November 2014

Elizabeth Craft Designs November Designer Challenge – Gifts

November 30, 2014

Hello everyone,

Today is Challenge Day at the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog. For this month (November 2014) we decided to challenge our team with something different: No cards or tags, just gifts. With the holidays coming up, who doesn’t like some holiday gift ideas! Let’s see what our design team designed.

Kelly Booth created 3 projects for the challenge. First one is a cute ornament that she decorated using Christmas Ornaments 2 Peel-Offs and Silk Microfine Glitter. Love the coloring on top of the glitter. Second and third projects are two gorgeous decorated candles (battery operated). First candle is decorated with Chilly and the trees from the Evergreen Pivot Card and the second candle with the Winter Birds Peel-Offs in Gold. Beautiful gifts for the holidays!

Next projects are from Karen Aicken who decorated this pretty box for chocolates using Flower Set 1, the leaves from the Holly Leaves & Berries and Shimmer Sheetz. She also used some glitter borders for extra sparkle. The next project is so clever. Karen created a candy bag topper using Tags & More 1 – Lace. She embossed the top with the Sprig Embossing folder and added a single tag from the Tags die set. The sprigs are from the Candle set.

Rita Edwards used the Snowflakes die set to create these beautiful gift wrap decorations.
The snowflakes can be used to decorate a candle holder or switch from ribbon to an ornament hanger and use them on a tree. Rita used Shimmer Sheetz for some of the snowflakes and cardstock covered with Silk Microfine Glitter for others. Love how versatile these are!

Raquel Mason had the same idea as Kelly to decorate a Christmas ornament. Raquel used the Christmas Ornaments Round Peel-Offs in Black on acetate and the Merry Christmas
Peel-Off Large in Black. Love how the ornament dangles inside the clear sphere while the words and holly are on the outside. You can make many different ornaments choosing from our wide range of peel-off designs.

Next projects are from Debra Hensley whose gift idea was a gift card holder. She used Tags & More 1 – Lace, the Outdoor Edges by Karen Burniston and Chilly the Penguin. Love how Chilly is dressed up with his stylish scarf. Debra also created a stunning notebook decorated with a Shimmer Sheetz patchwork that she altered with alcohol ink and embossed.

Mary Prasad created 2 beautiful luminaries using Ornament Sets 2 and 3 and the Snowflakes dies. She used different colored papers behind the die cuts to create a different effect when using a candle. Make sure to use a battery operated candle since the luminaries are made of paper. The second picture shows the snowflake luminary with the candle turned on. What a stunning effect and a great gift idea for the holidays!

Jackie Smith created a box for chocolates using a combination of Elizabeth Craft Designs products. She used Peel-Offs, Silk Microfine Glitter and the Snowflakes die.
She created a tag using Tags & More 1 – Lace to add a note for the recipient. Love all the sparkles. Jackie also created a lip balm holder using the Christmas Cupcakes Peel-Offs.
What a fun idea!

Frances Byrne used Shimmer Sheetz, Peel-Offs and Silk Microfine Glitter for her two gift projects. First is a cute notebook, fun for all ages. Frances used the Sea Glass Embossing Folder to emboss the Shimmer Sheetz background. Second project is a calendar that can also be used as a note pad. For this project Frances used the Clouds Embossing Folder. She lightly sanded the embossed areas to reveal the white core of the Blue Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz.

The last project is this fun pen holder created by Candy Spiegel. She used the Seashells and Lighthouse Peel-Offs in Black and she colored on top of the Silk Microfine Glitter. Love how you can see the original stripe-like indentations on the can through the paint, and the cord at the bottom is very much in tune with the nautical theme. Change the color scheme and the peel-offs and you can easily create another kind of gift from any tin.

Thank you for stopping by the Elizabeth Craft Design Blog today to check out our Design Team’s gift ideas. We hope there is something that inspired you to create for the holiday this year. We would love to see you back on December 31st for our last challenge of this year. Happy Holidays!

The Elizabeth Craft Designs Team

14 Comments

A Dazzling Little Christmas Card Set

November 29, 2014

Hi, It’s Kelly Booth here. I’m back with a little Christmas card set that is simple enough to duplicate and make several at once using some fun Elizabeth Craft Designs supplies.

I just love the way the Shimmer Sheetz and Silk Microfine Glitter sparkle. Find my step by step tutorial below.

1. Cut 4 pieces of white cardstock 4 1/4″ by 11″ and score all four at 5 1/2″ making 4 card bases 4 1/4″ by 5 1/2″.

2. Adhere a piece of double sided adhesive 5″ x 11″ to a piece of Blue Irridescent Shimmer Sheetz 5″ x 11″. Die cut 4 large circles using the large decorator circle die from the Ring Accordion Card set. Emboss each of them using the Snowflake Embossing Folder. Lightly sand the raised areas using a sanding block. Remove adhesive backing from each circle and place circles onto card bases.

