The Christmas Table

The Christmas Table

Hi there!

Expect you've been too busy

to notice that the final item in

The Christmas Table wasn't

there on Saturday.......mea culpa

so, here it is today and well

worth waiting for I can assure

you!

So over to Louise Thomson to

show us how to finish our table:

"It's nearly Christmas!!! 

My favourite time of crafting :)

Today I'm sharing a technique that 

you can use for a Christmas table

 centrepiece, or to make lovely gifts.

I started by cutting lots of shapes from

Bazill card using Sizzix tiny tattered 

florals and winter greens dies.

On the flowers I tapped my clear

 embossing ink pad, then

 sprinkled with gold embossing 

powder and heated to give them

 a varied texture and colour.

I fixed the flowers together in groups

 of two or three using gold brads.

Next I spritzed some of the greenery 

with colour bloom shimmer spray.

To the holly I added a good coating of

 glossy accents and left them to dry 

draped over various things on my desk

 so they would have a bit of shape.

Finally I added dots of liquid pearl

 to the branches with berries.

With all the greenery prepared and set aside,

 I cut further die cuts from a gorgeous

 Impression Obsession die. 

I laid  the die cut over a large church candle 

and wrapped this in a piece of 

greaseproof paper.

I needed three hands to photograph the

 next bit, so you'll have to take my word for it! 

I used my heart gun to gently heat the surface

 of the candle (through the greaseproof) until 

I started to see the colour on the die cut 

change. It does a similar thing to embossing

 powder, you'll see a corner start to change

 and darken then it sort of spreads across

 the whole image.

 Once the whole image was a solid colour 

again it was done. 

I learnt the hard way... 

DON'T TAKE THE GREASEPROOF 

PAPER OFF YET! 

count to ten slowly giving the wax

 time to set a little, then remove it.

 You should find the die cut has

 embedded itself beautifully on to

 the candle.

I repeated this in the other side

 of the candle too.

I ran a couple of strips of double sided 

tape along the bottom of the candle 

and started to adhere the greenery.

With all the greens stuck down, 

I added the flowers back in.

Here's a close up of the

base of the candle:"

Materials:

Sizzix winter greens die set

Sizzix tiny tattered florals die set

Brads

Clear embossing ink

Gold embossing powder

Liquid pearls

Glossy accents

Colour bloom spray

Impression obsession reindeer die

Heat gun

Sizzix big shot

Thank you Louise, this would

look lovely on anyone's table

Our Christmas Table is now

complete - leave you to cook

the turkey/goose/nut roast

or whatever else is the tradition

in your house - but don't

forget the sprouts!  

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Christmas Flora

Christmas Flora

Hi Everyone!

We're halfway through this strand

and today Claire Jackson has

brought some Poinsettia for us:

"When you think of Christmas flora the showy 

poinsettia immediately comes to mind. 

Over the years I have collected a few poinsettia

 stamps. My latest addition is by Deep Red and 

perfect for Christmas cards.

Stamp the image and heat emboss with 

gold embossing powder. 

This stamp has particularly fine details 

so using Versafine ink is a good idea

Repeat this until you have four embossed images. 

Cut away parts of the images to varying degrees.

Watercolour each piece. I used Pixie Powders 

because they have a lovely shimmer, 

perfect for the festive season.

Alternate dark and light layers and build up

 the colour to add a little shading.

Stamp the image in aged mahogany 

Distress Ink in the centre of a 12x12cm 

card blank. 

To make sure it is perfectly centred 

I suggest using a stamping tool and 

practising on some scraps cut to size...

that’s what I did! 

Add a sentiment.

With a paintbrush or water brush paint

 over the image with water to draw out 

the ink and create shading.

Put the pieces face down on a sponge mat 

and use an embossing tool to gently rub over

 the reverse of the images to create 

a domed effect. 

Put a sticky dot in the centre of each 

image and foam pads around the middle, 

not too near the edge as you want the edges

 to curve downwards.

Layer the pieces over the card blank 

and add a gem to the centre.

 Changing the colour of the embossing powder...

..or the Pixie Powders or ink will give a

 different effect.

