The 12 Trees of Christmas 2014: the finale....

Hello Friends!

Thanks for stopping by!  I am finally able to post my final three trees.  I probably don't need to say that making and posting my 12 trees for this year did not go this way in my head!  I'm not sure why I am still surprised when that happens.  I should rather be surprised when things do go the way they do in my head!

Anyway, I am happy with these trees, even if they did come about a bit later than planned:

Tree number ten:

This tree is much more elegant than most of my projects.  I cut six of the Swirly Tree free file by Bird of Bird's Cards.  My Silver Bullet Pro made quick work of the cutting.  I added score lines down the center of each tree, to make folding them in half easier.   After folding, each tree was glued to the next, to form a dimensional tree.  I used spray glue to add glitter, and hot glued my tree into a vintage crystal drawer knob base.  A red ribbon bow adds a touch of color.

Tree number eleven:

This tree was fashioned after some Tim Holtz style trees that kept turning up on Pinterest.  I used my new favorite rosette file from My Scrap Chick to cut five rosette strips in graduated sizes.  After threading them with baker's twine I cinched them up into a cone shape, rather than the traditional flat rosette.  I added a bit of Tarnished Brass Distress paint to highlight the ribs of the tree. 

I rescued the puffy star from a former Fourth of July decoration.  It was red and faded so I painted it up with some Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Paints.  After they were dry, I applied some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and hit it hard with my heat gun to bubble it up.  I love the effect!

And now for my final tree of 2014, number twelve:

What? You can't see the tree?  No you can't, because this is just a close up of the background.  I used my Wendy Vecchi Crackle paste, and I had to share a close up of the effect.  The base is a journal cover from 7 Gypsies, coated with Mod Podge and layered with tissue paper and gesso for texture and to lighten the color from the very dark brown original. 

After the Crackle paste had dried, I randomly stamped the background with a flourish stamp and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

Well, that's not the tree either!  Its the star on top.  It is the shabby Distress Inked star on top. 

Ok, so that's the tree!  I embossed a piece of kraft cardstock with a ruler embossing folder (from Darice, I think.) I cut apart the individual ruler pieces, added Distress Stain Picket Fence, Distress Inks in various wood tones, and black Archival ink to highlight the numbers.  I cut them to various lengths, and adhered them to chipboard to give them some them definition.  I used thick quick dry glue to adhere the strips and trunk to the background. 

I am really pleased with my tree stand.  I cut a rectangle of brown cardstock, and angled the edges.  after distressing and inking the edges with Barn Door Distress Ink, I added dimension to the stand by curling it with the edge of my scissors.  A touch of glue on the edges is just enough to adhere it to the background over the tree trunk. 

I wish you all a Happy and Crafty New Year!

Elizabeth

12 Trees Number 3, and some little gifts

Hi Everyone!

I'm back with another of my 12 Trees of Christmas.  This one couldn't be more different than yesterday's.

It's tiny!  And it's "Tim-y"!  Except for the ribbon, everything you see is from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology line.  The tiniest of the bottle brush tress fits perfectly in the glass dome.  I glued a shiny star on either side of the tree top, shook on some glitter, and added some Distress Inked ribbon to the bottom of the cork. 

This little project couldn't have been quicker or easier, and it is perfect to tuck into one of the many nooks and crannies that I decorate for Christmas.  If you wish, you could add a hanger and use it as a tree ornament or trimming for a special package.

In case you hadn't noticed, I just adore Christmas crafting, and in the midst of the season, I just can't seem to stop.  Fueled by cookies, caffeine, and Christmas joy, I spend every spare moment in my craft room.  Here are some projects I created this week to share with my co-workers.

This adorable barn gift box is from the Santa's Village kit from SVG Cuts.  It's so cute as is, I didn't feel the need to change it up at all.  I used one of Mary's (The owner and chief designer of SVG Cuts) tips, and used coordinating papers for all of the individual pieces.  It makes choosing papers super simple (especially since I had already used much of this Recollections stack from a couple of years ago, and didn't have too many pages left to choose from.) and gives my project a really cohesive look. 