3. Adhere two pieces of double sided adhesive 5 1/2″ by 8 1/2″ to two pieces of white cardstock the same size. Remove the top part of the adhesive backing and on one piece pour some Solar Gold Silk Microfine Glitter and polish with your fingers. Take the other piece and do the same but using Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter.

4. Using the ornament hanger and 2-inch circle dies from the Ring Accordion Card set, cut 4 of each from the Gold glittered cardstock. Adhere gold circles to embossed Shimmer Sheetz circles using small pieces of Transparent Double Sided Adhesive Tape. Adhere ornament caps using tape behind the cap, but not behind the hanging loop portion of the cap. (Refer to project photo, cap should be angled at the upper left of the ornament). Feed a small piece of gold cord through the hanging loop of the ornament, knot it, and let it dangle as shown.

5. Die cut 4 large snowflakes and 4 small snowflakes from Warm Diamond glittered cardstock. (Large snowflake die from Circle Spiral Pull Card set, small snowflake die from Circle Accordion Card set.). Using a few dots of a liquid glue, adhere snowflakes to ornaments, large first and then small at an angle over it. Refer to photo below. Add a Glitter Dot in Red/Gold to the center of each snowflake. Option: If you don’t have both sets of dies, use snowflakes in only one size from the set you have on hand.

6. Using the Gold Seasons Greetings Peel-Offs Place the sentiment at the bottom of each card.

I hope these help inspire you to make some sparkly Christmas cards! Thank you for stopping by the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog today.

Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:

(757) Snowflakes

(769) Accordion Circle Card

(916) Spiral Circle Pull Card

(904) Ring Accordion

(SS0103) Blue Iridescent – 3 pack

(640) Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter

(638) Solar Gold Silk Microfine Glitter

(506) Transparent Double sided Tape – 5mm

(502) Transparent Double Sided Tape Sheet – 8.5″ x 11″ – 5 pack

(7018) Glitter Dots Red/Gold

(2581) Seasons Greetings Large – Peel Offs – Gold

Other Supplies:

White cardstock

Die cutting Machine

Paper trimmer

Liquid Glue

13 Comments

Plaid Christmas Candles

November 28, 2014

Hello Crafty Friends!

It’s Debra Hensley today. The passing of Thanksgiving welcomes in the official start of the holiday season. I don’t know if I am ready yet but I created my first Christmas card of the season to get a jump on things. The card features pretty glittered plaid candles, holly, pine and poinsettias – all created with just a few Elizabeth Craft Designs dies, ink, glitter and a fun pattern paper!

Here’s how I made this card:

1. Fold a piece of 5 1/2″ x 81/2″ light yellow cardstock in half to form a standard A2 size card base. Ink edges with brown ink. Cut a piece of red cardstock to 5 1/4″ x 4″

2. Using the Merry Christmas Stand Up Helper, die cut Merry Christmas on the top right edge of the red cardstock. Trim away excess. Ink edges with brown ink and adhere to front of the card base.

3. Die cut de following: 3 candles from Plaid pattern paper (trim off a little from the bottom of 2 candles to vary in height), 3 candle melts from light yellow cardstock, 3 Poinsettias from red Velvet Adhesive Sheet, 1 Holly Border from green cardstock, 4 pine branches from darker green cardstock, 3 from dotted green cardstock and 3 flames from white cardstock covered with double sided adhesive. Ink the edges of all pieces, except flowers and flames, with brown.

4. Glitter candle flames with Yellow Silk Microfine Glitter. Our Fine Pointed Tweezers are perfect for working with small pieces.

5. Add glittered accents to the plaid candles by using 3mm Transparent Double Sided Tape, covering some of the stripes. Pick different stripes on each candle for variety with the most being on the tall center candle. Trim excess tape from edges. Peel off liner and glitter with True Red Silk Microfine Glitter. Polish with your finger to set the glitter and bring up the shine. This fun and easy technique can take any ordinary pattern paper and make it extraordinary!

Here are the finished glittered Candles. The flames will be added directly to the card front.

6. To assemble the card, Adhere candles to the card front with middle candle and flame on foam adhesive. Add pine branches to bottom of candles. Add Red Glitter Dots to Holly Border. Adhere under pine branches. Add Poinsettias on foam adhesive under each candle. Add Transparent Glitter Dots to Flower centers. Die cut an additional Holly Border from green cardstock. Clip off 4 Holly leaves to add to upper corners of the red cardstock. Add Red Glitter Dots to the leaves and one to the “i” in Christmas to complete.