Products used:

Poinsettia stamp
White card
Versafine ink
Distress Ink
Embossing powder
Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders
Gems
Stamping tool
Waterbrush

Thank you for such a lovely

card Claire.  Always so good

when you can change the

colours to suit the recipient

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Buildings

Buldings

Hi Everyone!

Pinch and a punch its the 

first of the month...........

Expect you all remember

that one from your schooldays!

We start the month with a new

theme and Claire Jackson has

a fabulous project for us:

Cut a piece of white card 4”x6”. 

Stamp and emboss the image with black detail embossing powder

Stamp the image on a sticky note or masking paper 

and cut out to make a mask.

Don’t forget to cut away under the bridge and inside the wheel. 

Cover the image with the mask.

Starting an inch from the bottom colour with Distress Ink in

 barn door, wild honey, scattered straw, peacock feathers and faded jeans.

Leave the paper mask in place. 

Tape in place the concentric circles stencil and 

gently dab white acrylic paint through the holes. 

Remove the stencil and paper mask gently and 

dry the paint with a heat tool. 

Wipe any excess paint from the paper mask and put back in place. 

Clean the stencil and put back. 

It doesn’t matter if the stencil is a millimetre out 

as some of the white will show through 

which helps to lift the background

With the stencil in place rub red cherry, mango, banana and margarita mix 

Gelatos over the holes and blend in with a baby wipe. 

Carefully lift off the stencil and the mask

Add shading with faded jeans ink to the edges. 

Stamp, cut out and mount the wording.

With a pale grey marker add a shadow along the base 

of the buildings and in some of the recesses between buildings. 

Highlight some of the windows with red, orange or yellow marker

I have a lot of family and friends living overseas 

and this would make a great greetings card; 

however in this case this card is destined to contain 

theatre tickets for an evening out in town.

Supplies:

White card

Carabelle Studio cling rubber stamp: London

Carabelle Studio template: concentric circles

Versafine ink: onyx black

Black embossing powder:

Distress Ink: wild honey, scattered straw, peacock feathers, faded jeans

PaperArtsy Fresco finish paint: snowflake

Faber-Castell Gelatos

Promarkers

What a fabulous card to present

as a Gift Card?!  Thank you Claire

for starting the month off with a bang....

or should I be saying punch? ........!!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Hallo everyone

Hope you are all on top of your

festive preparations and can take

a moment to put your feet up 

with a nice cuppa and........relax

We have another card 

for you today from Jane Castle

For my project on the theme ‘Merry Christmas’ 

I decided to go half traditional and half contemporary

(This card design was one that I felt would be easy to make 

several of so there are multiple   stampings in each photo).

I started with a 15cm square card blank which was coloured 

with a blending tool and Distress Inks in 

Stormy Skies, Faded Jeans, Wild Honey and Vintage Photo.

Next I stamped the 3 Kings from Crafty Individuals 270 

in Black Archival and heat embossed using clear EP. 

Then bearing gifts ........ was stamped and heat embossed also

The camels and Kings heads were coloured in using water colour pencils.

The 3 Kings were then stamped onto scrap pieces of coloured card 

and heat embossed.

Then just the cloaks were cut out, slightly curled with a bone folder 

and glued onto the card.

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh was stamped onto kraft card, 

heat embossed, cut into strips and the edges defined 

with some Treasure Gold in Renaissance.

The stars were then stamped in VersaMark ink onto kraft card 

and heat embossed with white EP.

These were then cut out and also given some touches

of Treasure Gold.

The elegant swirls were cut from some christmassy card stock

using Crafty Individuals Die.

The star was threaded through the swirl before attaching to the card.
The final touch was to add some darker patches of ink 

to the sand to give the impression of depth. 

For this I used my little finger!

As I didn’t use any foam pads to attach the stars etc 

I was pleased that these cards were still thin enough 

not to need a ‘Large Letter’ stamp when posting 

------ My Oh My that can be Sooo annoying!

Materials Used

Distress Inks
Archival Inks
Crafty Individuals stamps & dies

Jofy stamps
Treasure Gold
Kraft Card
Embossing Powders
Ranger Blending Tool 

Finally, I just want to wish you all

Merry Christmas

 Thank you Jane and we all wish you

Merry Christmas

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx