'Tis The Season For Gift Giving

How to give a gift and a card at the same time - that little gift bag is the perfect size for a voucher or money or even something small like jewellery.

Hi Everyone! A couple of weeks ago, I started to enter some card making challenges - just to test myself in a lot of ways. It took me weeks to get the courage to enter one and now  I am utterly hooked of course!

I am hoping at this point that it is not possible to overdo things at Christmas!

It was just something that I wanted to do for a bit of self development and a bit of sharing - honestly, you would not believe the lovely friends that I have made doing this. And  I am constantly blown away be the talent around me.

I love the idea of layering and texture!

So imagine my surprise when I won a challenge! I still cannot believe it actually. I famously do not win anything. Ever. I am still checking to make sure that I have it right and I would like to thank the Design Team for making my century with their lovely comments.

The star of the show is the gift bag right at centre stage in the middle of the card.

I was the winning entry in the Frilly and Funky Haunted Halloween challenge and if you would like some more details, you can find the post for that one here. 

I like the pine cones with some of the bits left in them.

The challenge at the moment over at Frilly and Funkie is 'Tis the Season for Gift Giving and I urge you to join in the fun by entering something. It is the most fun and you really don't know where it will take you!

The bag is (naturally) the perfect size for a gift card.

I wanted to make a card but I wanted it to reflect the changing climate of gift giving - one where the recipient may live some distance from the giver. My card had to be a card and gift in one. A card that could take a gift card, voucher, money or even a small actual gift like jewellery. I have lived across the globe from my family for most of my life and the postage can be horrendous. I wanted to make a way to send a card and a gift at the same time.

I have lived away from family and friends my whole life - a way to send a gift and a card at the same time through (usually quite expensive) post is a bonus! 

So here is what I came up with. I do hope that you like it and that it will get the creativity flowing! I have used almost exclusively Tim Holtz products and I will let you know what you need as we go along.

This is a floral riot of a card!

To begin with, I chose an 8 1/4" x 6" card blank and I cut a piece of plain white card stock about the same size for the front. This will become the background. I like to mat my cards so I cut a piece of black linen textured paper the same size and rubbed the edges with Picket Fence Distress Ink.

Black might seem an odd choice for Christmas but nothing adds more drama and you can always soften it as I have done here.

The background itself needs a lot of texture. With something like this, I almost always start with Distress Oxides in Old Paper and Antique Linen just to get rid of the white!

It doesn't look like much to begin with but bear with me....

Sometimes I go in again too - and a top tip is to have another piece of card ready and mop up the excess ink. You don't waste any that way. You can put the second piece aside and you are ready to go for another make.

These two colours are a great place to start on any background. They go with everything!

Next I added Pumice Stone and Hickory Smoke Oxides and kept the layers going. Don't forget to dry in between coats either to avoid mud.

That moodiness could become anything depending on what you do next!

Dry between each addition....

Wet on dry equals layers, wet on wet equals mud - Tim says so! Dry in between each layer!

Believe it or not, the surprise ingredient is Frayed Burlap Oxide! It warms the greys up and marries beautifully with the first colours.

It is a shame to cover up actually!

You could leave the background there of course but I never know when to stop and cannot leave anything alone so I usually do something with stamps at this point. 

Don't use the block for this, just randomly add print.

I also like to splatter with white acrylic paint (DecoArt Americana Snow). I love the fact that if I concentrate this in one spot, it can cover any bloopers caused by the stamp!

I keep a toothbrush for this job.

The background is starting to take shape now...

Lovely old sheet music. In a snowstorm! It's Christmas, give me this one!

Finally for the background, I inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. This frames everything beautifully. 

You can darken more with ground espresso if it is not dark enough.

Then I stitched it to the black background with black thread going around twice and not being too neat.

I literally cannot make a card without stitching something on it!

And I love to curl the edges over the stitching to add dimension. Just do that here and there...

I did this once by accident and I loved it! It reminds me of old pirate maps.