Another view:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial today. Try adding a little glitter to all your crafty projects for some extra holiday sparkle!

Elizabeth Craft Products used:

939 Merry Christmas Stand Up Helper
925 Holly Border
919 Candle
636 Yellow Silk Microfine Glitter
614 True Red Silk Microfine Glitter
402 Red Velvet Adhesive Sheet
505 Transparent Double Sided Tape 3mm
802 Fine Pointed Tweezers
7018 Assorted Glitter Dots – Red, Transparent Gold

Other Supplies used:

Cardstock- Bazzill
Pattern Paper- Graphic 45
Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Foam Adhesive

8 Comments

Tags, Tags, Tags

November 27, 2014

Guest Designer Judi Kauffman is back with some Tags & More projects for Turkey Day (or, for those of us who aren’t celebrating a holiday, for a good old Thursday!).

Tags, Tags, Tags

By Judi Kauffman for Elizabeth Craft Designs

Thanks, Joset. I’m glad to be back. I thought that on a busy day like today it might be fun to just do “show and tell”. Instead of providing instructions, I want to invite everyone to look at the pictures as a source of inspiration. I used Tags & More 1 – Lace and Tags & More 2 – Deco die sets as the starting point.

Next time you get an interesting mailing envelope, hold onto it and create some mixed media collage tags. Die cut the basic tag shapes. Stamp on them with vintage business stamps, staple flat pieces to the surface, add dimensional elements (bird shaped beads, spiral paper clips), pile on the peel-offs (seashells), or pierce holes and use needle and cord to sew things in place (feather charms).

Get out the Elizabeth Craft Designs Peel-Offs! Cut tags to a length that looks good with the Peel-Offs. Mixed Media tags are 6.5” long; the Christmas ornament tag is 5”.

THINGS TO NOTICE:

(Design Strategies to Use on Your Tags)

Stained Glass –

The stained glass effect on the seashells was created with alcohol inks on White Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz. Pull an almost-dry ink applicator tool lengthwise to create the streaks. Position the peel-off so the streaks run in the same direction as the shape of the seashell (lengthwise).

Reinforcements and Decorative Corners –

Vary the shape of the tag reinforcement and decorative corner pieces to suit the project. Each Tags & More die set offers three reinforcements and four corner options. For example: Hexagons create the look of hardware on the mixed media tags.

Mix Shiny and Matte Elements –

Shimmer Sheetz, staples, sparkly mesh, beads and charms, and Glitter Dots Peel-Offs are all shiny, while the envelope, cardstock, stamped words, and Velvet Adhesive Sheet (die cut for the word Peace) are matte finish.

Embrace the Torn Edges –

For the mixed media tags allow the torn edges and some of the graphics and printed text from the mailing envelope to remain prominent. You’ll find a torn edge, arrows and the words PRESS FIRMLY running lengthwise along the right side of the tag with feather charms; the torn edge goes across the bottom of the seashell tag.

Die Cutting –

Back the Shimmer Sheetz with Transparent Double Sided Adhesive Tape Sheet before die cutting. Use the metal adaptor plate inside your machine’s die cutting “sandwich” as follows: Metal plate, Shimmer Sheetz with altered side facing UP, the die with cutting side facing DOWN toward the metal plate.

Time to Tie –

Choose ribbon or twine to coordinate with the tag. Quarter- or eighth-inch ribbons are both a good fit.

WHAT TO DO WITH TAGS:

Add to an art journal
Use on a gift
Send as a card
Hang as a decoration

SUPPLIES:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –
951 Tags & More 1 – Lace
952 – Tags & More 2 – Deco
2575 Seashells Peel-Offs in Black
2573 Round Ornaments Peel-Offs in Gold
7018 Glitter Dots Peel-Offs in Red/Gold and Gold/Silver
503 Transparent Double Sided Tape Sheets
Shimmer Sheetz (alcohol ink altered – any color)
Adhesive Velvet Sheets scraps (shown: Red and Black)
Any choice of Border Peel-Offs in Gold (for lines above ornaments)
Die in greeting of choice (shown: 750 Peace)
803 Metal Adaptor Plate

Other –
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher (idea-ology); Twine; 1/4” ribbon; Cardstock in White; Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks and ink applicator tool (Ranger); Vintage business stamps; stamping inks in colors of choice; Spiral paper clips; Charms, beads

16 Comments

A Plaid Tree

November 26, 2014

Hi, Candy here! I know you are preparing for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but Christmas is right around the corner, so I thought I would share an idea for a special holiday card. This card began as an experiment. I wanted to use the new Elizabeth Craft Designs Transparent Double Sided Tape to make plaid. I love how it turned out and it was much easier than it looks! Here’s how …

1. Cut ivory cardstock 4 x 5 1/4″ and 2 3/4 x 3 1/4″. Set smaller piece aside.

2. Add strips of Elizabeth Craft Designs Transparent Double Sided Tape 10mm across cardstock. Run the tape off the edges to keep the paper in place and ensure nice, clean edges.

