'Charming' Silver, Black & White Christmas Dress Card

Hello Blog Friends, I hope you like today's card, 'Charming' Black and White Christmas Dress Card! I always struggle with monochrome cards but I have to say, I am quite pleased with this one - let me know if you agree?

Card Recipe:
Stamp:Kanban
Tools: Tonic Studios - Mannequin Tag Die Set; Tres Belle Base Die Set; Domed Windows Die Set, Free Christmas Tree Die, Grand Calibur
Colouring Mediums: Versafine Ink Pad, Distress Ink Pads, Versamark, WOW embossing powder
Paper and Card: Stardream, Pearlescent White, Flocked Card, Velvet Paper
Embellishments: Organza Flocked Sheer, silver-tone Christmas Charms, rhinestone crystals, 3mm double satin ribbon.
It's our new challenge over at an Oldie But A Goodie and this fortnight the theme (picked by Natali) is 'Charming - use a Charm'.  Now whilst the inspiration for this card came from my brand new Tonic Die Sets (Tres Belle Square and Mannequin Tag), all the elements actually on my card are well and truly over 6 months old!  So, if you have lots (or even a little) old stash to use up, come on over to an Oldie But a Goodie and join in with this fortnight's theme with a chance to win a lovely prize.  So let's have a closer look at some of the elements on this card....

As soon as I got my Tonic Studios Mannequin Tag Die Set, I knew I wanted to make a dress card.  I started this card with the intention of making a dress-shop window with the dress behind the window.  However, once made, my dress was so full, it needed to go in-front of the window, so the whole concept of the card changed.

I made the dress by die-cutting 3 circles of a gorgeous swirl-flocked organza sheer fabric.  The circles were layered and gathered together to form the dress skirt.  I made the bodice by tracing around the bodice of the mannequin die and cutting it out before covering the top in a double layer of organza.  I stuck the skirt to the bottom half and used a narrow strip of double satin ribbon to hide the join.  A few rhinestone crystals added some bling for Christmas!

There were three stages to creating the stamped window scene.  Firstly, I wanted the effect of falling snow, which I did by tapping the end of a brush in Versamark Ink and tapping this onto my stamping card, before heat-embossing with opaque white embosssing powder. I then punched out a circle mask and coloured the rest of my stamping card with Black Soot Distress Ink. Finally, I removed the mask and stamped my Santa with Flying Reindeer in Versafine Black Ink.

I die-cut my window from white cardstock and backed it with an offcut of acetate (from some packaging heading for the bin!), before lining up my Christmas Sky scene behind it.

On this occasion, I've inlaid the window into my background card, it adds a stage to making your card but gives a more realistic finish.

Isn't the little stocking charm just so sweet?  But not as sweet as my Christmas Tree die cut - and that's because this die came for free (and there's nothing better than free) with a card-making magazine!

My photography doesn't really show this to well (apologies) but the damask background has been created from my new Tres Belle Square Dies, cutting a layer of black velvet paper and backing it with white pearlescent card.  

A second silver-tone charm, this time a pretty snowflake, adds to the 'Charming' theme over at an Oldie but a Goodie, do pop over and join in with this fortnight's challenge, they are always great fun and the perfect excuse to dig out old stash to use up.





So here's one final look at my card

This card was showcased in the following challenge:
Die-Cuttin Divas - Anything Goes Pin It Now!

Fabulous At Fifty

It's no secret, I'm a bit of a fan of dresses, shoes and fashion paraphernalia in crafting, so how delighted was I with Tonic Studio's new range of fashion dies, including this gorgeous Mannequin die?

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Creative Expressions
Tools: Tonic Studios - Mannequin Tag Die Set; Decorative Wreath Rings Die Set; Ringlet Rest Butterflies and Blooms Die Set, Tags Butterfly Beautiful Die set, Butterfly Border Punch, Tattered Lace Shoe Die, Grand Calibur
Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, Versamark, Martha Stewart Turquoise Embossing Powder
Paper and Card: Best Creations, Stardream, Pearl Vellum
Embellishments: Lace, Organza Polka Dot Ribbon, handmade decorative pearl hatpin, creative expressions pearl swirls, papermania pearl brad, flatback pearls.

