Unity Silhouette Songbird Vintage Christmas card

Hello and welcome to my Blog :-)

I can't believe how quickly November has gone - the time just seems to speed up once it is the end of October - and I don't know about you, but I have LOTS of different Christmas cards on the go.  You wouldn't want to see my Craft Room - you could get lost forever in all the mess!  Anyway, I am digressing........

I made this card using my new Unity Silhouette Songbird stamp that Fat Cat's Card Corner sent to me.  It was stamped with a mix of Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany and Versacolor Burgundy ink.  Once I layered the image panel onto the dark olive and burgundy cardstock, I "aged" the edges using a seasponge and Antique Linen ink, then popped the panel up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals).

For the side panel, I ran the dark olive cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the Holly Berries embossing folder (now essentially hidden by the ribbon.....doh!) and punched the burgundy cardstock with my Arches Lattice punch (I LOVE this punch for Christmas cards).

The holly and berries were diecut with my Cuttlebug and Bosskut Holly die, then embossed with my Textile embossing folder - they just kinda looked "naked" before I embossed them - like it needed "something".  I popped a couple of the berries up on mounts to give them a bit of dimension.

To do the sewing on the bottom panel, I pierced the holes with my paper piercer then hand-sewed it with burgundy sewing thread.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy (it wasn't the easiest of ribbon to tie a bow - in hindsight, I think I should have tied a knot 'cos I don't like my bow at all!!).  Lastly, I glued on the 3 tiny green buttons.

I'm popping this card into the two Challenges:

Papertake Weekly Challenge - and this week's theme is "Cut it out" and they want to see a punched shape or a die cut on your card using punches, border punches, nesties etc.

And the second challenge is the Splitcoaststampers Free for All Challenge of F4A38 Simply Silhouettes.

Thanks for visiting and thanks so much for all the lovely comments you have been leaving - they really brighten my day!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Unity Silhouette Songbird IB-34 Itty Bitty foam-mounted rubber

Ink:  Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany and Antique Linen Distress, Versacolor Burgundy pigment

Designer paper:  Cosmo Cricket Oh Joy "Wrapping Paper" (retired but still available at some stores)

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Holly Berries and Textile embossing folders, Bosskut Holly die #0604, seasponge, Twill ribbon (from Making Memories Fa La La set of 6 - retired), Bow Easy, mounts (dimensionals), paper piercer, burgundy sewing thread, buttons from Favorite Findings - Christmas Crafts, Cardstock: burgundy, dark olive, cream

Punches:  Martha Stewart Arch Lattice, Stampin' Up corner

Vintage Christmas Gift bags using ATC images plus Unity 'A Beautiful Sight' stamp

Hello and thanks for visiting my Blog :-)

I made three more little gift bags - only this time I went for more of a Vintagey feel.  You can see my post here for my other Gift Bags which are just the right size for a little present such as a Gift Card Voucher eg: Coles/Myer or Target card, or something small for your child's teacher or just some lollies.   

I decided to make this first gift bag out of My Memories designer paper which I picked up at Riot Art and Craft a fortnight ago.  It is really pretty and has lots of glitter on it - you can see a little of it in the photo, but it is more sparkly IRL.

 

The gift bag above uses an image from the ATC Collection Christmas images pad - see pic below of the pad.  The pad is about 65mm wide x 90mm long (or 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" if you are imperial)  and there are 2 of each image.  The image above already came with the border so all I had to do was glue it on.

.

And here is my 2nd gift bag using another image from the pad.  Note I rounded the corners of the image with my corner punch.

 

The ribbon came from a $2 shop.  I bought it last Christmas season as I thought it was unusual having brown satin ribbon with gold holly - it just appealed to me - and since then has sat in my stash looking for a use! Perhaps it was just waiting for a sepia Christmas image like this one!  The button is just a plain wooden one which came from a Folk Art/Tole Painting store - I simply painted it with several coats of a mix of Raw Umber and Brown Earth JoSonya acrylic paint, let the paint cure for 24 hours, sanded the edges with sandpaper to "distress" it and tied it with string I found in the garage.

My 3rd Gift bag uses the Unity stamp "A Beautiful Sight" and was stamped onto cream cardstock with a mix of Bamboo pigment ink and Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Distress Ink, then heat-set (otherwise the pigment ink will smudge as it takes ages to dry).

I layered the image onto burgundy and green cardstock then heavily aged the panel with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink and a seasponge.  The bottom panel was also aged in the same way.  I added the button which is by Favorite Findings 'Christmas Crafts'.  I made the bag out of linen-weave textured cream cardstock - you can see the gorgeous texture in the photo - and the ribbon is from a set of ribbons by Making Memories called 'Fa La La'.

Directions for making these super-easy and simple bags are here.  The holes for the ribbon handles on all the bags were simply punched with a standard-sized hole punch.  It is best to punch the holes before you put the bags together - much easier that way.

Thanks for stopping by - I'll be back soon with something completely different....... :-)

Jocelyn

Gift Bag Recipes:

Gift Bag #1

Designer paper:  My Memories #143275 (Riot Art & Craft)

Accessories:  Scor-Pal, ATC Christmas Collection image, wire-edged silver/blue ribbon, hole punch

Gift Bag #2

Designer paper:  from K & Co. Glad Tidings 12" x 12" pad

Accessories:  Scor-Pal, ATC Christmas Collection image, brown/gold ribbon, hole punch, Stampin' Up corner punch, wooden button, JoSonya raw umber + brown earth acrylic paint, sandpaper, string

Gift Bag #3

Stamps:  Unity - A Beautiful Sight IB48 Itty Bitty foam-mounted rubber

Ink:  Versacolor Bamboo pigment, Tim Holtz Peeled Paint + Antique Linen Distress ink

Designer paper:  Cosmo Cricket Oh Joy - Merry and Bright

Accessories:  Scor-Pal, Ribbon - Making Memories Fa La La, Button - Favorite Findings 'Christmas Craft', seasponge, hole punch, heat-gun, Cardstock: cream textured (for bag), regular cream (for image), burgundy, dark olive

Unity - A Beautiful Sight - Little Christmas Gift Bag

 

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

About a year ago, I came across a template and instructions (including a video) for making a little Gift Bag, and finally got around to making one.  Now that I have had a little play and realised how quick and easy it was, I have made about 10 of them!  Make sure that you start off with the cardstock cut exactly to the specifications, or it will turn out all wonky.

You can find the instructions here at the Stamping Videos blog.  If you scroll down a little, you can click on a link to the written instructions and the template and print them out.  The video is really easy to follow too.

I decided to emboss my cardstock - just because I LOVE my Cuttlebug LOL - before I scored the lines with my Scor-Pal.  You don't have to use a Scor-Pal but it sure makes it quick and easy if you have one.  Once I did the scoring, I used one of my Labels Trio dies to diecut the top part where the handle is, THEN folded the box up and glued it.  Don't fold the box up then diecut the top part it as it is much harder that way and most likely will end up crooked (trust me:  I know from experience!!).

The image is a gorgeous new stamp called "A Beautiful Sight" by Unity Stamps - which is available from Fat Cat's Card Corner.  The image was stamped with gold pigment ink and heat-embossed with gold embossing powder, then diecut with my Deckled Rectangle Nestabilities.  I diecut some snowflakes from gold cardstock and popped them up on mounts (dimensionals).

Lastly, I tied on two different ribbons. Easy peasy.   And just for something different, I made a purple one for something non-traditional for Christmas (plus purple is my favourite colour!):

Instead of diecutting the top part for the ribbon, I used a standard-sized hole punch.  The tree was stamped with Heliotrope pigment ink and heat-embossed with clear embossing powder.  I inked the edges of the diecut snowflakes and added a purple gem to the centres.  Here is a top view of the box:

The finished size of the box is 4-3/4" high x 3" wide, and is the perfect size for popping in a Gift Card eg: Bunnings, Coles/Myer, Target etc., some lollies, or a little present for your child's teacher.

