Folded Christmas Tree Tag - Papertrey's Make-It Monday #46

The evergreen tree die from Papertrey's In the Meadow Silhouettes Die Collection just thrills me. It looks great all dressed up for the holidays, or au natural. Making the tree into tags, for Papertrey's Make-It Monday #46, offered another chance to decorate the tree. I used the same technique as Papertrey's glitter Make-It Monday #44. (See my earlier post here.) Just stick the 'ornaments' to the sticky paper before applying the glitter.

This tag would not stand up on its own, so I propped it up against my Mother's Putz house from about 85 years ago. Isn't it great, with it's little thatched fence? Holiday hand-me-downs are the best!

Have a wonderful and peaceful holiday, and thank you for visiting at this busy time of the year.

Papertrey Supplies: Vintage cream cardstock and tree from 'In the MeadowSilhouettes Die Collection.

Here We Come a'Glittering!

Don't you just wish each day in the month of December were three times longer, so we could get all our crafting done?

This week PTI's Make It Monday kills two birds with one stone. (I must stop using that expression as it makes my two parrots open their beaks and pop their eyes wide.) Speaking of parrots, the darling bird to the right is my 20 year old cockatiel, Pookie. He was helping Liz (in the background, and whose creations appear on this blog from time to time), craft earlier this week. Sorting buttons is a 'speciality' of his. He strength tests each button with his powerful beak before it is used. (He's taking a well deserved break in this shot.)

Back to PTI's Make It Monday #44 -a small 'noel' tag waiting to adorn a gift. I mounted the adhesive paper, as in the previous post here. The 'winterberry' sprig does not show up as well as I would have liked, but  I really learned about color using this technique. The greater the contrast between glitter hues, the more decipherable the images are when finished. I love adding the pearls and rhinestones directly to the sticky paper before I glitter.  (They stick much better being adhered before the glitter goes on.) By the way, the elf shoes propping up the tag, have a post of their own here.

Supplies: Papertrey Ink's Winterberry Die Collection , Block Alphabet Collection Die, Tag Sale #1 Die, and White Adhesive Sheets.

Hope you had fun visiting. Please leave a comment or question if you like.

Merry, Merry Glitter to All

I just love making tags this time of year. There are so many techniques to try out, and the little venue of tags is perfect for experimentation. (The tags that work out get to come to the Christmas parties on gifts.)

This week's PTI Make It Monday #44 is a glitter-all-over format. In order to make tags using the floppy adhesive paper, I first adhered the plain paper side to a piece of card stock, and then sent it through the die. The overlapping silhouettes required some careful thought, and it was very hard to get the very small cardinal 'masks' to stay put while I glittered. I tried several other coated papers to see if they would work better than the backing, but all the others stuck TOO well!

Handy Glitter Tip: Toss your excess glitter on the floor - it's so hard to get back in the bottle any way. The glitter co-mingles with your dust bunnies (yours - I don't have any - ha) making them self illuminating, which makes dust so much easier to find, and vacuum up. No time to vacuum. No problem. Your floors are now decorated for Christmas!

Supplies: Papertrey Ink's 'In the Meadow' die set and 'White Adhesive Sheets', Martha Stewart glitter, and Jo-Ann Christmas ribbon.

Noel from Liz

Here's another card for Papertrey's Make It Monday - Glue Pad Essentials . Again, her sheek and simple style is on display. She thinks that her 'e' looks like Mickey Mouse ears but I don't think so. All items are Papertrey's except the glitter and 'Happy Holidays' stamp.

Ingredients:

cardstock:  PTI's vintage cream, ripe avocado, pure poppy

stamps:  PTI's Outlines Alphabet and Guidelines II; sentiment from an Inkadinkado Holiday Filigree

dies:  PTI's Banner Builder Collection and Holly Jolly Die Collection

ink:  ColorBox cranberry pigment from Yuletide set of six nested inkpads

glitter:  Martha Stewart's florentine gold

glue pad:  Hampton Art

Simple Christmas Card

This card was made for Papertrey's Make It Monday - Essential Glue Pad Tips. The total effect I like, but I'm a bit disappointed with the detail.

I bought the wonderful printed Christmas ribbon (framed image) a few years ago, knowing that I would use it on cards as a central motif. It fits perfectly behind the Mat Stack 1 Die from Papertrey. (I love the look of those old scenes printed on silk, or jacquard woven pieces, that would peek out from behind an open frame on yesteryear's upscale holiday cards. Those bits got saved even when the card was finally tossed.) I quickly used a die ink on scrap paper to see if the tiny holly stamp from Papertrey's Border and Corner Oval fit around the perimeter.

It was necessary to stamp and glitter only two hollies at a time so I could gauge the next two placements. I stamped top and bottom, then middle right and left, then four peaked corners, and then filled in what was left.

As I mentioned, I am disappointed with the detail I obtained with my 'Hampton Art's Glue Pad' and Martha Stewart Glitter (about the finest size you can buy). One lesson I did learn, is if you are stamping a very small image over and over again, then washing the stamp about every four uses helps the details remain intact. (This seems necessary because the glue medium really builds up quickly on the stamp surface with multiple passes.) The NOEL is Embossed using one of my favorite alphabet sets,' My Sentiments Exactly - Floral Upper'. To finish, I neatly trimmed the ribbon length, and attached with just a glue dot in each corner to the back of the frame. The ribbon back looks fine when you open the card, and I like the slight transparency on the front view, of not placing paper directly behind the image.

Thank you for visiting. I would love for you to leave a comment if you have an opinion, even if it's just to say, 'Too much detail.' or 'I don't understand your directions.'. I'm new to all this, and trying to improve my posts.

Bada Bling

This latest  Make It Monday #41 at Papertrey was a blast. I had never made 'nice' with my Hampton Arts Glue Pad, but I used it again for these projects. Fabulous Liz (see preceding blog entry) has the 'Essential Glue Pad', and the glue seems to stay wet longer on the pad and paper allowing for finer detailed images. (This is just my observation - no scientific double blind study performed.)

My snowgirl card is a lesson in excess. I tried for as many textures as I could get away with (or not). The already pearlized background paper is glue stamped with snowflakes sprinkled with 'Diamond Dust'. The snowgirl is Papertrey's delightful Snowman Die Collection. For the body I used 'Art Glitter Sticky Paper'. I ran it through my 'Big Shot' and peeled off the printed paper side covering the sticky surface. Before adding the glitter, I stuck the eyes ('Recollections - Mini Round Gems) and flower buttons (no-name bling from Sewfisticated - only 99 cents for 200 ct.!) in their places. This avoids that dancing-around-on-the-top-of-the-glitter-effect when trying to adhere things after the glittering has happened. Add glue to the back (plain paper side) and adhere to card. The 'Sticky Paper' is perfect for large glittered areas or for different colors of glitter used with a masking technique. It also comes in the handy A2 size so it's perfect for almost all your Papertrey dies. Snowgirl's hat is flocked on that same sticky paper. Her over-the-top scarf/boa is a line of single crochet using the new 'Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash' yarn. At $4.99 for 39 yards it is uber pricy, but I used a 50% off coupon at Michaels, and wish I had bought all the colors. This yarn is stunning! The 'Let it snow...' stamp from 'Clearly Inspired' was stamped on a piece of glassine left over from postage stamps I bought. It took the glue ink and glitter beautifully.

Thanks for taking a peek.