Hi all, I hope you’re finding time to enjoy the holiday season and to do a little crafting or art making.
Below are a couple of last minute projects you can make up quickly and easily.
The first one is using Sizzix scoreboard die- picture frame- from Eileen Hull. You’ll want to be sure to visit her blog and the other bloggers who are featuring this same die on Eileen’s blog hop, all listed on her site.
One of the challenges I always face when starting a new project is clearing off my work table first. I’m really bad about letting it get knee deep with supplies, tools, glues, glitter, etc. - maybe it’s because I usually have about a million projects all going on at once! Anyway, I decided it would be a fun and interesting challenge to use only what was already out and on my table! Here is what I ended up with…
I started with the picture frame die and added one of my papers from my Sucerie collection. Next, I added beads and some ribbon to create texture, shine and dimension. I’m happy with the way this turned out and quite honestly, I never would have done this without the challenge of using only supplies which were already on my work table. The image is softly out of focus which I think is a nice look paired with this decorated frame.Tip; I’m a huge fan ofGrafix products. Here I’ve sandwiched the image in between two pieces of Grafix craft film to create a protective cover.
Another last minute holiday project made with my Sizzix dies;
I just love glitz and glamour for the holidays and finding a fast, fun and inexpensive way to add more to my holiday decorating makes me feel almost smug – like I’ve found a secret! Well, I’m sharing it with you here today. When I say, “fast, easy, fun”…I mean it!
Let’s start with the dies -beautiful shaped dies are a must have for your crafting studio. They offer opportunities way beyond mini-books . I love this classic cartouche shape, the “Frame, ornate” die, paired with the “Frame Back, ornate” die, both from my collection of dies available from the Sizzix.com shopping site or from fine retailers. This is one of those dies you could find a million (or at least thousands!) of uses for, it’s so functional.
I used these two dies ,http://www.sizzix.com/product/1981 , http://www.sizzix.com/product/1985 from my collection and paired them with some fabulous metallic card stock and sticky backed prismatic foils from the Grafix company - http://www.grafixarts.com/index.htm . I’m a huge fan of their products and they sent me some to experiment with.
It’s so very easy to make these “ornaments”, which could also be used as tags for gifts, on the front of a holiday card or as place cards for your holiday table setting. I stamped on each one, using first a gold toned pigment ink and then white embossing powder. This gives the white a bit of a warm tone. These stamps are some of my own design, (available soon) but you can use any elegant stamp to recreate this look. These ornaments would be a wonderful way to display memories from past holidays by placing a picture in the frame instead of stamping a design.
You’ll notice I added a few crystals on top of the embossed design.
Here’s a tip for placing the prismatic foil onto the base shape;
Start by peeling back 1/2″ or so of the backing. Place the shape in it’s proper position and press down the exposed section. Then, slowly and gently peel back the rest of the backing as you use your hand to press into place. No worries if you don’t get exactly right the first time, it does lift off and can then be repositioned. None of mine are perfect…it simply proves it’s handmade!
I’ll be back here in two weeks or so with another project idea for you to try.
I hope your holidays are filled with love, laughter and plenty of time to relax and enjoy the meaningful part of this special time.
wish me luck!
