Design Team Greetings

Design Team Greetings

Wishing you all a Wonderful Christmas 

and a very Happy, Healthy and Crafty New Year.

 xxx Hazel.

Mixing Media

Mixing Media

Hello everyone

A new theme this week that is
entitled Mixing Media so anything goes

 We start with

Jane Castle

who has brought us a Christmas Keepsake 
and here she is to guide us through it:

This Christmas for the special people who I send cards to 

I decided to ring the changes and make something 

they would be able to keep if they so wished.  

I began with a MDF heart which I drilled a hole in for the ribbon 

and gave an all over coat of Lake Wanaka Fresco paint. 

Then added colour with a dry brush using 

Mermaid, Snowflake and streaks of Brushed Pewter Distress Stain.

To this I then stencilled small areas from the holiday knits stencil, 

slightly curved the ‘deck the Halls’ stamp onto my block 

to the shape of the heart and stamped in Ocean Depth ink 

and clear embossed.

To the top curves I used the hanging stars and white heat embossed.

Next I stamped the main image from the set twice, once onto thick white card and then onto much thinner white card. These were stamped in black ink and then heat embossed with clear powder.

The thicker image would be the main focal point 

and the thinner card used for layering. 

I then had fun painting the stamped image with various 

Fresco Translucent paints and Distress stains.

I also added a little metallic glaze to the paints 

to give a slight glossy sheen rather than using glitter. 

This was then cut out with a craft knife.

I then felt having used the ‘Deck the Halls’ stamp 

that I needed a few extra holly leaves 

so stamped the JM28 a couple of times and 

coloured in before cutting out. 

The berries were punched out of red distress card.

The tag was stamped and heat embossed in platinum 

and the date stamped in Ocean Depth. 

The tag was threaded onto some metal effect bead and star string 

and the heart was assembled using Pinflair glue.

Now I need to find or make some boxes so I can post these !!!  Maybe cards would be simpler —— but hey, where’s the fun in that!

Materials used:

PaperArtsy JoFy 47 & JM28

Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints

Distress Stains

Distress Markers

Holiday Knits Layering Stencil

Versa fine ink Pads

Detail Clear and White Embossing Powder

VersaMagic Chalk Ink

A lovely project Jane, thank you very much.  

Mickie xx

Advent Calendar - Karen Gist

Happy weekend everyone!

Whoop whoop it's Saturday!!

Hope you all have something nice planned,

I'm decorating at home so shall be painting 

and wallpapering, I'm sure you will be doing 

something more exciting than me!!

Well, today we welcome Karen Gist.

Karen was full time on our DT until quite

recently but has now agreed to come

back and share some of her beautiful 

creations with us!!

She has made a lovely project using 

one of the brilliant Tando Creative products!

So, let's see what she has been up to......

Karen has used the new Tando Christmas Shelf

which we will have very soon!!

Karen says -

Glue the pieces of the Tando Tree together

 and cover it with pieces of old book pages.

 When its thoroughly dry and a layer of 

Gesso. Paint some hearts and the star with

 Emperors Gold. Attach the hearts between the

 shelves as shown. 

 Glue lace to the 

edges of the shelves.

Thread up the shelves and the star with the string

 provided. Cover the matchboxes with patterned 

paper (I used parcel paper on some. Mount the

 labels onto the same papers and thread them

 onto the Bakers Twine as you tie it onto the parcels.

Hang the Shelves up and add the parcels in a 

random order.

Wow,wow,wow, isn't this

amazing.....

Thank you Karen!

Products Karen used -

Tando Creative Christmas Shelf

(coming soon!)

DecoArt Dazzling Metallics - Emperors Gold

Bakers Twine

Gesso

Seasonal Papers

From Stash -

 Old Book Pages, Small Labels, Lace, 

Matchboxes

I hope you have been inspired to start

some Christmas projects, it's not going 

to go away and will be upon us really 

soon now!!

I'll be back tomorrow with our new

Weekly Challenge.  Need to get my 

thinking cap on and come up with a 

new topic.  Hmmmm.......

Jane x

Advent Calendar - Neil Walker

Hellooo,

Well it's official, it's coming, getting closer

and nothing we can do about it!!

Yes that horrible word that begins with C.....

Christmas 

This year has just flown by and Christmas will 

be upon us really soon. 

So this week we have decided to put in a 

little Christmas post to get you thinking.....

Advent Calendars

 The DT have been asked to have a play

so let's see what they came up with....

also we have Karen Gist with us on 

Saturday with her amazing Advent Calendar

so you will have to wait for that one!!

Ok, we are going to start with Neil.

You are going to love this....

Neil says 

I decided to make myself a crafter's countdown 

advent for this year.

Cut 22 pieces of water colour card 14 x 10 cm 

and 2 pieces 14 x 12 cm.

Take one of the larger pieces and attach one

 of the smaller pieces to this with Tim Holtz

 Tissue tape (or similar thin paper tape) Tape both sides.

Repeat this till you have a total of twelve

 pieces attached.

As you can see, you have created an accordion

 folded strip.

Repeat this with the remaining card so you end up

 with two.

 Add a couple of strips of tissue tape to the

 top of the top larger card. Punch holes and

 reinforce with rings if desired. Take 4 x 25mm 

book rings and 2 small clips and set to one side.

 I've used an old rusty hanger to attach my folded

 cards too. 

The clips are to keep the sections closed . 

Like this.

Take your card and have fun stamping your 

Festive fronts. 

Stamp your small Christmas sign onto the card

 (left side) and also on scrap paper to mask off 

before stamping the background.

Add colour with Distress Inks masking off the sign

Add colour to the top sections of tape too.

Add detail colour using Distress Markers.

Stamp and cut out the balloon and sled 

onto watercolour card and colour with markers.

 Add to the right side with 3d foam pads. 

Paint and die cut your advent numbers.

Add the numbers to each page. 

Cover your clips with tissue tape. Cut 2

 pieces of black card, slightly smaller than the 

12 x 10. Round the corners and set aside.

Make a selection of Snowflake rosettes using

 the dies. Add a tiny tattered rose to each.

 Use these to embellish.

 I tied the hanger with ribbon to remove

 the large empty area. Add a large

 bow to the top and some snowflakes

 using a glue gun.

I glued a snowflake to each clip too.

Everything is now ready for me to enjoy a little 

dose of Christmas crafting from the 1st to the

 24th of December. Each day I can have fun

 stamping and creating my design. I'll be

 adding Christmas inspiration verses to each

 page.The black card hides the unused page 

until that day has arrived. Then, when Christmas 

is here I will have a completed calendar full of 

Seasonal inspiration that can be used over

 and over again.

I said you'd like it.....isn't it lovely??
Thank you Neil!

So, if you feel like having a go, this is what
you'll need -

Woodware Watercolour Card Pack
Tim Holtz Tissue Tape - Commute
Distress Ink Pad - Aged Mahogany
Distress Ink Pad - Forest Moss
Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs
Distress Ink Pad - Stormy Sky
Viva Decor Stamp - Steampunk Gears Background
Viva Decor Stamp - Steampunk Angel
Archival Ink - Jet Black
Tim Holtz Sizzlits Decorative Strip -
 Alphabet Die - Inside Out
Tim Holtz Thinlits - Tiny Tattered Florals
Distress Markers
Book Rings - 25 mm
3D Foam Squares - 3 mm
300g Coloured Card - Black
Stix2 Hot Melt Glue Gun

From Stash -
Wide Ribbon
Thin Lace 
Sizzix Alterations Snowflake Rosette 
Dies - Both sizes
Small Clips

That's it for today,
see you tomorrow

Jane x

Say it big - Izzy

Hi, 
My turn (Izzy) today for the Say it Big sample. I chose the Woodware Huge NOEL stamp and tought I would use it with zentangles. I have not been zentangling for long (last time was for the challenge letter O) but I really like it and thought these stamps called to be zentangled. 

I started by stamping the Noel onto a Crafty Individuals silk card using Memento black ink and cut it out. 

I then added the zentangles doodles in black and pink inside the letters.

For the background, I used the Crafter's Workshop Tiny Circles template to apply Versamark and then embossed with Crystal embossing powder. It gives a white on white  (glittery clear actually) shiny background. 

I used one of the Tando Creative Mini reindeer in the centre. Inked it in white (Brilliance ink), embossed with the Crystal embossing powder and added a touch of black on the edges.

I adhered the Noel word to the background with 3D foam squares, added the reindeer in the centre and stamped the sentiment on the left. 

I finished with mounting the white background onto matching pink and then on a black card.

I used

Woodware stamp: Huge Noel

Memento black ink

Crafty Individuals silk card: white

Tando Creative Mini reindeer

The Crafters Workshop template: Tiny Circles

Versamark

Crystal embossing powder

Ribbon

See you tomorrow
Izzy

Fast and Furious/crafting with kids - Izzy

Hi, 
If you are a parent (like me), or a grand-parent (not like me!),  you probably have your kids coming to you (usually with a 2 day warning) asking for a bunch of cards to give to their friends and teachers at school for Christmas. And by "a bunch", I mean for the whole class, the teacher, teacher's assistant, the headteacher/principal, the nice ladies at the office.... 
Sounds familiar? 
And if you have an arty kid like mine, she will want to "make" cards ... bless her she's been watching me make cards for all occasions since she was born, so I can't no when she says "but I want to *make* my cards"... 
ok, don't panic... here's a quick way which all children, regardless of their age will really enjoy. 

I started with Gelli Art backgrounds. Depending on the age of the children, you can make the background for them, or you can let him/her make their own. My 10 year old DD looooves making her own background with the Gelli plate. 
Or, you might have your own personal stash of backgrounds you have made and don't know what to do with it.. well, there you go... fast and furious Christmas cards. 
Should you not have a Gelli Arts plate, then you can get some of the gorgeous xmas papers/cards, they will work just the same.

•  Make a few backgrounds with your Gelli plate (click here to read previous posts about this)
• Cut your cards to size. These are little 9x9 cm cards
• Using punches or dies, cut squares in different sizes and cut those in half to obtain triangles
• Quick and easy way to make xmas trees... your child will love the cutting, collaging, gluing

 Use different colour backgrounds for boys and girls cards

 Now, depending on the age/abilities of your child there are several options from here. 

The youngest one will like to outline with (children safe, not Copic/Promakers) markers and colour with colouring pencils. 

Good exercise for concentration and dexterity 

 With a slightly older child, you can take this opportunity to show him/her how different a tree can look based on where the outline is... 

He will have fun in experimenting a bit and there is no harm in teaching him a thing or two whilst making it fun

 Now for the older child or the budding artist, you can move on shadows and depth. 

Those will take a bit longer so it will be a "make it special for your teacher" kinda thing. 

Parents will be proud, kiddo will be proud and the teacher will definitely appreciate the time and effort

Of course, they can add glitter, gems, pearl or stickers onto their cards, but I just wanted to show you the basics.

Hope these little tips will help you spend some festive quality time crafting with your children/grandchildren

Have fun!

What I used:

Gelli Arts plate and paints (Fresco Finish)

White card

Colouring pencils, black markers

Woodware stamp set: Noel

See you tomorrow


Izzy

Mystical week - Jane

Hi everyone,  
Hope you had a lovely weekend. 
How are you doing with your Christmas cards and gifts? Have you started yet?
Because Jane will inspire you today with this beautiful candle she altered. 

This week will be mystical.... Why? well... we have the Lavinia stamps in stock now... and we wanted to share a few ideas through different projects using those stamps. 
And you know us by now... It won't be "just cards"... be prepared for a full week of mystical Art Journal, canvases, upcycling and more... 

Here are some of the stamps Jane used... 

Ready? 

Here we go... 

ETA to share a brilliant tip that Laura suggested in a comment below: A neat way to use but preserve you candles is to burn it a bit until it's soft enough to scope out a small well. Then drop in a tea light candle and use your creation forever!

Christmas and frosty fairyland!

I decided to go with a decorated candle

Using a Speedball Brayer and ink pad, colour the tissue paper 

Stamp the Lavinia stamps as desired 

Gently heat the tissue paper onto the candle (I demonstrated this in a previous blog post) 

Add punched flowers and thin borders made with black card.  

Decorate with Liquid Pearls and Stickles 

Jane used:

Lavinia Stamps - Vine, Dandilions 2, Lavender, Field Grass, Flower Trail, Leaf Trail

Memento Ink - Tuxedo Black

White tissue paper

Kaleidacolor Ink Pad - Birthstone

Speedball Brayer

Heat gun

Liquid Pearls - White

Stickles - Crystal

Black card

Woodware punches - Mini Daisy, Regular Daisy

See you soon, 

Izzy