Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!



Well, as I wait here for Santa to arrive, I thought I should take a few minutes to download those pictures of some of my ornaments I made with the Country Living kit. Almost everything I needed was in the kit! How cool is that, no need to look for glue, glitter, anything. Although, I did add a couple of bobbles from the Pretties Kit to add to the ornaments. Enjoy!
The white frames were stamped with craft Whisper White ink and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds. When dry, I sealed it with Modge Podge because I worry about the glitter wearing off over time. I also Modge Podged the paper to protect it.

For the bottom ornaments, I ran the hat pin through the chipboard and ran the beads along the pin. The top of the pin is perfect for attaching an ornament hanger.

A word of warning... its easy to punch chipboard out, but its hard to put it back in place. Make sure it is lined up the same way. They do not have perfect radial symmetry. Also, glue and Modge Podge may coat the sides adding bulk. Be patient and it can be worked back in.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

My Christmas Cards


Although I originally had an elaborate design for my Christmas cards, I decided to keep it simple and cute this year. I was amazed with the cards made by several other crafters using the Top Note die to make the folded cards and had to give it a try. It was so easy, and different. And they stand really well.

I love the Deer Friends hostess set and took advantage of it to make my cards. I couldn't resist coloring the deer's nose red and gave it a touch of crystal effects to help it "glow". And I had to use my new stamp set from the Country Living special to perk up background too.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy Holidays

I have been busy making some holiday projects (in between class and grading papers)
Here are a few of my latest Holiday Projects.

First off, I picked up some new glitter. I usually only play with Dazzling Diamonds, but this time I tried the Fine Cosmo Glitter set. I picked up some glass ornaments, put a couple drops of reinker in. Then, I swirled the ink around to get a fine coat of ink throughout the inside of the ornament. I drained the excess ink out and poured copious amounts of glitter in. I swirled the glitter around to make sure every spot was coated with glitter and shook most of it out. Although I poured nearly the whole container of glitter in, almost all of it came back out. I used rub-ons, like the Old Saint Nick set, to decorate the ornaments.
A couple of tips: Use smaller images, due to the curve of the ornaments. Add the rub-ons in small sections. The white rub-ons show up best. If you make a mistake (and I did) its easy to remove the rub-on and try a new one.

I picked up the Country Living Holiday kit. What a great bargain that is! It had everything I needed. I was thinking about adding glitter to one project and wondered where mine was... no need, it was in the kit!
I made several items. This is the scrapbook page I designed for my Stampin Club. Using the Coluzzle to get the circle, the Designer punch for the tabs, and several circle punches, I came up with the this fun design. I cased a variation of this off of SCS (thanks Doris) because I thought the idea of the ornament design to frame the photos was so creative.