The Man Himself

Didn't expect to get time to get another post in before Christmas, but here I am!

Each year we think up a theme for our Christmas decorating, food, etc - and this year we chose the man himself, Santa Claus. So our Christmas dinner menu is food that is full, robust and heartwarming and we have plenty of red and white items around.

The other day I found a garden light at my local $2 shop which I couldn't resist buying and yesterday I glanced upon a large glass vase I have - and the two items clicked together in my head as an idea for our Christmas table centrepiece. Luckily, when I tried it out, my idea came together first time (hooray!) and produced our very own North Pole:

And yes, you do recognise those snowflakes I am sure - from the Snow Swirled set which I have stamped on with whisper white craft ink (rotate pressure on the stamp a little as you press the ink on to the rounded surface of the vase).

I also saw a very simple idea on Pinterest that I have used to dress up the dining chairs a little - here's a photo of one of those:

And our Christmas dinner menu is inside this little holder made with the two tags die and stocking punch:

Materials used:

• card - midnight muse, crumb cake, real red, basic black, glitter card
• other - two tags die, Big Shot, stocking punch, dimensionals
• non SU - brick wall embossing folder, corner rounder punch

Just little things to make our day even more fun. Hope you are enjoying preparing for Santa too!

Thanks for popping in.

Cheers
Kez

Christmas Boxes and Tags

Last week's Christmas class focused on gift boxes and tags and I was busy for days beforehand creating samples to inspire my ladies. Here are the boxes we made in class:

This star box is a template from Lauren Meader and is very simple to put together. I decorated by stamping in crumb cake ink using Bells and Boughs and added a tulle bow and poinsettia with pearls.

Our next treat was a hexagon box made from the mini milk carton die - you've seen plenty of these before. As I used some "bauble" papers (Snow Festival dsp), I added a bauble shaped tag to match.

And lastly a simple fancy favour box, stamped with snowflakes and decorated with tulle, chunky glitter, snowflake (snow flurry die) and sentiment from More Merry Messages.

Other boxes I had for display:

Fancy Favour box again, doubled this time, plus a box made from four scallop envelopes.

SU's kraft gift boxes. The gingerbread paper is non SU but so adorable I couldn't resist!

Some simple candy wrappers.

A petal cone hanging decoration plus elongated candy wrapper.

I had also prepared a smattering of tags to give my ladies some ideas and then I gave them free run with dies, papers, ribbon, stamps, punches and more! It was bedlam there for a while, lol!!!

It has been fun doing Christmas things - homemade items always add that extra special personal touch!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Masked Mustard

We're having more fun with brayering at today's workshop and my ladies are keen to try out some masking. It's terribly addictive once you get going!

Inspired by this gorgeous card of Paula Dobson's, here is what I came up with:

I brayered with so saffron and more mustard at the top, then soft suede at the base. The trees were stamped in soft suede and early espresso and I added some espresso sponging around the base as well. The birds (from Up, Up and Away) are also stamped in espresso.

Just love these colours together so many thanks for the inspiration Paula.

Materials used:

• stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Up Up & Away
• card - more mustard, early espresso, whisper white
• other - post it notes, brayer, sponge daubers, stamp-a-ma-jig, 32 mm circle punch

And here is the sweet little gift box I made for my hostess:

Materials used:

• stamps - Growing Green, Because I Care
• card - pink pirouette, certainly celery, whisper white, pink pirouette patterns paper
• inks - wild wasabi, certainly celery, regal rose, pretty in pink
• other - scallop trim border punch, pennants die, Big Shot, two tags die, watercolour crayons, pearls, dimensionals, aquapainter

How about dusting off your brayer for some fun soon?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Tag, You're It

You ever have one of those days when you're really slow at figuring things out and deciding what goes with what? I had a day making Xmas tags on Friday and I think it took me about 2 hours to make my first one! DD19 - who up until now has not been even the slightest, teeniest-weeniest bit crafty - actually make a bunch of tags too! Whoot!

Anyways, here's what I have to show for my marathon. Some of them I'm happy with and some not-so-much, but I'll show them to you warts and all. I made good use of my two tags die and stocking punch with this first batch. I especially love the elf stockings but they were so fiddly I only made one pair!

Then more two tags die with a variety of other shapes for decoration:

This last one tickled me. It's the first time I've made one of those trees (DD19 loved it so much she made one of her own) and I loved adding it to the peekaboo frame with a message underneath:

But I've only made 11 tags - mmmm, around the same number still to go I think! Guess what I'll be working on today?

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers
Kez

Shabby Chic-tagstic

I've been wanting to do something with the divine Beau Chateau papers for a while now after seeing so many gorgeous creations out there in Blogland, so yesterday I "got my feet wet" with another small box made from the Two Tags die.

I really don't make punched flowers well, especially small ones, so I've resorted to using bought ones. Shameful I know, but at least this way they actually look like flowers, which they wouldn't if I'd made them! LOL

Here tis:

Materials used:

• stamps - Tagtastic (hostess)
• card - marina mist, very vanilla, Beau Chateau DSP, soft suede
• other - bird punch, designer frames embossing folder, Big Shot, purchased paper flowers, two tags die, marina mist 1/8" taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, champagne shimmer mist

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Boo-tiful Boxes

Note: This is my second post today. Scroll down to see my Sydney Regionals Workshop Wow Presentation.


The challenge at Just Add Ink this week is to just add a die cut, so I got started on my Halloween goodies. We always get a few local children coming to the door Trick or Treating and it's nice to have something fun to give them. Last year DD and I made mini milk carton Mummies, Frankensteins and Draculas (see post here) and this year there is no shortage of ideas to get inspiration from.

First up I've used the Box #2 die to make a holder for some spooky test tubes filled with mini M&Ms:

And here's a boxful of sour worms made from the Two Tags die:

The spider and bats are die cuts also.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sweeter Treaters (retired)
• card - elegant eggplant, cajun craze, basic black, whisper white, Frightful Sight DSP
• dies - Two Tags, Box #2, spider and bats (non SU)
• punches - 3/4" circle, 1" circle, 38 mm circle, scallop circle, decorative label
• other - dimensionals, blender pen, sponge daubers, cobweb embossing folder (non SU), elegant eggplant brads

Now, I've just seen an adorable milk carton hexagon box with bat wings - might have to go and investigate that one! Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez