Christmas Candle Box and Card

Good morning. Today I am sharing a couple of Christmas project ideas with you.

The first is a festive card with a bit of a grunge feel. I was experimenting a bit with this one – just had to add a bit of glitter bling though (no stopping me – ha ha). Stamp sets used: Winter Edges, Pears and Baubles plus Let’s Get Festive.

How it was done:

The card blank was stamped with the snowflake border and black dye based ink (12cm square texture Kraft card).

A die cut tag was spritzed with green and gold ink sprays. When dry the background was stamped with snowflakes and the sentiment using black ink and opaque metallic gold acrylic paint. A little black ink was blended around the edges. Black and white Bakers Twine was tied onto the tag and around the card front.

The tree was stamped with gold paint onto black card. A little opaque red gouache paint was added to the branches. This was cut out and mounted onto white card to create a border around the tree. It was lightly shaped before gluing to the card.

Next for the bling: I added Stickles (Gold and Sprinkled Sugar). Glossy Accents was also added over some of the elements to add shine and depth.

My second project is a festive candle box using the lovely Robin The Spruce stamp set – lots of bling on this one! The decorative background stamp from the Pears and Baubles set was also used to decorate the inner box panels, plus the Seasonal Elements Stencil  to add sparkly snowflakes to the inner acetate box lid.

How it was done:

I first created a little plain box with acetate lid to go inside and hold 4 small T-light candles (approx. 8cm square and 2cm deep). Viva Décor glitter paste was applied through the stencil to decorate the acetate lid.

An A4 sheet of silver decorative metallic card was used to create the outer box. This was a little deeper than 2cm (to accommodate the inner box) and approx. 9.5cm X 13cm (large enough to fit the stamped panel and sentiment on the front). The candle box was glued inside and Pinflair Snow Dust used to create a snowy effect.

Instead of a fitted lid I created fold over flaps for the top (approx. 13 X 8cm each). Inner panels were stamped in green ink onto smooth white card and coloured with watercolour and sparkle pens. Red glaze pen was added to the berries. The panels were glued to the inside flaps. Thin magnets were added between the card layers to give a magnetic closure, plus a little ribbon tab added for opening. A little obligatory bling was also added with silver glitter glue.

The sentiment was stamped with black ink onto a die cut panel. Foliage was stamped in green around the edges, and yes …. more silver glitter glue.

The front panel was stamped onto acetate with black StazOn ink. The back was coloured with alcohol ink pens. A piece of plain white card was trimmed and glued to the back creating an opaque background layer.

Glaze pen was used to colour the berries and rosehips, and glitter glue added to the snowy hills.

Ganutell Geranium

Good evening. I have been learning the technique of Ganutell. Here I used the Geranium Kit from Gina B Silkworks – it contains everything you need to complete 3 pretty flowers (wire, Perl spiral wire, florist tape and threads). This kit is a great starter for beginners. The thread included is a thicker Perle 5, much easier to handle for the less experienced. For my flowers I changed to a finer Perle 8 thread in red and yellow, with yellow stranded cotton for the stamens, making up according to the kit instructions.

The little vase in these pics was created using my own fabric plus the Vase Heritage Pincushion Kit – also from Gina B Silkworks. The kit contains precision cut cards and full instructions. I fussy cut my fabric to place the motifs around the vase.

Tools required:

Jewellery pliers or tweezers, wire cutters (scissors can be used instead but don’t use your best ones!), clear drying PVA glue and a ruler.

Optional extras:

These are not essential but really useful if you intend to make a few projects. A small piece of florist foam (for holding elements while glue dries), Petal and Leaf Jig (to help shape wires easily and consistently).

Note: The butterfly comes from the Butterfly Kit (blogged earlier this eve).

I am planning a large Ganutell floral display – so more Ganutell to share with you all soon xxx.

Ganutell Butterflies

Good evening. I have been learning the technique of Ganutell and started with a Butterfly Kit from Gina B Silkworks – it contains everything you need to complete 3 pretty butterflies (printed cards, wire, spiral wire, beads and metallic thread). The kit also comes with brooch backs – to make these into lovely brooches. I have used the Blues colourway but it also available in Oranges.

I am planning to create lots of Ganutell flowers for a bigger project and thought that these would definitely enhance a floral display nicely. They would also enhance any dried or artificial floral display. I have left wires untrimmed to attach to my project later.

Tools required:

Jewellery pliers or tweezers, wire cutters (scissors can be used instead but don’t use your best ones!), clear drying PVA glue and a ruler.

