Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Easter celebration boxes...

Alpha Stamps has a new monthly kit out today and I helped design it :) Since Easter is on April 1st (April Fools Day, lol) this year, March's kit is Easter themed. Some of the things in the kit are gorgeous papers from Bo Bunny, an adorable Happy Easter collage sheet from Catnip Designs (me), and a sweet shadowbox with an egg shaped cover. Here's a photo of the box I made using the kit along with some other goodies...
Isn't it sweet? There are three other shadowboxes and lids available, in the Easter theme, that get progressively larger in size. I, of course, had to make one of each...
I used paper from the new Jubilee 6x6 pad for this cute bunny box. In the box is a nest I built with eggs from the kit nestled inside it.
This adorable chick box has a vintage bunny girl ornament holding a fuzzy yellow chick and Easter basket inside.
*Note: It's a good idea to reinforce that little piece of die-cut chipboard between the chicks legs. I just glued a small piece of toothpick to the back of mine.
 This chocolate bunny box is my favorite! I made an Easter tree decorated with vintage colored eggs, a vintage basket and vintage look bunnies that are available at Alpha Stamps :)
Look how cute that bunny is...
And, yes, I did add Easter grass and colored eggs to that tiny basket!
Here's a photo of the whole group...
I bet you're wondering what that thing in the middle is, am I right?
Here's a closer look...
I love the the shutters we recently got in from Prima so I had to incorporate them into my Easter group. Amazingly, the rabbit cover from the Easter Covers for Mini Shadowboxes set fits inside the shutters perfectly. How cool is that :)
Now, I wanna share a little tutorial with you on making your shadowboxes deeper than they actually are. Although the depths range from 7/8" to around 1 1/2" and may be just fine to accommodate a paper collage or thinner multi-media vignette, I chose to use fatter items to create my vignettes. This made me scramble to create more space! Here's how I did it...
 Build your shadowbox and ink or paint any areas that may peek through the paper you cover the box with.
 Cover your box with paper inside and out.
 Paint your box cover on both sides as well as the edges. Notice I removed the tabs used to make this a removable cover.
 Paper your cover and cut out the egg shaped window with a craft knife. Then carefully fold the edges of the cover around the shadowbox to ensure a proper fit.
 Cut up a small cork, dowel or piece of balsa wool into four equally sized pieces. Mine are 1/4".
 Create a cute vignette inside the shadowbox. Hot glue the four pieces of cork/wood to the corners of the shadowbox so they don't stick out beyond the outer edges.
Lay the cover over the cork/wood pieces and fold the edges down into place.
Holding the cover in place, as shown above, lift up one flap and run a strip of hot glue along the shadowbox edge. Press the flap down until the glue cools. Repeat until all four sides are permanently glued down. That's all there is to it.
So who's ready to start making some cute Easter boxes?? Come on! You know you want to!
You can find my complete supply list at this link



Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Waterless Snowglobes...

I love the idea of snowglobes but I really don't care for the water and fake snowflakes they contain. Sooo, I used a DIY Snowglobe from Alpha Stamps to make my own version without the annoying water and fake flakes.
Then I made a little apothecary jar version using the Apothecary Jar with Lid also from Alpha Stamps. I think they look adorable together...
But they look really cute on their own as well!
For those of you interested in making your own waterless snowglobes I've assembled a few tips on turning a boring globe on a white plastic base into a fabulously festive globe on a pedestal...
 I used a black and white Grosgrain ribbon attached with hot glue to cover the white plastic base.
 Next, I attached a Wired Pine Needle Stem (with hot glue) to hide the space where the base and globe connect.
 After painting a Small Wooden Finial and a Candlestick Holder red, I hot glued them to my globe and base as shown.
 Next I cut apart a Berry Sprig and a few inches of Holly Berry Garland and hot glued the leaves and berries around the finial on the top of the globe.
 I glue the leaves on one by one so I get complete coverage in the areas where I want it. Awww, it looks so pretty!
 Using my remaining garland I hot glued it to my ribbon around the base. Which left an ugly messy area where the two ends meet.
 To hide this, I simply glued a holly leaf right over the top of the mess :)
 I thought my snowglobe was still just a bit too boring so...
I added JOY, peppermints and glitter to make it truly fabulously festive!
I hope I have inspired you to make a little something for yourself!
 If you'd like the supply lists for either or both projects they can be found here and here.
If you'd like to buy one of my pieces they are available in my shop :)

Saturday, November 11, 2017

more Christmas ornaments!

Leslie, the Queen Bee of Alpha Stamps, designed some adorable Tiny Diorama Boxes and I immediately felt the need to design a collage sheet! A BIG THANKS goes to Kristin Batsel who was kind enough to photograph her vintage ornament boxes for me :)
After getting my hands on a hard copy of said collage sheet, I proceeded to craft my heart out and produced two little ornament box ornaments...
they are decorated both front and back...
I think they are pretty darn cute and will look adorable hanging on a Christmas tree!
 As this was a bit of a last minute project (and they didn't take a whole lot of time to create!) you will find my supplies list for both ornaments below :)
Supplies Used:
The paper pad I used is from a couple of years ago and is called Reflections Christmas by Echo Park Paper Co. I used Tim Holtz Distress Pumice Stone Ink Pad to ink the edges of everything.
Thanks for stopping by, now go make something!!