This is the new Tonic Studios Mannequin Tag Die Set.  It comprises a tag with a swirl cut out background (which coordinates with the swirl pattern of the Verso Decorative Wreath Rings Die Set) plus a separate solid Mannequin Shape.  Oh my - how much do I love this? 

I used this as an accent to my main topper, which is a whimsical shoe stamp decorated in butterflies. So for my main image, I stamped my shoe with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with Martha Stewart Turquoise Glitter embossing powder onto aqua stardream card, then coloured it in with Promarker pens.



I cut this out using the largest die from the Decorative Rings Wreath Set and backed it with pearl vellum.  
To create the accents for this card, I cut out two filigree butterflies from the Ringlet Rest Butterflies and Blooms Die set using aqua stardream card.  I covered the die cuts in versamark ink and heat embossed them with more Martha Stewart glitter embossing powder. Then, I cut
two coordinating solid butterfly shapes from the main die in the Ringlet Rest set in peral vellum and trimmed them out, before layering together and accenting with flat-pearls.  I thought this was quite interesting as usually, the vellum layer is the uppermost, filigree layer, but I wanted to echo the layering on the main image, so did it this way round, and I think it works well - do you agree?

I also made a couple of pearl hatpins - well, you can never have too many hatpins as far as I'm concerned.



















My tags were computer generated and cut using the tag dies that came with Butterfly Beautiful topper sheets.  I have used these dies time and time again.

I used the same versamark ink/heat embossing on a shoe die cut by Tattered Lace, which I felt matched perfectly to my stamp and other die cuts - serendipity.  And, I coloured my pearl swirl to coordinate with Promarker Pens


Here's one last look at my card (made for my BF's birthday this Sunday - luckily she's not crafty so won't be reading my blog)! 

Do let me know what you think, I love to read your comments.

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Altered Halloween Trick or Treat Brown Paper Bags

Trick or Treat!  This is a fun project to transform brown sandwich bags into Spooktacular treat bags.  Lots of techniques used, including: Dry Embossing ● Heat Embossing ● Stamping  ● Decoupage ●  Die Cutting ● Punches ● Accenting ● Charms

Project Recipe:Stamps: Inkadinkadoo All Hallows Eve
Colouring Mediums: Versamark Ink, Versafine Ink, Martha Stewart Embossing Powder, WOW embossing powder, pigment ink pad, Black Soot Distress Ink
Paper and Card: DCWV, WRMK, vellum
Tools: Tonic Studios Gothic Die, Tonic Studios Gothic Border Punch, Tonic Label Dies, Grand Calibur, Embossalicious Embossing Folder, Silhouette Cameo
Embellishments: silver-tone charms, Bakers Twine, glossy accents

My "Oldies" (ie using up bits and bobs from my stash that's over 6 month's old) are everything apart from the Bakers Twine and Charms. 

Step 1 - Creating the Topper

The topper has lots of great detail to it.  First of all, I die cut a label shape the stamped my Happy Halloween in Versamark Ink which I then heat embossed with WOW extra fine black embossing powder.  Once melted, the embossing powder acts as a resist, meaning that I was then able to over stamp with the cobweb corner stamp, but it has the illusion of sitting behind the Halloween greeting.  I also stamped on the filigree spider and accented the spider body with glossy accents to create dimension.  For the pumpkins and Versamrk ink, I first stamped "off-the-edge" of the main label and heat embossed with Martha Stewart Peridot Glitter Embossing Powder.  I then stamped the image twice more onto a slightly lighter piece of orange card and heat embossed with WOW black.  I layered up the pumpkins to create some lovely dimension.  

Don't think you always need to buy finishing accents for your projects, they are quite easy to make yourself.  I printed off the word SPELLS onto another offcut of the lighter orange card, cut it out with a tiny banner die and edged it with black ink.  I then tore a small strip of calligraphy-printed vellum and rolled it into a scroll, and glued the SPELLS card around it.  A lovely little accent and made from a few scraps.





