Some last minute Christmas cards.....

Just a couple more Christmas cards to share, I had already finished my card making for the season but a friend asked for a card for her boyfriend so I made these two.

I am entering the top one into the Happy Daze Challenge and the bottom one into The Artistic Stamper Challenge.

Tim's 12 tags of Christmas inspired Christmas card

If you have been following Tim's tags you will know how fab they all are in their own unique way, and so many fun techniques to learn along the way.
There was one tag in particular that caught my eye and I thought it would make a great christmas card so I ordered in the supplies cause I didn't have the reflections stamps or the die but I see it as an investment. So once they arrived I got started. I made a bunch of these cards, the alcohol ink on acetate combined with the reflections stamps is genius. I think the tag/card design can be adapted for so many occassions as the acetate back makes the main feature you could just change the colours and theme. I now also want the other set of reflections stamps. Hope santa might get them for me.

I will of course add this to the endless list of inspiring creations on Tim's blog, it's great what everyone has created inspired by the tags. So many different ideas. Just WOW.
I am entering this into the Happy Daze Challenge where the theme is Christmas. Same theme over at The Artistic Stamper and their monthly challenge.

Stampotique Designers Challenge - Non traditional Christmas Cards

A non-traditional Christmas card is the theme at Stampotique. No red or green allowed. Well, there is definitely no red or green in my card and I think Uncle Buck is as non-traditional as you can get. Doesn't he look handsome with his crown?

I'm not sure who I will be sending this card to, maybe someone who isn't too keen on Christmas, hehe.






Now as for this card it started off as a card to enter into the challenge but it turned out too red, even though I used my orange distress inks and for the writing I used stamps other than Stampotique, one of the challenge requirements. But nevertheless I absolutely adore this card, I just love the little goblin stamp, probably my best purchase this year. And I just wanted to share the card so there you go.

Another year, another 12 tags of Christmas....

It's that time of year again where everyone in the crafting world creates their own little interpretations of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. I like the fact that we can now link them all on Tim's page and you can see everyone else's tags. So many different ones, amazing!!! Unfortunately I won't be able to make every one due to a lack of time. I have even given up my forthcoming monday (day off = craft day) as I'm visiting a friend. But I'll try to make some tags in my spare moments before and after work.
So here is today's tag, love the canvas reindeer, fab idea!

I am entering this into The Artistic Stamper Challenge where the theme is Christmas.
And also The Happy Daze Challenge - Christmas gifts, cards and tags.

Handmade wrapping paper

In one of my recent posts (Christmas tags) I was talking about how I'm wrapping and tagging all my Christmas pressies this year and I mentioned some wrapping paper I made. Well here it finally is, wrapped around a present for my mum. All I did was to print photos of my mum in 2 different sizes, cut them leaving a white edge around some of them so when it comes to sewing them they overlap slightly. And then I've jut sewn them with 3 different coloured threads. Sew them together randomly until you have a piece large enough to wrap your present. Takes a bit of time but it's very easy and looks pretty I think.

Here is a detailed view of the paper ribbons I used, I added a heart for some interest and that's it really.

Craft Stamper Christmas Card Inspiration featuring Stampotique

Do you read any craft magazines? Do you keep them or maybe pass them on or throw them out after a while? Well I loooove my magazines and they are taking up a fair bit of space but every so often I find myself going through them again and again. And everytime I find new inspiration. Whether it's a project using stamps that I didn't have before but own now or maybe it's just something that didn't interest me before but suddenly it does. So I found myself looking through a Craft Stamper issue from a year ago and found a christmas hanging Kate Crane made using Stampotique and Tim Holtz stamps. I took that idea and created my own little christmas card collection. I used a different character and sentiment but I re-created the same background following her steps. I love them for their vibrant colours and crazy "Uncle Buck" character, he don't look like he loves christmas too much, hehe.

I am entering this into the "Backgrounds" Challenge at The Artistic Stamper.

Stampotique Designers Challenge - Sketch Challenge

It's been a while since I've played with a sketch so yesterday I created this little Christmas card. I like the vibrant colours of it and the way it turned out. This one is for my housemate. I am yet to make the cards for my family and some friends but have finished the majority of the cards I'm sending. Very organized. In fact I started wrapping presents last night too.
So I'm off to make more Christmas cards.....

This is of course being entered into the Stampotique Designers Challenge.

Crafty Advent Calendar Swap..... come and join in the fun

Do you love Christmas? Do you love the time leading up to Christmas? Making decorations and cards and writing little lists of what to get for everyone? If you do then maybe you'd like to join in my little advent calendar?

I got the idea from my bloggy friend Milla in Finland, she just started hers and I loved the idea so much that I just have to make one of my own.

The idea is that you pick a day and for that day you send me a little present. In return I send you one, whether you use it as part of your own advent calendar or just have a little extra pressie to open at Christmas thats your choice. This is a good opportunity to get to know other people and their crafts, browse your swapees blog and find out what they like. Email them. Ask questions. And then send a little present they will enjoy. This could be anything from a handmade item, crafty items such as charms, ribbon etc. A stamp you may have spare. Or you could go out and buy a small something. It's not about spending lots of money, it's about sharing the love for christmas and getting to know people.

I myself love anything crafty, I love stamps and Tim Holtz grungy style stuff. Vintage. Old photos. Photobooth pictures. Rusty keys. Ribbons and fibers. I do love nice socks, even though they aren't crafty. My boyfriend collects Tic Tacs so any foreign (by foreign I mean not german or british) ones be fab. Small notebooks. Jordi Labanda illustrated things. Art Journaling. These are just a few of my likes.

So if that sounds like something you would like to be part of then leave a comment and/or email me at anikraft@hotmail.co.uk.

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19. Swap Bot
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Time to start making Christmas cards

Every year I think I better start early with my Christmas cards, you know in summer. Make 2-3 every week and by the time Christmas comes round you're sorted. But it never works like that does it?
I have only just started with my xmas cards and this is the first design for the year. I picked up these cute little wooden reindeer in John Lewis. The card design is very simple but I find the browny/kraft distress style works well.

I am entering these into the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge where the theme is "So distressing".

First christmas card of the year

It's coming up to that time of the year where all I do is make christmas cards. Not too bad really cause I luuuuurve christmas.
My sister and I have been making each other an advent calendar for around 10 years now so I gotta get thinking of what lil things I can wrap up for her. As she loves all sorts of crafts too there will be some nice crafty things I'm sure.

So here is my first christmas card of the year - a CAS card, not normally what I do, but I like a challenge. And this one if for the "Less is more" challenge where we are challenged to use metallics in our creations. Do pop by for inspiration and to join in of course!

Christmas Star - "Celestial" for The Altered Element

Welcome to what is going to be my last project for The Altered Element Design Team.

I used the smaller of the 2 wooden stars, these come flatpacked and you can just slide them together. I glued the pieces into place with glossy accents.

Then I painted the whole star with a gold acrylic paint as a base and when that was dry I simply melted a layer of gold UTEE onto each section. I used PVA glue to adhere the UTEE, works very well for large sections like this. The UTEE came out smooth in some parts and more textured in others but that just adds to the character.

I had this thin gold wire lying around for ages and thought this be the prefect opportunity to use it. So I wrapped it round the star randomly. It's not glued (only the ends), it just holds itself in place around the shape of the star.

The charms are all from Vintaj brass. I used the gold wire again and some golden jumprings to attach these to the bottom. I just drilled some small holes in the star to attach them.

And there you got it, a shiny, shimmery, twinkly christmas star ready to hang.

Another great idea for using these wooden stars would be to make a star topper for your christmas tree.

Tim's 12 tags of Christmas......

More of Tim's tags, yippie.

Now when it comes to these two..... when i first saw day 9 I was in love. But I don't have the rosette die (yet!!!) or the letters either, so I had to substitute a lot and it just made it look a bit crap may I say. Loving the swishy ink background with the music stamp though, that turned out pretty well.

Day 10 was another substitute day for me as I didnt have the snowman or the snowflake embossing folder. So I used 3 reindeer and I named the reindeer SNOWY and put that in letters underneath. The background is inky with a subtle starry background. I embossed some thick acetate with a dots embossing folder and i really like this tag. The embossed acetate just makes it, thanks Tim for the idea. Pure genius!!!

And of course I am entering these into the Artistic Stamper Challenge.

Tim's 12 tags of Christmas......

Here are Tim's tags from day 7 and 8.

If you look at day 7 and think something is wrong here, then you are right. I glued the flower together totally wrong. Clever me. It looks pretty though. Just not the way it was intended. Never mind, I had fun making it.

With day 8 I had to substitute the santa sleigh and made my own mask from acetate instead, using a snowflake punch. I prefer it to the sleigh to be honest.

I also just ran out of embossing tape, so I had to handwrite the little message.

Once again I am entering these two into the Artistic Stamper Challenge.

Til the next tag, tada!!

Tim's 12 tags of Christmas......

Another day and another Tim tag.... I am a few days behind with showing my creations but never mind.....

This is day 6 of Tim's tags and I had to substitute a few things like stamps and stuff but I'm pretty please with this one.

As before I am entering my tag into the Artistic Stamper Challenge.

One card for many challenges.....

Another christmas card and some more challenges to be entered. First of all I used the Card Patterns Sketch for this, then I would like to enter this into the Artistic Stamper Challenge where the theme is Christmas (what else!). Also would I like to enter this into this weeks Simon Says Stamp and Show - Holiday Greetings draw and last but not least, over at Simon Says Stamp challenge we are making christmas cards with no green and red.

I used some swirly grungeboard as a base, painted it gold, sanded it and inked over with brown distress inks. It's all pretty much distress inks, Tim Holtz and glossy accents with some ribbon and a bell added.

CPS Challenge entry....

Life has been a bit busy recently with a little trip home and lots of christmas organizing going on, but I finally got back into the crafting, catching up on Tim's Tags and some challenges.

I used the CPS sketch to make this card. For the first time I didnt stick to thesketch too much but used it more as an inspiration. I always seem to try and make something using the exact sketch.... so with this one I tried to challenge myself a bit.

Vintage Christmas Canvas.....

Inspiration for this frame came from a recent issue of one of the stampington publications. I just wanted to create a little frame with a vintage christmas feel and something with a bit of depth. So I used the back of a canvas and covered it with terra paste all over, when dry I painted it cream and then rubbed over some inka gold with my finger to bring out the texture.

The inside was lined with stripey paper and for a touch of colour I used a blue fabric for curtains and made little ties with ribbon. I played around with the frame a lot and re-arranged it a lot to see what looks good and what doesnt.

The bells were originally pink and I simply painted them with modern masters rust paint. If you havent tried yet, get some, its lots of fun making things rusty and old.

The presents are covered in music paper and dictionary paper and distressed with ink. Around the edge of the frame I used some old gold lace, very heavy stuff. I remember my parents used to use the same stuff for nutcrackers they used to make, so for me its associated with christmas already, I just had to add some. If you have a closer look at the frame there are many things to discover and I had fun putting it together.

I am entering this into the Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge - Vintage Hues.

More CCC and Stamp and Show

Double distress is the theme over at Studio L3 this week and how perfectly does that fit in with the Simon says Stamp and Show "distress inks" theme?!?! Very much so!

I used my music embossing folder for the first time on some grungepaper here. I like the idea of embossing folders but never seem to get it right, but this time, using grungepaper as a base I think it worked really well. I'm pleased.

Have you noticed this is not a christmas card? I'm shocked. I think I've finally had enough of christmas card making and I'm gonna slowly get back to other cards now.....

The double distress technique is a bit messy I find, well you get really inky fingers, but that's part of the fun!

With this background I had gone quite dark so I tried to lighten the trees and make them stand out a bit with some stickles around the edges. I'm slowly finding more uses for stickles, should invest in some more really. Maybe santa will bring me some!!!

Tim Holtz inspired Christmas Baubles

I've been wanting to join in with 2 challenges - The Stampman Challenge where the theme is Tim Holtz Christmas and the Sir Stampalot Challenge where the theme is Christmas Traditions. So when I saw these clear plastic baubles I knew they'd be perfect to make up something christmassy.

On the blue ones I used stream alcohol ink in the inside and then stamped some snowflake from one of the Tim Holtz sets on the outside. I filled one with polystryrene balls and the other with chunky flitter. These are my first attempts so I reckon if I spend some more time playing around with the clear balls the results could be quite stunning and make nice decorations on my tree this year. Or even as a christmas gift for someone.

The next two I coloured with alcohol inks again, latte or ginger I cant quite remember. One baubles spells JINGLE BELLS on the outside and is filled with rusty bells. The other one says MERRY & BRIGHT and I filled that one with golden stars.

I have a load more baubles to decorate so pop back to see how the others turned out.

In the meantime have a crafty weekend!!

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #22

It's time for another Compendium Challenge over at Studio L3. We are playing with alcohol inks again this week and they are still not my favourite but I gave it a go anyway. Like last time I still haven't bought any glossy card (I have been meaning to but still never do) so I used some silver card again, since it's christmas soon I thought the silver would go well.

I have to say I really enjoyed this technique. Very colourful and it looks gorgeous. I punched out some snowflakes and use dthem on some christmas cards. Not your traditional christmas colours but I think they are a little different.