Christmas Card Club - Mixed Media Theme

Mary at Carolina cards chose the theme of Mixed Media for this fortnights Christmas Card Club.
To see what the other members made for this challenge, just click on their hyperlinks on my right sideboard. It will be well worth the initial clicks!

I must admit I struggled with this theme.  I finally decided on using acrylic paint for my "media" as well as using a discarded electrical tape container as my base for a Christmas ornament. I am busy trying to change up my formerly silver/red and white glittery Christmas decor theme into one that incorporates a country farmhouse look. Hopefully this ornament will help.

I started out with the gift of 6 lidded frosted plastic electrical tape containers. The bottom of the first container is my NBUS item for this project. My daughter got them from the electricians at her work. The lids slide on and off so the top edges of the base and of the lid are smooth. It is fun to create something from an item that would have landed in the garbage! Recycle garbage...but still garbage.

I took off the lid and saved it for a future project. I covered the inside of the base with a die cut circle of white glitter paper and the outside edge with glitter washi tape.

Using snippets of additional white glitter paper, I created hills with my Stitched Lawn Fawn Hill die.
I then created a scene with snippets of inked up green card for my Sue Wilson Winter trees dies, and inked up kraft snippets with my NBUS Impression Obsession Deer die as well as a NBUS Recollections die. I used white acrylic paint to create snow on the trees and added some glitter to make a little sparkle. Then used the same paint for the white dots on the deer.

Punched two holes in the top edge and ran a fine silver ribbon through and tied it off in a bow. Now I have something to place a tree bauble hook through!

Made a frame by cutting out the inner circle of a Spellbinders scalloped die and slid an overhead projector clear sheet behind the frame to keep out dust. I threw in some small pearl beads to make this into a shaker ornament but will not do that again as they get stuck in the corners and in between the layers and I do not like the look of that.

Next time, I would do a few other things differently as well. It took way too much time to measure and cut the white glitter paper paper to fit the cylinder. In fact, the bottom circle of the scene does not quite fit. It is a smidgen too small,  hence the trapped pearl beads!

Next time, I would spray glue the cylinder disc inside and out and sprinkle glitter over it. That alone would save about 40 minutes of fiddling back and forth! I have plans for different designs to create  more of these recycled tree baubles, so will implement these new methods on those. Will post them soon as i finish creating! All crafty plans are now on hold till the tree is up and the outdoor lights get flung onto the shrubs...

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

1. Christmas Card Club - mixed Media Theme
2. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets

Christmas Card Club - Anything But A Card - Round II - Project 5

This fortnight was Lizzie at Verity Cards turn to chose the theme. When I read it was Anything But A Card, I knew what I wanted to make.

This Christmas I plan to give a couple of gifts where the card and the gift bag match. Here is my first  Christmas gift bag this year. I will save the matching card for another post, after all this is an "Anything But A Card" challenge!

Gift bags are fun to make as you have such a larger surface to arrange your elements on. This bag is the last one from a Dollar Store set of three. The image is a topper from Wild Rose Studio, Bluebell At Christmas.

The large glittered snowflake button (at the top left of the bag) with the bit of silver cord tied through it, is my VOS item. I do not even know how old this is...had it forever it seems. At least 5 or 6 years methinks.  The smaller snowflake perched on the silver bow at the bottom of the card is also VOS. Much, much older...I am thinking maybe 10 years old!

The silver cord came from a garage sale...12 yards on a spool for 75 cents. I was pleased to find that bargain. I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the bottom of the kraft card. I think it might be called Cherish.  I am trying to make an effort to use a different punch or die on my projects, as I have a bit of a habit of reaching for the tried and true.

This gift bag will be for a family member who always chooses such lovely thoughtful presents for us.
 I want her present and the presentation to be special this year!

Recipe
Bag - from my stash (originally from the dollar store
DP - AC Merry Mint
Card Stock - snippets of kraft, and red Bazzil card
Image - Wild Rose Studio Topper; Bluebell at Christmas
Punch - Martha Stewart border punch...I think it is Cherish
Embellishments - snowflake button and snowflake embelly from my stash
Cord - silver cord from my stash  (originally from a garage sale

I am entering this gift bag into the following challenges:

1. Christmas Card Club - Anything But A Card
2. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets

Buddy the Elf is an artist too.