Step 2 - Creating the Tag

That said, I did use some sweet silver-tone charms to accent my Tag, attached with sppoky halloween Bakers Twine and a tiny brad.

The tag was cut using the very aptly named Gothic Die Set from Tonic Studios, and I used Black Soot distress ink around the edge.  The mat was cut on my Cameo Silhouette using the trace method.  I have imported all of my Tonic Dies into my Cameo to do this, very useful.

The Trick & Treat sentiment was stamped and heat embossed.


Step 3 - Finishing the Bag

My brown paper sandwich bags fitted perfectly into an 8" Embossalicous embossing folder, so I used the Polka Dot folder and then swiped over the raised embossing with an orange pigment Ink Pad.  

I had a sheet of 12" WRMK cardstock that was Halloween borders, so I cut this into strips and mounted it onto black card that had been edged with the Gothic Border Punch.  This created a decorative edge to the top of my Altered Halloween Trick or Treat Brown Paper Bags.

Here's one final look:

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Cameo Silhouette Halloween Lantern Votive Holder

Boo!  There are creepy goings-on over at an Oldie But A Goodie, it's new challenge time and the theme is Spooky.  The full rules are over on the challenge blog post, but in a nutshell, you need to create a new project following the theme and use on it at least 1 item that is at least 6 months old (what a great excuse to use up some old stash).

For this challenge, I've made a Spooky Halloween Lantern.

Project Recipe:
Tools: Cameo Silhouette, Spellbinders, Grand Calibur
Colouring Mediums:  Tim Holtz Distress Ink Black Soot
Paper and Card: WRMK, Stardream, Textured Card, pearlescent vellum, coloured vellum
Embellishments: Glittery spider, glitter, rhinestone gems, Prima Got Flowers

I made this project largely using my Cameo Silhoutte, which is great for specialist projects when you may not have readily to hand a lot of subject material.

I've add photos of each side in daylight so that you can see the detail but also with the votive candle lit, so that you can see the effect when in use.  Please remember, if you do a project like this, use only electric candles, not bare flames.  On this side my orange moon is actually an orange vellum circle mounted behind the witch.

Next side features a rather spooky skull.  The Cameo Silhouette shape that I used had lots of detail on it, but I find that this doesn't always cut so well if you've shrunk the shape to a small size.  So I edit my shape before cutting by un-grouping and then removing the very smallest cuts.  I think it's still effective - here I removed the smaller teeth and then re-spaced out the remaining ones.

I love these pumpkins!  I like grown-up Halloween (it's not just about the children) and I think these pumpkins are classy!

Finally, Halloween wouldn't be complete without a Spooky House!  Also, I've previously written a tutorial on how a Poinsettia (Die) is for Life, Not Just For Christmas, and my Halloween Poinsettia is a case in point!

Everything used in this project is over 6 months old (I think some of it's over 6 years old, lol), so it was a great way to use up old stash and hoarded scraps.

Hope you enjoyed this project.  Do come over to an Oldie But A Goodie Challenge and join us for this fortnight's theme of Spooky.  I would like to enter it into the following challenges as well:

Cameo Creations - Spooky/Haunting
Clear it Out - Halloween/Orange
Crafty Calender - Halloween
CountryView - Something Spooky
Use It Tuesday - Scraps, Pieces, Odds and Ends Pin It Now!

Tonic Butterflies Chocolate Slip Wrapper Step-by-Step Tutorial

Mmm, are you like me and partial to the odd bar of chocolate?  If so, perhaps you'll also like this pretty Chocolate Slip Wrapper which turns a large bar of chocolate into a very pretty hostess gift.

Project Recipe:
Tools: Tonic Studios Butterflies and Blooms Monarch Arch and Ringlet Rest Dies, Tonic Doily Border Punch, Grand Calibur
Colouring Mediums:  Peebles Inc Chalk
Paper and Card: Textured A4 cardstock, First Edition Glittered cardstock
Embellishments: Lace, Double Satin Ribbon, Organza Polka Dot Ribbon, rhinestone crystals, flatback pearls.

Step 1 - Cut cardstock and patterned paper to size

Trim a sheet of mid-weight ivory cardstock to 19.7cm wide by 27cm long.  Use a pencil to mark the center point along the top and 7.9cms down from the top (sorry to be this exact, but if you go to 8cm with this die, it will cut right out!). Score along the length of the sheet at 1.5cm in from the left and right edges, but don't fold those scored lines yet. Trim your patterned paper into two oblongs, 16.5cm x 9.5cm and 16.5cm x 5.8cm.



Step 2 - Die-cutting "off" the mat.

Align the Tonic Studios Monarch Arch Die to the centre top of ivory cardstock (as pictured) so that the die ends just below your 7.9 cm pencil marks.  Tape securely into place with masking tape.  Place on your cutting mat so that the die is on the cutting mat but that the very bottom of it extends beyond the edge of the mat (use the 7.9cm pencil marks to help with the lining up).  You can tape this in place to with low tack tape if you struggle to keep this alignment in place.  Cover with the base mat, hold your sandwich together very firmly so that it doesn't slip and feed through your die cutting machine.  Remove the cutting mat (and any low tack tape adhering the sheet to the cutting mat only) and carefully move the cardstock up the base mat, then use the embossing sandwich relevant to your machine.

Once embossed but before removing the die, I chalked through the die with  a pretty pastel pink chalk, to highlight the embossing detail, but this is optional but remember to remove any low tack tape before doing this.  Remove the die, you will see that you have cut through the card but it is still attached to the sheet. Run your fingers around the die cutting to remove any loose pieces, but don't worry about any small pieces that are still attached at the base, we'll be dealing with those. 

Using a craft knife and aligning the metal edge ruler to the 7.9cm pencil marks, trim away excess cardstock from either edge to the first die-cut edge (as pictured).  

You will still have a land-locked central section and this bit needs a little bit of care, so go slowly but it is easy enough to deal with.  Align your metal ruler to the cut edges and then cut away between die-cut edges (leaving the die cut still attached to the card).  I find it easiest to cut away the central section first and then decide what other sections need to be trimmed after I've done this bit.  

You will now have an oblong of cardstock with your Monarch Arch attached to the top.

  Step 3 - Creating the Wrapper

From the bottom of the cardstock, measure up 7.5cm and score across the width and at 9cm, again at this stage don't fold the score lines.  Use a Border punch to create a decorative edge at the bottom.  Chalk the edge but on the back of the cardstock as once folded the back edge will become the front (optional). 

Now fold and burnish with a bone folder the four score lines. On each side, cut up to the vertical score lines from the edge along the two horizontal score lines.  Trim away a small v-shaped wedge as shown below. I found it easier to attach the patterned card before final assembly but take care, you need to stick the small oblong to the back of the project and the wrong way up if your pattern has a top and bottom so sure the pattern top is aligned against the punched border edge.  This is because at the moment, your bottom piece is upside down and back to front - again, look at the picture and what I mean should be clearer! 

To construct the wrapper, first glue the tabs to the longer edge, you may need to just hold the tabs in place for a few seconds until the glue fully "grabs".  Then apply your glue to the shorter edge and stick in place.  You now have your basic wrapper shape to decorate as you please!

I've created a PDF download of this step-by-step of this Chocolate Slip Wrapper - please use and enjoy, but please link into this blogpost if you blog a project using this tutorial!

Here's few more shots of the finished project (have to confess that the chocolate didn't last much longer after the photos were completed!).

Here you can see some of the butterflies, flatback pearls, crystals, satin ribbon and lace that I used to embellish the wrapper.













Hope everyone has a great weekend and happy crafting!

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Altered Christmas Cannister Tin

It's new challenge time over at an Oldie But A Goodie, but before I get onto the new challenge, can I just say thank you to all the wonderful crafters who entered my Dies and Punches challenge.  With well over 200 entries, I think it's been our biggest response ever!  If you pop over to an Oldie But Goodie to see this fortnight's challenge, you'll see the winner of the fantastic prize from Tonic Studios and the top picks.

I partake in a Secret Santa Swap on a craft forum and I always use it as an opportunity to do something a bit different from a card.  This project alters a canister of Biscotti Biscuits into a really feminine festive treat.   


So this was a perfect project to showcase the current challenge at an OBAG, which is a BINGO grid and I've chosen Ribbon, Pearls and Glitter. The "oldies" on my project include stamp, DCWV paper and card, lace, ribbon, crystals, charm, pearls, beads, promarker pens, ink and more!

I've also used a number of techniques including

Paper piecing ● Ribbon threading ● Fussy Folding ● Digital Die Cutting ● Manual Die Cutting ● Glittering ● Spritzing ● Charm Making ● Inking ● Accenting ● Decoupage ● Chalking ● and Lace Colouring 

Project Recipe:
Stamp: A-may-zing Crafter's Companion
Colouring Mediums: Memento Black Ink Pad, Promarker Pens, Cosmic Shimmer Mica Mist, Peebles Inc Chalk
Paper and Card: DCWV, Sateen Elegance
Tools: Spellbinders, Grand Calibur, Silhouette Cameo
Embellishments: Lace, Organza Ribbon, Double Satin Ribbon, rhinestone crystals, glitter, eye-head pin, glass and pearl beads, silver-tone charm.

There are quite a few stages to altering this canister, so I'll take it step-by-step.

Step 1 - Altering the Cannister Tube

I choose as my inspiration an absolutely gorgeous sheet of DCWV Christmas Glittered Card Stock that came in a QVC TSV year's ago - I loved both the beautiful images and the striking combination of black, magenta pink and white colours.  I carefully measured the height and diameter of the cannister twice before cutting, with only 1 sheet of this lovely card, I couldn't afford any mistakes.  I used Collall glue to adhere the sheet of card to the cannister.

To make the trimmings, I first coloured a piece of lace with one of my Promarker pens. Although I had used Cerise on my stamped image (see step 3), when I tested that on a small piece of lace, it looked to neon for my taste, so I used a softer pink instead.  I then threaded a narrow band of 3mm black double satin through the lace.  

Finally, I layered this onto the top and bottom of the cannister, starting with a wide band of black organza, and topped this with the lace threaded with the black satin.  On the top trimming band, I added a triple bow made from more wide black organza and 15mm magenta double satin.  Finally, using a eye-head pin, I created a hand-made pearl and crystal drop with snowflake charm.

Step 2 - Altering the Cannister Lid

I chose a cannister where the lid went inside the tube rather than fitting over the top.  This helps when doing an altered project as once you've added the extra papers and trimmings to the tube, the original lid may no longer fit if it needs to go over the outside of the tube.  If you are altering something like a Pringles canister, you may need to make a completely new lid to fit over the extra thickness of the tube once altered.

I used an origami fold to create the outer circle of the lip topper.  This is made by fancy folding 8 circles (in 2 patterns) and then adhering them to a scalloped base.  It would have been preferable to have had double-sided paper for this element but more coordinating papers were single-sided, so I colour-washed the back of the black patterned paper with a very pale shade of pink with a FlexMarker pen. 

On top of this layer, I added a layered Spellbinders Poinsettia and hot pink rhinestone  crystals.  Finally, I spritzed the whole lid with Cosmic Shimmer Mica Mist to give it a subtle shimmer.



Step 3 - The Stamped Topper

I love this sassy boot stamp made by Crafter's Companion in conjunction with Nigel May and have been itching to use it since I bought it in a sale in the New Year.  I started by stamping the image onto a piece of Elegance Satin stamping card.  I also stamped the image onto hot pink textured card, and patterned paper.  Using the paper piecing technique, I layered together the different cards and papers to create the boot.  I then coloured the rest of the image with a promarker pen before adding glitter accents and tiny rhinestone crystals. Finally, I chalked around the image and also spritzed it with Cosmic Shimmer Mica Mist.

I cut out the image with a spellbinders label die and created the matching narrow mat on my Silhouette Cameo using the trace technique.



Here's one final look at this Altered Christmas Canister:














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