Optional extras:

These are not essential but really useful if you intend to make a few projects. A small piece of florist foam (for holding elements while glue dries), Petal and Leaf Jig (to help shape wires easily and consistently) and Butterfly Wing Pattern Pack (used with the jig – also has useful patterns for other wing shapes and suggested combinations for several different butterflies and dragonflies).

Note: The little vase was created using my own fabric plus the Vase Heritage Pincushion Kit – also from Gina B Silkworks. The kit contains precision cut cards and full instructions. I fussy cut my fabric to place the motifs around the vase.

More Ganutell to share with you all soon xxx.

Quick and easy cards created with Chocolate Baroque stamps

Good morning. Here are a couple of quick and easy makes using the Christmas stamps recently featured on Hochanda TV with Chocolate Baroque. With the volume of cards needed at Christmas we all need a range of quick and easy make ideas. There are more ideas from my Teamies on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog today if you would like to see more.

My first sample is with the gorgeous new Bearing Gifts stamp. I used one of the 6 X 6inch background papers from Crafty Individuals (Travels in Italy) to create a quick background. The sentiment from the Lets Get Festive set was stamped with Versamark Ink and embossed with detail white powder. The paper was then roughened with the edge of my scissors and curled before gluing to the card front.

The kings were stamped onto white card with Versafine (Onyx Black). Colouring was done really quickly using watercolour pens. Colour was applied directly into the darker areas and brushed out with water or clear sparkle pen to give the shading. The image was then cut out and layered onto the card front with foam pads for added depth.

For my second quick make I chose one of my inky background papers (textured cartridge) created with ink sprays and Brusho powders.

The scene from the Winter Edges set was stamped across the centre with Versafine Ink (Onyx Black). It was stamped again without re-inking just above and to the left slightly (to create distance). The stamp was turned upside down and stamped along the base. Trees were then stamped randomly by inking only parts of the stamp. The reflection was created by stamping onto acetate and pressing this down onto the card to transfer the ink.

The scene was edged with black alcohol marker to frame, mounted onto white and red card before gluing to the card front (15 X 13cm card blank).

Christmas Card and Treat Bag

Good morning. Today I am sharing a couple of Christmas projects – a simple card in non-traditional colours using the Pears and Baubles stamp set, and a pretty fabric pouch stamped and coloured using the Hark the Christmas Rose stamp (Chocolate Baroque).

A 6 X 6 inch white card blank was stamped with the lovely background stamp from the Pears and Baubles stamp set using pale pink dye based ink (Memories Baby Pink).

The sentiments were stamped with pink and Silver (Encore Ink) from the Let’s Get Festive stamp set.

An octagonal piece of pink card was embossed with a textured folder from my stash. A little Distress Ink (Tattered Rose) was applied across the surface with a sponge to enhance the texture. Versamark Ink was applied around the edges and embossed with white powder. This was glued to the card with foam pads for added depth.

The bauble was stamped with Silver Encore Ink onto plain white card and cut out. The bauble was sprayed with glittery varnish for added sparkle (Crafters Companion Spray and Sparkle) and Glossy Accents applied to the central star. The bauble was glued to the card with foam pads.

Finished with sequins, an organza bow, silver glitter glue (Dovecraft Silver) and silver PVA pearls (Tonic Nuvo – Silver Lining) – just couldn’t resist a bit more bling.

A scrap of cotton was trimmed into a rectangle approx. 13 X 34cm. This gave enough room for seam allowances and a fold over top to thread with a ribbon drawstring. Before sewing together the Hark the Christmas Rose was stamped onto one end using Nuvo Black Shadow Ink. The ink was left overnight to dry and ironed to fix (essential if you want to colour with water based media).

Rather than water based media I decided to colour the image with permanent alcohol markers (green, yellow, pink and blue). Colour was encouraged to bleed and give a soft blended effect using a clear alcohol blender pen.

When dry a little clear acrylic sparkly glaze was applied to the flowers (Silks Acrylic – Ice), and gold glitter glue was applied to the stamens (Pinflair Glitter Wand). Yes – just had to be more bling. The fabric was again left overnight before ironing with a hot iron to set everything.

A small channel for ribbon threading was stitched on each end, then the fabric folded in half and the side seams stitched (omitting the channel). Two pieces of ribbon were thread through the channels to create a simple pull drawstring.

I hope that you have enjoyed my Christmas makes xxx.