3. Lift cardstock off of the table, turn over and snip off the excess tape. “WASTE NOT” TIP from Judi Kauffman: Save the scraps each time you trim tape at the sides of the cardstock. Place the scraps onto the slick side of a release sheet left over from another project. Use these misshapen scraps to hold layers together on future cards.

4. Peel backing off tape and add Silk Microfine Glitter. Polish with finger. (TIP: Start with your darkest color of glitter and then work toward your lightest color so you do not change the colors as you go.)

5. Add the next layer of tape and glitter. Continue to alternate sizes of tape and colors glitter until you are happy with the plaid.

6. Trim the edges off the cardstock and center onto a premade card base (4 1/4 x 5 1/2″).

7. Cut out 5 Part Pine from green cardstock. Stack pieces together and adhere to small piece of ivory cardstock.

8. Distress and ink the edges of the ivory cardstock with the tree on it. Adhere to plaid.

9. Add Glitter Dots for tree ornaments and clip a star off of the Star Border to add to the top of the tree.

10. Add Season’s Greetings to the bottom of the card.

SUPPLIES:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –

507 Elizabeth Craft Designs Transparent Double Sided Tape 10mm

506 Elizabeth Craft Designs Transparent Double Sided Tape 6mm

505 Elizabeth Craft Designs Transparent Double Sided Tape 3mm

629 Soft Teal Silk Microfine Glitter

633 Forest Green Silk Microfine Glitter

613 Orange Silk Microfine Glitter

609 Fire Opal Silk Microfine Glitter

755 5 Part Pine

7018 Glitter Dots in Red, Silver and Purple

7062 Silver/Gold Glitter Stars Border

2581 Season’s Greetings Large Peel-Off in Black

Other –

Cardstock in Ivory and Green

Distress Tool

Distress Ink

15 Comments

Christmas Gift Tag

November 25, 2014

Hello crafty friends,

This is Rita Edwards here and I would like to share my new Christmas gift tag with you.

I love gifts and really love giving them to my friends and family. Today I challenged myself to make a gift tag that I can create for Christmas or any other occasion throughout the year.
For example, instead of a wreath and embossed snowflakes, I could add a ring of flowers and an embossed leaf pattern.

As always, I hope you have a nice cup of coffee or tea in your hand so you can sit back and enjoy my tutorial.

This is how you can create your very own Christmas gift tag:

1. Cut two pieces of pearl metallic cardstock at 3.25″ wide x 6″ high. Also cut 2 pieces of light green metallic cardstock at 3.25″ wide by 2″ high.

2. Using the new Tags & More 1 – Lace die set, position the main tag die over one end of the pearl metallic cardstock. Use a piece of temporary craft tape to keep die in place, then die cut. Next place and secure tag die over the other end of the cardstock and die cut again. Repeat steps on the second pieces of pearl metallic cardstock.

3. Take one of the die cut tags from step 2 and die cut tag overlay on each end of the tag using the tag overlay die included in the Tags & More 1 – Lace die set. Emboss this tag using the Snowflake embossing folder.

4. Take your 2 pieces of light green metallic cardstock and die cut tag shape on one end of each piece.

5. To create the components for the wreath use the pine sprig die, part of the Candle die set, to cut 6 or 7 sprigs from dark green metallic cardstock.

6. Die cut the words Merry Christmas and 2 ring shape tag reinforcements from light green metallic cardstock. (Reinforcement is part of the Tags & More 1 – Lace die set.). Die cut the little bow from Red Metallic Shimmer Sheetz. (Bow is part of the Ornament 3 die set.Reminder: You’ll need the Metal Adaptor Plate to die cut the Shimmer Sheetz. Cutting edge of die faces the metal plate with the Shimmer Sheetz in between, these three layers go inside your machine’s usual cutting sandwich. OPTIONS: Substitute a ribbon bow (1/8″ ribbon); use a Merry Christmas Peel-Off instead of die cutting the words. (These two substitutions mean you will need two die sets instead of four.)

The photo below will show you all of the die cut pieces for the complete Christmas gift tag.

