Christmas is in the Air

 

Happy Cyber Monday everyone!  This time of year, it always seems like there is not enough time to get all of our crafting projects done and the one that seems to send me in a panic is my Christmas cards.  I have vowed that I am going to stick to clean and simple cards this year that won’t require nearly so much assembly time.  So with that in mind, I thought that I would devote this month to creating some simple Christmas cards for the Design Team using my eCraft and my eBosser.  So to kick things off, here is an unconventional Christmas card for you.

I love an unconventional color scheme for Christmas!  This card was inspired by my love of putting a picture of my kids in the Christmas card and when I saw the Shutterfly stamp set and coordinating dies from Papertrey Ink, I instantly thought of a Christmas card.  Using my eBosser, I cut out the dies on PTI’s Fine Linen cardstock and then stamped the camera image in Classic Kraft ink.  The strips of striped paper along the top and bottom are PTI’s Simply Chartreuse Striped patterned paper and the pink border was created using PTI’s Half and Half dies and Berry Sorbet cardstock.  Now, watch out, here is the cool part of this card…

How neat is that?!?!?!  Since I used some unconventional colors for my card, I cannot help but ask what are your favorite Christmas color combos?  Leave me a comment and let me know, and I just may make a Christmas card using your color combo!

Scrapbook Inspiration

 

This was a really fun project for me!  This week, our wonderful sponsor Carta Bella asked us to create a card based on a scrapbook layout.  So after spending far too much time looking at so many gorgeous layouts to pick the one that I would emulate, I finally settled on this one from the Carta Bella blog created by Jen Chapin.

To see how Jen created this masterpiece click HERE to see the full details.  And here is what I created with my inspiration…

As you can see I was really inspired to make a lettered background like Jen did.  She did hers with an SVG file, but I did mine with the eBosser and my supply of alphabet dies.  I also backed a few of the letters like she did with some of the Carta Bella Alphabet Junction paper.  The scalloped border on the bottom is from the elements that are included in the Alphabet Junction pack and I used another Alphabet Junction paper to create the banner shape.  The Cutie Pie elements were also included in the Alphabet Junction paper pack.

 

Thanks for stopping by today and make sure that you sign up for the giveaway that Craftwell is doing this week!

More Christmas Tags

Last week, I shared with you how I took some Carta Bella paper from the Paris Girl collection and made some Christmas tags with it.  This week, I thought I would do that again, but this time with some Carta Bella Alphabet Junction paper.

I started with some plain old shipping tags and applied some spray inks in shades of red and pink.  I then flicked some droplets of water on them so that the dye in the ink would react.  While I let those dry out completely, I got to using my eBosser to cut away.  I used Papertrey Ink Damask Snowflake dies to cut the pink and red dot paper from Alphabet Junction.  Then I also cut that pale green paper using PTI Limitless Layers dies.  The cream circle is 1 3/4” so that it coordinates with their Holiday Tag stamp line.  The snowflake stamp was stamped in a pink dye and then the sentiment in black on top.

I decided to place my layered snowflakes along the bottom of the tag so that there would be plenty of room to write the “To” and “From” on the top.  I also decided to add a couple of pearlized pins that were colored with a matching Copic marker by inserting them into the foam adhesive in the layered snowflake.

It really is amazing how some patterned paper that was not designed for Christmas can inspire a Christmas project!

A Paris Christmas?

 

Yep, it’s that time of year!  It is that time when all of us crafters start our Christmas crafts because we know that if we don’t get it going, we won’t get all of it done before Christmas.  This month, our wonderful sponsor Carta Bella sent us two amazing collections to work with…neither which are Christmas.  Not to worry though!  Just because a collection is not designed for a certain occasion doesn’t mean that you cannot adapt it to work for your occasion.  That is exactly what I did.  I took the gorgeous Paris Girl collection and used it to make some Christmas tags!

I tend to make a lot of tags at Christmas because I like to give them as gifts, so you just might see some more tags very soon .  For my tags today, I started with the Papertrey Ink Tag Sale #4 die.  This is a great die, that has a beautiful embossed edge.  When you are cutting with this type of die in your eBosser, you may need to experiment.  If your embossed edge is cutting through your paper, then remove your E plate (or shim) and try again.  Each machine is going to be a little different and the type of paper that you are cutting will make a difference.

The next thing that I did was cut some gorgeous Paris Girl paper by Carta Bella with the small scalloped die from Papertrey Ink. I purposely tore the edges to add a little bit of organic feeling to it. I also took their Chevron die and cut some red cardstock.  Then using a 1 3/4” circle punch I cut circles from some more Paris Girl paper.  I did a little stamping with some red ink on this paper with the Papertrey Ink 2010 Holiday Tag stamp set.  I also found those beautiful ticket embellishments included with the Carta Bella Paris Girl collection.  A little assembly, some ribbon threaded on the top and topped with a button threaded with twine, and we are done!

When doing tags like this, it is really easy to do several at once.  I typically do 6 in each design and then I can mix and match them when I give them away as gifts.  Please share, is there anything special that you make to give away to friends, neighbors, teachers, etc.?