Sunny Challenge 70
This week our challenge has been brought to us by Vicky and she has given us a great sketch and all we have to do is make a non-traditional Christmas card. I thought about this for quite a while and decided to make my card using both non-traditional colours and some non-traditional images. I did take a little licence with the sketch, but not too much.
I attached Very Vanilla card to scored and folded Elegant Eggplant card. I cut one piece of River Rock card which I embossed using the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder and attached it to the top of the Very Vanilla card. I cut a piece of Melon Mambo card, embossed it using the Stripes Embossing Folder and attached it to the bottom of the Very Vanilla card. I stamped “Christmas Blessings” from the More Merry Messages stamp set onto the bottom of another piece of Very Vanilla card using Melon Mambo ink. I embossed a piece of Elegant Eggplant card using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder and attached it above the greeting. I stamped the journalling image from the Everything Eleanor stamp set onto scrap Very Vanilla card using Melon Mambo ink and punched out the centre using the 1-3/8″ Circle Punch and then punched the remainder of the image using the 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle which created a “wreath”. 
I used the ornament punch from the Merry Minis Punch Pack to punch Silver Glimmer Paper. I attached a piece of Whisper White Baker’s Twine to the back of the ornament and then to the back of the wreath before attaching it to the Embossed Elegant Eggplant card. I did add a Mini Glue Dot to the back of the ornament so that it would stay in position.
All in all I think this has turned out to have a real Christmas feel to it, even using such bright colours. What do you think?
Now for some more inspiration pop over Sunny Challenges and Creations to see what the rest of the design team have created. Once you have made your card, scrap page or 3d item add it to Mr. Linky. I know you guys are busy with your Christmas preparations but we can always use another Christmas card, can’t we? I look forward to seeing what you have created.
Bye for now, Kris.
Christmas Angels
I wanted to share with you the Angel Christmas Tree ornaments that my grandchildren and I created this past week. Every year my grandchildren help me to put the tree up and then we have to make something new to add to it. I saw these cute little angel ornaments that Cindee Wilkinson made and thought that they would be relatively easy for the children to make. Cindee shared a link to a great video tutorial by Kay Kalthoff which made it very easy to duplicate them.
I used some retired Flirtatious Designer Series Paper and some beads I found at my local Spotlight store. The buttons are from various Designer Button packs. The Paper Doilies were cut from Very Vanilla card.
My grandchildren range in age from 2-1/2 to nearly 8 so they had varying degrees of help. Of course I didn’t let them use the hot glue gun by themselves but they all added glue and held the various pieces together.
They look pretty cute hanging onto the tree too. Many thanks to Cindee and Kay for providing the inspiration and the tutorial.
Bye for now, Kris.
More Free Tutorials
I have been asked to share my tutorial for my Christmas Ornament and also the Presentation Box which I designed for it.
You can download the Christmas Ornament Tutorial here and the Presentation Box Tutorial here. You can also find these tutorials on my Free Tutorial page.
Enjoy!
Bye for now, Kris.
New Tutorial
I had a few requests for a tutorial for my Christmas Ornament Shaker Card, so I have created one and added it to my Free Tutorial Page. If you would like to download this tutorial, then click on the photo below.
I hope you enjoy this tutorial. I will be uploading more FREE tutorials in the next couple of days.
Bye for now, Kris.
Calendar
This is another project that we made at the all day class at Beachmere. If you remember last year my friend Vicky shared a calendar she made with me and gave me a template for the calendar months. This year we used a template that was part of a tutorial I purchased from Create with Connie and Mary New Catalogue 2012 Edition by the very talented designer Melissa Davies.
We used Very Vanilla card and stamped the swirl image from Everything Eleanor using Chocolate Chip ink. We stamped the “frame” image onto Very Vanilla card using Summer Starfruit ink attached it over the stamped swirl and embossed the card using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. The ladies were impressed with this folder as it is so forgiving. 
You can emboss and re-emboss using this folder and it always looks gorgeous, so you can fix any mistakes in the joining of the pattern over larger pieces such as these. We attached the embossed pieces to Chocolate Chip card along with a strip of unembossed Very Vanilla. The join in the two pieces on the left hand side is covered by a strip of Chocolate Chip card. Both long edges are punched using the Scallop Trim Border Punch and then wrapped with Primrose Petals 1/2″ Stitched Satin Ribbon. We tied a smaller piece of ribbon to make a knot. The Chocolate Chip card was attached to a full sheet of Sahara Sand card.