7. Adhere the light green tag pieces to the “solid” pearl metallic tag. Adhere the pearl overlay tag on top.

8. Overlap and glue the pine sprigs to form a wreath. (Refer to project photo.) Adhere Merry Christmas inside the wreath. Note: Only a small amount of glue is needed to hold the sprigs and words in place. Apply tiny drops to the back of the shapes using a corsage pin or toothpick and don’t let any seep out when placing the sprigs and words on the tag.

9. Glue the bow at the top of the wreath; adhere the two ring shape reinforcements to the holes at the top and bottom of the tag. Thread ribbon through the tag at the top and bottom as shown in the project photo.

10. To complete the tag, add a ribbon that can tie around our Christmas gift.

I would like to thank you for following my tutorial and I hope that you have as much fun making this tag as I did.

Hugs, Rita

Elizabeth Craft Designs supplies used today:

– (952) Tags & More 1 – Lace die set
– (919) Candle die set
– (944) Merry Christmas die
– (927) Ornaments Set 3 die set
– (E126) Snowflakes Embossing Folder
– (SS 0214) Red Metallic Shimmer Sheetz
– (803) Metal Adaptor Plate (if using Shimmer Sheetz bow)

Other supplies:

– Neenah Creative Collection Pearlescent Cardstock
– White ribbon
– Red 1/8″ ribbon (if using a ribbon bow on wreath)
– Beacon Kid’s Choice (tube) glue
– Toothpick or corsage pin to apply glue to sprigs, words, and bow

14 Comments

Embedded Glitter Holiday Card

November 24, 2014

Jessie Hurley is back as today’s Guest Designer, showing us how to create this beautiful Holiday Ornament card using an Embedded Glitter Technique.

Embedded Glitter Holiday Card

By Jessie Hurley

If you are like me, then you LOVE making your products do more than 1 technique!

In this “Embedded Glitter” Technique, we are going to use our Elizabeth Craft Designs dies to embed an image into Double Sided Adhesive, and then use the adhesive as a mask to “paint” glitter onto our image.

It sounds complicated but it’s REALLY easy!

1. First step is creating a base where we can embed our die into. To create our base, attach pieces of Double Sided Adhesive and white cardstock (3 1/4 x 4 1/2) in the following order…cardstock, adhesive, cardstock, adhesive. This will create a thickness of cardstock that the die can not cut through, and give us the adhesive top layer that will be used to mask our glitters in the next steps.

I wanted a monochromatic style of card, but I needed to ensure that my “red’s” would match, so I created a new glitter color by mixing my Ruby and White Silk Microfine Glitter together. With my Ruby, mixed Ruby and Warm Diamond, my glitters were ready to go.

2. Place your die on the adhesive side of the cardstock/adhesive sandwich, and run it through your die cutting machine. The die will cut the top layers of adhesive and cardstock, leaving the bottom layers intact.

3. Carefully peel off the inside pieces of the die that you wish to cover in glitter.

4. Cover the exposed parts of the adhesive with the Mixed Ruby/White Glitter. Polish and brush of excess glitter.

5. Remove the outline part and some of the dots of the embedded die cut. Cut the ornament top of your backing sheet and place it back in your embedded die cut. Add Ruby Silk Microfine Glitter to the exposed adhesive. Polish and brush of excess glitter.

6. Remove the last parts of your embedded die cut (small oval at the bottom of the ornament and ornament top) and cover with Antique Silver Silk Microfine Glitter. Polish and brush of excess glitter.

Before advancing to the next step you MUST ensure that there isn’t any loose glitter on the remaining tape backing, as any loose glitter will bounce into your background in the next step and leave you with a muddy mess.

7. Remove the remaining protective backing and add Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter.

8. Finish the rest of your card. Add your embedded glitter painted ornament. Add bow at top of ornament.

Here’s a close-up of how the mixed glitter matches perfectly, a simple technique, but very effective!

I hope this has inspired you to pull out your glitters and spread some Holiday Sparkle! Merry Christmas to you and your Families!

Jessie Hurley

SUPPLIES:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –
927 Ornament Set 3
503 Transparant Double Sided Tape Sheet
604 White Silk Microfine Glitter
615 Ruby Silk Microfine Glitter
639 Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter
805 Mixing Jar (for storing mixed glitter colors)
(The finished card also used the Elizabeth Craft Designs “Fleur de Lis” Embossing Folder)

Others –
White Cardstock
Die Cutting Machine

9 Comments

Peace & Joy

November 23, 2014

Hello Everyone. Jackie here with today’s post. I’m back with another Christmas card using my favourite colors – white and gold. I love the new Transparent Double Sided Adhesive Tape Rolls and Sheets from Elizabeth Craft Designs. In addition to being transparent (and just perfect for Silk Microfine Glitter techniques), it’s also nice and thin with a thin release sheet that makes it ideal for die cutting with ECD’s intricate dies. I used it on striped vellum and it didn’t show through!

