Sparkly Christmas cards by Lynne

Hi there! The grass here is still green (although the weather people are saying we might see some of the "white stuff" over the next couple days), but I had a glimpse of a white winter wonderland the last day I was in BC last week and was inspired to create snowy-looking elements on my cards...

Since the fussy-cut ornaments on the blue card had silver details on them, I decided to heat-emboss the open heart pieces in silver. The plain heart I primed with gesso then coated with white glue before covering with clear glass glitter top create a snowy heart.

On the grey card I chose a softer look by priming the pieces with gesso then heat-embossing them with white glitter embossing powder (it took two coats to get an evenly sparkly effect).

Both cards look much more snowy and sparkly in real life of course-have some fun playing with glittery products on your chipboard goodies when you create Christmas projects this year-even if you live somewhere tropical you can have a white Christmas! Thanks a bunch for stopping by and have a wonderfully crafty and creative week!

Gina's Items Used

Build a Layout-lovebirds (small solid heart)

mini flourishes Bella

winter shape set (snowflakes)

cupid's shape set (open heart circle-cut in half)

Other Items Used

Kaisercraft Silver Bells paper pad

Stampendous Aged Silver embossing powder

ColorBox chunky glitter

Ranger embossing powder-Bridal Tinsel

A Candle in the Dark by Barb

The question I'm most often asked is, "Where do you get your inspiration?"

It might be easier to ask where I don't find inspiration. Because, it is everywhere! All the time. I only need to pay attention.

The other night as we were about halfway through one of the wildest storms I've seen here in about a decade, the power went out. And it stayed out for five hours. We were lucky - some people waited almost three days to get the lights turned back on.

The power outage was an inconvenience, but we were prepared. We lit candles and admired the sound of the howling wind and driving rain.

As I watched one of the candles flickering and throwing it's tiny light out into the big dark room, this cool Candlesticks set from Gina's Designs came to mind. As soon as the lights came on again, I was off and running... uh... painting!

The base of this project is a 7 x 9" canvas panel to which I applied acrylic paint. For the candle, I coated the base in gold Delicata ink. I gave the candle a real wax look by using a combination of irRESISTibles in white and shimmer. I used yellow irRESISTibles for the flame and sprinkled on yellow glitter while it was still wet. I love the way the flame catches the light!

Inspiration is everywhere. All we have to do is pay attention.

Gina's Designs products used

Candlesticks 

Other products used

Canvas panel

Acrylic Paint

irRESISTibles

Delicata ink

Glitter

Glue

"Let it Snow" - a Layout by Debbie

Hi everyone!  Debbie with you today sharing a snowy layout using Gina's Designs Winter Shape set. We have been experiencing a little winter here where I live and while I was enjoying fall and some beautiful warm days, winter was bound to show up.  Gina's Winter Shape Set has the perfect embellishments for this snowy layout!

When I started working on this I wanted it to feel frosty and frozen so I added some Glimmer Mist in an appropriate color called Glacier.  I also used a color called Amethyst for this layout.  To alter the snowflakes, tree and title, I gave them a quick coat of gesso and then simply embossed them with a silvery-glittered white embossing powder.  While I was heating the embossing powder, I sprayed glimmer mist on the pieces so that they mica would embed into the embossing powder. 

Thanks for stopping by Gina's blog today! Debbie 

Gina's Products used:

 Gina's Winter Shape Set 

Christmas Elements by Dianna

Hi Everyone, Dianna here with my take on Gina's Designs Facebook Craft Group November Challenge. The Challenge is to be inspired by a Pinterest project and I found a Christmas element set that inspired me.

I used elements from Gina's Stackable Element Set, pink and green owl Christmas paper and punches to create the above elements set.  The top circle is a 2 -1/4 inch punch and the two flags are from the Stackables set.  I simply traced the shape of Gina's Stackables onto the paper and fussy cut.  Gina's Stackables give the elements additional dimension. I used Christmas stamps that I had laying around from last year. All edges were distressed with vintage photo ink.

The tag was created by using a punch and fussy cutting the owl and presents. Gina's Mini Flourishes Bella was colored green with a Copic Marker.  I added Stickles, apple green and blue bling to all of the elements for some more pop. 

Below photo show all of the shapes that are included in Gina's Stackable Element Set. I only used 11 shapes from this set to create my elements, so there are a lot more elements to make. 

