and although I am not really into the folk art look – this did it for me.

It was a great weekend and the company was really great.  The hotel and staff were great which just added to the weekend.  Hopefully this is the first of many more crafty weekends with Jayne and Helene.