Buddy is the little Elf that lives at my Grandchildren's house during the Christmas season. He is a pretty good Elf all round...not very naughty at all!
He seems to do a lot of fun things at night while people are sleeping. My grandkids were trying to explain him to me and asked if I had seen the movie Night at the Museum. When they heard I had not, they advised that I should go see it cuz then I would understand that Buddy is real!

Apparently, Buddy finished flying school last week.

And just before we actually had any snowfall here, he managed to produce his own snow and build a Elf sized snow family. Here he sits, admiring his handiwork.


Yes Siree...Buddy is quite enterprising! I think Buddy may have been sampling the rum and eggnog as he seems about to slide off that Lego chair!

Rudoff the Red Nosed Reindog

Ho ho ho ho ho

I am still laughing!!! The grandkids came over to help decorate the tree and stay for a sleepover.
They also wanted to make cards for their teachers and wrap up the chocolates I bought for them to give.

The doorbell rang and I could hear excited voices outside as I walked to answer the door.  In burst Little Mr P,  and he ran straight to the tree without taking off his boots (a no-no in  Canadian houses). He carefully hung something on the tree as high as he could reach and worked hard to adjust it just so. Well, truth be told, as carefully as a person can be when they are wearing a snow jacket with the zipper undone and big velcro cuffs at the wrists. As my daughter was scolding him for not taking off his boots first, he proudly turned around and with the happiest face ever, announced...I made this for your tree!!!

Little Miss C and my daughter instantly asked if this was the Christmas dog from the Grinch. No, he says crossly, the smile fading a bit...this is a reindeer! They seemed a wee bit shocked and tried to make a quick recovery muttering something about how much this looked like that dog. You guys are silly, he said, see.....first of all it has a red nose AND it says right here on the back that it is RUDOFF and Rudoff is a reindeer!!!
The funniest bit was after he left today, I took this photo and realized that he had originally spelled it correctly, and then carefully changed it. I think he is very arty, for a little boy still in kindergarten.

My daughter was trying not to laugh as she still thought it looked like a dog and because she thinks I am too particular about how I decorate the tree. I use certain colours and try hard to get a balanced look to the various ornaments. Well, she must have forgot that I only started that style long after she had left home to start her own life. I had my years of hanging everything up that she and her sister made in school.  And....I loved it too.

I love my little Rudoff and shall treasure my little reindog...errr...reindeer, forever.

I am taking this little paper decoration over to the Pixies Crafty Workshop (not for the prize, thanks). Just to share that Little Mr P has also been working hard to use up his snippets. This is such a busy time of year and we can sometimes get caught up in the To Do list. We all need a little smile each day and this was mine.

Getting My Jingle On

I made a little Christmas ornament for my craft room. I used the same Anna Griffin Christmas Kitsch self adhesive vellum quotes that I used on my Black Friday Planner that I posted yesterday.

I store my planner next to the computer in my craft room...right beside the woven box that I hang my key collection on. I have been adding the keys slowly, and it looks rather bare still. Thought I would hang the ornament there, amidst the keys. Should be fun to see the two matching pieces there as I do not usually decorate this room at all.

Some of the storage baskets in my room are the same shade of green as the word bells on my sentiment. That is why I chose green for the planner cover and the quotes with green for the focal points.

Here is my start on crafty Christmas decorating!

The base is a top note looking greenware ornament I picked up yesterday at Michaels in America. I covered it with Viva Inka Gold in the colour silver. I had to do a couple of coats to get full coverage and actually took a stiff artist paintbrush and pushed the silver paste into the ridges on the side edges.

Once fully dry, I then centered the vellum quote and trimmed off the excess with an exacto knife.
I looped a small piece of silver braided cord through the hole at the top and tied it in the back and cut off the loose ends fairly close tot he knot.

It still looked a little bare, so I took 2 lengths of very fine, silver twine and tied then round the bottom of the braid.. made a double loopy bow and tacked into place (to firm it up with a teensy glue dot.I added a pink rhinestone to cover the look of the glue dot edges.

