Christmas Cobweb

Hello again, my Crafty Cronies. I'm back with a little something for you. Yesterday I was rummaging through our boxes of Christmas knick-knacks looking for inspiration and found a project that I started last year but never finished. There's a story behind this incomplete enterprise and it goes something like this:

Last year we visited the Dresden Christmas Market in Germany. It was breathtaking - a treasure trove of traditional hand-made gifts, ornaments, trinkets and such. Simply bursting with old-world romantic charm. The Dresden Christmas Market is said to be the oldest in Germany, dating back to the early 1400s. It was in Dresden that I saw and fell in love with the most exquisite ornament. A delicate, sparklydoodad with the teeniest little silver bells, crystals, tulle, lace...it was perfect and I had to have it. That was until I asked the price ... €45! What?! For some paper, ink and glittery stuff?! I can do it for next to nothing, I thought. So I wished the stall-keeper a very merry Christmas and walked away. And then, from a safe distance, I took pictures of my heart's desire between random Teutonic shoppers.

Back home I tried to make sense of my blurry night shots and attempted to reproduce the ornament with some purple CS and scrap patterned papers. Why purple? Last year, after too much mulled wine I decided that a King's tree should be dressed in purple. This year, I'm staying away from mulled wine.

Back to my ornament: I played around with my dies and stamps to find out what worked best. It was fiddly and oh-so-time-consuming but I was determined to have my trinket. When I was about 80% done, with child-like glee, I showed my husband my labour of love and he had this to say: "Wow! You've made a beautiful cobweb for Christmas, darling!"

There you have it! My beloved living up to his nickname of Conan the Barbarian, yet again. He makes no excuses for calling a spade a spade, and does so without fear or favour. Anyway, I was crushed and silently swept my cobweb into a box, where it remained until last night. I'm putting it out now because I saw a similar ornament on the front cover of the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalogue and on the uber-talented Becca Feeken's blog Amazing Paper Grace. It didn't look half bad. Cobwebs are back in fashion! And is it a coincidence that CR8FN #60 is featuring my original colour choice? Time to shake off the cobwebs and bring my finished project to light. Here it is:

      

I'm attempting a 5-point snowflake / star / spaceship, and so I stamped and cut out 20 ornaments on purple CS.  I cannot for the life of me remember what ink I used last year but last night some blue Memento ink seemed the closest match.

The paper ruffle centre is made with scrap Stampin' Up! dsp in green - can't remember what it's called, retired now for sure.  In the original version I used loops of silver cord beneath the paper ruffle. I yanked that off and added green twine. To seal the ruffle, I glue-dotted a blue button and popped a crystal flower in the middle.

I had to touch up the shine by slapping on some more Crystal Stickles and replaced a couple of missing green bling.  In between the ornaments I stuffed down some sheer white ribbon loops. You could make smaller baubles and fill the space between the larger baubles for a fatter fuller ornament. But I wanted to keep mine fairly wispy to the light shine through. 

Did not fiddle with the behind. Keeping it simple, y'all! I punched a hole in the ornament and strung some sheer blue ribbon through. There's plenty of opportunity to go crazy with Christmassy embellishments on the back, a sentiment, image, perhaps. 

Dies

Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments S4-283

Spellbinders Standard Circles SM S4-116

Ink

Memento Danube Blue

Stamps

WMS Seasons of Love

WMS Vintage Ornaments

This is probably the most time consuming project - 9 months from start to finish! But I'm glad it's finally out there. What's nice about this is you can dress it up or down as you wish. Mine is fairly simple but you get the picture. And why not make Halloween, Thanksgiving or even Valentine themed hangy-thingy. And by using just patterned paper for the pieces you can cut out most of the work - mainly stamping and die-cutting.... it takes forever!

With almost a year in the making I simply must take this piece to Christmas Stampin' All Year Long #23. And as always, I'll be sharing my stuff with the folks at MIM#102.

Thanks for dropping by and listening to me drone on endlessly about cobwebs and barbarians! Have a wonderful weekend and I'l see you bright eyed and bushy tailed on Monday!

Beijinhos.


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Espresso Frappuccino and

Mood music by a much loved old 
CD from 1996 

Birthday surprise!

Hello, my friends! It's been several days since I crafted... since Monday, to be exact. Honestly, I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would.  Anyways, I'm, back today with a quick card that I made for a friend. We're celebrating her birthday this evening. A surprise party, with a very special present from her husband... how exciting!!! I won't say too much but as its temporary caretaker, her present is soft, fluffy and currently lying belly up next to me! Something tells me this precious little present going to be spoilt rotten for the rest of his life!

For my card, I'm using the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches #158 and the colour combo from Colour Throwdown #204. Also taking my card over to Flourishes 5th Birthday Celebration.

Here's my card:

The card base measures 4.5" square. I've used papers from Basic Grey "Picadilly" 6x6 pack. The image is just perfect for the occasion!

Yes... I used foam tape and Spellbinders and stitching... am addicted! 

