Aussie Scrap Source

countdown to christmas day 18: the girl’s paperie

 

 

Card expert Charlene Cundy has created these two beautiful cards with the stunning Girls Paperie range. The bakers twine and rosette details add a lovely vintage touch and dimension to the subtle layering and stamped sentiment.

countdown to christmas day 19: cosmo cricket

 

 

 

Kathie used the Mitten Weather range to decorate a mini album containing her favourite photos from last year’s Christmas celebrations. The base of her album is a Twiddleybitz Christmas book to which she’s added a couple of pieces of Hambly Mini Graph Overlay to give her additional pages.

Kathie used the 6x6 Mitten Weather Paper Pad and the Ready Set chipboard to decorate her album, along with Webster’s Pages trims for some added texture. Liberal application of Diamond Stickles enhances the wintery Christmas theme.

countdown to christmas: day 20: tim holtz

 

This year Suz has added another piece to what is slowly becoming her ‘Tim Holtz Christmas corner’.  Last year it was his Tree of Life that kept her fascinated, this year it’s one of his Configurations – it’s a shadow box whereby you can move around the boxes until you find the ‘configuration’ that you need.  Suz painted the insides of each box with white gesso.  She Glimmer Misted plain white sheets of paper in gorgeous tones of Starfish, Turquoise Blue and Olive Vine.  Not satisfied with the solid Glimmer Misted look though, she added a second coat of Mist over a Crafter’s Workshop template, to create a subtle pattern.

 

 

Though it could really be themed for any time of year, Suz generally only allows what she affectionately terms as ‘dust collectors’ out over the Christmas period.    Because these Tim Holtz Configurations are much deeper than a printer’s tray, for example, Suz decided that she needed proper little three-dimensional pieces to go into the boxes, and so she set about handmaking all the Christmas themed bits you see. 

The gorgeous little Christmas tree above was inspired by a Martha Stewart project (only in miniature) where you stack gradually decreasing squares of paper onto a spike (satay stick), topped with a Jenni Bowlin pearls and sprinkled with glitter.  She made the snowman from two white wooly pompoms and gave him bling eyes, nose and buttons, ribbon for a scarf and a top hat made from a Jenni Bowlin chipboard button and then black and grey buttons piled above each other.

 

Her daughter helped too, wrapping bits of styrofoam in the tissues that she used to mop up the Glimmer Mist spray, to make presents.  Her daughter also had the brainwave of putting two red Queen & Co half pearls together to make holly berries, and cut out some holly leaves.

 

 

Just one of the beautiful things about these Configurations is that you can hang items in a box and attach them from above.  The holes Suz pierced to hang the crystal and the button wreath are both hidden by the box above them. 

 

This gorgeous little wreath is actually one of the new Pink Paislee Artisan Circle Elements.  How fun is it scattered with tiny bling and half pearls!

 

The Girls Paperie old fashioned alphas made a simple but perfect statement in the midst of the busy-ness of the rest of the boxes.

 

 

countdown to christmas day 21: the crafter’s workshop

 

 

Iris thought of converting an old leather covered box lid into a Christmas wall hanging. The Crafter's Workshop template helped her to create the Christmas Tree which was hand cut from BasicGrey's Jovial paper. She outlined the edges of the tree with stickles and added gold paint and gold mica to the corners of the frame.

countdown to christmas day 22 – anna griffin

 

 

Iris created this Christmas themed birdcage using only one sheet of glittered paper from the Anna Griffin Cecile collection plus Anna Griffin Calisto stickers. The paper came in a cream color with gold glitter. She just added distress inks on Fired Brick and Mustard seed to add color to the paper which was then used to cover the roof of the Twiddleybitz birdcage, and to create the pretty paper roses.

countdown to christmas day 23: echo park papers

 

Louise created this mailbox for her sons' Letters to Santa using the gorgeous new Echo Park Merry Christmas range. Using a purchased SVG file, the box was cut out on a diecutting machine and then embellished with kindyglitz, flowers and stickers. This is sure to become very well used every holiday season!