You have to join the group, if you are not a member link here: Gina's Facebook Craft Group

Just a reminder that Gina's Designs will have a name change effective December 1, 2015 to

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.

Below is link item for my inspiration.

Pinterest Link

Items Used

Gina's Designs

Mini Flourishes Bella

Stackable Element Set - Coming Soon

Little Box of Believe

Good morning all you crafters out there! I wanted to try something and had a blast! So grab your cup and lets have a blast. 

With Christmas coming up I decided to play around and make a little Christmas spirit for my desk.

First I started with some casting resin on my embossing folders.

Then I got my sheets ready to cut up to add to my box. You want to do this before they harden completely. 

The sheet was thin enough to use my scissors with. 

Then I glued them on.  You can use any type of glue I am sure however, I used some soft matte gel medium to adhere the resin to my box. 

Here is the finished project. 

I used a Mini Bookplate to add the sentiment "Believe". 

I finished it off with some layers of paints and Petaloo flowers. 

Here you can really see the texture. 

I so hope you enjoyed so grab your chippies and create with us!

Items Used:

 Bagatelle Box 3x3

Miniature Bookplates Shape Set

Christmas Composition Box by Gloria

Good morning! It's Gloria with you today! I am sharing my FIRST EVER configuration/composition box! I have created trays and shadow boxes before, but this is my first compo box!

I used the Composition Box - 25, which is 9 1/4" x 6 3/4". The kit comes with three smaller boxes which fit inside the main box, plus a key and the number "25." I created a Christmas scene with lots of bits and bobs from my stash!

As you can see, the box pieces are all notched for easy assembly! I started out by wiping each piece with a baby wipe to remove any dust. I then painted the edges with white acrylic paint.

I painted the "25" and the key with Ranger Gold ink to give the pieces an aged appearance. I painted the metal feet with white paint and then dabbed them with the gold ink. (Please forgive my messy craft mat! I was in a hurry and forgot to use a white background!)

I labeled each box piece with the size of paper I needed, just to save time with measuring. I sponged all the paper edges with Frayed Burlap Distress  Ink.

All the paper is attached to the box with a multi medium. I simply "painted" the paper with the medium and attached it to the box pieces BEFORE assembly. 

I used Ranger Glossy Accents to assemble the boxes, and to attach the small boxes, the metal feet, and the tree to the large box. The boxes are very sturdy and fit together beautifully. Those of you who know me, understand that I do not care for 3-D projects because they are often a pain to put together. I am here to tell you, that THIS project went together so quickly and easily! I was stunned! 

I made sure to cover the back of the box as well. I had thought to use washi tape to cover the edges, but decided I liked the white box showing through, almost as if it was an old crate! 

I covered the sides of the box with contrasting paper. Each small box is covered with coordinating paper as well. 

Once I had the boxes assembled, it was time to decorate! I used some snowflakes from the Snowflake Shape Set to add accents to the top corners of the large box. I sprayed the large snowflakes with gold mist and the smaller snowflakes with silver. I added a gem for extra sparkle!

I went through my holiday hoard, looking for fun embellishments to use for my project. This was a great way to use leftover bits of this and that! Each item is glued to the box with either Glossy Accents or hot glue. I filled some glass bottles with glitter and tiny bells to give some Christmas glitz to the box!

I sprayed the tree with mist and then added some splatters of white paint prior to adding the gems. I sprayed "Joy" from the Words and Phrases I Set with mist and glued it to the tree. 

 I created lots of little vignettes to give the boxes interest and texture. I tried to make everything gold, silver, or white, along with the traditional Christmas colors of red and green.

I hope that you enjoyed my project today! I cannot wait to display this on a table in my living room! 



~ Gloria Stengel: Scraps of Life

Gina's Designs Laser Cut Chipboard:

Composition Box - 25

Snowflake Shape Set

Words and Phrases I Set 

Other Products:

Paint:Plaid Folk Art Wicker White, Ranger Adirondack Mixatives Gold 

Ink: Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap

Multi medium: Liquitex

Glimmer mist: Tattered Angels Gold, Tattered Angels Chalkboard Chalk, Deco Art Shimmer White, Lindy's Stamp Gang Cape Cod Coral, Twinkling Tinsel, Frozen Jack Frost

Paper: Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol, Twelve Days of Christmas, Nutcracker Sweet, Christmas Past

