A Card in a Box

 I was lucky to place an order in Sizzix's recent pre-Christmas sale. I managed to order 6 items - there were others I wanted but the website was playing up and kept doubling up my order and was taking ages to load anything. I was very surprised but delighted when my order arrived just a few days later before Christmas. I didn't realise that the 80% sale would only be on for a short time so when I looked at the website again I found that most of the items I'd ordered were out of stock and the ones still in stock were at a higher price albeit still reduced.The Christmas Card in a Box #663603 is an example - I got it for £4 but it's now reduced to £10. Receiving it earlier than expected I was able to play with it on Boxing Day to make this anniversary card for my husband.

There are no instructions with it and the online video is very short so it took me a while to figure out how to put this together. Although it's called a Christmas box the majority of elements can be used for any occasion - the ones I didn't use were the snowflake and the deer. There are still bits I don't understand like why the main structure of the box has scorelines which I didn't need and why the inserts have small notches on them but I'm very pleased with how this has turned out. I used some heavy-duty cream hammered card for the box and some patterned paper to decorate. The flowers were all cut from scraps and offcuts. I added a small sentiment banner stamped with a Bright Rosa set.

It even folds down (sort of) to fit in an envelope!

 I received this from family in Canada and wanted to share it with you. I don't know who wrote it but it sums up the year for me:

Christmas is not cancelled!

T'was a week before Christmas, and all through the town,

People wore masks, that covered their frown.

The frown had begun way back in the Spring

When a global pandemic changed everything.

They called it corona, but unlike the beer,

It didn’t bring good times,it didn’t bring cheer.

Airplanes were grounded, travel was banned.

Borders were closed across air, sea and land.

As the world entered lockdown to flatten the curve,

The economy halted and folks lost their nerve.

From March to July we rode the first wave,

People stayed home, they tried to behave.

When summer emerged the lockdown was lifted.

But away from caution many folks drifted.

Now it’s December and cases are spiking,

Wave two has arrived, much to our disliking.

It’s true that this year has had sadness a plenty,

We’ll never forget the year 2020.

And just ‘round the corner - the holiday season,

But why be merry? Is there even one reason?

To decorate the house and put up the tree,

Who will see it no one but me.

But outside my window the rain gently falls,

And I think to myself let’s deck the halls!

So, I gather the ribbon the garland and bows,

As I play those old carols my happiness grows.

Christmas is not cancelled and neither is hope.

If we lean on each other, I know we can cope .

Wishing everyone a Happy, Peaceful and Safe Christmas

A Little Celebration

 

Although I'm not in a very celebratory mood at the moment I'm sure the time will come when this card will be just right. I recently ordered some pearl and silver alcohol ink mixatives (I already have gold) from Countryview Crafts and wanted to try them out. I used my plastic file divider sheets that I've written about previously. I think they're like Yupo paper although I've never seen Yupo IRL but these seem to do the same job. I used slate, eggplant and various blues - stonewashed, sailboat blue, cloudy blue along with both mixatives. I can't really see the effect of the pearl and the silver is quite opaque so I will have to watch a demo and see if I was doing anything wrong. However I was pleased with the result and used some on this card. The base is Bazzill Gemstone cardstock in a faded denim. I matted the inked piece with white card and diecut some flowers from a recent eBay (or it may have been Amazon) purchase. The sentiment is from a Dovecraft set of useful sentiments stamped with Versafine majestic blue.

Monthly Challenge - December

This month the letter is:    

                       C for Christmas

I completely forgot about the colour options which are Crimson, Cobalt and Copper.

It took a while for this to come together but I'm pleased at the way it did. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to depict on the theme of Christmas - I have lots of Christmas tree, bauble, holly and present stamps but I didn't want to use any of them. Then I remembered a nativity die set that was a freebie with a magazine and I found a Hobbycraft stamp set of the 3 Kings. The background was made with blended stormy sky, blueprint sketch and dusty concord DIs. I then splattered some silver acrylic paint for a starry sky.The nativity set included the shepherd, star and palm trees (there was also a camel but I didn't need that). I die cut all the parts I needed from black paper and the star from glitter card. I stamped the 3 Kings with my stamping platform and Versafine onyx black. The hills are from a Sizzix build a landscape set, I highlighted the curves with a Wink of Stella pen. The sentiment is a stamp I had made a long time ago.

                                                      

Inlaid Butterfly Die Cut

 I was flicking through the channels on TV the other day whilst exercising when I caught the end of a demo on one of the craft channels. The technique created an inlaid shape in a die cut aperture. It looked interesting so I thought I would give it a go. I used the partial die cutting technique and a circle die to cut an incomplete circle. I then used a butterfly die over part of the uncut bit of the circle and then stamped over it with the matching stamp.The butterfly is actually part of the card base and the circle is a partial aperture. It's a lot easier to do than describe! After the butterfly die has been cut it just needs a couple of  snips to release the negative from the circle revealing the butterfly wings. It's a useful technique that can be used with any shaped aperture and any other die with a strong outline but it helps if the latter has a matching stamp. In this instance I used a Dare 2 B Artzy stamp and die set.  I cut this on an A6 sized card, covered the back with foam tape and added some patterned paper (DCWV Tie Dye Stack).That was added to a white card blank. The sentiment is from an old sticker set and the corners were another sticker set.I heat embossed the butterfly, coloured it with Tri-blend alcohol markers and added some gems.

Circle Fold Flower

 I saw this tutorial a while ago on the Craft World forum and decided to give it a go. I punched out some circles in patterned paper and folded according to the instructions. Once you get the hang of it they come together very quickly and it's a fun thing to do while listening to a podcast or watching TV. I punched another circle from scrap card and used that as a base to stick the patterned pieces on. Then it was a matter of matting and layering and adding a gem and a diecut sentiment. I think double -sided patterned paper would be a better option but I decided to practice on some old paper that I was that enamoured with. You can find it the instructions here. 

A Happy Card

 I bought this Visible Image stamp from Country View Crafts last week. Every year in December Country View have an advent calendar which opens to reveal a different set of offers every day - it might be Sizzix dies or Crafter's Companion, or Visible Image or a selection all at discounted rates. Postage is free in the UK if you spend £7.50 (not hard with so many tempting offers). Of course I had to use it as soon as it arrived so I made this quick card. The background is DOs - fossilized amber, spiced marmalade, crackling campfire (another advent calendar purchase) and candied apple - blended through a pebble stencil. I stamped the sentiment in Versafine onyx black and cut it into a banner shape. A candi dot finished it off.