Saturday, October 28, 2017

Christmas?! It's not even Halloween yet!!!

Those were the words I uttered when asked to do an ornament sample using the 2017 November Kit. I really wanted to squeeze every last bit of Halloween goodness out of October before ever even thinking about Christmas. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, so I started listening to Christmas music and got crafty :)
I made this first ornament using the Ornament Frame Set - Round and Retro Xmas Round Ornaments Collage Sheet from the November Kit. The paper is from the Tim Holtz 8x8 Kraft Paper Stash - Christmas, I really love the Tim Holtz Stash Pads because they are a nice weight and have such wonderful vintage images and patterns. I also used a Clear Plastic Round Dome on this ornament so it could be a "shaker" ornament.
Notice how the Santa image in the photo above is obscured by tiny clear micro beads, inside the plastic dome, when the ornament is moved or shaken. Alpha Stamps had a kit with shaker ornaments last year, too. You can see the many ornaments I made with last years kit (and other available components) on this blog post.
My favorite thing about this ornament is the pleated Cream Ribbon with Velvet Polka Dots I used to add a frill to the edge. It looks like it was complicated to do, but, because this ribbon holds a fold really well all it took was hot glue and folding (in little pleats all the way around the back of the ornament) to accomplish.
 My second ornament uses many of the same supplies as the first ornament but I did use a different ornament shape. It is Ornament Frame Set - Bauble and it is quite nostalgic in shape. So I just had to use this wonderful nostalgic paper from the Tim Holtz Christmas 8x8 Paper Stash!
I think the paper is perfect with this sweet snowman image from the Retro Xmas Round Ornaments Collage Sheet. Using a snowman image made it pretty much mandatory to use lots of snowflakes, such as the Flat Back Clear Iridescent Snowflakes and the Tiny White Snowflake Buttons. Of course I really had to apply lots of snow drifts with my trusty Dimensional Snow Writer.
To top it all off, I used a Christmas Snow Essence label from my Tiny Little Christmas Labels Collage Sheet applied it to a 3cm Tall Bottle with Cork with a few strips of Super Sticky Red Liner Tape - 1/8 Inch and added some snow (Flower Soft in Polar White). I think it looks adorable nestled in among the snowflakes and Maidenhair Fern Pick - Platinum.
I hope you are inspired to start making Christmas ornaments now, even if Halloween is still around the corner. Just think, you will be able to use them on this years Christmas tree!
My complete supplies list is available here.

 
 


Saturday, January 16, 2016

Maison de l'Amour...

or the House of Love is a lovely little market stall run by Madam Sophie and her dog Giget. Madam sells gifts of love and really makes a killing during the week leading up to Valentine's Day. Let's take a look at her wares...
The shop is quite festive with it's red, black and white wallpaper and signage.
 Madam Sophie is proud of her French heritage and you can see this in the Eiffel Tower paper she has covered her back wall with.
 Awww, there's little Giget, waiting to serve the next customer!
 Yum! Don't those candies look tempting!
Madam Sophie carries a wide variety of wonderful things...
 she's also open late to better serve her customer's needs.

I hope you have enjoyed my tour of the Maison de l'Amour... if you'd like to create a miniature house of love for yourself you can click here for my supply list. Wanna know how I made those tiny heart shaped candy boxes? Well, I have a Snapguide to show you how :)
 
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!


Saturday, December 5, 2015

white mice and Christmas...

 go together like black cats and Halloween... in my humble opinion. 
So I have been creating lots of Christmas art featuring mice. What could be cuter than a hidden drawer book box with a mouse perching among the holly?
 or a sweet, tiny, mouse warming his paws at the fireplace, inside the hidden drawer book box.
If you're not into cute and sweet, perhaps, a mouse driving a steampunk sleigh is more your style...
 Don't you just love that gorgeous plaid paper?
And just look at his little face!
Ooops! He's missing his whiskers because one of my cats thought they were fun to chew on. Bad, kitty :(
Speaking of the plaid paper... it's from a new company called Photo Play Paper Co. and we have some of their Dear Santa line at alphastamps.com. I fell in love with the kitschy mid century vibe and used some paper from the 6" x 6" pad to create this sweet shabby chic mini sleigh...
Dang! I forgot to put a mouse in that one! Oh, well, I guess I can add one to it later ;)
Thanks for dropping by and reading my post, if you'd like to view a list of supplies I used on each of these projects just click on the name below:
Christmas Mouse Book Box
Steampunk Mouse Sleigh

Sweet Shabby Chic Sleigh (below)