CHRISTMAS PLACE CARDS

Hello friends!  I'm sharing this Christmas Place Card project today:


Sizzix's Designer Lynda Kanase has a new collection called "Picture This" for all your Instax or Fujifilm photos. There are different themes in each set that let you display your mini photos in style.  But when I saw the Photo Stand Set, I immediately thought of Place Cards for my Christmas Table.  Here's a little tutorial to show how I created my place cards.




With the Sizzix Seasonal Photo Stand set, I die-cut my base using Tim Holtz Woodgrain Cardstock.  


After die-cutting, fold along the crease lines.  I then sprayed the stand with Distress Linen Spray Stain, let dry, and highlighted the grain with Distress Photo ink.  I usually run the stamp pad across for a more vivid contrast.  Fold the sides in, along the crease lines and adhere them closed.  You will end up with a slit through the middle of the stand for your photo.


Next I used this cute Photo Shaker Box set for my shadow box.  There are different little words that interchange in the box. I use a bit of masking tape to hold everything in place before die-cutting. Lots of little stamps and extras in this set too.


This is what my die-cut frame looks like.


Fold your photo box on the crease lines, except for the bottom one. Because I'm not building a shaker box, I left this one flat, but just folded in the side tabs.  This will go in the slit on the photo stand.  Next I die-cut my inside name plate with the rectangle frame.  I printed my names on the computer.  These could be stamped too.


The name card was adhered to the back of the frame with 3-d foam tabs.  Place the frame in the slit.  Time to decorate your place card.




There are lots of little embellishment dies in all these sets, I chose to use the snowflake confetti, holly leaf and berry.  I just received one of the new Tim Holtz Sidekick Starter Sets, and am already loving the convenience of this little machine when having to die-cut those little tiny dies.  I need to die-cut a lot of these leaves and confetti pieces, so it goes a lot faster to use this machine.  Just sandwich your die and paper between the two cutting plates and run it through your machine.  For my holly leaf, I used silver metallic cardstock coloured with various colours of green alcohol ink.


I adhered the holly leaf and berry in the corner.  For my snow, I applied Tim Holtz Grit Paste (TDA53422) to my stand, pushed my tree into the snow, and sprinkled Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter while my "snow" is wet. My Grit Paste is fluffed up a bit to look more like snow. The snowflake and star confetti is adhered to my place cards and Stickle Glitter Glue was applied to highlight them.

Here's another cute idea for place cards.


Instead of names, use photos of everyone (even baby photos to keep everyone guessing!) and add fun embellishments to the photos.

This Sizzix set, Photo Frame with Seasonal Props is a cute set with different props and stamps to add to your frame.  It even has it's own frame with this set.  I stamped my images, coloured, then die-cut.


Here's another look at my finished Christmas Place Cards.
Once you have figured out what you are going to create, it's pretty fast to create multiplies of these place cards.  I've got 4 done, just 17 more to go!

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy creating!

Until next time,

Jan

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CARVED CHRISTMAS CARDS

Hi everyone!  I'm back today with another project for Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration 2017.  


This grouping of Christmas cards feature one of my favourite Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Christmas releases this year, the Carved Christmas #1 Set.

Such a fun set, perfect for cards!



I stamped each image twice.  The image was stamped in red or black ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder.  Using a Distress Marker, I applied my colour to my craft mat, diluted it with a water brush, and then applied this light colour to the lettering.  This image was then cut out.  The other was stamped with a gray(or black) ink on white cardstock big enough for the background.


Each Stamped image has been framed with a red or black cardstock die-cut frame.  These are die-cut from Tim Holtz Sizzix Stitched Circles, Stitched Squares, Stitched Ovals, and Stitched Rectangles framelits.





I have matted my framed images with different plaids from Tim Holtz Christmas Paperie Mini stash (TH93625).  Two more mats underneath, gold Metallic Kraft Stock (TH93586), cardstock, and then my card base.



For the embellishments on all my cards, I used Tim Holtz Mini Holiday Greens Thinlits set die-cut from cardstock that had been covered with gold and silver Tim Holtz Deco Sheets(TH93219).  The little bows are die-cut using Sizzix Fold-Up Bows from Christmas Deco Sheets(TH93644) and Kraft Christmas Paper Stash(TH93626). Tim Holtz Tiny Bells Findings (TH93658), and Christmas Typed Tokens (TH93629), tied with Tim Holtz Eclectic Craft Thread, (015274) complete each card.


Here's another look!  Hope I have inspired you to use your stamps when making your Christmas Cards! Don't forget to check Tim's Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter daily for new projects from his Inspiration Team!

Until next time,

Jan


3

DIY SIZZIX SKATES VIGNETTE

Hello crafting friends!  I have a tutorial up on the Sizzix blog today, featuring Tim Holtz dies used on this project:


I enjoyed making a Halloween vignette on a book for the Tim Holtz Halloween Inspiration Series this year, had to make another for Christmas!

Thanks for visiting me there!

Jan
5

CHRISTMAS ETCETERA TAG


Hello everyone!  We're already at Week 4 of the Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration Series and I hope you are all enjoying the amazing creations from his designers as much as I am.  Today I am sharing my third project, this Christmas Etcetera Tag.


My base, the Tim Holtz Etcetera Tag, is the largest one, measuring 8 1/4" x 14 1/2".  These sturdy tags are laser cut from thickboard and can be collaged, painted, altered and embellished.  There's lots of room on this one for those wonderful Tim Holtz embellishments!  Are you ready to find out how I created my Christmas tag?



I painted my board with white gesso, as I wasn't quite sure if I was going to cover the entire board with paper. My patterned paper from the 8 x 8 Christmas Paper Stash (TH93625) wasn't large enough to cover the entire board, but I pieced two together and trimmed the top to match the tag. I also left 1/4" all around the paper and tag base.  When piecing paper together like this, I like to have an idea where I'm going to place things so I can cover my seams.  I knew I was going to use the wood boxes, so I made sure my seam was covered mostly by them.  Christmas Design Tape (TH93628) was added around the edge.  Before adhering my paper with Tim Holtz Collage Medium, I machine stitched around the edge of the paper. Glue the paper onto the board with Distress Collage Medium.


Now, onto the Vignette Boxes.  For the larger one, I made my own background, using Stencil StarryTHS093, and Ranger's Texture paste in the corner before painting with layers of various Distress paints that coordinate with my Vignette box. I start with a darker colour and dry brush additional layers, usually the lighter ones last.


The Vignette Box Top Structures (TH93663) fit right over the Vignette Wood Boxes. I chose this National Garlands one (3 7/8 x 5 1/2") which is the largest.  After cutting my background down to size,  I adhered my chosen Christmas Paper Doll (TH93665).  Check your placement with the lid on, so it is visible within the opening.  I used thick pieces of foam  (about 1/2" thick cut from the foam pieces that I had saved from the old texture fade packaging) to build up the paper doll, so it's more visible.  Add in some Christmas Clippings Stickers (TH93651), and Christmas Remnant Rubs (TH93636).  Adhere this to the inside of your Vignette box, then adhere the Top Structure.


Here's a look at the finished box which I lightly sanded to give it a distressed look.


The smaller Paramount box is 2 7/8 x 4".  The music note paper is a piece from the 
Christmas Ephemera Pack (TH93627). The inside has a small Woodland Tree (TH93638) lightly coloured with Bundled Sage Distress Stain Spray, accented with Glossy Accents and Rock Candy Clear Glitter.  Christmas Paper dolls (tinted and lightly sanded) were adhered at different depths(foam dots) and the Mirrored Stars (TH93083) were lightly tinted with Latte Alcohol Ink.


I love tiny metal findings and these fluted stars(TH93660) add that perfect vintage touch to your projects. I was just going to glue them to the corners of this Christmas Baseboard(TH93652), but decided to hammer them into the board with these nails from the Vignette Hardware Findings set(TH93668).  I think this is my favourite Baseboard, I could have a whole package of old looking ads or signs, just in the vintage black & white, couldn't you?  If you're not up to putting a hole into the fluted star, there are the Fluted Fasteners(TH93273) that have a hole in the center and include a brad, but they are smaller and not as dimensional.


