Gingham Christmas

It's the first day of a new month and that means Christmas Crafting challenge time!  This month we were challenged with using gingham on our project.  When I think of gingham I think country kitchen, jam jar covers, tea towels, aprons etc.  So for this project I decided to revisit a sketch I did earlier this year.

The first version can be found here.  I loved the concept so much I have several I am going to make over the coming months, and being directed to use gingham was just the excuse I needed to make another!

I've used Kraft card for the base, sweet Tilda has been stamped using Stayzon.  I first started stamping about a year ago, and back then I was warned away from Stayzon as being too difficult to use and clean up, but I have to say it gives the crispest most defined images from every type of stamp.  Little Tilda has been coloured with Prismacolor pencils, which I love using on the Kraft.  The Christmas patterned papers are from Kaisercraft, and the gingham paper is the reverse side of a Graphic 45 paper.

The recipe card is removable, with the gingham strip across the bottom acting as a sleeve for the card.  If you are interested in my recipe I posted it back in December last year, you can find it here.  The sentiment is a free download from the Shabby Princess, it came as part of a holiday recipe kit.

I hope you have been inspired to go forth and create your own gingham Christmas creation!

Christmas Baking with Tilda

Card Positioning Systems is celebrating their 5th Anniversary by releasing a sketch a day for 15 days.

This card is my interpretation of the day seven sketch.

I've used Kraft card as the base for this card (yes again!) but this time it's a darker Kraft, much darker than the Bazzil version.  The patterned papers are by Kaisercraft, part of the December 25th collection and have a lovely, muted tone to them that works very well with the Kraft.

I struggled a little colouring Tilda on the darker Kraft, the Prismacolor pencils weren't really doing what I wanted them to do and in sheer frustration I dampened a cloth with baby oil and wiped over the whole thing, with the intent of taking it back to the base, and voila!  I had exactly the look I wanted :o)

The recipe card is removable, with the striped bar across the bottom acting as a sleeve for the card.  If you are interested in my recipe I posted it back in December last year, you can find it here.

The sentiment is a free download from the Shabby Princess, it came as part of a holiday recipe kit.

This card is probably my favourite of all the ones I have made for the CPS Challenges so far.  The Tilda with spoon stamp is an all time favourite of mine, and the colours and vintage feel all worked really well.

Tilda Gift Basket

Materials:
Kraft card
Cookie Dough by Kaisercraft
Spellbinders circles and scallop circle dies
Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Magnolia Tilda with Spoon rubber stamp
Copic markers
border punch

This project felt really good to make, as it's my first attempt at colouring in months.  My thumb is still quite rigid so my technique is a little different, but I was still relatively pleased with the results I got.

I followed >this< tutorial for putting the basket together.  The measurements included in that tutorial are in centimetres, and my Scorpal is in inches, so I cut my 12" x 12" Kraft card down to 10.5" x 10.5" and scored it at 3.5" and 7" on each side.  Any measurement divisible by 3 would work, e.g. for a smaller basket cut a 6" square and score it at 2" and 4" on each side.

Before assembling I used a heart shaped border punch by Fiskars on the uncut edges, and I used the same punch to create the handles.  All of the edges have been inked with Frayed Burlap distress ink.

Challenges:


Magnolia-licious Highlites - Anything Goes
Magnolia Stamp Lovers - use Kraft paper
Stampavie & More - Hearts

Christmas Lights

Technique:  Papercraft

Materials:
Free christmas lights digi here
Tilda sitting with candy rubber stamp
Momento Tuxedo Black ink
Copics markers
silver gel pen
Glossy Accents
silicone
corrugated card
designer paper
tissue tape
silver beading wire
adhesive


Tools:
scallop border punch
scissors

This cute little Tilda isn't perched on a card, but rather a 4" pizza box, you can find an excellent tutorial at Split Coast Stampers.

The Joyeux Noel comes from a Bo Bunny paper, fussy cut around the edges and inked up a bit, and the scalloped bottom is cut from the same paper.  Tilda's perch is a strip of corrugated card, inked with white versa ink and then a strip of tissue tape is places across the middle.  A length of silver beading wire has been twisted around the strip of card and little curlicues formed at top and bottom.

The Christmas lights are a free digi you can find here.  I reduced them in Word so they were size appropriate and then once coloured I used a silver gel pen on the screw part of the bulb, and glossy accents on the glass part.

Going back to my old habits I have used silicone to adhere Tilda and the light bulbs.  Silicone is used in 3D decoupage (also called paper tole) and it is preferable to mounting foam as you can use tiny little amounts, it adheres to just about anything rapidly and the pieces can be angled for further dimension.  The only thing you must do if you use silicone is seal the back of your images with an acrylic medium (glossy accents will work), otherwise it will form a stain over time.

Challenges:

Winter Wonderland:  Light It Up