Thursday 3 December 2009

Tree Made From A Square Scallop Punch

Here's a simple tree made from a square scallop punch. So easy for Christmas cards or scrap books.
Scroll down for the video.


Don't forget to visit my blog for more fun too!

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Easy advent calendar & a little freebie

It's still much too warm in Germany, but Christmas time is approaching quickly. This year, I want to give selfmade advent calendars filled with stories, recipes, and poems to some very special people. The basis for each calendar is a simple 12x12 sheet of scrapbooking paper glued to a 12x12 piece of sturdy cardboard.

Step 1: The numbers
You can either stamp the numbers like I did into the circles of this beautiful paper...
numbers1

...or you can glue them on. I used a 3/4 inch circle punch to create numbers in matching colors. If you like, you can download my numbers-in-circles design, just print and punch (3 color schemes on one sheet). Click here to download

punch

Step 2: The holes
Beneath the numbers, I used my crop-a-dile to punch small holes through the calendar. If you don't have a crop-a-dile, you can use an eyelet tool or a hole punch out of daddy's toolbox. Punch two extra holes in the upper left and right corner, so the calendar can be hung to the wall.

numberspunch

Step 3: The gifts
That was a load of work... I chose 24 short stories, poems, recipes etc. and printed them on high quality paper. I folded and/or rolled the sheets, tied them to a pretty ribbon and threaded the ribbons through the calendars' holes. A square knot on the back - that's it. I used a small IKEA Allen wrench to push the ribbons through the holes. If you give the calendar to a couple, you can use two different ribbon colors for them to take turns in opening the gifts.
kalender2

Step 4: Embellishments
You can embellish your calendar(s) as you wish. The only embellishments I used was a little snowflake mirror which I tinted with Adirondack inks to match the paper's colors:
flake

Step: Be happy and present someone with your beautiful creation!

kalender1

kalender3

I hope you like this tutorial. If you do, please stop by at www.anke-art.de and leave a comment. Thanks!

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Christmas Tree Made Out Of Circles

A supposed to be easy tree made out of circle punches. You know when you just have one of those really bad video days? This was mine! I hope you enjoy it.  There's another video tutorial below this one that is a wreath made out of die cuts and punches too.

Visit my blog for more fun too!

Monday 16 November 2009

Simple Christmas Wreath

It's that time of year!  Christmas is almost here.
Here's a simple wreath to use on cards or scrapbooks.  Enjoy!
And don't forget to visit my blog for more fun!

Friday 13 November 2009

Christmas Ornaments from CDs

Some ladies were asking how I made the CD Ornament in one of my blog posts, so I decided to make a tutorial to share with all of you.
You will need:
~an old CD
~patterned paper
~sandpaper or file
~glue
~ribbon
~materials to decorate the CD

1.Using the CD as a template, cut out 2 circles with the patterned paper.
2. Sand over the top of the CD so that the patterned paper will stick to it better. Glue on one piece of the patterned paper to the CD.
3.Cut some ribbon into 2 inch strips. Now comes the bit of a tedious part. You will need to do a few pieces of ribbon at a time and glue them to the CD.
4. Put a dab of glue on the end of a pice of ribbon.
5. Fold the piece over and glue together.They will look like this.6. My other scrapbook supplies helped me out! What darlings! I made a few at a time and put the pieces under something for the glue to set a bit. If you use a hot glue gun, then the process will go faster :O)
7. Then put a line of glue on a section of the BACK of the CD and start gluing the pieces down. It will look like this on the FRONT of the CD.And here's my trusty stapler sitting on a few that were glued down to help them set and stay put!!
This is what it will look like on the BACK when all the pieces are glued down. If you get to the end and there's not quite enough for another piece of ribbon, either move some around a little to make it fit OR move them apart to fill in the gap. Depends on the amount of space you have left.
And here's the front.
8. Cut another strip of ribbon and loop it and stick it down as well. Then take the 2nd circle you cut and glue it down to the back of the CD.
I received the cute digital image from Ildo Co. - SNOPALS ! I'm guest design team member there this month. Isn't it adorable! I think this image would be great as an "Our 1st Christmas Together". That could be written on the back of the ornament on a tag, maybe.

Thursday 5 November 2009

Nestabilities Chrysanthemum

I have made a tutorial for you it is a chrysanthemum made from circle Nestabilities.


On to the Tutorial

Click on the Video and turn on the sound on your computer, I hope you understand my posh North East accent




If you have problems watching here I have also uploaded this to You Tube

Click Here for You Tube viewing
for a close up view of the finished card see here




Dimensional Paper Piecing / Paper Tole

Kim, from Paper Babe, was thrilled to share with us her tutorial on making a dimensional paper piecing or paper tole.