My next project was really fun to put together:

I used a recently purchased Rosette set from My Scrap Chick to make the 5.5 inch diameter rosette.  I had never tried a "sewn" rosette, thinking that it would be  more difficult than gluing.  Boy was I wrong!  The PDF instructions were terrific, and using baker's twine for assembly was totally quick and easy, and I didn't burn even one finger!  I layered two sizes of dimensional star for a fun look.  I used my Silver Bullet Professional to letter and cut the Peace banner.  It's been a while since I have used my pen tool.  I'm going to have to bust it out more after Christmas.  Especially since SCAL cutting software from Craft Edge  just came out with version 4, which has some nifty drawing feature updates that I'm anxious to try out. 

And finally, this morning I cut and assembled four of these:

I have been having fun with these little boxes this year.  I saw lots of these little boxes on line and was lucky to find a cut file to use.  Because with my Silver Bullet and SCAL software I don't have to rely on dies,  I am not limited to specific sizes.  I cut these boxes at about 8 inches, so they would be large enough to tuck a little packet of home baked goodies into when assembled.  The other night, I cut them at 4 inches, so that the finished boxes were small enough to tuck into the girls' Advent Calendar spaces.  They were adorable in that tiny size, and I was able to fit several M&M's inside. 

Thanks for popping in today.  Stay tuned for my 12th and final Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas 2014 project soon, and more Christmas trees, too, of course!

Elizabeth

Five Cards

Hello All,

I'm back with 5 more cards.  It was nice to get back to the craft room after a week away. 

 

 This card and the next are from the My Scrap Chick Quick Cards set.  It's true.  They are quick cards to make!  I just added a few sequins and a clear plastic sticker. 

Inside, I layered some coordinating card stock and a stamped sentiment.



 On this one, I added the "off cuts" from the card above to pump up the color a bit.  A button, some Perler bead dots, and a stamped sentiment complete the front.  (Oh, and I ran both card fronts through my Sizzix embosser.  I love the extra texture, and it helps to adhere all of the pieces.)

Inside is a simple stamped sentiment and some layered cardstock. 

The next two cards a from the My Scrap Chick Geometric Card Essentials set.  I pulled a bunch of elements from my die cuts box (the one where I toss all of my unused elements).  I love all of the "clustered" projects I am seeing, and wanted to see how that would work with my pared down style.  I think I like it! 

Here is another card from the same My Scrap Chick set.  I stamped using Archival Ink, added some texture with a Tim Holtz embossing folder, and used some more of my Perler dots.  (Love these things!)  I edged some of the elements with Archival ink to add a bit of dimension. 

 I really like the font on this stamp that I picked up at Michael's a while ago.  I bought a bunch of them and use them often. 

 

 

And finally, I have jumped on the box card bandwagon!  So cute, and fun to do!! My base is a Lori Whitlock file.  I changed out the grad themed embellishments for the cupcake and stars.  There is such awesome potential for embellishing these cards, with the inner and outer accent layers plus the pop ups!   I am jonesing to do more of these.  Stay tuned for a series!

 

 

As always, I used my Silver Bullet Professional  electronic die cutter for all of my cards.  It is the most used item in my craft room.  I don't know what I would do without it!  Seriously.

 

 I wish you a terrifically crafty week!

 

Elizabeth

Catching up on Christmas

Hello Friends!

Happy Friday.  Hope you all are well!  Today I am sharing five more Christmas cards.  I believe I am caught up now!  These cards were made using SVGs from the My Scrap Chick  Card Essentials sets. 

I cut all of the shapes with my Silver Bullet Professional cutter.  I used fun papers from my stash of Christmas stacks, and a variety of Christmas stamps and Archival ink colors.  This has definitely become my favorite ink for stamping.  As much as I love Distress Inks, I have found that I prefer the precision I get with Archival. 

 I hope you all find time to do what you love this weekend.  I am in the middle of my favorite event of the summer, which is not at all craft related, but tons of fun!  I will be back to my craft room next week, ready to bust out some cards after a week off.

Elizabeth

'Tis the season.... to get a jump start on Christmas cards!

Hi All,

It's been a while since I have shared Christmas cards.  For this batch I used the My Scrap Chick Card Essentials Collection 2 SVG set and my Silver Bullet digital cutter:

This vintage Santa stamp makes me happy, especially in Red Geranium Archival ink!

This is two views of the same card front.  I made a pocket to hold a tag that I cut from some Holiday designer paper. 

Simple gold and green, with a beautiful vintage holly stamp from Tim Holtz, in Fern Green Archival Ink.  I love, love, love my Wendy Vecchi collection of colors!

 

I made a frame element for this card, from the Card Essentials 1 set, because I thought it looked like a wreath.  I added some glitter (!) and a pretty bow to give it some glitz.  

I adore this Tim Holtz evergreen stamp! 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  I appreciate your visits!

Elizabeth

Five cards and some Bridal Shower projects

Hi Everyone,

Happy Wednesday!  Today I will be sharing five assorted cards, the last of which will segue into a collection of bridal shower projects that I made recently.

This simple Christmas card was made by layering a white cut layer over a slightly larger red layer, and adding a stamped sentiment. 

This fun 19th (!) birthday card for my eldest daughter was made by embossing some scrappy strips from my stash, as well as a cut sentiment and shadow layer.  That's it!  Clean and simple, but fun and colorful as well. 

This is another quick card from the My Scrap Chick Card Essentials Collection.  The lettering was done using the print and cut feature of my Sure Cuts A lot software, which allowed me to line things up to show perfectly through the windows.  I added fun little inked borders by using the off cuts as a mask and inking right through the windows.  The extra ink adds a bit of interest to the very plain front of the card as well. 

 I made three of these cards this year, on for my husband, and one for each of our dads.  I used Tim Holtz paper for the offset backgrounds and mat, and a Tim Holtz stamp on Kraft Glassine for the focal image.  Tim's stamps are my "go-tos" for masculine cards, every time, and the license plate paper worked perfectly!

The inside got a print and cut sentiment with fun fonts and some coordinating layering.

And now for the shower projects:

First - card number five:

This is a gift card sized card, cut (as almost all of my cards are) with my incredible Silver Bullet cutter , and embossed with my Sizzix Big Shot.

Here are all of the coordinating projects that go with it:

This is the envie for the wedding dress card (The rolled rose is made with a file by the very talented Lisa Howell, of Mind Over Matter Creations

 

 This is the box I made for a set of embossed and monogramed note cards.

 And this is one of the cards.  I made an embossing folder to emboss the printed purple border, then added the embossed (with a commercial folder) rectangle to the center.

This card was on the outside of the gift bag that contained the gift card and stationery.  

 

And this was the gift bag that contained it all.  Since I am doing some of the wedding décor for this very special bride to be, I know exactly what papers she likes!  Convenient, yes?  The SVG cut file for this bag was created and generously shared by Bird of BirdsCards . 

I wish you all a wonderful remainder of the week!

Elizabeth

It's time for another card post

Happy Wednesday, Everyone!

Hope the week is treating you right!  I'm here with my weekly card post.

In this post, I will continue with my series of My Scrap Chick Card Essentials Volume 1 series.  There are twenty cards in the set, and I have completed ten of them.  As I mentioned earlier, it is a great way to get a lot of cards done quickly.  If you have more time, they make a great base for adding lots of details and embellishments, too. 

 The bracket window front was backed with a piece of embossed cardstock.

 Again, I backed the window with cardstock. I added the brown flower centers.

 More brown circles, and a shadow layer to coordinate with the front.

 Here, I left the "windows" open, and added some coordinating cardstock to the front.

 The card opens to fully reveal the pretty inside.

 This one is just plain fun!  I love this shiny crayon paper by DCWV!

 I backed the circular windows with stamped cardstock on this front.

 And used an off-cut from one of the cards above on the inside.  Tricky, yes?

 I cut all of the components with my Silver Bullet Professional  electronic die cutter.  Whether I am making simple cards like these, or complicated three dimensional projects, this cutter is a dream to work with.  It is incredibly fast and accurate, and has a tremendous range of settings so that I can fine tune for each type of material that I cut.  For these cards, I used  the print and cut features of my Sure Cuts A lot software for the sentiments. 

Thanks for clicking in to see my cards today! 

Elizabeth