Metal feet, charm, star, large tree, glass bottles, flash card: Tim Holtz

Small tree: hobby shop

Metal hook, mini clothes pin: Canvas Corp

Floral: Petaloo, Wild Orchid Crafts, misc. floral sprays

Gems, bells, ornaments, clips, dove: stash

Glitter: German Glass Glitter

Adhesive: Ranger Glossy Accents, hot glue

Vintage Style Christmas Triptych

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying your week.  Barbara here with a pretty little vintage style Christmas Triptych.  Triptychs are just about my most favorite projects to make.  When I saw this beautiful laser cut triptych from Gina's Designs Lasercuts (soon to be Gypsy Soul Lasercuts, effective 1 December), I knew just what I wanted to do with it.  Don't you just love when that happens?

Front

Back

The triptych has six pieces, as shown; three solid bases and three decorative frames. Look closely as there are subtle differences, so be careful to take note when putting it together. Paint the three decorative frames with Emperor's Gold using a sponge dauber.

You can see in this closeup how closely this resembles gold leaf.

Next, brush a coat of Crackle Paste White over the frames, being careful not to cover the intricate laser cuts.  Set aside to dry and crack.

Brush a light coat of Interference Gold mixed with Primary Elements Ancient Coin powdered pigment over the cracks to give it that aged, shabby chic look.

In the closeup, you can see how transparent the color is, allowing the white to show through a bit.

Cover the three base pieces with the Graphic 45 Christmas papers on the front.

Cut strips of Tyvek from used postal envelopes to make hinges.  (TIP: I like using Tyvek because it is not only strong, but it is also very thin and practically unnoticeable when placed beneath paper.)  Measure about 1-¼" up from the bottom and glue the Tyvek pieces between backing pieces, leaving about ⅛" to 1/4" space between the backs.

Cut three consecutive pieces of Graphic 45 Christmas paper to cover the backs.  I was a bit more precise cutting these pieces out as I will not be able to cut away where my hinges are.



Paint the hinges with black paint to match the background paper on the back, and Emperor's Gold on the front to match the frame pieces.

Adhere the paper to the backing pieces

Trim away the excess paper from the tops.

 Adhere the decorative frame sections to the front sides of the backing pieces.

I used three framed prints from the Graphic 45 Christmas Past papers die cut sheet.  I backed them with black chipboard for strength and for dimension.  Each print was edged with brown and black distress inks to define the edges, and then I coated each one with a Clear Crackle Glaze.

 I got a little impatient and thought the crackle glaze was not working, so I added a coat of Crackle Accents over the top.  Much to my surprise, I got this really cool "cracked glass" effect.  That is what I love so much about mixed media ... the experimentation and surprising results.

I colored some German Scrap Holly Berry Leaves with StazOn Cactus Green and Claret, picking up the color from the ink pad with a fantastix brush.

 I colored the branches with StazOn Spiced Chai and the fantastix brush.

 The StazOn goes on transparently, so it allows the shininess of the German Scrap to show through.  I wanted to tone down the shininess, so I added some Olive metallic rub on to the leaves with my finger.  You can see the difference in the photo below, where the leaves on the left are colored with the metallic rub on.

 I glued the framed prints and holly berry leaves to each section, as shown, and began adding embellishments from my hoarded stash.

Front side of Triptych

Here are closeups of each section.

The reverse side of the triptych was decorated with these pre-printed Christmas embellishments from more of my hoarded stash.  The pretty little chipboard snowflake on far left section is from Gina's Designs and was colored with a Krylon gold pen, adding Diamond Stickles for extra glitteriness.

Reverse Side of Triptych

And here, again, are more closeups of these sections.  Here you can see the pretty snowflake from Gina's Designs.

Gina's Designs Supplies Used:

Triptych - Arch Top

Snowflake Shape Set

Other Supplies used:

Graphic 45 Christmas Past Paper Collection

ColourArte Radiant Gels Emperor's Gold

ColourArte Primary Elements Ancient Coin

Crackle Paste White

Interference Gold Acrylic Paint

Stickles: Diamond, Platinum

Krylon gold leaf pen

StazOn Midi ink pads: Claret, Cactus Green, Spiced Chai

Olive Metallic Rub-On

Gold holly berry leaves

Embellishments (my stash)

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas project today and are inspired to check out the fabulous chipboard shapes from Gina's Designs for your Christmas makes.



Barbara