The numbers for 2013 were cut using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet (retired) from Chocolate Chip card. The flower was stamped six times onto Very Vanilla card using Primrose Petals ink and cut out, three full flowers and three partial flowers. The smaller flowers were attached to the full flowers using dimensionals and then over the swirls using Mini Glue Dots. We attached medium Basic Pearls to the centres of the flowers.
We attached the calendar pages by piercing three holes through the calendar and the Sahara Sand card and inserted Mini Silver Brads. We punched holes in the top corners and threaded through a long piece of Primrose Petals 1/2″ Stitched Satin Ribbon, tying knots at the back to create a hanger.
I love these calenders, they make great gifts and you can even add photos to truly personalise them. I’d love to hear what you think.
Bye for now, Kris.
Sunny Challenge 69
This week’s challenge has been set by Gwen. She has provided us with a wonderful sketch to use and no additional requirement. So you can let you imagination soar as long as you use the sketch.
With Christmas fast approaching and me being totally unprepared I decided on a Christmas card. I embossed Very Vanilla card using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder and attached it to scored and folded Early Expresso card. I cut strips of Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper, cut the ends into a point, attached them to Early Expresso card before attaching them to the card front. I inked my new stamp (I got it at Regionals just for making an ornament for the Christmas tree on display) using a Blender Pen and Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green ink pads. I cut the image using one of the Labels Collection Framelits. I wanted to add a little bling, so I used my Two-Way Glue Pen to add glue to the edge of the framelit and then spinkled on my Champagne Glitter Glass. I pressed the glass onto the glue and shook off the excess. I am so impressed by how gorgeous this looks and now cannot understand why it has taken me a year to use this beautiful Glitter Glass. 
The image panel is attached to the card front using dimensionals.
Ok so now off the visit Gwen, Vicky and Vicki to see what inspiration they have in store for you. Once you have created your card, scrap page or 3d item pop over to Sunny Challenges & Creations and add it to Mr. Linky. This should be an easy challenge for everyone, so I look forward to seeing lots of entries.
Bye for now, Kris.
Bookmarks
I volunteer on Thursday afternoon at my grandchildren’s school. I join the library class for my two grandsons and check the books in and out. It takes a while for the children to get used to me and for me to get used to them. By the end of the year, the children all say hello when they see me and often stop to have a chat.
Its my last visit to the class today and I wanted to give them a little something for letting me become part of their school day. I made them all a bookmark. I used the stampset Bug Me, which is so cute and lets you make all kinds of bugs. The girls bookmarks are made using Melon Mambo card and ink and the boys Pacific Point card and ink. I also used a little Basic Gray ink. I printed their names on one end using the Computer and added a little note on the back from me.
Of course I had to make one for each of the teachers and the teacher’s aid. These are corner bookmarks and lots of fun to make. I used the Finishing Touches Edgelits on the bottom and embossed using the Delicate Designs Folders. I used my newest favourite stamp set Everything Eleanor to decorate. I used Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple and Gumball Green ink and the matching 1/2” Stitched Satin Ribbon.
I think they turned out really lovely, what about you?
Bye for now, Kris.
Beachmere Classes
Last week I had an all day class with the ladies at Beachmere Retirement Resort. We started the day around 9am (or should I say we were supposed to but I got almost to the class and had to turn around and go home because I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t packed the clear blocks – round trip of an extra 40mins!) and finished at about 4.30pm.
Today I want to share a couple of photos I took on the day, although Mary is missing from the photos, somehow she must have always been on a different table.
Cindy showing off her “Noel” blocks.
Jan, Cathy and Josie.
Jenny, Margie and Sue.
Jenny and Pam.
We made six projects including the Cherry Cobbler Christmas ornament I shared with you here. A few of the ladies commented that it would make a lovely gift, so this week we made a special box to present the ornament.
I made the base using Naturals Ivory card 6 1/4″ x 6 1/4″ scored at 3/4″ all the way round. The lid is Soft Suede card 6 1/4″ x 6 1/4″ scored at 3/4″ all the way around but this time using the Box Making Shim that Connie Stewart shares on her blog here. Using the Shim means that the lid is every so slightly larger than the base and I don’t have to do any maths calculations – maths not being one of my strong points! To decorate the lid we embossed a piece of Naturals Ivory card 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ using the Petals-A-Plenty Embossing Folder. We sponged the edges and the embossing using Soft Suede ink. The embossed card is attached to Cherry Cobbler card 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ and then cut the centre using the 3rd smallest Window Frame Framelit. This actually smooths out the embossing but because it has been sponged with colour you still get the effect. This piece was then attached to the centre of the lid and cut using the 2nd smallest Window Frame. Window sheet is attached to the back of the opening using Mini Glue Dots. We stamped one of the images from the Delicate Doilies stampset over some White Tissue Paper using Cherry Cobbler ink and scrunched it into the bottom of the box. 
I think the ornament looks lovely in its little box and makes a lovely gift for a friend or family member. Of course the box would also be great filled with any other gift you can think of.
What do you think, would you like to receive this gift?
I have a couple of other projects to share with you so will pop back soon.
Bye for now, Kris.
Sunny Challenge 68
The challenge this week has been set by Vicky. She has given us a great sketch and all we have to do is add something from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. Such an easy challenge as there are so many great products in this mini.
I embossed Crumb Cake card using the Stripes Embossing Folder , wrapped it with Always Artichoke 1/2″ Seam Binding and attached it to an Always Artichoke card base. I stamped the base tree image from the Evergreen stamp set (Holiday Mini) using Crumb Cake ink and over stamped with the outline image using Early Artichoke ink. I punched a strip of Red Glimmer Paper using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch and attached it to the left hand side of the image panel. I punched one long edge of a piece of Champagne Glimmer Paper (Holiday Mini) using the Scallop Edge Border Punch and attached it to the right hand side of the image panel. The image panel is attached to the card front over the ribbon using dimensionals. I stamped “Christmas Blessings” from the More Merry Messages stampset onto Very Vanilla card using Always Artichoke ink and used one of the Framelits Apothecary Accents to cut around the greeting. I cut another framelit from Always Artichoke card, cut it in half and trimmed down the ends. 
I attached one half behind the top edge of the greeting and one half behind the bottom edge of the greeting. The greeting is attached over the image panel, again using dimensionals. I tied a bow in Always Artichoke 1/2″ Seam Binding and attached it over the ribbon on the left hand side of the image panel.
I really love the vintage, oldy worldy feel this card has, what do you think?
Ok, so for some more inspiration pop over and see what Vicky and Vicki have in store for you. Once your have created your card, scrap page or 3d item, pop into Sunny Challenges and add it for Mr. Linky. I’m looking forward to being inspired by your creations.
Bye for now, Kris.
Another Shaker Card
I had such a lot of fun making my first Shaker Card for the Sunny Challenge, I decided to make another. This time, I have gone a little more elaborate.
I stamped the tree image from Lovely as a Tree across the top of a piece of Whisper White card using Always Artichoke ink, using the second and third impressions, to get the lighter look on the right hand side. I stamped the same image on another piece of Whisper White card only going in the opposite direction. I held these two pieces of card with the wrong sides together and punched a hole through both pieces using the 1-3/4″ Circle Punch. I scored and folded a piece of Always Artichoke card so that it had a right hand opening. I placed the piece of Whisper White card with the hole in the right hand side on top and used my Scoring Tool to make an impression around the punched opening. I used the 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle punch to punch a hole in the Always Artichoke card around the embossed circle. This created a space that would be open right through my card.
I stamped the round bauble image from the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set three times onto Whisper White card. I also stamped two other images onto Whisper White card using the same ink. I punched a 3/4″ Circle from one of the round baubles and then used the matching framelits from the Holiday Ornaments collection to cut all of the images out. I stamped the greeting from the More Merry Messages stamp set onto the card front using Always Artichoke ink. I drew the hangers for the two ornaments on the left using the narrow end of a Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker before attaching the ornaments to the card front. I punched a 1″ Circle from Window Sheet and attached it to the back of the round ornament with the hole punched in the centre. 
I took a Shaker Frame and attached it over the Window Sheet so that it would not be visible from the front. I poured a small amount of Champagne Glitter Glass onto the Window Sheet, removed the backing from the Shaker Frame and attached another round ornament to the back, making sure that the image was visible from the front. I attached a length of Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine to the back of the ornament and then attached the last round ornament over the top to make a double sided image. I attached the Baker’s Twine to the back of the Whisper White card so that the ornament could hang in the cut out circle. This whole piece was attached to the Always Artichoke card front.
I took the other piece of Whisper White card with hole in it and stamped the greeting from the More Merry Messages stamp set using Always Artichoke ink. I stamped the two ornaments on the right hand side using Cherry Cobbler ink and drew the hangers using the narrow end of a Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker. I attached this piece to the left hand side of the inside of the card, matching the punched holes where the ornament hangs.
I decided to dress up the right hand side so that I could write a message. Again I stamped the tree image using Always Artichoke ink and the ornaments using Cherry Cobbler ink. The hangers were drawn in the same manner as before. This creates a place to write a message and ties the whole card together. Of course this card took a little time to put together and so I will use it for someone special this Christmas.
There is still plenty of time for you to play along with the Challenge this week, I’d love to see what you can create.
Bye for now, Kris.
