Quick Christmas Make

Hello to all our crafting friends, Antony here for a really quick Christmas make.

This one only took about 45 minutes to complete. I'd been seeing loads of

beautiful fairy jars on Facebook and Pinterest. The only problem for me was

that during the day the jars looked... well just looked like white jars. The interest was

only there when it was dark and they were lit! 

So for this make I'm using an old Douwe Egberts coffee jar, some snowflake

dies, Crafters Companion Mixed Media tag dies, Pinflair Regal Purple Liquid Buff-it

white glass paint, Let It Snow die from the Sue Wilson range, silver die ink

rustic string, battery powered tea lights and finally Pinflair's Iridescent

Gellitex paste.

Step1 Firstly using a sponge I applied white glass paint over the whole

jar. I had tried white alcohol ink first time round, but when the jar was

lit from inside it looked all patchy!

Step 2 Whilst the white glass paint dried I used the Mixed Media tag dies from

Crafters Companion and cut out some tag shapes from some thick white

card stock. I also die cut a snowflake that I stuck onto one of the tags.

For the tag underneath I cut out a tag using thinner card stock and then

 embossed it using a small circle embossing folder. Using silver die ink, I

applied it lightly over the raised areas using a sponge. 

Step 3 I cut the large text die "Let it Snow" and some other snowflakes

using 300gsm white card stock. Using a sponge I then added Pinflair

 Gellitex over the whole of the jar. I pounced the Gellitex on very quickly

and quite thinly. I placed the die cut text and snowflakes into the still wet

 Gellitex, then I force dried the Gellitex from a distance using a craft heat tool.

I then applied another thin coating of Gellitex over the jar once again.

The second coat actually seals the die cuts in place.

Step 4 Again I force dried the second coat of Gellitex and then using

the silver dye ink I applied it round the neck of the jar and also at the

botton. For the lid, I firstly took off the plastic stopper and painted the

inside using Pinflair's Liquid Buff-it. I force dried the Liquid Buff-it

and then painted a second coat on. Before placing the plastic

stopper back in place I force dried the Liquid Buff-it once more.

Step 5 Using some rustic string I tied the two card tags in place

around the neck of the jar and finished it with a bow.

  
Step 6 With all the decorating done all that was left was to open

the jar and put 2 battery powered tea lights inside... step back and

admire. I think you'll agree the jar looks just as nice to look

at in daylight and when lit both during the day and with the

lights off.

 

Hope you like this really quick make.... all of 45 minutes to create something

beautiful, unique and practical out of an old coffee jar. If you want to, you could also

add a drop of Liquid Buff-it to the Gellitex to colour it, or sprinkle

some glitter over the wet surface. As well as Iridescent Gellitex, there is

also a transparent version too!
Try also using coloured die cuts for non Christmas themed projects.... one
of which I will share with you all in the new year!
 

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

 
Antony

Simple Christmas Card

Oh my gosh.... where has this year gone? It's nearly Christmas already!!!

Hi there Antony here, I've made a really simple card using a few bits and bobs I had

laying round. I even used some freebies from a few craft magazines too!

So here's what I've used to make this card. Glossy card stock and alcohol inks in various

colours, gold mirror board, ice blue colour stamping ink, Centura Pearl card, white card

a free embossing folder and a free snowflake die as well as some Crafters Companions

snowflake dies and a very pretty "Let it Snow" die from the Sue Wilson range!

Step 1 Firstly I cut a large solid snowflake shape and using an ice blue colour stamp pad

and a sponge, I coloured the outer edge of it. I then used the detailed die of the

same snowflake design and cut out the snowflake using gold mirror board.

I then glued the gold mirror board snowflake on top of the solid shape with the blue

outer edge using Pinflairs Glue-it glue. I applied the glue using a sponge to the

backside of the gold snowflake.

 Step 2 Using 2 A4 sheets of 300gsm white card stock, I cut out an 8 inch card blank.

Step 3 Still using the 300gsm white card stock I also cut out one large detailed snowflake.

I then used a clear stamping pad over the cut out snowflake and sprinkled some

clear WOW! embossing powder over it. I then heated it, to give it a beautiful glossy

finish. I also cut some smaller gold snowflakes using dies from Crafters Companions range. 

  

Step 4 Next was the slightly messier part... alcohol ink! I randomly pounced a felt

pad loaded with alcohol ink and effects solution (plain alcohol) onto a sheet of glossy

card stock. Then I dripped effect solution onto the glossy card and let the solution

bleed into the colours for further effect. Then using a sheet of Centura Pearl, I cut

out a large snowflake design using a Create a Card die from Crafters Companion.

I cut this Create a Card die cut out with about a 5mm border all the way round.

I then placed the alcohol inks background behind the die cut and glued it in position.

Once again I cut an even border all the way round using a ruler and craft knife.

I stuck this onto a piece of gold mirror board and once again went round to

create an even border.

Step 5 Using a free embossing folder from a craft magazine, I embossed some

300gsm white card. Using the same ice blue ink pad, I used a sponge and lightly

went over the raised areas to bring out the texture. I then cut out the embossed

pieces of card and mounted them onto some gold mirror board to give them a

border, top and bottom.

Step 6 Using the Sue Wilson die "Let it Snow" I cut out 3 different versions.

Two on 300gsm white card stock (one which I coloured blue) and one cut

out using gold mirror board. I then created a shadow effect by layering up the die

cut shapes (a trick that I learnt from Samantha... just don't tell her!!)

You may need to practice this effect first, it's not that easy. You need each

new layer to be offset at 45 degrees and about 1mm distance from the

previous layer. To stick all the layers together I used Pinflairs Glue-it glue.

Step 7 With all the elements cut out I decided that before I glued them onto the card

blank that I lightly go round the edge of the card with the ice blue stamp pad.

This was to help tie it in with the embossed borders and large snowflake with

the same ice blue colouring.

First to be stuck into position was the embossed borders with gold mirror board

borders, then came the alcohol ink background and snow flake. Then after an

awful lot of moving things around, I stuck on the WOW! embossing powdered

snowflake. So far all the elements were stuck on using Pinflairs Glue-it glue.

Next came a bit of dimension. All the other snowflake die cuts and the

"Let it Snow" die cut were stuck on using silicone glue.

Well that wraps up this years blog posts! I hope you've enjoyed this rather

simple Christmas card as much as I enjoyed creating it, as well as all the other

posts though out the year too!

From both myself and Samantha we would like to wish all our crafting

friends a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2017!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

 
Antony