Happy New Year

 Happy New Year to You and Your families

Let’s ring out 2022 and say hello to 2023 and all the new possibilities with your crafts.

I hope you all had what you wished for from Santa and here’s to a

 Happy and Peaceful 2023

Who knows what I will be crafting in 2023 but I will be sure to share them with you so keeping dropping by and lets keep sharing our ideas and enjoying our crafts.

I did get some craft. Items from my Santa list

Magnetic sheets for my new dies

Das Clay to try out some vintage embellishments for decorations and boxes.

So here are a couple of makes for 2023.

I also want to do more sewing but getting the time to set up and sew is not so easy.

Also a big Thank you to all the great artists and crafters on YouTube, Pinterest etc that so generously share their time and makes with us. 

See you all in the New Year

Dee

Pretty Christmas Decoration

 Another Christmas Decoration

This hanging Decoration is a great way of using your dies in a new way. Another project found on the web that I just had to try. 

The die used for this project is Spellbinders Bow die. You use one of the bow sections which has a small round at the end with a hole. Cut 4 to make the base of this decoration. The 4 sections are then put together with a brad. You can use ribbon threaded through the top section for hanging. I have then added the roses and ribbon bow with a hot glue gun and a tassel has been attached to the brad at the base.

Warning: A little patience is needed to. Make this as you need 4 die cut bow sections each has to be poked out to make the clean lattice look, although the Spellbinders die is very good at the lattice cutting. Having said that I loved it so much I bought another set dies so I could cut 2 at time. 

Now I have 2 sets I cut another decoration with gold card. This time using the smaller bow. I cut 6 sections to make a shorter more round version. 

I decorated with red rose, cream ribbon and pearls and added a gold dangling star.

Take another look at your dies and see if you have a die that can been used in other ways. Lots of us have bow dies, lets make the most of them. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Decorations for Christmas

Christmas Lanterns 

We are all getting busy with the run up to Christmas so my posts are less frequent, but here is one for you to add to your decorations 

This is not my own idea I got it surfing the net one day and decided to have a go, and i really liked the finished project, so I bought some tassels to finish them . 

For this project you will need:

1 piece of wire approx 8” 

Some beads

Paper to cut 9 pieces 10” x 3/4”  and 2 x 2cm  circles. This is best about 100-160gsm and heavier and it becomes difficult to shape.

Ribbon for top loop and tassel (optional)

Cut your pieces of paper and then cut each one in half so that you have 18 pieces 5” x 3/4”

Next make a hole in each end about 1cm from the end and half way in.

Cut 2 x 2cm circles and add a hole punch to the centre

Next take your wire and thread onto the wire your top bead or decoration then one of the 2cm circles with the pattern facing up. Bend the top over to make the loop and wind around the wire to finish smoothly

With 6 strips of paper at a time thread them onto the wire below the circle, then add another 6 and the last 6.

Once all the strips are threaded on with the top circle curl them around and thread the bottom hole onto the wire. The papers will curve to allow the wire through and once all the strips are threaded top and bottom add your second circle face down this time .

Add any bottom beads before bending the wire into a loop and securing it. With this process there will be a natural bending of the papers and shortening of the sphere as the wire and beads push up. You can determine the size of your circle before securing the beads.

If you want to add a tassel it can be threaded into the base loop before securing or added with some thread afterwards.

When this is all done you will have a bunch of papers. Gently slide them around to form the lantern.

You can make these out of classic papers, Christmas colours and glittery papers or silver and gold. I have chosen gold matt prints for a classic look then brightened them with the red tassel. I can use them to decorate the tree or hang in the room. 

As you can see I have decorated the lanterns with a large pearl bead at the top and 3 graduated ones at the base.

Happy Crafting 

Dee 

Rustic Kraft/Leather look Star

 Continuing the Star theme for Christmas

Kraft Card Star

Here is the latest star decoration I have made. I mentioned it in an earlier post and have just managed to get it finished.

I love the finish on this card and though not as masculine a I first envisaged (I just had to use the poinsettia embossing folder) the worn leather look is great and with the hemp tie it has rustic look that would look good in a cottage lounge or library/den 

To make the leathery paper, take a piece of Kraft card and follow the instructions from 

Sheena Douglas https://youtu.be/EfunaRazSSo

I did this with a sheet of A4 Kraft Card, which I then embossed using my Crafters Companion Poinsettia 3D embossing folder. At this point it did not look much like leather and I decided to use it as a book cover . It was sitting on the desk and I kept looking at it as I went past, before having an idea to pick out the poinsettia with colour waxes. I covered the leaves in a bronze and then the flower petals in red, which really high-lighted the poinsettia embossing and at the same time gave the paper a more flexible leather finish. 

I could still have used it as a notebook cover and it would have been great for a Christmas Journal, but I used it instead to make the rustic/leathery star. I then scored a line from each point to the opposite side, and folded the lines to make the star 3D, and I am very pleased with the finished item. 

A few of them hanging down a string thread would look great against a wall or door.

