DCWV Layered Ornament Gifts

Oh my gosh, yes you are not seeing things - I am blogging, lol.

Life has been so busy since returning back to work full time as a graphic designer. I have been fortunate to be able to resurrect my career after having a few years off to raise my babes and I am loving being back in the thick of things! If you have other social channels you follow and would like to check out what I get up to, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Scrapbook.com! (The links are all in the sidebar.)

Now to share with you these cuties that I was very lucky to play with from DCWV. A bunch of new festive goodies arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't wait to get stuck in! I have another super cute project to share with you next week but first let me show you these altered layered ornaments which I have customised to give as little kris kringle gifts in a few weeks time. Yes, it is that time of the year already!!

These Layered Ornaments come in a ready-to-assemble pack with everything you need to create some super cute shaker ornaments. I've chosen to jazz mine up a bit to show you that they don't necessarily have to stay plain white.

** The best thing about these products is that they are all on special at Spotlight Stories right now so grab yours today! **

Here you can see the product in the packaging

Let's take a look at how they came together...

There are complete instructions within the packaging, which makes it very easy to know which piece goes in what order. I planned the stacks and then went about decorating or embellishing the pieces that I wanted, before finally glueing them together.

The pack makes 8 ornaments in total. If you didn't want to make them shaker ornaments, you could create heaps more! This first one below is stacked according to the suggestion on pack. I have popped some of the white/silver glitter supplied in the kit inside (there is also gold glitter.) This coarse glitter is great as I find it moves better and is easier to clean up after!

You will see that all but one of these ornaments have a little tag attached. This one has a mock bauble which I created using some circles I punched with my Circle Clear Cut Punch. I then folded them in half and glued them together onto a base circle. I really like the fan-like effect.

I ran the base piece through my Evolution Advanced with a geometric embossing folder. I dig the extra texture and interest this gives the ornament.

The plain tree has been given a splash of water colour and the top piece is pretty much a crazy experiment which turned out so nicely! One thing worth noting is that the paper is coated and I found it didn't hold mists as well as I would've liked. The plus side is that it produced this pretty marbled effect!

This ornament has been kept pretty simple, with a bit of watercolour, some glitter inside and the top layer given a shimmer with a Wink of Stella pen.

If you don't have one, I would really recommend adding a watercolour pen to your stash. They are pretty inexpensive but are lots of fun to work with and super easy to clean as you go if you keep a spare sheet of paper next to you as you work.

This pretty tone-on-tone one has a pop of colour in the form of some sparkling blue American Crafts glitter glue.

I waited for it to dry before giving it another coat so that I got all the gaps.

Inside I have placed some tiny clear beads instead of glitter.
The tag on this one was created using some embossed effect paper from the Frosty Holiday Mat Stack I received. This 6x6 pad is awesome! It has glitter, embossed, holographic and foil finishes. Perfect for the holiday season!

This ornament is packed full of joy in the form of some sprinkles and shapes. The tag was created with my DIY Party Tag Punch and I embellished it with a little strip of holographic paper from the Frosty Holiday pad and popped a sentiment hand cut from a sheet within the Winter Frost pad.

The mini journalling tag sheet from that pad was especially handy for creating these and the mini size was absolutely adorable!

The sprinkles were a cinch to create thanks to my new DIY Party Sprinkle Punch! This little ornament is just begging to be shaken up!

Close up of the tag. You can see the snowflake embossed detail of the cardstock

Again, keeping it simple with some clean layers, no glitter and coordinating sequins in various sizes for a bit of interest and sparkle. The little tag is a layered one, using a 1 inch tag size in the DIY Party Tag Punch, a mini tag made with the Tag Clear Cut Punch and a mini banner from the Winter Frost pad.

This is the same combination of layers, but I have used some super fine American Crafts glitter and some coarse glitter from the kit for contrast.

This one turned out to be one of my favourites! I've used my Heidi Swapp Minc machine and run two layers through, the base tree with navy foil and the top layer with ombre foil which I have been waiting to try out!