This cute little puppy dog is a stamp by Adam Pescott, which I've coloured with Promarkers, Spectrum Noirs and Copics. How's that for fickle?! 

For embellishments: grey eyelets, a red button and red twine.  The sentiment is from WMS Fancy Phrases set, stamped in grey.

Here's the inside, nothing fancy.

Dies

Spellbinders Standard Circles SM S4-116

Spellbinders Labels 13  S4-248

Spellbinders Labels 16  S4-301

Inks

Memento Tuxedo Black

Memento London Fog

So that's my quick card for today. If the weather's bad I might do something crafty over the weekend... but I doubt that very much! ;-) Thanks for dropping by and I'll see you soon. Stay cool!

Beijinhos!



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Long Island Iced Tea and

Congratulations!

Hello Hello! It's MojoMonday time, my friends and I just had to take some time off from my time off to make this card. The good news is I won't be prattling on as I usually do. Today you'll see me post and scoot. Once again I've opted for a union between the MojoMonday sketch #253 and "Soft Neutrals" from The Shabby Tea Room #126. Also taking this to TopTip Tuesday #82 "Focus on Ribbon".

Here's what I've come up with for a newly wed couple who have just purchased a house. Here's to many many years of joy and happiness in their new home.

Just 2 little bits of patterned papers from Wild Rose Studio "Wedding Bells". 

I embossed the background with D'Vine Swirls (Cuttlebug) and swiped it with some distress inks to bring out the design. 

 The image is from HOTP's "Sweet Tweets" set and the sentiment is  from WMS "Fancy Phrases". I had a go at the "out of the box" cutting technique for the image with the branch and leaves sticking out on both ends. And then I went crazy with the pearls!

A few more elements from the photo inspiration: Some sheer ribbon and bow in pale blue and the scatter cushion finds it way in as that square Fleur de Lis die-cut.  

Here's the inside: I couldn't resist throwing in that cute little bird-house from the Sweet Tweets set.

Dies

Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Ovals LG S4-110

Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles LG S4-114

Spellbinders Eyelet Circles S4-304

Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares S4-318

Inks

Memento Rich Cocoa

Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate

Brilliance Mediterranean Blue

Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy

Tim Holtz Vintage Photo

Tim Holts Antique Linen

Thanks for taking the time to drop in today. We're having really lovely weather today, great fun to be outdoors. I hope you're having a blue-chip Monday too. See you soon, my friends!

Beijinhos.

Just For You - a hostess gift tute

It's Saturday and I'm blogging ... even I'm surprised! Good day, fellow crafters. It's probably hotter than the sun outside so I'm seeking shelter indoors, and still fiddling with a project I started yesterday. We're off to a BBQ this evening and the dilema is should I take the usual chocolates (in this heat - a gooey goopy mess) and / or wine? (mulled wine in summer - blech!) After much rumination and meditation, I decided to take tea. No fuss no mess - perfect. I proceeded to make a tea bag holder / dispenser in an attempt to come up with a fancy hostess gift. The inspiration came from the original box, I toyed around with it last night and adhered the final bling bright and early this morning.

And then I saw this week's WaltzingMouse Sketch Challenge #109.  Whoa!!! My project for this week's challenge is done! Coincidence? (Note to self: buy a lottery ticket). In the meantime, take a peek at my tea bag holder / dispenser. Today's post is picture-heavy - sorry!

Here's the top. No patterned papers; just lime green and vanilla CS, die cut and stamped  with a sentiment from WMS Compact Sentiments.

The box base is 2.75" x 2.75" and stands 6" tall. I stamped "Tea" with WMS Victorian Alphabet set and cut with Spellbinders dies. 

The patterned paper is called "Ladybug Garden" by Doodlebug. I love this paper - so cheerful and bursting with summer goodness - minus the heat! 

Embellishments come in the form of pink bling and red twine. Keeping it simple , y'all!

Here it is with the lid open. I punched the edges with X-Cut Lacey Trim.

And this is what it looks like from behind. Yep, all neat and tidy, folks.

I'm including a series of pictures that may shed some light on how I constructed the teabag holder / dispenser. It's really very very simple, but since I'm lousy at tutorials,  I'll let the pictures clarify my story:

Try to use sturdy 110lb / 300gsm CS for the box base (e.g. GinaK's Heavy Base Weight CS).  Each panel is 2.75" wide x 6" tall. The glue tab on the left is 3/4" wide. The opening is 1.5" high and 2.5" wide, leaving a quarter inch border on either side. I stuck the glue tab on the outside of the box so that the inside will remain seamless.     

Here's the lid. The CS measures 4.75" x 4.75", score and fold 1" from all 3 sides. I  punched the trim on 3 sides leaving the fourth as a glue tab for the lid. As before I adhered the glue tabs on the outside on the box and lid to keep the insides neat.

Here are the decorative panels. I cut the green CS 1/8" smaller than the walls of the box and the patterned papers  leave a quarter inch border around the green CS.

These are the Spellbinders dies I used.

And finally, meet my battle-worn muse: the original box. I measured my box to fit these teabags.

Supplies:

Papers: Doodlebug "Lady Bug Garden"

Spellbinders Dies: Classic Ovals LG S4-110;  Labels 19 S4-311;  Lacey Ovals S4-314

Waltzing Mouse Stamps:  Compact Sentiments; Victorian Alphabet

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Antique Linen; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Vintage Photo

If you've never made a teabag dispenser before, give it a try. It looks like a lot of work but is in fact very straightforward and you can dress in up or down to suit the occasion.

Taking my box to a couple of Anything but a Card challenges: Die Cutting Diva and Dutch Dare Challenge #176; and over at Stampin with Dragon's Blog they're playing with Summer Colours. You can also find me over at Make It Monday #101.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of the Saturday. Thanks for stopping by and ploughing through the pics. Have a great weekend, take care and I'll see y'all on Monday.

Beijinhos!



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Blueberry Cheesecake (yummm) and

Always Together

It's Friday, dear Crafty Cronies! The air smells sweeter on Fridays, don't you think? For the next fortnight we're taking a break from work...a much needed one! But, we won't be wandering off too far since Xiara still needs her mama to tuck her in every night, and feed her and give her meds and cuddle her. As for the rest of the fur-balls, they just need me to fill their bowls with a constant supply of chow before slinking off to some shady spot for yet another siesta! A dog's life? Hah!

Anyways, here's the card I mentioned in my last post. An anniversary card for a dear couple. I'm keeping it simple because they practice a baffling lifestyle known as minimalism. Of course, I have no idea what it means to live "simple" but I'm doing my best for them. All I can say is my next project won't be so lucky!

The sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches #157 and the colours are from Color Throwdown #203. Throwing in a couple more challenges: Art Impressions #74 "Stitching / Fabric" and Papercrafting Journey "Anything Goes".

Here's the simple card:

The patterned papers are from Raspberry Road vintage collection. I've slightly frayed the edges. 

The sentiment is from WMS "Fancy Phrases", stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black.

 4 teeny tiny orange brads, some yellow ribbon and blue bling - a testament to my restraint!

And lookie here - no pop dots, foam tape or dimensional. I'm having the shakes now... <help>

Love this image and the colour. Guess strictly not minimalist ... but it's one way of leaving my mark! 

Here's the inside. I slipped from the whole minimalist jazz here... ever so slightly, though. 

That's my card for today. Thanks for stopping. I'm off to the post office in a bit to have the card mailed off. Have a great weekend, guys and don't go crazy in the sun!

Beijinhos!



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Pecan cinnamon roll, coffee and

Be Jolly

Warm Wednesday.... oh yes! Hello again, my friends. Since Monday I have not ventured into my craft room. With the Olympics in full swing, it would be a shame not to plant oneself in front of the telly happily overdosing on naughty nosh. Thankfully, we did not fall into that abyss because we're now addicted to "evening walks". This little known pursuit is gaining popularity amongst the portly Portuguese. And in the spirit of keeping up with the Jones' we've started strolling too. So, after dinner we'd make our way to the beach, a slow 15-minute swagger from home. Once there, we'd plonk ourselves on a couple of stools, order some liquid refreshments, watch the sun set and have deep meaningful discussions about how we'd spend our lottery loot. Bliss!

Of course, the real reason for this post is to show you a lil' something I made for a friend. Jen came over last Saturday and while we were watching "Chopped" on the Food Network, she suggested that I come up with a "dish" based on "ingredients" she'd choose. I asked "What course?" and she said "A Christmas gift box for my cranky mother in law". Great! By dinner time the box was ready. Jen loves it, let's hope the MIL feels the same way. I only managed to snap the pictures and post it today, sorry guys but I've been busy bumming on the beach!

The sketch is from WMSC #108. I'm also linking the box to the "Anything but a Card" challenges at Come and Get It and Fab n Funky #132. Over at Holly Jolly Christmas they're playing "Christmas Gift Box" and Inky Impressions #70 is into "Embossing". Swing by and take a peek at some good stuff on display.

I've used papers from Papermania's Signature Collection "A Christmas Carol", carefully handpicked by my friend Jen to suit her MIL's taste - her words, not mine! The stamps are from WMS "Vintage Ornaments" and  "Seasons of Love". The ornament is heat embossed with Silver Holographic EP and the sentiment with Fine White EP. I thought "Be Jolly" is suitable for someone fondly described as "cranky"!

Can't do Christmas without some (sheer) red ribbon and a big bow...

or sparkly bling ...

and I can't do anything without pop dots! 

Kept it light on the inside and threw in a message of Good Cheer from WMS  "Compliments of the Season".

Dies 

Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments S4-283

Spellbinders Labels 20 Nestabilities S5-026

Spellbinders Labels 23 Nestabilities S4-347

Inks

Versamark

Memento Rich Cocoa

That's all from me today. Thanks for dropping by. And oh, I've started making a card, which I hope to post by Friday...fingers crossed. In the meantime, enjoy these warm sunny days!

Beijinhos!


p.s.

I won! I won! I won! 

Holly Jolly Christmas Box Challenge 

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Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey and