Tuesday 19 August 2014

Christmas in July



I must admit I did find this really hard because I'm not really a Christmas person. It's not the same when you don’t have any children. Mind you my great nephews ages 3 and 6 tire me out!!!! And fill that void of missing out of having any children.
I looked at the challenges I wanted to enter and decided I could kill three birds with 1 stone!! As the saying goes.
Challengers are Indigoblu - Christmas in July, That's Crafty - use a stamp, PanPastels - bold and bright.

Firstly I folded A4 card for the base, then cut a black mat and a white mat. I gutted the black card, for any new people starting to craft this means I've cut out a rectangle within the mat but made sure that there is enough 'frame' to show when the white card is stuck on top.
On the white card mat I randomly stamped snowflakes with Versamark and then brushed on PanPastels.
I felt it needed to be brighter so i randomly stamped with distress ink. I didn’t bother to put the stamp on an acrylic block as this would have showed where the edges of the stamp would be.
I spread some Decopatch glue on my non stick craft mat then dabbed my stamp in it taking care not to dab too much glue because the imagine floods when stamped. I stamped onto some scrap card several times and heated with my heat gun to dry. It did bubble a bit but the snowflakes looked ok.
Once dry I applied PanPastels.
Then I die cut 3 baubles. My new crafty toy! I've been cutting all sorts of things.
Ruffed up the edges of the card and baubles with scissors.
Applied PanPastels to the edge of the baubles and white card.
On some scrap card I stamped the xmas tree with Versafine and applied 2 different embossing powders but you can't really see what I've done, I should have used a pigment ink that stayed wetter for longer.
To brighten it up I used PanPastels and then cut it out.
I edged the tree with the maker pen so that it lifted it from the background.
Before i stuck the pieces of card on the background i applied the liner to the baubles and tree and left to dry.
I then stuck them on the card.
Then used the green liner to make the baubles look as if they are hanging.
Voila my 1st Christmas card of the year! This is a 1st for me; I usually leave it till at least December or 1 week before Christmas!

Materials used
Indigoblu stamps
PanPastels - pewter, magenta, bright yellow green.
Waco glamour liner - green, crystal.
Versafine - Spanish moss
WOW - regular green, lime light.
Sizzix - big shot, bauble framelits.
Distress ink - picked raspberry.
Distress marker - crushed olive.
From my stash
Decopatch glue
Centura pearl card base
White and black card
Pva glue
Heat gun

Challenges entered;



Blog Break!

It's been a while since I looked at my blog. I'm calling it my blog summer break as I don't have a holiday booked for this year!!
It doesn't mean I haven't been crafting. I've actually been very busy cos I got my new crafty toy the Sizzix Big Shot.
I know I have got my silhouette cameo but there are some limits to what materials you can cut. Obviously I didn't read the instructions and thought I didn't need any extra cutting plates but I've found out through trial and error I need the long cutting plates for the Sizzix longer dies and also a silicone mat. I tried using some silicone sheet I had but it's far too thin and doesn't give an embossed effect to the different materials I've used.
I watch Create and Craft a lot and thought I knew how to use the machine but it's surprising how much I can't remember lol.
I'm also trying to only buy dies with shapes I can't do on the silhouette but I can't resist all the beautiful dies out there in craft land. There is soooo much choice. I'm selling some of my craft stash I don’t use any more to pay for new dies! But needs must!
Crafting is such a good therapy to take my mind off my illness and it's so nice to receive compliments from people. I was told by a cognitive therapist a while ago that I must do something I enjoy every day to feel self worth and that's so true. I try everyday to do that. I would recommend this to anyone who is struggling with an illness that creeps up and starts to take over your life.
I have found the Sizzix is easy to turn, years ago I had a Cuttlebug and that harder to turn. It may have changed since I had one but that's why I choose the Sizzix it had such good reviews.
Any handy tips would be gratefully received, thank you.