This beautiful card from Niki Estes really shows off the gorgeous new Christmas range from Echo Park. The combination of bright colours toned down with clever use of kraft cardstock, along with some small, glittery accent detailing and stitching, make this a card everyone would love to receive for the holidays.

countdown to christmas day 24: hambly studios

 

 

 

 

Inspired by a beautiful pumpkin created for Halloween by Tiffany Johnson over on the Hambly Studio blog, Suz thought a similar concept would make lovely homemade christmas tree decorations.  These are fairly quick and simple to make – just strips of Hambly transparency secured at either end with brands and Jenni Bowlin pins, and can be customised to suit your colour scheme.  Suz created these in golds and whites but can also imagine how beautiful they would be in the rich jewelled tones of the more colour transparencies.

countdown to christmas day 25: hero arts

 

 

Hero Arts stamps always give a beautiful crisp image when used. Sue loves to heat emboss the images to create a lovely glossy look. Sue has quite a collection of branch stamps and this holly flourish was the perfect addition! It is lovely to hang things off such as the cute baubles cut from patterned papers and embellished. You could also hang stars or snowflakes for a different look.

christmas card inspiration: part three

 

 

 

 

Suz shows here how one basic design and a single cool stash busting technique can become the answer to your Christmas card crisis this year in just a couple of hours work.  It’s all about the christmas trees in these cards.  Suz covered a 4x12” piece of chipboard in Strano RibbonStiff – it’s a waterbased sealant and stiffener.  She layered randomly co-ordinating ribbons right along the length of the chipboard and then brushed another coat of RibbonStiff over the top.  After it dried she went over the entire surface with a thin coat of white gesso, just to soften the colours and bring them all together.  She then cut the entire board into triangles approx 2.5” at their widest point. 

After that it was a simple case of inking the edges and embellishing each tree – delicate lines of Stickles, some bling and a co-ordinating bow.  The background of the card was as quick as inking Webster’s Pages journalling cards around the edges, tearing a short length of 7Gypsies tape for the tree ‘trunk’ and a stamped Christmas Greeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Janine is a self-confessed Christmas humbug! So for her to find a Christmas range that she fell totally in love with is quite a Christmas Miracle, but this divine range by Teresa Collins certainly hit the mark. The papers are sublimely elegant and contain Janine’s prerequisites to a perfect range, script paper, music paper, damask paper and paper with elements to hand-cut out!! Bliss!!!

When you have such amazing products to work with, creating these elegant cards became simple, especially with the inclusion of a few Prima Innocence flowers and Prima lace with a touch of gold and ruby red Glimmer Mist to add those perfect accents.

 

 

 

For these Christmas cards Louise wanted to keep the creative process quick and simple, but still with a festive flavour. Louise has created all her card bases from basic white cardstock and cut them to size to suit the envelopes she already had, and to give that coordinated look, she has decorated the envelopes to match her cards.

For these two particular cards Louise has used both the Hero Arts Creative Trees Stamps and the Elsie Flannigan Christmas time stamps to create a simple but effective look of Christmas trees, with a little funk. To complete decoration of the cards she has coloured in the design using water colour paints, and doodled a border.

 

 

 

 

 

For these two cards Louise has used the Elsie Flannigan Christmas Time Stamps. Louise has again doodled a funky border to coordinate with the stamp design and then coloured in the doodling and stamp images using watercolour paints.

countdown to christmas day 27: prima/tattered angels

 

 

Janine updated her Christmas decorations to turquoise and pink last year and wanted to add a couple of hand made baubles to the tree this year. She used lots of Prima flowers coloured with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Patina and Pink Taffy) and then hot glued them all over the polystyrene balls. Janine punched a lot of snowflakes out of white cardstock and then used the Tattered Angels Glaze to colour them silver.

The glaze was perfect for this as it comes with it's own little brush which was perfect for the fine detail painting and adds a gorgeous fine glitter appearance to the snowflakes. She then proceeded to adhere rhinestones (the extras you get on the ends of Prima stamps) onto the flowers and also Prima flower Centres (SIIS, Rajas and Sultans) into the snowflakes to glitz it all up more.

Janine also used the glaze to re-colour her white velvet Prima leaves a glittery silver for a gorgeous effect. She used the glam on the accent flowers at the top of the baubles for extra sparkle and shine as you can never have too much sparkle at Christmas time. As a final touch to the Turquoise bauble, Janine dipped some Prima lace in the Tide Pool Glam and used her heat gun to dry it off.

This causes the lace to stiffen and you can then mould it into a shape and ensure it can sit "upright" on your project as well as having a lovely glittery appearance.

christmas card inspiration: part two

 

 

Carole created these pretty Christmas cards with Cosmo Cricket's "Mitten Weather" Collection. Creating with purple, red and green was a little different for Carole but that is what made this collection so nice because it all worked so well together and all the cute stickers, borders and tags all matched perfectly for all the embellishing.

 

 

 

Iris made a set of Christmas cards that are very easy to re-create - and very economical too. If you take a close look at these four cards, she only used two sheets of patterned paper from Webster's Pages Waiting for Santa (The Delivery and Falalala), plus some dark green cardstock. Add a few stamping using Pink Paislee stamps, ribbon or lace, and some Prima flowers, and you are set to send holiday greetings on the way.