Instructions:

1. Create card base from white cardstock. Cut 10″x 17″ rectangle; score and fold in half
(5″x 7″ finished card size).

2. Cut cream paper 4″x 4 3/4″. Emboss with Pinecones embossing folder then Sponge with Gold ink. Adhere with ECD Transparent Double Sided Adhesive onto bottom of base card.

3. Cut gold paper 4″x 4 3/4″. Emboss with Sprigs embossing folder. Sponge with gold ink. Adhere with ECD Transparent Double Sided Adhesive at the top of card base. Make sure it slightly overlaps with the white paper from step 2.

4. Add Transparent/Silver Glitter Border Peel-Off where the 2 papers meet.

5. Cut striped vellum 3 3/4″ x 6 3/4″. Adhere with ECD Transparent Double Sided Adhesive as shown.

6. Apply Transparent Double Sided Adhesive to white cardstock. Die cut “Sprig” twice,
“Round Ornament”, “Joy” and “Peace”. Cover Sprigs with a mixture of 3 Silk Microfine Glitters. Sprinkle Solar Gold Glitter over Ornament. Sprinkle Antique Gold over Joy and Peace. Burnish glitter with finger. Tip: Keep any glitter that has an accidental mixture of colors in a spare jar to use for other projects. Label the jar “Debris” or “Mystery Combo” and add to it whenever you’ve got colors that can’t go back into the original jars.

7. Add Gold Christmas Ornaments Round Peel-Off to Gold glitter ornament. Adhere to card front as shown. Add Transparent/Silver Glitter Border Peel-Off to top of ornament.
Decorate ornament with Transparent/Gold Glitter Dot Peel-Offs. Adhere Sprigs as shown. Add Transparent/Gold Glitter Stars Peel-Offs to striped vellum. Add Peace and Joy sentiments and a bow and your card is finished!.

SUPPlIES:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –

E127 – Sprig Embossing Folder

E123 – Pinecones Embossing Folder

927 – Ornament Set 3

765 – Sprig with Berries

753 – Joy

750 – Peace

507 – Transparent Double Sided Adhesive 10mm

509 – Transparent Double Sided Adhesive 152 mm

803 – Metal Adapter Plate

7010 – Glitter Border Peel-Offs in Transparent/Silver

7018 – Glitter Dots Peel-Offs in Transparent/Gold

7078 – Glitter Stars Peel-Offs in Transparent/Gold

Other –

Cardstock and patterned papers-in Whisper White (Stampin’ Up!), Metallic Stripe (My Mind’s Eye Necessities), and Magical Lane, Ornamental Magic (Reminisce); Delicata Gold Pigment Ink (Imagine Crafts featuring Tsukineko); 1/8″ ribbon in Gold

7 Comments

Pop it Ups

The Twelve Days of Christmas Mantelscape

November 22, 2014

Nancy Walker is back as today’s Guest Designer, showing us how to create this stunning Twelve Days of Christmas Mantelscape.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Mantelscape

By Nancy Walker

Since Karen Burniston joined forces with Elizabeth Craft Design, I have been excited to see what she designs next. I have followed her designs for years, and these new wafer-thin dies are a dream! I have been delighted that all shapes needed to make a complete card with various levels of mats and focal points are included in the die sets. This makes storage a dream. The Accordion Fancy Label die has become my favorite. There is no end to what can be done with this set. And now—a scene for your mantel!

THE MANTELSCAPE CARD

1. Choose a set of coordinating stamps. This project uses a stamp set based on the Twelve Days of Christmas from the familiar old song.

2. Cut number of panels needed for the stamp set from patterned paper. This project uses a 6” square pad of various coordinating Christmas cardstocks. It is acceptable to use all the same paper patterns or one or two coordinating ones.

3. Using one of the dies from the set that will be the correct size for the images chosen, cut these into squares from heavy white cardstock. Bristol board or hot press watercolor paper takes water media and markers very well without much bleeding.

4. Stamp images on white cardstock, cut close to the size of the die chosen. Note: the title for this piece was too large to use a smaller die, so an extra panel was cut from the hot press watercolor paper and trimmed off so it fits flush with the pivoting fancy label inside the panel.

5. Stamp images in black or heat emboss with black fine detail powder. If using water media to color the stamped images, heat embossing will allow more control with the watercolor. Alcohol markers were used to color these images, so a black ink that is suggested for use with alcohol markers was used.