This card is all about gift giving so we need somewhere to hold the gift. I have decided on the Sizzix die Gift Card Bag (#662687) for this job and I cut a bag out of black Kraft-Core card stock. And, me, being me, I sanded it!

Sanding is another thing that I cannot leave alone.

The front is the main bit so I concentrated on that. The next thing was to fold it and press the creases in. I love the Clover Roll and Press for this job. it is actually for sewing but....

Never be afraid to shamelessly steal tools from one part of your craft room to use in another!

Let's back up the truck a bit. As you can see, this has the 'right side' showing on the top curved bit even though this paper is single sided? I cheated and cut a second bit to put on there....

There is nothing technically wrong with seeing the kraft side of the paper when you fold it into a bag. It is just that this is not what I had in my imagination so it had to go!

You can do it too - I won't tell anyone! The next thing it needed was a message. I went with Ranger Superfine Embossing powder in white for this.

This stamp is becoming a favourite and it makes a really grungy emboss.

It is just rustic enough and has a sorta vintage chalkboard effect.
Well we have a really brown card at the moment (Tim would be proud I am sure) but we need to 'Christmas' this up a bit. That is a thing I promise!

I placed this one at an angle with some foam squares for dimension (I wanted to tuck the greens underneath)...

Adding the foam squares allowed for some space underneath for the foliage. This tends to look more natural that putting the foliage down first.

So enter the greenery. I sanded some kraft core paper and I cut a whole lot of random greens. 

I find that sanding the kraft core paper first is easiest.

My favourite dies are Holiday Greens Mini (#661597) and I have chosen the pine and holly and tucked them around the gift tag bag....

There is just enough clearance on the envelope.

Keep adding!

Allow some of the greenery to overlap the edges of the card here and there. not too much because it has to go into an envelope but a little bit adds to the layers.

Because there are pine needles, there must be pine cones and they had to be gold (I am sorry, I think that it is the law or something)....

Allow some of the pieces to remain in the die when you cut the pine cones. It adds texture.

You can separate the pine cones too to put them where they are most needed...

Allow these to go over the stitching and layering lines too.

Then there needed to be some red so I made some little flowers from sanded kraft core (red this time) and gave them gold centres (a bit about them later). I love the Small Tattered Florals die (#661806). I glued the flowers around the greenery....

Probably more of a summer flower by design but they take on a Christmas quality in this context. Always explore your dies and try them out of season.

And finally (!) a gold bow and some holly berries. 

The bow is grounding and gives a place for the eye to rest as a focal point.

I made the berries and flower centres from Nuvo drops but I like to make them on a non stick craft mat first and then when they dry, I use them. This stops them from running together and spoiling. You are very welcome!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Make Your Own Background

Vintage Christmas - what's not to love1

Hello my lovelies! I sadly missed last week's challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and I vowed not to let that happen again - well in a few months time, I will have no choice because we will be moving house and everything will be packed but that is another story for another day.

Details again! Little things that make people look twice is what it is all about.

This week, the challenge is all about backgrounds. And quite right too! A background should never be an afterthought; just something sitting in the, well, background and just seen as a lame supporting act to the main event up front.

A good background is the start of something......

No siree. The background is what gets it all going. It is a textural element which sets the scene for your focal point. Spend time on the background and the rest of the card will often build itself.

And layers - you need layers!

Sometimes I will play around with just backgrounds and I have a file for them for when I have zero mojo but want/need to create a card. Quite often pulling something out that I have created months ago will spark something.

I love stitching on my cards. It is the one element that I cannot leave out.

So backgrounds are important and there are as many types as there are stars in the sky (there's a great idea for a background right there actually....).

Love the slightly faded and very rustic colours available to us at the moment.

It is coming up to you-know-what so my card this week is all about snowiness and winter. I will discuss the elements briefly but my main focus is, as it should be, the background!

So what do we need to make this background?
NB: these items are only needed to make the background as this is the focus of this tute. As I make the card, I will mention what I used as I go along.

-card stock. Plain white and A5 sized (make two backgrounds and put one aside for later).
-Distress Oxide Inks- pumice stone, old paper, antique linen, frayed burlap, stormy sky, hickory smoke
-Distress ink- weathered wood, walnut stain
-white acrylic paint. I love DecoArt Americana snow
-stamps- I am using Grunge Flakes by Stampers Anonymous
-Your usual card making needs and some cute elements to finish the card

Righto, let's get started then!

Cut the A4 card in half. It is easier to use this way.

One for now and one for later is the way to go- save on ink and time!

To begin with, lay the first two colours of oxide down onto the non stick mat. I always start with antique linen and old paper for a background like this. I just want to get some colour on there....

Loose the white card already!

Dry that with the heat tool and then go in again.

Darken it up and add some interest.

I always make to so as not to waste ink and I also have one to put into the 'bank'. Now start to add other colours like pumice stone and stormy sky....

Add a little moodiness to the background. Honestly, you could stop right here!

You may need a couple of goes

Always all ow the other layers to shine through though.

Then some interest in the form of frayed burlap (of all colours). Frayed burlap oxidises in a special way and it also warms everything up.

Add a warm colour to warm the background up a bit.

Dry this layer too...

Remember Tim's advice - wet on wet blends, wet on dry, layers. We want layers!

Next let's increase that texture. Stamps! I love these grungy snowflakes and I used weathered wood Distress Ink first and at random...

These snowflakes are not the main feature so they are designed to fade into the background and add texture.

Then followed up with some more snowflakes from the same set in hickory smoke Oxide straight over the top and overlapping....

Layers of texture!

Not finished yet though! I like to splatter with white acrylic paint over the top

A toothbrush kept for this is all you need.

This is a great way to soften areas where the ink may have misbehaved of come out a little harsh.

Finally (for the background at least), ink the edges of the card with walnut stain Distress Ink...

The darker brown on the edge warms the card more and gives it a vintage vibe. It also forms a frame around the focal point.

Time to layer up! The background is finished and as you can see, it is full of depth and texture. 
I wanted a touch of red in the card and because my quote chip is red, there had to be some somewhere else too to tie it all together. 
The answer was a red mat. My paper was just plain though so I went in with some spun sugar oxide and stencils. 

Just make it random like graffiti.

You won't see much of this and trust me, it won't look too pink.

As you can see, you only get to see a tiny amount on the finished card.

I glued some burlap and a strip of black and white paper (black and white is my real weakness!), over the bottom third of the card.

Black and white, yeah!

The came stitching, also with black thread. I went around twice and was not neat on purpose. Then I curled the edge of the background in a bit to emphasise the layering....

Add some zigzag stitching too.

Finally I made a snowflake using the new Sizzix Bigz Ice Flake die.

Love this gorgeous die!

It needed sanding of course!

I use a small cutting mat upside down to sand on. I don't want to scratch the glass mat!

Then it was a bit flat so I went back and gave it some dimension with my Sizzix Paper Sculpting kit....

If you have not bought this kit yet, put it on the Christmas list!

And a squeeze here and there to emphasise the dimension.

You can see that gorgeous centre crystal here too. It makes a lovely contrast with the jute twine.

Finally, it needed a bit of bling to contrast with the rustic vibe. This is a flat back AB crystal.

You cannot beat kraft- core paper!

Then I glued the flake to the centre of the card.

I added some Ideology detail off centre and a sanded quote chip too.

And I tied some jute twine discretely along the top of the tent fold card. This is not meant to take anything away from the main event so keep it low key.

A finishing detail like this can make all the difference.

And that's it! Thank you so much for stopping by and staying with me through this really long post. There is a lot of information for you though and it is important not to miss any out.

I will be saying this next year for sure! This is to be our last Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere. i will miss Christmas at the 'right' time of the year!

See you next time! And do consider entering the challenge yourself. It is such fun!
Hugs
Debbie
xx