 

 

 

 

Not normally much of a cardmaker, Louise created these in under an hour and loved them so much, she's mass producing them for Christmas! She started with some white cardstock and cut a 1" strip off before embossing it with a dotted pattern. The strip was then given a decorative edge with a border punch and put aside.

Next she cut 1" strips from the various printed papers and sewed them together with a zig zag stitch. These were then cut down to fit onto each card size front and the corners were rounded. To add interest to a couple she punched a scalloped circle out of the background and then all backgrounds were adhered to the card using foam tape for dimension.

Using the diecut paper, she cut a 1" strip from the edge and positioned it, adhering the punched cardstock strip over the top to hide the edge. Arrange the Poinsettia flowers and vines into place and adhere with a strong glue. Stamp some words onto offcuts of the same cardstock and use a 1" circle punch to cut out your headings. Arrange and adhere with foam tape into place.

These cards are very quick and economical to make, and each can be made slightly differently just by changing your title, punches and the order you sew your papers.

christmas card inspiration

There’s no point denying it, we’re definitely on the countdown to Christmas now.  So over the course of the next few Mondays, we thought we’d bring you some inspiration in the form of Christmas cards, but not just any Christmas cards – these are useful Christmas cards!  They’re the kind that you can make into a practical production line.  The kind of versatile design where you can give each one a unique touch, but that still follow a similar layout so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every card you make. Enjoy!

 

Sue Tonga loves to send Christmas cards to her extended family members that are personal and handmade. Sue's family love to see photos of her kids and so she created this cute pocket card which holds a tag with the kids' photo and room for a handwritten message. Sue chose to use the Crate Paper Snow Day collection which contains a lovely set of whimsical chipboard elements which were perfect for embellishing the cards.

To create the card, Sue first started with a base of Kraft cardstock that measured 3 3/4 inches x 5 3/4 inches. Sue then cut a piece of Hambly gold overlay and a piece of Snow Day paper to create the pocket. Sue adhered the Snow Day paper to the bottom of the overlay with double-sided tape and then sewed the combined piece to the Kraft cardstock, leaving the top open to allow for the tag to slide in an out.

Sue then adhered the Kraft cardstock to a piece of vanilla cardstock measuring 4 x 6 inches. To create the tag, Sue cut another piece of Kraft measuring 3 1/4 inches x 5 inches. Sue cut a different pattern of Snow Day paper, sewed around it in gold thread and added a 3 inch square photo to the centre. Sue then stuck it towards the top of the tag and added some ribbon and a fabric brad to finish it off.

Sue says you can easily make more than 12 cards using the Crate Paper Snow Day chipboard set due to the simple card design. It is fun to be able to create lots of cards that are all similar but are unique too. And don't forget, if you don't have children and would still like to do something like this for your Christmas cards, you can always include photos of your favourite Christmas ornaments instead.

 

 

 

These BasicGrey Jovial cards are super effective and great to make on a production line when you’re creating a large volume of cards in preparation for Christmas. To make them, Kathie’s used the Jovial 6x6 paper pad and a set each of Woolies, Pops and Die Cut Shapes. She estimates that you can make around ten cards with one set of products, with loads of paper left for other projects.

Making the cards is easy. Kathie simply cut her favourite sheets from the paper pad to 6x4inches and adhered them to blank cards cut from Vanilla cardstock. She then trimmed the offcut patterned papers with decorative scissors to create a pile of border strips. She overlayed two or three strips over each background sheet, then adhered one of the DieCut shapes over the strips with 3D tape.

A Wooly or a Pop perches on top of each shape. To finish, Kathie printed up some Christmas sentiments on the leftover cardstock and adhered one to each card.

 

 

 

 

Caz whipped up these quick and easy Christmas Cards using the new Everybody Loves Christmas rang from Echo Park. Caz cut out the 8 larger journaling blocks from the Journaling Cards sheet of paper. She then chose co-ordinating patterned paper for each one and covered the front of the white cards.

The journaling blocks were mounted on double sided foam tape and attached to the lower half of the card. 2 thin strips of contrast patterned paper were added to the top and bottom of the cards and a sticker where needed.

 

 

Caz then used the smaller journaling blocks and some other strips of patterned paper to decorate envelopes to match the cards.

countdown to christmas: webster’s pages

Kathie recently re-established contact with the German family with whom she stayed as an Exchange Student when she was a teenager. One of her host sisters, who she hasn’t seen for almost twenty years, found her on Facebook. It’s no surprise that her mind was on all things wintery and frosty as she contemplated this cute little mini album from Twiddleybitz. That year was the first and last time she experienced a White Christmas.

Kathie’s used a combination of two Webster’s Pages lines - Home for the Holidays and Winter’s Wings – to decorate the little album. A touch of Pink Paislee’s Mistletoe and Co papers here and there adds depth and contrast.

The new release Twiddleybitz Tweeny Bitz pieces work really well in an album of this size. They would also be ideal for Christmas cards, and Artist Trading Cards. Here, the Snowflakes and Christmas Trees have been used. Kathie has sprayed them liberally with Glimmer Mist to give them a frosty sheen, and then daubed on some more glitter for good measure!

In fact, the entire album is sprinkled with loads of glitter and BasicGrey rhinestones. They add to the frostiness of the winter landscapes, and the glitter gives the project a delightful vintage feel when applied to the foliage and roses cut from the Webster’s papers. Feathers add softness, while twine, fabric and Webster’s trims lend a cosy feel.

 

countdown to christmas: twiddleybitz

 

Such a gorgeous project Carole has created with the new Twiddleybitz Sleigh, just a beautiful project for this Christmas, to hold all your tasty treats such as chocolates and nuts or even a present or two maybe even as a gift.

Carole painted the sleigh in ivory and added some Webster Pages Winter Wings pattern paper, tinsel and blue pom poms, and some Basic Grey Rhinestones.

 

countdown to christmas: jenni bowlin

Jenni Bowlin’s lovely Front Porch line is a gorgeous range of smaller prints which can be used year round, but the deep red, green and gold also obviously lend themselves beautifully to Christmas pages and projects.

Here Suz has used them on a neutral Kraft base, letting the colours and patterned pop.  Paired with even deeper reds of Little Yellow Bicycle’s Christmas ribbons and a couple of Jenni’s cute journalling tags and this page came together quickly and easily.  Suz has added little details of texture with felt stars and pearls, and for a more translucent feel she has applied Hambly Rubons to Transparency to create her Christmas tree.

countdown to christmas: collage press

 

As soon as Louise saw the new College Press Joyride range she was in no doubt that Scrappers would be excited to get their hands on it. It is such a fun, funky colourful range that is excitingly versatile! The coordinated Die Cut papers, chipboard stickers, alpha stickers, and Journal cuts offer a huge variety of design possibilities; and not just for scrapping your christmas photos and memories.

 

countdown to christmas: webster’s pages

click on image to see larger.

Webster's Pages Winter's Wings, is such a beautiful, whimsical alternative to a Red and Green Christmas. With its gentle creams, mints and olives, this story is both elegant and easy on the eye when creating a layout. Steph has used nearly all the Papers from the range and cut the word Beautiful from the Webster's Pages Vellum that is available.

This sheer vellum lets you look at the layers underneath and offers some texture to enhance your layout. Steph also scanned the little swan that is on her second page and made it larger to compliment the original. This way, she ended up with 2 swans and the effect that she wanted on the page. The journalling calendar card is another addition that adds extra interest to her double layout.

 

countdown to christmas: scenic route

One of Mel's favourite combinations is Scenic Route with Kraft cardstock, so when the Christmas layout challenge was announced it was a very easy choice which product to choose for it.

The Garland Grove range is full of traditional Christmas colours with tiny splashes of pinks, creams anda sweet lime green thrown in too, which make a lovely, fresh layout or project when combined. Adding a mixture of large and small photos gives an interesting feel to this double page spread and we loved how Mel punched out the circles using different papers from the range, distressed the edges and then machine stitched them down underneath the pics.  Mel scattered silver bling here and there to complete the page.

countdown to christmas: rouge de garance

Carole created this darling little Christmas "Twiddlebitz Star" Album using the gorgeous Rose Moka "Mec" collection, the vibrant blues and greens matched perfectly with the Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly and Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses Chipboard Stickers, and what a cute little album it is. Carole has created this gorgeous embellished album as a gift for one of her friends, I am sure she will love it.

As you can see Carole has mixed and matched several manufacturer's together, but it works perfectly for this album.

countdown to christmas

If you want to create a feeling of sentimentality around your Christmas projects, you can't go past the beautiful Mistletoe & Co. product range by Pink Paislee. Bringing a delicious traditional palette of warm reds and gold with a hint of blue, Mistletoe & Co screams home, warmth, comfort and joy. Nicole created this layout using papers, stickers, rub-ons, die-cuts and brads from this range as well as her absolute favourite product from it all - canvas tags!

To add emphasis to her favourite canvas tags, Nic added strips of loose frayed canvas as mats under her photos and used a Tim Holtz mask with distress Ink to create the left-hand border.