 I coated the two pieces with some Minc Reactive paint and waited a few minutes until they were just dry. If the paint is wet you will not get a good reaction. Also, it's worth noting to clean up the implement you use to apply the paint straight away as it can harden and ruin the brush/sponge.

The best part is peeling away the foil to reveal the magic! I ran these pieces through on heat setting number 3

Lastly, I thought I would try something different and give one of the ornaments a backing card. The ornament itself has been painted with acrylic paint (the same colour, just lightened two shades with a bit of white on two of the layers.)

I cut a thickish strip of this pretty tiny dot paper with silver foil (Winter Frost pad) and gave the edges a decorative finish with my Scalloped Corner Chomper. I used my Bracket Clear Cut Punch to cut the shape below the sentiment (Frosty Holiday stack) which was also hand cut from the Winter Frost pad. The ornament was then stapled to the backing paper and the bracket placed over the top to hide the staple. I think this is a fun was to combine a gift and card in one!

That's it from me. 
Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks DCWV for allowing me to give these awesome new products a test drive!


This Winter Frost Mat Stack is

DCWV Materials:
DCWV Winter Frost Mat Stack 6x6 pad
DCWV Frosty Holiday Mat Stack 6x6 Pad
DCWV Layered Ornaments Paper Project

WeR Tools:

DIY Party Tag Punch
DIY Party Sprinkle Punch
Circle Clear Cut Punch
Tag Clear Cut Punch
Bracket Clear Cut Punch
Scalloped Corner Chomper

Heidi Swapp Minc Machine
Heidi Swapp Ombré Foil
Heidi Swapp Navy Foil
Heidi Swapp Minc Reactive Paint

 Happy creating!

Boo! Spooktacular Marquee Light

EEk it's almost that time of the year again - one of my personal favourite times of the year.... Halloween! Every year the kids and I look forward to dressing up and decorating the house. It's wonderful to see it gaining momentum here in Australia - more and more retailers are getting on board with the spooky fun.

I couldn't resist decorating this Heidi Swapp Marquee Light for the occasion. It comes with a orange glitter template in the packaging so you don't have to customise it, but if you do (and trust me, it's loads of fun!) you can remove it and use it as a guide for your own pattern papers, like this totally adorbs Simple Stories 'Frankie and Friends' which I've kind've been hoarding since last year, hehe.

I have the Collection Kit, so I had a nice selection of papers to choose from, as well as the cutest character stickers! I have backed a couple with some plain cardstock and then mounted them to the outisde of the light.

The inside is a mix of patterned papers, some stickers and enamel dots. Oh how I miss Glitz giant rhinestones! (The eyeball ones are some of my very favourite Halloween embellies, ever!) The marquee light bulbs are very quick to install and really bring my spooky little friends to life :)

I'm not sure if Aussie retailers are stocking these particular Marquee Lights, but you can find Simple Stories 'Frankie and Friends' on sale right now.

Happy Haunting!

High Voltage Smile - July Sassy Scrappers moodboard

Have you seen the delicious moodboard Anita has put together for us this monthat Sassy Scrappers? I couldn't wait to play!

Instantly inspired by the striking makeup, this pic I snapped of my youngest was perfect for the challenge. I'm not sure where she gets the obsession with red lipstick, but a part of me doesn't mind, as it was my Mum's signature shade, and it reminds me of her beautiful smile.

 

For the background, I created the text on my computer and printed it onto kraft stock, using my laser printer. (It's an absolutely bog-standard one btw, cheapest I could find at Officeworks.)

As you can see from the pic above, I covered a section of the text with some red foil and then ran it through my Heidi Swapp Minc machine. The foil really makes the title pop and adds a special touch.

The lower half is totally busting with blooms, just like the moodboard! I've used some Maggie Holmes floral ephemera from the Open Book collection as well as some ones I created myself.

Some of them are just straight black StazOn ink I used with a Kaisercraft stamp on acetate and others are the same stamp, on acetate, using VersaMark and heat set with gold embossing powder. The acetate did warp a bit, but I didn't mind too much, as it gave the flower a bit of character. 

Before and after heat setting the embossing powder

 Tiny details include machine stitching, some rhinestones, adhesive sequins and a Heidi Swapp stamp from the September Skies collection.

I hope you will play along with us!

June Kraft Plus challenge

My project for the June challenge over at Kraft Plus might come across a little left-field! I saw the circles and I saw the animal print and I knew I wanted to push the envelope a little bit. Now you may have seen me do this type of thing with the Glitz hoops I made a while back, but they make such gorgeous wall decor and I'm very in to pink and navy at the moment. Not forgetting the ah-mazingness that is the Heidi Swapp MINC! I left South Africa many moons ago, but my heart will always beat to the sound of the drum.

To start, I glued some fur which I bought at Spotlight to a 12x12 sheet of kraft. It was a messy affair!! Fluff everywhere. I used a strong PVA to glue it down.

Whilst I was waiting for it to dry, I created a leopard print cutfile in Silhouette Studio, using an image of leopard print I found on the internet.

I then mounted the cut file to the fur paper using my sewing machine.  I just sewed in a circle and trimmed off the excess. My nose is itching just thinking about it! I then glued this furry circle to the underside of one of the smaller hoops (16cm diameter) I bought my embroidery hoops at Spotlight too.

To continue the leopard theme, I purchased an awesome vector print of a geometric leopard and printed it off onto cardstock. This also went into one of the smaller hoops.

The larger hoop (19cm diameter) was a bit more complicated to put togther logistically, as it took a few steps (and a few trial and error prints to get right!)

• First off, I found another awesome image of a geographic Africa. I adjusted the colour to suit and then printed it off onto cardstock, using my colour inkject printer.

• Next, I set the text 'left my heart in' and sent the same piece of paper to print, this time using my black and white laser printer. The reason I did this, is because the foil will only bond to toner.

• I then cut a piece of gold foil and placed this over the text area.

• Lastl, I ran it through the Minc on number 3 setting. (See below for step by steps pics)

I cut it out and mounted it into my final hoop. The outside of the hoop was then stitched with some embroidery thread to add an extra African vibe. It was a bit of a chuff and took loads of time (especially the stitching) but I'm super happy with the outcome!

I hope you will join us this month! Here is a reminder of the challenge.

 You've got until the end of this month to get your fabulous entries in.

Also, the MINC will be available in the Sassy Scrappers store very soon! You can place your order already, here

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Miss you with all my heart

This month, Sassy Scrappers will be supporting Breast Cancer awareness and 

raising funds to fight this disease, that has impacted so many of us 

in one way or another.

It is a cause very close to my own heart, having lost my Mother 

to breast cancer on October 23, 1995.

This simple layout is my interpretation of the mood board 

and uses a bit of the new Heidi Swapp September Skies collection, 

which is currently in store.

 

Please head over to the Sassy blog to see the other DT girls 

examples and find out more about the amazing prize that is 

on offer this month. A percentage of sales is also being donated 

as well as $1 for every person that enters our challenge this month. 

The mood board is beautiful. Please play along with us and spread the word

so we can raise as much money as we can!

 

Thank you for visiting and thank you in advance for helping 

us support such a worthy cause.

Supplies: Heidi Swapp September Skies patterned paper & wood veneer. Heidi Swapp Project Life clear stamp; Color Shine; Mini stamps and acrylic ephemera. Bo Bunny floral stamp. Ranger embossing powder; Washi tape.

Color Magic card

All work and no play makes my blog a bit lonely, lol. Just a quick stop by to share this little card I made today for our kindy teacher who is celebrating a milestone birthday tomorrow.

I've been 'oohing' over these Color Magic cards (available in the Sassy Scrappers store now!) and thought it was the perfect time to have a play!

I started off by misting Gold Lamé and Pink Color Shine. Once dry, it was time to have fun with embellishments. (One thing I did learn today is that Tiger adhesive was way more effective at keeping those acrylic alphas on, than runner tape.)

The hard part was choosing only a few things to go on it! So many delicious Heidi goodies coordinate so well together, I ended up using bits from Mixed Company, Dreamy and Hello Today.

The inside leaves room for writing, with a few of my very favourite rubons, some rhinestones to echo the butterfly clip, and a stamped sentiment.

Hopefully she will like it!

Thank you for popping in