Friday, December 10, 2010

Christmas card tutorial

Do you need a last minute bunch of Christmas cards? Here is a tutorial to help you whip up 12 in about 2 hours. Sounds good? Take a peek:


Here is what you'll need:

3 patterned papers
6 white Bazzills
1 pink Bazzil
1 green Bazzill
1.5m ribbon
It will cost around $15, but you can cut costs by using cheaper cardstock from Crazy Clark's (do check the size though, they're often slightly smaller and you'll have to adjust measurements).

You will need some tools too:

Cutter and scissors
tape and foam squares
edge punch or edge scissors
something to cut a circle and a scalloped circle (I used Nestabilities and a compass)
a Christmas stamp and a word stamp

STEP 1: CUT THE CARDS:

Score your white cardstock at 4" from the left and 4" from the right:
now cut it in half:
mark out lines like shown and cut:
It should look like this:
now fold it:
(I inked the edges so you can see it better, you don't need to ink)
Do that with all 6 white Bazzills. Easy, right? Keep the little cut-offs, we'll use them later.

STEP 2: CUT THE PATTERNED PAPERS:

From the snowflake paper:
Cut 3 strips of 4" and cut each into half. You should have 6 pieces of 4x6"each. Mark and cut each one like this:
(Please be aware that if you mark it on the back of the paper you will have to reverse the diagonal line.)

From the blue & green paper:
Cut 2 strips of 4" and cut these into 4" squares.Cut each square in half diagonally like this:
You should now have 12 triangels.

From the chequered paper:
Cut 3 strips of 4" and cut each into 3" sections so you have 12 pieces of 3x4" each.
You should now have 12 of each of these:

STEP3: EDGES:

Use a border punch (or edge scissors) and cut 12 strips of the pink and 6 of the green Bazzill:
They get taped behind each piece of patterned paper and trimmed like this:

STEP 4: DECORATE THE FRONT:

Tape a piece of ribbon (about 12cm) to the snowflake paper and tuck in the ends:

You can use some embellishments you already have but here is what I have done:
Stamp a Christmas stamp onto a cut-off piece of white Bazzill and cut it out as a circle. I used my compass, but if you have a fancy tool to do this all the better. The size will depend on the size of your stamp. 
I used my scallop Nestabilities to cut out a matching mat from the leftover green Bazzill. You could use some edge scissors instead.
 
Stick them together and use foam squares to pop the angel on top of the ribbon:

Now tape all the pieces down and trim off anything that sticks over the edge. Stamp a Christmas greeting and you are done!
Pat yourself on the back! 12 fancy cards done.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Be Merry

I think it's the first time in my life that I have a photo of me on Santa's lap. Yes, it takes some of us a little longer! When I was a kid we had Santa and Christmas and all, but no shopping mall photos with him.



What a deprived childhood! Nevertheless, I seem to have pulled through somehow.
So, here is my Christmas page with me and Santa, which we'll use in class on Dec 14 and 16: 


I used my holly embossing folder, stars and flowers to make a wreath and there is a bit of scrolling happening on the background. Putting together the wreath will take a little while so I have kept the rest of the page very simple. Feel free to add more embellies!



Merry Christmas to all!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I'm on the design team for My2angels

Great news, I got on the design team for My2Angels! As a lot of you know I wanted to be on a design team for a while and am so excited to have been picked! Tracey has a really nice shop there and it's where I got my glitter glass from. Go on, have a sticky beak!

Who's been good?

Every year in December I do a few Christmas projects in class. Even naughty scrapbookers are allowed to come along! (you know who you are...)


"Where is the photo?", you might wonder.


Just pull here:


and the door pops open!


So, who's been good? My kids have! For the first time EVER I have a Santa photo with 3 smiling, happy kids. What a treat.


If Christmas photos is not your thing then you can add some "normal" flowers instead of the poinsettas and make it a page about your home.

Christmas card bonanza

We all had a great time last Saturday making Christmas cards. We all got 6 cards done, listened to the first Christmas music of the season (I'm ignoring the shopping centre music which has been trying to "silent night" me since October!) and had some very delicious nibblies. Thanks to all my wonderful friends who came along and thanks to my awesome hubby Greg who kept the kids amused all day elsewhere. Ready for a little looksie to see what we made?

Here's an old-fashioned Santa card using Graphic 45 paper, some muslin and organza:


Then there's a snowy card. I do miss snow and the cold at Christmas! Hot Christmas, I will  never get used to you.


A gorgeous mirrow snowflake:


Making a poinsetta from really thick glitter cardstock and some cute Basic Grey paper. I do like the little twirly glitzy silver bits I found at Choice.


An angel card, being really economical with the patterned paper here by using thin strips.