I have made a Vintage-style one using the same Unity stamp which I will share with you soon.  Have a go at these little bags - once you make 1 or 2, you will realise how quick and easy they are.   

I popping these gift bags into the Unity Challenge #25 over at Splitcoaststampers where this week's challenge is to make an UN-CARD, ie: something that is NOT a card such as an ornament, a pretty gift box, altered item etc.

Thanks again for stopping by!  TTFN!

Jocelyn

Gift Bag Recipe - white snowflake bag:

Stamps:  Unity - A Beautiful Sight IB48 Itty Bitty foam-mounted rubber stamp

Ink:  Versacolor gold pigment

Accessories:  Scor-Pal, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder, Cuttlebug Snowflakes #2 die set, Spellbinder Tags Trio and Deckled Rectangle Nesties, gold embossing powder, heat-gun, 2mm mounts, ribbon: gold-edged white organza + fancy gold, Cardstock: white, gold

Gift Bag Recipe - purple bag:

Stamps: Unity - A Beautiful Sight IB48 Itty Bitty foam-mounted rubber stamp

Ink:  Colorbox Heliotrope pigment

Accessories:  Scor-Pal, Cuttlebug, Crafts Too Snowflakes embossing folder, Cuttlebug Snowflakes #2 die set, hole punch, Spellbinder Deckled Rectangle Nesties, clear embossing powder, heat-gun, Kaiser purple rhinestones SB705, ribbon: purple organza, Cardstock: purple, white

Unity A Beautiful Sight - A Winter Wonderland

Hi and welcome :-)

I made this clean and simple DT Christmas card with a new Unity stamp called 'A Beautiful Sight' that Fat Cat's Card Corner sent to me this week.  The words behind the tree are from the Christmas song:  Winter Wonderland - which is one of my favourite Christmas songs.  I know it's Summer here at Christmas, but I still love all things "snowy" for my Christmas cards.  And I especially LOVE white and gold Christmas cards - they just seem to speak "elegant" which I hope is what I achieved with my card.  It is very, very difficult to take good photographs of gold on a card - I tried outside in the sun, but the gold looked all dark and miserable or reflected so much sunlight, the white background all but disappeared, so did a compromise and photographed it in my home with reflected sunlight from my kitchen window but with the overhead kitchen downlights on to show up some sparkle.  Not easy - but I hope you get the idea of what it really looks like - and it is much nicer IRL!

The snowflakes embossing is one of the folders from the Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set (there are 6 folders in the set).  I stamped the tree with gold pigment ink and heat-embossed it with gold embossing powder, then diecut the panel with my Deckled Rectangle Nesties and popped the panel up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals).

I diecut two snowflakes and popped them up on 2mm mounts, then added a dot of gold pearl dimensional paint in the centres - does take quite a while to dry though (at the time of writing this post, it's now some hours since I did it, and it's still not quite dry - probably will take overnight). You can get this paint at Riot Art and Craft Stores, and comes in a little bottle about the size of Stickles/Kindyglitz and isn't expensive.

The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  I'm pretty sure the ribbon came from a $2 Shop and was on a reel that had a couple of metres.

Challenges:

It's been ages since I played one of the Stamp Simply Challenges by Sharon Johnson and this week's challenge is:

Stamp Simply #163 – Tis the Season for Clean and Simple

where Sharon wants us to make a clean and simple card with Christmas or Winter in mind.

Thanks again for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!
 

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Unity 'A Beautiful Sight' Itty Bitty rubber stamp IB48 (comes as rubber mounted with cling cushion)

Ink:  Versacolor gold pigment

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Snowflakes folder from Winter Wonderland set, Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die, Spellbinder Deckled Rectangle Nestabilities, gold embossing powder, heat-gun, Bow Easy, gold dimensional fabric paint, 1mm/2mm mounts, Ribbon 1-1/2" - 38mm wide, Cardstock: white