I had a scrap piece of wood to hammer the hole through my star.  I turned the star over to hammer so it wouldn't flatten out and I also used a stronger regular nail instead of the decorative one (didn't want to bend it).  I love my little Tim Holtz hammer, they're not available anymore unfortunately.  My husband kept stealing it, he liked to use it when the regular hammer was too big, so I had to hide it on him!  I've tried to buy him his own or one similar but the closest I could come to it was a short handled hammer, so it's still hidden. Once I had the hole hammered in, I painted the star with black paint and after it dried, lightly sanded off some of the paint.



You can add a bit of paint to the nail after it's nailed into the board.


When nailed to the board, the nails poke through slightly from the back, but I just nailed them flat.  It will be covered with paper later. The bottom right hand corner one ended up be removed because  my small Vignette box ended up being on top of it.  I just hammered it again through the small box as you will see in a later photo.


I die-cut lots of various foliage from the Sizzix Mini Holiday Greens Thinlits set(661597) and Kraft-Core cardstock.


Once my small Vignette box was adhered to my tag, I adhered my Holiday Greens die-cuts, Red Alpha Dice Findings spelling out the word "JOY"(TH93654) with the edges lightly sanded. Also a Wood Slice (TH93662) frosted with Glossy Accents and Distress Rock Candy Glitter, and finally a ribbon bow(TH93646 Metallic Trimmings) with two Tiny Bells also frosted up(TH93658).  The metallic ribbon was lightly tinted with Distress Stain which I think was either Lucky Clover or Cracked Pistachio, I think.  Usually when I'm taking photos of my steps, I include the product in the photo so I don't forget what I used.  For some reason I didn't on these photos and it's been awhile since I've finished this project.   So sorry, if some of you want to know the exact colours I used!


I highlighted my Salvaged Santa(TH93661) with Gold Mixative Alcohol ink, removing some of it so it just stayed in the crevices.  Vintage Platinum Glitter Dust was added to the Santa and a small Decorative Deer Finding(TH93640).


These were adhered to the top of the large Vignette Box, along with my coloured trees, Holiday Greens and a few Bead Berries Findings (TH93666).  The trees and paper die-cuts were all highlighted with Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter and a bit of Picket Fence Distress Paint.



The bottom corner was filled with a couple of Quote Chips (TH93655), a Holiday Flash Card (TH93645) with a few Christmas Clippings Stickers(TH93651)added to the corner later, a small calendar from Christmas Ephemera Pack (TH93627) and a Wood Slice(TH93662) slightly stained and stamped with Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz set, Holiday Postmarks (CMS323 Love this set!).  There are quite a few of these small round postmarks in this set that fit perfectly on the wood slices.  Glitter was added to the top also.  You can also see my little Star Finding hammered into the back of the Paramount box.


I added in the ring that comes with the Etcetera Tag, covering it with Christmas Kraft Paper Stash (TH93626) and sanding the edge.  A Tim Holtz metal Wreath Adornment (TH93634) fit perfectly on the ring, so I painted it with Picket Fence paint, and glittered that too. My Christmas Typed Token Finding (TH93629) was also painted; first in red, then lightly green on the edges, sanding just a bit.  My Crinkle ribbon (TH93020) was coloured with Distress Stains (a combination of reds) on one and greens on the other. A bit of Metallic ribbon that had also been lightly tinted was tied here too.  I love the fact that I can dye my ribbons to exactly the colour I need to match my papers, don't you?


Here's a look from a side angle of my finished tag.


Here's a few from the front again!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and hopefully it has sparked some creative ideas of your own to create an Etcetera Tag for yourself or a Christmas gift. Don't forget to check Tim's Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter daily for new projects from his Inspiration Team!

See you soon!  I have another Tim Holtz project coming up this week on the Sizzix blog.

Thanks for visiting, and your comments are all so appreciated!

Jan


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WINTER WONDERLAND VIGNETTE TRAY


Hello everyone!  We're already at Week 3 of the Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration Series and I hope you are all enjoying the amazing creations from his designers as much as I am.  Today I am sharing my second project,  my Winter Wonderland Vignette Tray.


I recently went to my favourite garden centre where there were so many beautiful Christmas treasures, trees and thousands of decorations.  A grouping of Christmas shadowboxes that were filled with white and silver silhouettes inspired me to create this Vignette Tray, using just gold and white.


I'm starting my tutorial on creating the insides of my Vignette Tray. I really wanted to use these wonderful Christmas Transparent Tiles (TH93657) in this project.  I love that they are transparent, don't they remind you of frosty windows in the winter? When I was little, the frost would form in beautiful patterns on our windows on those cold winter days.  I used to love looking at them, but we don't see those beautiful patterns anymore, thanks to much better windows and insulation! 
I've made a narrow shaker box with my letters and a sheet of Idea-ology Frosted Plastic(#93153). I've had this package in my stash for awhile, I think it's still available, or if you're like me, have quite an substantial stash of Tim Holtz products from the very beginning. Time to use some of it!  These sheets can be used with your Bigz dies too!  Any clear plastic sheets or from packaging will do also, but I liked this frosted look.  To make the shaker box, I measured 1/8" along the edge and with my Tim Holtz Design Ruler(it has a steel edge which is great for cutting with a craft knife)I lightly ran the knife along the 1/8" marks, taking care not to cut but just score. Next score 1/4" from the 1/8 score mark. Your plastic will bend easy with a nice clean edge.  Next, measure the height of your letters (approx. 1.75") from the 1/4" line, then 1/4" again, measure 1/8" again, but instead of scoring, cut on this line. You now have the back, top, and bottom of your box. Here, I just applied double faced 1/8" clear adhesive tape to my 1/8 edges after bending the score lines, and adhered my letters tightly together across. If you are worried about leakage from your filling, just adhere your letters to a strip of clear plastic and then adhere to the box front.


This is what your box will look like.  My word ended up being longer than the length of my plastic, so I had to add another section on the end.  For the ends of the box, I just measured out a narrow piece 1/4" wide and 1.75" high to fit the end.  I've just taped it to the box, with clear tape or use double adhesive tape as you are not going to see it. I try and tape or glue behind the white parts so it's not visible from the front.  Leave one end open until you fill your box with glitter, imitation snow (I've used imitation mica snow), beads, whatever you can think of and tape up the end after filling.  I'm sure I'll start looking at those clear boxes that little things come in, differently now...another thing to save for future projects! Now that I think of it, doesn't samples of the good chocolate come in those narrow long clear boxes, hmmm.


The gold cardstock I have used for this project is Idea-ology 8x8 Metallic Kraft Stock Paper Stash (TH93586).  This is my favourite metallic paper to use, it can be distressed or sanded to look old, it die-cuts easy, and the package has silver and gold papers.  Just make sure you keep it in the plastic wrapping when not using, as it has a tendency to curl when left out, especially in my dry climate.  I created a stencil with this snowflake die that is included in the Winter Wonderland Thinlits set (662426).  Cut out your metallic kraft piece ( I had to add a small piece on one end to fit my Vignette box, but the seam is easy to cover up with embellishments) and apply Texture paste with your stencil.  Set aside to dry.


Next I die-cut my large deer with thin chipboard a 3 or 4 times for a thicker piece.  Glue these pieces together.  I die-cut another pieces with the gold metallic cardstock that is adhered on top.  To get the snowy look, just randomly dab on a bit of embossing ink with Ranger's Emboss It Dabber.. you don't need much and then Ranger's White Embossing powder. If you find you have too much, and would like a little more of the gold to show through, tap some off.  If you just have an clear embossing ink pad, dab it on your craft mat, lightly touch your deer to that, or use a small paint brush and randomly apply it that way.  This method is also good when you just want to emboss the edges or 3-d items and want better control where you are embossing.  Heat with a heat/embossing gun.


This is my new favourite foliage set!  Love all these tiny pieces, they are perfect for small projects or cards. I've die-cut lots from the gold kraft stock and Tim's Festive Greens (662425) set.   I also randomly applied white embossing powder to some of these die-cuts. Now, if you had a new Tim Holtz Sidekick machine, just think how fast and easy to cut all these small die-cuts out!! I can hardly wait to get mine!  This would make a perfect Christmas gift for any crafter! 


I was trying to keep my white and gold theme and wanted to add in the word, wonderland.  This package of Christmas Remnant Rubs (TH93635) has 2 sheets, one black, one white, all words in different fonts.  The white doesn't show up in my photo, but it's exactly the same as the black sheet.  I used the back side of one word band in the Christmas Word Bands Findings set (TH93630), applied my rub-on word, then lightly dabbed the band edge with Gold alcohol ink.  If you don't want to use a band that you already like the wording on it and want to use it on another project, I'm sure some of you have  some old metal embellishments around.  Maybe they have a word or etched picture on them that you might not want to use, so just turn it around and use the back side.


I used all three of the smaller deer from the Winter Wonderland Thinlits set and also die-cut two layers from thin chipboard or cardstock first, then the gold. I know this is extra die-cutting, but when I'm creating a dimensional project, I like some of my pieces to be sturdier when they aren't adhered flat.  It also makes those main pieces stand out more and gives them more polished look.


 These were also embossed lightly with white, mostly on the upper part of the deer.  Once you have all your inside embellishments finished, you're ready to build your Vignette Tray.  Before adhering everything, I used a white wash on my small vignette tray (TH93568) which measures 9 x 4 3/4".  Take a small amount of white paint (I used Distress Picket Fence paint) and add a bit of water to it.  I just dab some paint on my craft mat and spritz with water until it's diluted to the amount I want. If you're not sure how much white you want to add to the wood, just start of lightly, you can always reapply to add more white.  Paint this on your vignette tray.  I didn't apply it to the inside tray bottom, just the sides, as I was covering it with the gold kraft stock.  I added a Tim Holt Curio Knob (TH92840) that the silver was touched up with a bit of gold alcohol ink to the top of my tray.  You will need a long screw to go through the wood and Tim has created this Vignette Hardware Findings package (TH93668) which makes it soooooo much easier to attach the knobs, pulley wheels, or other findings to your wood surfaces.  This package even has those little nails, hooks and screw eyes.  I know things like this are probably near the bottom of your list to purchase, when there's so much amazing stuff that's always being released, but these things are so good to have if you enjoy creating those 3-d projects.


After your snowy gold back is adhered to your tray, adhere the shaker box.  Again, I just applied my adhesive around the edges, where the tiles are white, so you can't see where the adhesive is.  I adhered a few foliage pieces in the corner, before the large deer went in. His back end is tucked right into the corner.  You can add in more around him where you need it.  I have a few pieces covering that seam, where I needed to add extra paper. Tie a piece of Metallic Trimmings (TH93646) in a bow on the one side of your Word Band. I used a small nail from the Vignette Hardware Findings to attach the other side.  I have to admit, I was holding my breath nailing this in, the wood was starting to separate so if you choose this, be careful, as it's such a narrow piece of wood! I used adhesive on the back to also secure the word band.



To attach the tree, I took off the small wood base, poked a hole in the shaker box, placing the wire stem in the hole and used a bit of glue near the top at the back of the tree to the tray.  Adhere all your foliage, deer and bow using glue dots, and foam dots for extra dimension.


Here's a look at the knob on the top.  I adhered two pieces of foliage on either side, with the ends tucked under the knob.



Here's another look at my finished Winter Wonderland Vignette Tray.  The best part, is this can be left out all winter, not just Christmas!  

I hope you enjoyed this project and tutorial.  I've had so much fun creating for this Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration Series, I love everything in this new release.  The hardest part, is having to choose what to use in each project, I just want to use it all.  Which is why I have to keep making another project so I can use everything!  There's more to come, so I hope you visit me again!  Make sure you check Tim's  Facebook, Instagram, and every Saturday on his blog he has a recap of the week's projects from all the designers, you don't want to miss any of them!  Don't you love how we all have been given the same product, but everyone has a different idea that can make it look completely different.  There's so much inspiration and the tutorials are fantastic, how can you not be inspired! 

Thank you so much for all your comments, they are much appreciated!  See you soon!

Jan




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