6. Color all images and cut with chosen die.

7. If using one of the smaller dies, and there is another larger one that can be used for a mat, cut mats from solid cardstock that coordinates with the panels.

8. Using Distress Inks and an Ink Application tool, add some warm color to the edges of the colored panels. Then switch to a clean applicator tool and edge each colored panel and each colored mat in gold ink. Then use a metallic gold paint pen to draw a controlled edge around each mat. Hint: cut a small slit in the applicator tip, prime the pump, and run the pen around the edge with the paper inserted into the slit. It will not be perfect, but it is an easy way to accomplish this task.

FINISHED STAMPED AND MATTED IMAGES:

FINISHED PANELS, READY TO ASSEMBLE:

ASSEMBLE THE MANTELSCAPE

1. Adhere each finished matted image to panels onto pivot area in the middle.

2. OPTIONAL: If the chosen cardstock is “wimpy” as much printed cardstock is, add a reinforcement panel on the back. Since this is a large piece, it will need reinforcement. Smaller projects will be fine without them.

3. To make a reinforced panel, cut a panel out of either coordinating cardstock or plain white. This project uses white and then each panel is stamped with a background Christmas words stamped in green and then sprayed with gold glitzy spray to match the gold on the front. This way the center won’t be too heavy and can be trimmed down as shown here:

ASSEMBLY

1. If a smaller accordion fold card has never been made, it would be good to practice on some plain panels to get the idea. Following instructions with the die (or online at one of the excellent YouTube videos by Karen Burniston and Els van de Burgt showing you how to assemble an accordion card), practice along with the person teaching on the video.

2. Remember to lay out the panels with the “wing” on the right. Adhere some double sided adhesive on the front of each flap or wing and on the front of the two little tabs that will connect the center panels. Now “exercise” that flap and the tabs a little by turning them up at the fold line and then flattening them back out.

3. Put adhesive on all flaps. Begin with the first panel and add the second panel to the flap, adhering the flap to the back of the next panel on its left side. Do not put the second panel flush with the fold line. It needs a little “wiggle” room so it can open and close. Repeat this method, assembling the first four panels. Then repeat this for each of the next three panels.

FIRST TWO PANELS WITH FLAP (OR WING) JOINED TO NEXT PANEL:

4. Decide if the mantelscape needs to begin with a mountain fold or a valley fold and then fold each group accordingly. This project begins with a valley fold on the outer frame panels so that the title page shows up better when on the mantel. The inner panels will be a mountain fold over the valley fold. Once that decision is made, take each center on the little pivot points and “exercise” them once.

5. The pivoting centers of each panel fold the opposite way, so take the first two panels and adhere the tabs to the back of the next pivoting panel. That will put the centers in the “mountain” fold pattern. Tape the next center panel going the opposite way as shown in the photo or the directions from online. See next photo.

6. Do this with all the rest of the panels already put together. It is better to make 4 smaller versions of this project than to add one at a time. { To quote a favorite teacher, “Ask me how I know.”}

7. Now merely join the first section with the second section via the flaps and join the tabs the same way on each previous section. Repeat with the next two sections, and finally join the two large sections in the middle.

8. Be very careful when handling this many sections at the same time. It is better to keep the section being worked on folded as best as possible while joining the next panel. Be aware that the pivot area is the most fragile part of this panel, so do not put too much stress on any of the pivot points.

9. Once totally assembled, it can be pressed gently in a single stack to “set” the folds. Remember to alternate mountain and valley folds. When the outer panel is a valley as seen above in the sample, the center panels come forward and are joined together. The next folded area will be coming forward in a mountain fold, while the center panel will go towards the back in a valley fold. This is an excellent pattern for a decorative piece.

10. A project like this can also be used on the center of a table by finishing both sides with images. Reinforcement will not be necessary if two panels are combined for this method.

MIDDLE SECTION OF TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS:

END SECTION OF TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS:

SUPPLIES:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –

771 – Accordion Fancy Label

506 – Transparant Double Sided Tape – 6mm

Others –

Twelve Days of Christmas stamp set – Stampington & Company

Memento ink – Tuxedo Black

Copic Sketch markers

Cardstock: red, green, white

Hot Press Watercolor paper – Fabriano

Distress Ink and Ranger Ink Blending Tool

Delicata Gold ink

Gold spray mist

10 Comments

Uncategorized

A Snowy Christmas Card

November 21, 2014

Hi Everyone,

It’s Frances here today with another Christmas card to share. I live in Australia where it is summertime for Christmas. I would be very surprised to see any snowflakes, especially since we don’t even get snow in wintertime where I live. Even so, I still love creating Christmas cards that use snowflakes. Maybe it will cool us down a little;).

Here is how I created my card:

1. Cut a piece of Red Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz that measures 3 3/4 inches x 5 inches. Layer the Shimmer Sheetz onto a sheet of Elizabeth Craft Designs’ Transparent Double Sided Tape and trim off excess tape.

2. Place Red Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz into Snowflakes Embossing Folder and emboss.

3. Use a sanding block to sand the raised snowflakes to reveal the white core of the Shimmer Sheetz.

4. Layer the Red Embossed Shimmer Sheetz to white card that measures 4 inches x 5 1/4 inches. Cut a piece of Dark Green card that measures 4 1/4 inches x 11 inches. Sscore at 5 1/2 inches and fold in half so it measures 4 1/4 inches x 5 1/2 inches. Adhere Shimmer Sheetz panel to card front.

5. Cut a piece of white card and a piece of Elizabeth Craft Designs’ Transparent Double Sided Tape Sheet that are approx 2 3/4 inches x 5 inches. Remove the release sheet from one side of the tape sheet and set it aside upside down on your desk (shiny side up). Adhere the Double Sided Tape sheet to the piece of white card.

6. Choose one of the Jackie’s Christmas Dolls in Oval Peel-offs (shown: The girl in fur-cuffed dress and a jaunty Santa’s hat) and place the oval and an extra hat sticky-side-up on the release sheet set aside in step 5.

7. Take your white card and place it with the adhesive side facing down onto the release sheet with the peel-offs on it. The peel-offs will lift from the release sheet and stick to the adhesive on the cardstock.

8. Turn your card so the release sheet is now on top. Take off the release sheet and make sure not to touch the images on the adhesive.

9. Cover the adhesive with Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter and polish with your finger to maximize the sparkle. (Els’s video explaining this technique is HERE) Color images with alcohol markers as shown or in your preferred palette.

10. Cut around oval and Santa hat peel-off. Adhere Santa hat on top of the one in the oval using foam tape.

11. Cut white oval using the main die from the Oval Accordion Card. Adhere oval to card front as shown. Adhere colored peel-off oval in top using foam tape.

12. Using the Merry Christmas Stand Up Helper die, cut the words 3 times from white card. Trim each piece at the bottom, leaving the bar that connects the letters. Stack and glue the three so the greeting is as thick as chipboard. Adhere the greeting to the lower left hand corner of the card front.

13. Cut a piece of white card 3 1/4 inches x 6 inches and adhere to a piece of Elizabeth Craft Designs’ Transparent Double Sided Tape Sheet the same size. Die cut three snowflakes using the Snowflakes die set. Remove protective backing from the front of each snowflake and cover snowflakes with Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter. Polish with your fingers.

14. Layer the 3 snowflakes, using foam tape for dimension between them. Add a Glitter Dot Peel-off in Transparent/Gold to the center of the top snowflake, and to the buttons on the girl’s dress. Adhere snowflake to the lower left hand side of the card so it overlaps the oval.

To Decorate the inside of the Card:

15. Roughly trim around the negative girl in oval peel-off image which remains after using the peel-off for your card. Peel off any excess black peel off sticker that may be around your image until you just have the image as per photo above.

16. Cut a piece of Sticker Transfer Sheet approximately 3 inches x 4 1/2 inches. Remove the protective backing and place the tacky side of the Transfer Sheet onto the negative shapes/ Burnish with the bowl of a spoon or your fingers and carefully lift the Transfer sheet checking to ensure that all of the pieces lift at once. You can see Els’s video using this technique HERE.

17. Now move the Transfer Sheet with negative shapes attached to it over to the card. When it is in the right spot, place it down onto the card and rub the front of the Transfer Sheet to release the pieces onto the card. Carefully lift the Transfer Sheet to check and makes sure all of the negative image pieces are now on the card. (Don’t remove the Transfer sheet till all pieces are in place).

18. Stamp the sentiment on the left hand side of the card. Layer this panel to the inside of your card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

SUPPLIES:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –
Snowflakes (757)

Merry Christmas Stand Up Helper (939)

Accordion Oval Card (772) designed by Karen Burniston
Snowflakes Embossing Folder (E126)
Jackie’s Christmas Dolls in Oval Peel-Offs in Black (2587)

Transparent /Gold Glitter Dots (7018)
Red Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz (SS 0226)
Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter (639)
Transparant Double Sided Tape Sheet (502)
Transfer Sheet (600)

Other –
White Card
Dark Green Card
Black Ink Pad
Verses – Vertical We Wish You Stamp
Sanding Block
Foam Tape
Glue

5 Comments

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