It's a Mini Christmas!

Welcome to my post for UK Scrappers Christmas blog hop and my project for Christmas. I love a quickie make 'n take, and I conjured up these mini Christmas brooches for our Annual Christmas party a couple of weeks ago. They are so simple and easy to make, and will add a little extra to your Christmas gifts if you add them as toppers instead of a brooch.
Ingredients: mini die shapes from Tim Holtz, chipboard bases, Christmas paper, Distress glitter, glues, Glossy Accents, brooch back, distress inks, Stickles.

 

 I used some chipboard mini tags we have, and covered them with Tim Holtz Seasonal Paper Stash which has mini papers perfect for this size :) Add some distress inks to the edge to cover the edge of the paper. 

I used Tim Holtz Mini Christmas sizzix dies to create the elements on the brooches. I cut them all out of Kraft Card,  and painted them with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints or Distress Paints and allowed to dry.

 

Add Glossy Accents to the elements you wish to glitter and add the Distress Glitter to them. I poured it into a plastic cup, but you could equally use a plastic bag . Give them a good coating and allow to dry. You can heat dry the Distress Glitter, but the Glossy Accents dries very quickly, so not completely necessary.

Add the elements you wish to use to the backing and glue with Glossy Accents or
Cosmic Shimmer. I added the reindeer with a couple of foam dots to make it a bit higher than the rest of the elements.

Add some Gold Stickles to the bow and a brooch back to the back of the base when it is all dry, and you have the cutest brooch to give to someone for Christmas. Tip: when glueing the brooch back to the back add it to the top third of the back  ( I used hot glue) so that when you wear it , it sits properly. Here are some more samples I made too.

 

I have made up kits for all 3 brooches, and you can find them here with all the other elements to make them too :)

I hope you enjoyed the project, and if you are member of UKS, don't forget to leave a comment with your UKS your name too, to be added into the draw for a prize.
Thank you for looking, and have a truly fabulous Christmas and a Happy and Creative New Year
{hugs}

Ali Baba and the 40 crafters!...woyww

I realised that every week on What's on Your workdesk, hosted by the delectable Mrs Dunnit, I show a different angle of my desk, and almost always there is never anything on it! How remiss of me! All you get to see is the bits and bobs I work with and absolutely nothing finished! So I have rectified it this week, and made something especially for you! I love my boxes, and even more so when I can alter/decorate them. Inspiration came yesterday when I watched the very hilarious videos from Cheryl and Megan  at Ten Seconds Studio, and this week's is glitta!, hence the title of the post, which came courtesy of Mal, when he saw the box!! ( he has a very obscure sense of humour)
I had already made my mind up, previous to the video that I was going to cover one of these papier mache boxes in metal using one of the new TSS moulds (no 13 to be precise). The next step wasn't hard... just cover the box in black Rock Star metal which I run through the Big Shot... believe me it took quite a few goes to figure out the sandwich scenario!! I ended up using 4 cutting mats, and a piece of rubber and a blue mat! I do really need to know what the correct sandwich for the Big Shot is.. please????? anyone???? lol
I then added humungo tape to the metal pieces and attached them to the box. I even went out and bought glitter for this project.. what do you mean don't I have any?.. yes, but please tell me where I put it!! I added the glitter with glossy accents... and also the desk, the guillotine (which is the glass thingy to the right of my picture which someone asked last week about), my clothes, the carpet, my face, my hands, the computer keyboard.. you get the picture!)

Anyways I have waffled and spouted enough.. here is my box, which I love... on my nearly tidy desk :)))

I also have to apologise, as all intentions were that I went round everyone's desk last week, but never quite made it.. absolutely gonna do it this week, or if not at the weekend.

Happy Woywwing day!

Grungepaper Flowers

For weeks now I have wanted to make a grungepaper flower, that had a bit of depth to it, and yesterday I came across this blog tutorial, and immediately out came the grungepaper, and my Cricut Expression!
You can use a punch or stamps, or your die cutting machine. If you are using the Cricut, I used a brand new cutting mat as it needs a bit of stick to hold the grungepaper, and set the cutting knife to no 6 , and maximum depth and the highest speed. It cuts it, but the grungepaper needs to be pushed out gently afterwards. I cut the same shape in 2 different sizes, along with a couple of leaves for each flower.

I then followed Maria's instructions, and distressed inked the grungepaper with shades of reds, and yellows for the two flowers. I edged the red flower with walnut stain to give a bit of depth, and used a bead I found on the floor (while looking for a snap that had disappeared from my hand like they do!) My floor covering is shades of brown, that doesn't give up its treasures very often to the vacuum!!! lol
I glued all the pieces together with Glossy Accents, and almost put it on as dew drops, but decided against it. The grungepaper is a fabulous medium, and will bend and stay in place, and loves distress inks too. Haven't yet made my mind up if these will be pins or will go on a card, but for the meantime, they are here for you to look at!

It is the easiest idea in the world, and now I have made two, I am off and running. Thank you for the best tutorial, Maria!

Time ATC

I don't often take part in challenges, but this one appealed, and it gave me a chance to use the new distress stickles, and my favourite stamps! The challenge is over on Lots to Do blog.
I made an ATC, and used Basic Grey Recess paper as the background. I distress inked the paper, and stamped the watch faces in vintage photo very lightly. I used large glass watch faces and glued one on with my favourite Glossy Accents, and the other I put on with Vintage photo Distress stickles. I then put a watch face with a hand on in one corner and a couple of cogs in the other. I liked the idea that the ATC was three dimensional. The distress stickles are interesting as they come out of the bottle much faster than the normal stickles, and have bigger flakes in them. Will have to experiment with them. Everything I have used is available from our shop.

In answer to the comments, age and time is a wonderful thing! Picture is now loaded!! Doh!Tomorrow I will be giving away blog candy to celebrate a very special day!
Happy Stamping!

Time to myself!

I was going to do the butterflies on this post, but got waylaid by the challenge this week on Objet D'art Challenge, and for those of you who read my blog, I haven't really mentioned it here. This is a new blog challenge for those of you who like to get down and play dirty! Did I say that? Okay what I really mean is get messy and inky, and in my case gluey! I made a little frame covered in watch pieces, and decided to use Glossy Accents, and Crackle Accents on it. That was fine, but i think I managed to get more on myself than on the project!  Note to one's self: don't put your hands covered in glue and then rub your eyes!

I would love you to take part, so hop on over to my theatre of dreams, and get down and dirty!!