Here's how it is done:

I start by stamping Ian on patterned paper, then two times onto plain stamping card stock (you will need to stamp an extra hand on a little scrap paper). Then the top half of Ian twice onto patterned paper. Now it's time to colour... the parts of Ian that will be seen and not covered by patterned paper I have coloured with my Copics. I have then very roughly coloured the edges for the parts of Ian that will be covered with patterned papers. In the picture I have tried to show the layers from left to right and how each layer will have a different element either coloured, paper pieced or cut away.

Now I apply dimensional adhesive foam to the back of each piece, I use a 1mm foam tape so the finished piece won't be too high and dense. On the hoody top I have applied a little glue to the shoulders to give a greater dimension to the waist.

So time for the fun part of applying each piece in place to create a completed dimensional Ian. If you have more time you could curve the paper pieces a little to add further dimension.

Also wanted to add that as I used Memento die ink on the patterned papers I can go in with my Copics to shade in the darker areas like under his chin and arms and hood.



For more on Kim's work, you can visit her blog by clicking -->here<--.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Making Paper Flowers

Hi everyone,

Here's a nice and pretty tutorial from Conni... she's a paper crafter from Switzerland and does some amazing cards, among other things ;-) So make sure to visit her -->blog<-- for more inspiration!

Now, for her tutorial: Flowers Adorn...

First, I stamp a few flowers (eg Stampendous / Q131 Ruffled Blcom)


on thicker paper (it comes with already augestanzten flowers)


then treated with a stamped VersaMark


then sprinkle embossing powder


then heat emboss (I have no Hot Gun, so I used a toaster tuts)

It should look something like this:

Now, with a flower punch

Punch!

Then distress the edges

Using a mat and a stylus, turn the flower backside and press

Ready!

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Hi all, my head is so busy at the moment as we are packing to go away for a 10 day holiday to Great Keppel Island....off the north Queensland coast of Australia.....it's so exciting, we've had this planned now for a while as something spacial to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. strange how when we are the busiest we seem to get heaps done....sooo i wanted to leave you all with this tutorial for you all to try while im away. One of the ladies from my card making group bought this idea along to show me, I think its a nice change form the regular flat card fronts and looks great as a Christmas card idea. Ill post the pattern below...To make the poinsettia flower I used a large maple leaf punch cut into sections and a 1/2" circle punch to mount it on (not shown here).

I have circled the stamp i used and shown you here where to cut the leaf in sections for the flower, punch 3 leaves and cut each one in this way then mount then on the 1/2" circle punch. to add glitter to the swirly stamp i used a quickie glue pen and traced the swirls then added glitter.

Hers's another one i made. I added some more emboss lines around the edges and attached this cute little flower i learned to do by layering up 2-3 large flowers and 2 smaller ones. sponge some colour on them and put a brad through them all. Spray them with water and crunch each petal up how you would like it to sit and let dry. This works really well and dries quite hard. I then sponged a little more colour on it and added some glitter. And Ive also done a video of this card front as we all know we learn much easier by watching someone else do something.. i hope you all enjoy and catch you all when we get back!!....Valita


Thursday 15 October 2009

Tea Light Cake!

Supplies: Battery operated tea light (2 for $1.o0 at Dollar Store), SU Exclusive Flower Folds die, SU Afternoon Tea DP, punches from Martha Stewart and EK Success. Faux half-back pearls from Michaels, faux pearl string roll form Michaels.

This Tea Light cake is a super easy gift to make!! I always make a matching card to go with it. (To see a tutorial and photos of the matching card, please visit my blog at Everlasting Ink!!)

Hope you enjoy!

You will need a battery operated tea light, DP and any embellishment you want for your cake.

This tutorial is how I did the above cake with the materials I had on hand, but you can use ribbon, stickers, sequence, beads, all kinds of fun embellishments!

Wrap the tea light with your choice of DP, leaving about 1/8" border on top. Battery operated tea lights can vary in size, so just measure or eyeball the one you are going to use. You want to make sure there is an extra amount of DP around the top of the tea light.




Snip at even intervals all the way around the exposed perimeter of the DP.









Fold down the edges and glue to top of tea light.








Cut out the smallest flower of the Sizzix Flower Folds die (SU Exclusive). Punch a 1/4" hole in the middle, then use your craft night to slice random criss-cross marks across your hole.





Slip the die cut flower over the flame of the tea light. Adhere the "petals" down to the sides of your cake.






Choose tiny sized embellishments to add to your cake. I used my Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch (the 2 smallest petals) and an EK Success leaf punch. I then added mini brads to the centers of my flowers and glued them to the top of the cake with some punched leaf branches.



I then added half-back white pearls to the scallops on the side. I rimmed the bottom with a string of more white pearls from a roll of faux string pearls.





You can decorate your cakes in so many different ways!! These are seriously EASY and fun to make!! If you have any questions, please stop by my blog and leave me a comment! THANKS!!