Baubles and Bows Gift Bag

 

Hello!

Even though I've still not come to terms with the short days and long dark evenings, I am trying to be more positive and having a bit of fun by doing lots of Christmas crafting.  In fact, I think I may be doing ok with Christmas card making for once and there's enough for them to graduate to being kept in a box, instead of a wobbly pile.

Over at the Daring Cardmakers we're into the second week of
 our seasonal calendar;

Have a Very Crafty Christmas

its a mix of card challenges and others where you can share any kind of crafting project on our given themes, so tags, bags, boxes or anything else you make.

This week is an 'Anything Goes' challenge and the theme is 

Baubles and Bows

So, feel free to share any kind of craft project, but it must feature 
Baubles and Bows, please

See what the DT have been busy with this week HERE

As I needed to get one Christmas gift ready really early, I thought this challenge would be perfect for making and decorating a gift bag to put it in.

I used digital downloads to print all the papers I've used for this.  The bag is a variation on a simp[le to make design I've used countless times.  I changed it a bit by creating a flap-over closure, which made the perfect place to add the giant paper bow, with a couple of silver baubles hanging down from the tie holes.

 

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I chose the wreath, the greenery and the snowflakes to use on my card.

I started by resizing and printing some digital designs from 'Karamila' (via Etsy), onto sheets of A4 Bazzill white card.  I printed on both sides of the sheets for the bow.
For the bow I used a large die set by Simply Made Crafts.  The shape of the bow wasn't what \I wanted for this project so I altered it so that the large loops sat more on top of each other.
 I used a very old Spellbinders die set to cut the Baubles from silver card and attached silver thread between the layers so that I could tie them on later.

The dies to cut the twirly pieces and the snowflakes on the bauble are also in the Bow making die set.

I do love making gift bags like this, they are so simple to put together and adapt to the size and shape you need.

 This one is about 15cmsH, 12cmsW and 4cms deep

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab things the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today
Happy Crafting!

Snowflake Wreath

Hello!

Still struggling with my Autumnal woes, but give it a week or two and the tilt towards Christmas will help things along a bit!

Over at the Daring Cardmakers the countdown starts this week, and we have a lovely new Guest Designer to add to the fun.

We always start our seasonal calendar with the first challenge in November and this year its a mix of card challenges and others where you can share any kind of crafting project on our given themes, so tags, bags, boxes or anything else you make. We're calling it:
Have a Very Crafty Christmas

This week though, we're sticking to cards and as it's the first day of a new month it's an 

Elemental Inspiration Challenge  

For November we have this lovely, Wintry mood board for you to play with.

Remember, you just need to pick a minimum 3 elements  from the picture to use when making your card.  If you choose to use the colour palette, then that would count as one of your elements.

 Visit the Daring Cardmakers blog to see what our designers have made

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I chose the wreath, the greenery and the snowflakes to use on my card.
 

I started by resizing and printing a digital design from 'Romantic Letters' via Etsy onto the lower part of a piece of A4 card - so that when I trimmed it down and folded it the patterned section would be in the right place!

For the wreath I used 2 nesting circle dies to cut the shape.  I cut the shape twice and glued them together and also added small pieces of chipboard to the back to add some dimension

Next I chose several bough and 'greenery' dies and vut them in a variety of greens, plus a few in gold and white to cover the base of the wreath.

I chose a few of my snowflake dies and cut them in white, gold and turquoise-blue and glued them in place.

To finish I cut a few holly leaves and berries, and made the 'Joy' sentiment, adding a red and white twine bow to complete the card.

Lots of die cutting and sticking involved with this one!

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today
Happy Crafting!

Happy Haunting!

Hello!

An apology to start with today as I've been such a bad blogger, and blog-hopper lately. It's down to October-itis; that feeling of impending doom I get at this time every year.  I just find the shortening days and the whole dreariness of it so depressing.  My shoulders sag, I don't want to go anywhere or even see anyone - really I just want to hibernate, and I know I'm not the onw who dinfs this time of the year a challenge.

 Anyway, forgive me for being a miserable old bat, I'll get over it, eventually! I'll just keep my head down and hope that a bit of craft-therapy will help

Here's this week's challenge to the Daring Cardmakers
 
Halloween Inspired
It's Shabneez here this time, and as there are only a
few days left to Halloween I would love to see
your spooky creations.
If you don't have anything suitable in
your stash then how about using Halloween
inspired colours on your creations?

Click HERE to visit the blog and see what our Designers came up with.

Halloween isn't my favourite time - I'm the sort who closes the blinds, turns the lights down and doesn't answer the doorbell  Bah humbug!

but anyway, I thought I'd have a go at making a pumpkin shaped card, and came up with this

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I used orange card and a large oval die to make the card base. then cut 5 smaller orange ovals with a bit of extra inking added to make the top section. 