The angel is covered in gold Opals, though everyone else was happy to leave it in plain wood


A little lace Christmas tree. I used some lace by the meter from Stampers and Scrapbooker's Wonderland and dyed it green with Walnut ink. Thanks, Barbara, for the fantastic idea!


And last comes a tri-fold card with the sweetest little felt reindeer. Another super-economical paper saver, using only 3 sheets of patterned paper for 12 cards.


Well, it was a great day. Thanks, everyone, for coming along.


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Happy author of a blog (Class Nov 30 - Dec 3)

Yes, me having a blog is all old news, but this page is my August in review page for our 2010 in review group on the Boxx. (If you haven't heard of this wonderful forum yet, get yourself over there right now! No wait, finish this post first...) We are making a page every month about our scrapbooking life and having a blog was one of my goals at the beginning of the year.
The journalling reads, "Oh joy! I'm the happy author of a blog"


There are a lot of little techniques hidden in here that we haven't done in a while, like texture paste and using masks for things other than glimmer misting:


 Thank you Janet for the wonderful pleated ribbon! I love it.


And I've dug out the good old roller stamps:


Those of you who like getting into the Christmas spirit early can use this for a Christmas photo, too.


This looks like a bit of fun and before I forget it: the circle idea was totally inspired by the wonderful Shell and her awesome work.

TFL!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Playtime in the sand

Me and the kids headed off to the beach last weekend while Greg was away rehearsing for the first gumball theatre show on the 27th in Brisbane (go on, check it out!). It was our first time back at the beach this summer and the kids spent hours playing in the sand. If only all days could be so peacefull... The journalling says, "First beach day this summer and the kids are totally absorbed with playtime in the sand".

I used Shell's "Apple of my eye" LO as a starting point. We scraplifted it once before in a crop and I wanted to do another one.


I used foam strips for the title letter, an idea I saw on Leanne's page.


And I like the little hand pointing to the month:


The circle got distressed, torn, sewn, crumbled, rolled, buttoned...
What can't we do to paper?!


I started out with white lace and used some walnut ink to change the colour:


Thanks for looking!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Sugar and spice

...and all things nice.
These 2 best friends are cuteness on a stick! Leah and Lif have been friends since they were two and they go to Prep together. Once day they were pretending to be ballerinas (note the fabulous make-up!)


My daughter Hannah (in the middle) organised and choreographed it all and here they are:


(I feel a double page coming on!)

I used some muslin for a bit of texture and to make some roses:


There had to be a feather and some bling:



Some embossing:



and the cute little mini-prints:




All this is thanks to the gorgeous sketch by Julie Winks:



You can check hers out at the Boxx. I really like the idea of adding some of the mini photos, I'll have to use them again. Someone suggested we can also use some photo booth photos there, how cool is that?!







handbag

My sister likes the Aboriginal style, so I made her a handbag for Christmas. I hope she likes it. My friend Sam had made one and I soooo had to have one too. The pattern is by Janelle Wind.
It was fun and easy to sew and now I'll be making a few more.


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

My birdie wreath

I made a pretty wreath to hang on my front door. It's not really meant to be a Christmas wreath, but rather one that can be there all year. I used a chipboard kit by Kaisercraft and papers from the oh-so-cute "wishful thinking" collection by Fancy Pants. These are some of my favourite colours.


I found this little fellow in a scrap shop in Toowoomba:


I made a few paper flowers too and used the glitter glass from "My 2 angels" on the stemen. It gives it just the right amount of sparkle without being kitschy.
Next time you visit me, come and check it out in real life!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Wishful thinking

It's not often that I appear on one of my pages but the fortnightly challenge on the The Boxx was to do a page about ourselves and I wanted to join in.


The little dress maker's dummy is inspired by my friend Gilly:


all fluffy and pretty...


and some embossing with my new embossing folder:



Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Moritzburg


Moritzburg is the gorgeous hunting castle of the kings of Saxony, right in the middle of a lake and it's close to where my parents live and where I grew up. I've been there so many times, bike riding, ice-skating, drawing, visiting festivals and the local zoo of native forest animals. Plus, every visitor we ever had got to see it too. This place is very dear to me.



Here is my layout:


I've got to use my new edge punches by Martha Steward. I think I might get addicted to the lace edge. The tree is a laser-cut acrylic tree by Kutalicious, owned by a couple of very sweet local ladies. It comes in various finishes, but I used a clear one and added Crocopaint on the back to give it a bark-like look:



 I was going to use some doileys but I think most of my class ladies are doileyed-out and so I opted for a little stamping on vellum. I wanted to get that old-fashioned soft look.



The layout was inspired by a sketch from My Creative Scrapbook.

Class times for this layout are:
Tue Nov.9 at 10am
Thu Nov. 11 at 6pm
Fri Nov. 12 at 10am