Christmas Ornaments step-by-step project

It may be still only August but there's nothing wrong with being prepared for Christmas...after all it does have a habit of sneaking up on you!...so I'm going to share with you this unique and eye-catching little tutorial that DT member Pam Leng has created to get you making Christmas ornaments that will get everyone raving about!

You will need:

7 sheets of tea bag papers - Pam used Cute Companions Winter's Tale

Glue

Bone folder

Scissors

Two pieces of ribbon, each piece about 18" long

Paper clips or mini pegs

Spray and Sparkle

1 First of all cut out your tea bag squares, with the pattern side outer-most then fold in half diagonally to make a triangle.

PLEASE NOTE THAT AT ALL STAGES USE YOUR BONE FOLDER TO CREASE

2 Fold the outer corners into the centre, this should then form a square.

3 Fold the flaps back on themselves, along the outer edge of the square.

4 Open out the flaps so that they form a kite shape on each side.

5 Fold back the point of the kite shape so that it is level with the square.







6 Fold the outer edge of the kite in towards the centre.

7 Fold the outer edges together and glue. At this stage I held together with either a paper clip or mini pegs. This forms one petal.

7 When these have dried, the ornament needs to be made in two halves. Firstly you need to glue five of the petals together to form a flower.

This is how the back will look.

8 When the flowers have completely dried you need to adhere six together to make one half, one in the middle and five around the outside. You now need to make the second half the same as the first half.





9 The next step is to spray both halves with Spray and Sparkle.





10 Glue your two pieces of ribbon to the back of one half then when dry glue both halves together. You may need to use either your paper clips or mini pegs to hold in place until dry.





There you have it...just by following these simple steps you too can create stunning Christmas ornaments!

Hair colouring

One of the largest amount of requests we've had since launching the Spectrum Noir pens is colouring guides and help for colouring in hair, in particular how to get the dimensional effect as if light is reflecting off it. Over the past few days I have shared with you a few tutorials and I wanted to continue this with DT member Jacqui's piece she posted on her blog about what colours to use together to achieve different hair colours. She has done little charts and coloured in examples of light, mid and dark hair tones, and I really hope that you find it useful!



Here's all three examples...





And here's a zoomed in shot of the dark haired sample...





And then the mid-toned sample...





And finally the light-toned sample...





Thanks for taking the time out to do this for us Jacqui!

Video tutorial

Sometimes it's so much easier watching someone demonstrate how to do a certain technique rather than following step-by-step instructions which is why we have created a selection of video tutorials for you. There is one in particular that I want to show you today, and that is how to colour in an entire stamped image using the new Spectrum Noir pens. Leann guides you, in great detail, how to achieve perfect results every time. The stamp she has used is called 'After the Rain' from the super-cute s.w.a.l.k range that is available from the Crafter's Companion site. Sit back & enjoy!

Colouring tutorial

We've been inundated with requests for colouring techniques tutorials to go alongside the new Spectrum Noir pens and, in true form, our amazing DT have risen to the occasion with an array of tutorials to help you get the most from your pens. I will share a selection with you over the coming days but if you can't wait & want to get started with your colouring straight away then head over to the 'I'm a Crafter's Companion' group on Facebook where they've been busy little bees uploading their work.

Today though, I'm going to show you Linda's tutorial for how to colour in Beatrix Potter stamped images with the Spectrum Noir pens.

Linda started with a sheet containing a stamped image & swatches here...


and ended up with a finished image here...


To find out all the steps in between head over to her blog & find out how you too can colour like Linda!

{pretty little things} cupcake pompoms + tutorial

I love cupcakes, and I love pompoms, and I love things that are pink... so this is the trifecta of awesome. What a creative way to make decor while on a budget!

Want to learn how? Visit Kara's Party Ideas for a step-by-step tutorial.

Silhouettes

Happy belated Mothers' Day, friends!  I know I'm super late on this post, but I had to share what I did!  First let me say that my first Mothers' Day was so wonderful, I hope yours was too. I know that it's notoriously a day in which the mommy gets pampered (which I definitely was) but really I loved it because it caused me to reflect on all that Liam has accomplished in just 9 short months.  I'm so proud of how he has grown and the little boy he is becoming.  He's at the age where his personality is really developing and he's so much fun!  Sometimes we just laugh and laugh.  It's a joy that can never be topped. 

So here's what I made for my moms!  It's a silhouette of the grandbabies.

 

I'm working on a tutorial on how to accomplish this using photoshop, but for now I'll just tell you what I did.  After uploading a picture of a profile into Photoshop I used the pen tool to create an outline. (The pen tool is better in this case than the lasso tool because the pen allows you to create a vector image - one that can be re sized whereas the lasso keeps the image pixilated).  

Here's my cute nephew.

 

 After cutting out the outline, I traced it onto a piece of black card stock and then cut that out.  From there all you have to do is tape or glue it onto a piece of white or cream card stock and then frame it.  So easy!

I refinished the frames too.  I wish I would have taken a before picture.  I found the matching frames at Good Will.  They were an ugly brown and gold, but I painted them black and added a thin coat of silver pearl to give them a more distressed look.  I stapled  cream ribbon bows to the back for hanging.

I'm really happy with how they turned out, and this really is an easy project that anyone can do.  I'm working on silhouettes of my husband and I for our living room!  I've never liked my profile, but I'm embracing it for the sake of sentimentality.  Make any yourself?  I'd love to see!

my homage to Will and Kate

With all of the hullabaloo surrounding Will and Kate's wedding, I thought it would be fun to craft something up relating to their big event.  The most obvious image I could think of was the British flag, and although it's a great flag and all, I didn't really want one as a home decoration.  So I came up with my "I do." pillow.  I'd never made a pillow before, but I am very pleased with how simple and rewarding it was to make! 


First thing I did after cutting the fabric (it's a sort of linen look a like that I cut to 17 1/2 x 10 1/2), was freezer paper stencil my lettering on.  

I drew my letters with a black sharpie on the dull side of a piece of freezer paper.

 

Then I used an exacto knife to cut out the black parts being sure to keep the insides of the letters for later!

Next I ironed the stencil and extra pieces shiny side down on my fabric and painted on my brown.  I tried not to paint it super thick or thorough because I wanted a more aged look.

Once it dried, I peeled off my stencil (it comes off really easily with no residue!) and made my pillow!  I'm not even going to pretend like I knew what I was doing.  I just used the few simple sewing techniques I know:  pin right sides together, sew a straight line, clip corners, turn inside out, stuff with poly-fil and hand stitch closed. 
And voila!  I'm so proud!

This literally took me maybe an hour all told.  I know I set out to create an homage to Will and Kate, but in the end it's more for my hubby so that he never forgets that I still "do"!  


Hope you liked it, and I really think you should make one because believe me, if I can do it - you definitely can!

ATC Swing Card

Today's Wacky Wednesday Challenge #2 over at the Rubbernecker Blog is to create a card using a different fold. 

Be sure to check out what the design team has come up with and get inspired to create your own.  You could win one of three 25% off certificates!

Bev - Savor the Journey 

Broni - Splashes of Watercolor

Candy - Candys Land

Joan - Stamping with a Passion!

Jules - Stampin with Inky Fingers

Kittie - Kittie Kraft

Linda - Linda’s Works of Heart

Tami - A Walk on the Mild Side

Sherry - Walkin' on the BAD Side!

In order to qualify for one of the three certificates for 25% off your entire order at Rubbernecker, you must post a link to your project by Monday March 16

on the Rubbernecker Blog.  Winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 17. Have fun creating!

I thought about what I would do this week and remembered a fun fold I haven't done for quite a while.  The ATC's were so fun last week that I decided to

adapt the standard A2 cutting directions to ATC size.  This is a fun interactive enclosure card. (cutting directions follow if you want to create your own)  On to the ATC:

The finished size, true to ATC's is 2 1/2" X 3 1/2"  The card was inspired because I needed a special enclosure card to accompany food for some dear friends who just lost a loved one.  Anyway, all stamps are available from Rubernecker Stamp Co.  The background is Baroque BG stamped in VersaMagic Wheat, the lady is from Herbal Collage BG and the sentiment is from the Petite Words collection in the Stamp Oasis section.  Cardstock is Black, Ivory and Gray.  The Edges of the ATC were outlined using an American Crafts Galaxy Marker.  I used Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Rectangles, lg & sm. for the swing layers.  The decorative brad is by Making Memories and is attached to the ATC base.  I used SU! slit punch to first make the punch, then punched a 1/8" circle punch in the center.  Added the brad and tucked the flip part of the card under it to keep it closed. 

Cutting and scoring directions are specific to using a 12" personal cutter with cutting and scoring blades. 

You will start with a piece of Cardstock cut to 3 1/2" x 4" 

Place in cutter with the scoring blade on the slide rule. 

The 4" side of the CS should be squared at the top of the cutter and the left edge at the

1 1/2" mark.  SCORE from the top down to the 5/8" mark and then from the 2 7/8" mark to the bottom.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Slide CS over to the 2 1/4" mark and repeat the scoring 5/8" from the top and from 2 7/8" to the bottom.

 

Place the cutting blade on cutter. With the edge of the cardstock at the 2 7/8" mark and the 4" edge still at the top of the cutter, 

cut from the 5/8" mark to the 2 7/8" mark.

 

Flip CS over, line up left edge at the 3 1/8" mark and repeat cut from the 5/8" mark to the 2 7/8" mark.

Flip CS back over and turn CS 1/4 turn clockwise so the 3 1/2" edge is at the top and cut from the horizontal cut line to the score line,

move down and cut from the score line to the cut line. (do not cut between the score lines)

Flip CS over and repeat the cuts from cut line to score line/score line to cut line.

You will now have a rectangle Cut with a 3/4" gap at the top and bottom of the rectangle. 

(note that the rectangle is NOT centered, but offset 1/4" to the left side.  This is so the rectangle will be positioned properly when the swing card is folded/closed) 

Mountain fold at the left score lines and valley fold the right fold lines.  The swing rectangle is 2" x 2 1/4", Finished ATC size is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Now you are ready to decorate your swing card.  Have fun!