I am happy with it and think it will look good beside my planner.

I am entering this ornament in the following challenges
1. Craft My Life - Anything goes
2. Unstampabelles - Vellum
3. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything goes

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 1 - Composition Book

Marks Finest Papers are sponsoring a unique challenge called the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Each day from Oct 22 until Mov 2, 2013, they featured a different challenge. You can find the challenges here.

There is a Christmas themed stamp set  for each days individual prize,  and a grand prize of $350.  worth of current stamp sets for the grand prize winner who enters all 12 challenges. You have until 9Pm on Nov 11, 2013 to upload your creations. Submissions are limited to up to 5 per each days challenge.
 I am going to give it a try...hopefully I get it finished in the next seven days!  

Day 1 is to decorate a composition book. I have mentioned before that my daughters and I like to go down to the USA and shop the Black Friday sales. We book a hotel for 2 nights and shop till we drop. I get a lot of fabulous crafty bargains at Joannes and Michaels on Black Friday. We usually just sleep 3 or 4 hours as the sales are all at weird times at different stores. We do the bulk

of our Christmas shopping on Black Friday.

I think the Joanns is at 4 am or something like that! Yes, you read that correctly...you shop all night!!!

The line ups to pay are huge (maybe 40 to 60 minutes)...but the shoppers are all on a shopping bargain high...everyone is friendly and giggling...and it is a lot of fun! The massive savings suits this frugal lady too!

In order to shop successfully at Black Friday, we research the sales flyers and online ads, plan our strategy, make wish lists and mark the store hours for the special times our items go on sale.

We then create a master list that we all share. It would be impossible to get everything on your list if you were shopping on your own. We take a copy of the master list each, and we each get assigned stores and assigned items in that store. It is key to get a shopping cart and believe me, that is an experience in itself on Black Friday!!! lol

This book is the start of my Black Friday planning. My wish lists and stores, times, etc will be recorded in here...It is from this book that the master list will be compiled.  I use the back pages to assign a couple of pages per person in my family. I then use thes to list the presents I hope to buy for that person.  This way the book can still be used after Black Friday, for tracking the rest of the Christmas shopping and used to check and see who is finished and who still needs a couple more things. I try to treat everyone equally, so this helps me keep track of that.

For those of you whose heads are spinning by now, remember that I have a brain injury that causes me to forget things in the moment. If I did not have this list, I would get distracted and forget where to meet and at what time. I would also forget some  items I was there for. 

For me, it is when I multitask, or when I feel stressed, that I forget more often. This book really helps me stay on track for my bargains.

The snowflakes at the top are self adhesived felt from the dollar store and I stuck a small rhinestone down into the hole in the center. So the bling is attached to the green glitter paper and protected from being knocked off by the depth of the felt snowflake hole.

The large snowflake on the bottom right is a raw chipboard one that I picked up in a package from Michaels in the after Xmas sales last year. I added another felt adhesive snowflake overtop and punched a hole through it all for a red diamond brad.  I attached this big snowflake as soon as I finished cutting the glitter paper and rounding the right side edges. That way I was able to attach the snowflake to the glitter paper with the brad before I glued that whole front page down onto my book.

Now remember that I need my book to be able to withstand being shoved in and out of my purse those 2 days. I basically covered the entire back of the Best Creations Olive Green Glitter paper with Sook Wang and stuck it down. I used a Anna Griffin Christmas Kitsch Vellum quote sentiment sticker and affixed it first to some ivory card and then trimmed the whole thing down to fit on my book. It was just a little too big as is. That was then affixed to a snippet of the same glitter paper in red.

I really love this glitter paper as the glitter does not come off. It is glittery but affixed to the page really well...do not want a purse full of glitter now, do I...

The little red band is a belly band to keep the book shut and protect the precious pages! Yes, I know...it is a funny word...but it works!

This book is entered in the following challenges:

1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets (the small, red, glitter card mat.
2. Marks Finest Papers Twelve Days Of Christmas - Day 1
3. Unstampabelles - Vellum
4. A gem of a challenge - Christmas
5. Allsorts Challenge - Christmas Cheer
6. A Little Bit Crafty -  Sparkle and Shine
7. Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything goes