I inked some plain white card in the green and natural shades to use for the stalk and vines. The stalk was hand cut, and the vines die cut using a die from
Spellbinders

The sentiment was pc generated and then hand cut and inked.  I made a couple of extra tiny pumpkins from yellow and cream card for extra detail 

Just of fun, I had a look through my dies folders to see what else could be adapted to the Halloween theme, and spotted the 'Chill' ice cream set by
Spellbinders
I thought the scoops of ice cream shapes would make cute little ghosties, especially with the addition of googly eyes! 
I tied some raffia around the top and added a little tag to finish

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

Black Christmas

Hello!

Just a quick post today as I'm not  feeling well this week.  I did manage a couple of cards for Svenja's challenge, to the Daring Cardmakers this week though I'm not at all happy with the first one and I think it will be heading for the bin.

With days getting shorter and Hallowe'en coming closer I thought it might be a nice idea to really focus on the dark (and maybe the colourful against it). It's Svenja here and I'd like to take you

back to black

with me. So make a card that features the colour black as the main colour or as a distinctive central element. Sounds too sad for you? Just take a look at the Design Team's happy and fun makes!

Click HERE to visit the blog and see all the lovely cards made by our Designers

The first card I made turned out much more complicated and a bit of a trial ro get toi work, which is probably why I dislike it so much!

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Base card is inked up to create the background.
The snowman building die was cut a couple of times so that I could layer it up with some thick card between to give some dimension.
Once in position I die cut the Circle apertures in black and
 white athen matted over the top.
I added tiny white circles for snow and silver stars to the background, and die cut the sentiment in red for a splash of colour

Lots of inking and die cutting and faffing about with foam tape etc for this and definitely not worth the time and effort.  You win some and you lose some, eh?

Ny contrast, the second idea went together in about 10 minutes start to finish, and is much more the simple and striking kind of card I like to make at Christmas time

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White card blank
Scalloped square die cut in black
Cute Scribbled Square with Joy sentiment is cut in silver glitter card using a Memory Box die 
The Silver glitter stars are cut using various dies and punches

I'm going to jus this idea using other colours and other Christmassy focus elements as I really love how simple it is and how cute it looks when finished.

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

A Scraps Challege

Hello!

A little crafting question for you today?  Do you keep a lot of scraps, odds and ends etc. to use up later - and do you ever get around to using them?
I have loads!  Including a large pizza box full of digital papers of various shapes and sizes. It was this particular box I turned to for Miri's challenge
to the Daring Cardmakers this week
 

Use up Your Scraps

Are there some papers etc. you want to use up before the new year?  Is there a paper pad that is lying around since forever?
 Is your scrap box overflowing?
 Do you have a collection of coloured stamped images that never fit on your current projects?  Show us what you create with scraps and papers you want to get rid of.

Click HERE to visit the blog and see all the lovely cards made by our Designers

From the digi papers box I pulled three squares of coordinating papers, part of a selection I'd printed out for a tiny maze book project but didn't use in the end. 
I used two of the pieces to make the background panel for my card, and hand cut the extra flower embellishments from the third.

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The papers are one of the lovely collections by Grepic via Etsy.  They were printed onto white textured Bazzill card.
Scraps of white and deep aqua card for the sentiment and matting strips are from the colour-coded boxes of scrap card (yes, I really am that sad!)

The entiment is I think from Lawn Fawn

ITo finish, I add just a little bling with some tiny jewels in the flower centres and a few as a line on the white part of the cards

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

October Elemental Inspiration Challenge

Hello!

I hope you've had a good week. 

While we were enjoying our holiday in Skiathos and oblivious to everything else, it seems that Autumn sneaked in back here! Obviously it didn't escape Miri over in Germany because she's chosen a really Autumnal mood board for
the Daring Cardmakers this week.

Hello. It's Miri here this time.

It’s already October and I’m looking forward to some cosy golden autumn days.

 Remember, you just need to pick a minimum 3 elements  from the picture to use when making your card.  If you choose to use the colour palette, then that would count as one of your elements

Here is the inspirational picture I picked:

I chose the Autumn Leaves, Woodgrain texture, the Capital Letters and the colours to use for my card

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To begin I inked up several scraps of white card with Autumnal coloured inks and left them to dry while I fot started on the rest of the card.
I used a woodgrain embossing folder with a square of card, then added some pale grey and fawn inks over the top.  The edges were inked with blue to echo the tiny hint of blue sky on the Inspiration Picture, then matted onto brown card and adhered to the card base.
The Twiggy wreath was die cut from brown card and the leaves from the prepared pieces of inked card. There was enough of the inked card left to die cut the Thank You sentiment

I added a few pine cones cut from a dull pale gold card

All the dies used are from various Spellbinders die sets. 

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!