Bye for now 

Dee

. 

Star Christmas Cards ~ Personalised cards

Star Christmas Cards

I am back today with more star cards.

I have really enjoyed making the decorations with the star dies, and now I am onto Christmas cards. I have a few left to make so thought I would continue the star theme.

Robin picture cut from nesting circle die placed on on a silver star and layered with a circle of stars. These have been added to a white card matt that was embossed with swirl design

Lovely winter scene with rabbit, added to a silver star with inner white and silver trim, and finished with the star circle. The star, picture and circle of stars  is my favourite combination. This one has been added to a white matt layer that has been embossed with Crafters Companions 3D Poinsettia embossing folder.

Then I had an idea to personalise these cards, by making the picture in the centre a photo from my collection. 

This a photo of 3 generations of men in the family. As it includes a brother-in-law and nephew it will be perfect for the 2 families for their Christmas card. It would be lovely made with a picture of grandchildren etc

I made another one with an oval picture and some Christmas fauna, and this is on a Christmas paper from the First Edition pad of 12 x 12 papers. I prefer the clean white with circle finish, but must remember that others may like a little more colour.

Lastly I used the same ideas to make a couple of decorations

The first was using acetate that I found in the box of crafting goodies at my craft group.

Spotted acetate, silver star, robin picture, and then a star circle in white.

Large 8” white star with family picture in centre, alaurel leaves around and edged completely in blue gems . This will take pride of place over the bookcase. 

Well there are my selection of star cards and personalised decoration, hope it has given you some inspiration. 

Happy Crafting

Dee

More Star Styles

 Christmas Stars

Embossed and 3D Stars

Using my CreativeDie Designs 5 sided Star die set:

My set of 5 star dies with the largest 8” x 8” has been used to make the stars that can be hung individually to make a decoration, while the smaller sizes can be used to double up and make a fuller decoration.

I wanted to see how many types I could come up with just using card and different embellishments.

So here we have a single Star cut from Cream card with gilding flakes added, and a rope bow in the centre. I finished with a lighter colour rope for the hanger.

Next we have a double star and this has been made with medium size white card star, onto which a star has been added in a Christmas card cut in the next size down in the nesting dies .

A smaller version has been added to the bottom with reverse card stock . A few of these grouped together would look lovely over the book shelf or hanging from the ceiling.

The third design is another single star cut in plain white card. I then cut a swirl from a SIZZIX die, and cut it up before adding to the star (after I had shaped it). Once the swirls were dry I added  a pearly glue, and dropped a little  bronze glitter glue on the ends of each swirl. I left it all to dry overnight before adding the ribbon hanger.

An unusual look but I love the simplicity and it would look lovely in a nursery.

The final one to show you is my favourite, probably because I love polar bears at Christmas. 

These stars are cut from a First Edition Christmas card pack the stars have then been laminated to make them more robust and shaped before adding matching ribbon and a white bow to finish the decoration. I have also doubled with a smaller version of the same design. 

There is another style I want to make and this will be made from Kraft card. A single large star that will be embossed and then finished with metallic wax to make a masculine finish. This was a design I wanted as it would sit well in the “Man Cave” or “Office” 

If I get a chance to make  it I will post it for you to see. 

Happy Christmas Crafting 

Dee 

More Stars for Christmas

 Christmas Crafting

Stars for Cards & Decorations

Phase 1 ~ Trial & Error

Following on front the star garland and decorations I wanted to continue with my Star theme for Christmas.

As yet I do not have a large 8” star die (although its coming soon), But decided I wanted to try some larger stars so downloaded a template from Pinterest which worked well.

I cut a couple of the larger stars and started to compile some decorations to add.

No 1 : A Shabby Chic star with embossed papers on top and decoration.

I quite like this star it has been made by adding embossed paper to the top and then some silver and white floral decorations.  I like the jute ribbon, but for me it is a little messy and needs heavier backing with another piece of thick card, as the gluing of the paper and embellishments has given it a little curl.

No 2: A note paper background with snowflake circle and holly embellishments 

Again, quite nice, I like the tissue paper background, but the snowflake circle is a little too big for me and makes the centre a little messy.

No 3 : I personalised star 

I Love the concept, the picture is 3 generations of men in my family and is a lovely idea that I will adapt for some personal Christmas cards. The background card star has been embossed and then a simple circle of Christmas type foliage added. Still not 100% happy with it but I know I can use the idea and designs are forming.

That is the thing I love about crafting, I am not usually known for my patience, but when I am trying something new I will keep tweeting until I get it right for me. Right for me may not be to everyone’s taste but thats the joy of making your own cards and paper crafts.

Finally I have a star I made at craft group. We had a week of using up items for the cupboard, hence the lovely tissue paper with music notes, and there was some lovely acetates in the box which i decided to use for my star making. 

This is an acetate star with snowflakes with a silver paper star and a Christmas robin with a simple white star wreath. At last I love the simplicity and finish of this star.

I have really got into using the star dies and will be back soon with some other star cards and decorations. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee