Crackers Are Not Just For Christmas

 

     The challenge at River Of Creativity this month is all about Celebration, this doesn't have to be Christmas, it can be the celebration of anything. I have chosen to make a cracker because I like them and think it's such a shame they only get used at Christmas, they're great for any occasion.

     This cracker is actually a half normal size version, great for tea parties and other get togethers, it also means you can cut two from one A4 sheet of card.

     Glitter card makes for a very bright cracker and using the Craft Artist non shed, non shed because it's not actually glitter atall, means there's no mess.

     Using the new strip dies from John Next Door, JND235 Shiregreen, I cut several lengths of black card to decorate the cracker before assembly. Two strips with one side and the bar middle, then one strip with both sides and the bar middle. All the strips were attached with redline tape as it's good and strong.

     To make the rosette I cut two strips in black using only one side die and stuck them together to make one long strip. Then I scored the strip at every pattern repeat, each diamond point and each gap between diamonds.

     Once all scores were made I pleated the entire strip and glued the ends together to make a ring. After the glue had dried I gently pushed the straight side of the ring down on my craft mat to make it form a rosette, this took a little bit of encouragement but it's so worth the time spent. Happy that the rosette was alright I glued a small piece of black card under the centre of the rosette, placed a small weight on top to hold it and went away for a cup of tea while it dried.

      In my stash I found a nobly clear gem that would fit perfectly over the small hole in the rosette, but I didn't want a clear gem so I coloured it yellow with an alcohol marker before sticking it firmly in place with strong glue. As the rosette had a flat back because of the small card circle it was stuck to it was easy to fix to the cracker with redline tape.

      This cracker won't actually crack, I didn't put a snap inside but you could if you wanted to. I chose to use curling ribbon to seal the cracker  because I like the curls you can make with the ribbon ends, I have used two lengths on each end to get extra curls.

      You can make these crackers with any colour combination you wish and any decoration that suits the occasion, so why limit their use to Christmas. A cracker is not just for Christmas, it's a great way to wrap a small gift any time of year.

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas Present

A Perfect Time To Craft - Anything Goes

Classic Design - Anything Goes

Creatalicious - Anything Goes/option Christmas

Christmas Box Scene

     My contribution to the All Crafts Challenge design team is a box scene. I made one of these for a friend instead of a card and she was so pleased with it she is going to use it as a decoration each year, when something like that happens it makes it all worth while, thanks Ang.
     I found the box at a boot sale, it's a corrugated card box that came flat, it just folds into place with a couple of tabs to hold it, I think it was for a cosmetics firm originally.
     The base inside is cotton wool stuck down firmly. There are some tiny snowflake peel offs attached to the back of the box to look like falling snow.
     The decoration of the box has been kept simple to make sure the tree is the focal point.

     The tree is a demijohn cork for the base,with a drift wood trunk pushed into the hole. One of my favourite pastimes is beach combing and I love driftwood, I saw a whole tree on the beach in New Zealand but it wouldn't fit in my bag!!!!!
     The top of the tree is three layers of rosette die from Sizzix. The base layer is Tim Holtz Snowflake, the next two are from Medallions, all cut in thick white paper.
     When assembling the rosettes they need to resemble lamp shades in shape, it can be tricky holding them in place and using a hot glue gun but it is possible, Tim Holtz has this on his blog somewhere so you can see how it's done, all three layers are hot glue stuck on to the trunk.
     There is some clear glitter on the layers to add twinkle, but the main feature is the little angel on the top. She is made from beads and findings from a local bead shop, if you have a bead shop near you go and ask them for the bits, most of them will have them this time of year.
     To finish off the tree the angel is stuck on top and some crochet lace is added to the pot. When sticking the tree inside I have made a small hole in the cotton wool so that it sticks to the box and won't fall over.

I would like to enter my Christmas box scene in the following challenges:

Creative Corner Challenges - Winter Wonderland

4 Crafty Chicks - Die Cuts

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Try It On Tuesday - Christmas Is Coming

Winter Wonderland - Dies and Punches

Bootiful Norfolk Turkeys

     Great for Thanksgiving or for Christmas, these little turkeys can be used for place markers on your festive table.
     We are busy making them for the school Christmas bazaar, a little something the children can buy with their pocket money.
     The original idea came from Tim Holtz a couple of years ago but it's something I like to make every year. You can be as fancy as you like with the decoration, these ones are quite simple.
     Begin by cutting a large rosette, a medium rosette and a small rosette with the Sizzix strip Rosette dies. Tim had a download for the head shape on his blog but that was about two years ago, I'm sure a search would find it again.
     If you wish to stamp your rosettes do so before folding, it's much easier. I have used the brown folders you can get to go inside hanging files to keep paperwork tidy, nice and affordable plus not too thick to bend.
     Make all three rosettes, keeping a large rosette centre spare for the base. When gluing the rosettes together make sure you do this with them standing up so you get the staggered top and a level base. Glue the rosette tail to the base allowing a space at the front for the head to be stuck on. I have used my ever popular Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue to make the turkeys, it's quite strong and sets quickly so you don't have to hold on to it for ages.
     To make them into place markers add a cocktail stick with a name tag on the top by tucking it into the turkeys tail, these don't have them so that they are safe for small children.
     Strictly speaking these are Suffolk turkeys, the border is a mile down the road. For those of you not familiar with the term Bootiful, it was used by Bernard Matthews who was a Norfolk turkey breeder and it became his catch phrase.

I would like to enter my Bootiful Turkeys in the following challenges:

Cut It Up - Let's Talk Turkey

Try It On Tuesday - Home Made / Hand Made

Cuttin' and Stampin' - Thanksgiving

Die Cuttin' Divas - Thanksgiving

Craft Your Passion - Pumpkins or Turkeys

Dies R Us - Anything Goes Christmas

Technique Time Tuesday - Pick a Favourite

If you are looking for the House Of Cards Blog Hop post then please click HERE

      This month at Technique Time Tuesday we would like you to choose your favourite technique from the past year. Pop over to the blog and take a look at the list, I'm sure there will be something you will like.
    I chose water stamping which has to be one of my all time favourites. I have given it a little twist for this card though, it just seemed right for Christmas.
    I began by die cutting a snowflake in double sided sticky paper, then I stuck it on to white card. Before removing the top layer I coloured my white card with Distress Inks in Broken China, Faded Jeans and Dusty Concorde. Then I used two snowflake stamps to water stamp with, but before the ink was dry I dusted over the whole card with Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent Mica Powder to give it a shine. The powder will only stick to the inked areas and not the water stamping.

    Once the powder was dusted off the card I then lifted the top layer on the sticky snowflake and sprinkled it with Glamour Dust to make it sparkle. It didn't look quite as good as I'd hoped so I then made a Tim Holtz Snowflake Rosette in glitter paper and stuck that on top.
    I tried it on a white card blank but it didn't look right, the white made the snowflakes fade so I went for a blue card blank instead.
    To finish off I added some snowflake embellishments that I've been hoarding for years, it took some doing but I was brave and used some treasured stash!, well it is Christmas.
    Please pop over to Technique Time Tuesday and take a look at all the fabulous DT samples, there's lots of inspiration to get you going.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Pick a Previous Theme - Snowflakes

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Inkspirational - Anything Goes

Cards For Men - Anything goes

Here Come The Boys - Anything Goes

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Christmas Collection Box

     This Christmas Collection Box was a kit from J&C Creations. It comes flat packed for you to decorate and assemble. The pieces are made from MDF which glue together very well, there are assembly instructions with it.
     I began by painting all the pieces white using acrylic paint. The front surround has also been sprayed with Crafters Companion Spray & Sparkle Iridescent which gives it a thin coat of glittery varnish, it doesn't show up very well in the photo but does when you see it in the wood, so to speak. If you are coming to Thetford show on Sunday then please come over and have a closer look.

      The little houses at the top have had their windows and door covered from behind with acetate coloured with Promarkers.
     In the main section there is a Christmas Tree made using the rosette dies from Tim Holtz, you can review a previous post on their construction here.
     There is also a turkey made using the same dies that can be reviewed here on a previous post.

        The present is a small box that once contained a car relay covered with some paper from a Christmas paper pad and tied up with curling ribbon. In the background there is some more paper with stockings hanging up along it.
     The snowman has been made using lots of bits and bobs that I will be telling you about on next weeks J&C Creations Sunday blog post, along with the details about the baubles and angel.

I would like to enter this box in the following challenges:

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Anything NOT a card

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Table top Turkeys

This weeks challenge over on 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is 'Anything BUT a Card' so I would like to introduce Bernard (well I do live in Norfolk!!) This cute little fellow has been made using the three different sizes of rosette die from Sizzix Tim Holtz range.
I wish I could lay claim to his invention but this is an idea by Tim Holtz from last autumn, click on the link and you can see step-by-step instructions. I have made peacocks which you can see on a previous blog entry and I'm sure that a grouse would look pretty good too.
The rosettes have been cut from an old buff file divider I had in my cupboard, it looks a little like Kraft card. Each rosette has been stamped with Archival Ink Coffee using a swirl stamp before construction. The two smaller rosettes have been edged with a gold acrylic dauber and the large one with a white dauber. The eyes are a small drop of Cosmic Shimmer pearl glue in black.
The name tag is the smallest die from Spellbinders set Heirloom Ornaments 2011. Once decorated this is then stuck onto a cocktail stick which fits into the fan tail perfectly, it is easily removed so small children can then play with the turkey safely. I think he would look great on the table this Christmas along with a few other hand crafted crackers and decorations.

Rosette Peacocks

This little Peacock was inspired by Tim Holtz and his 'Quirky Turkeys' . You can find out how he made them by looking in November 2011 on his blog. I'm sorry there's no link, I tried to set it up but I couldn't get it to work.

All I did was to make the rosettes in peacock type colours. The biggest rosette was cut from an offcut of card that had been sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer misters in dark blues and purples. The second rosette was cut from a gorgeous pearlised card that I got at a craft fayre and the smallest rosette was cut from Bazill card.

The head had to be drawn differently from the turkey, so I used Tim's turkey head as a base shape and changed the neck and added a tuft on top of his head. He is assembled in the same way as the turkeys but gives a taste of summer. The eyes have been made using Cosmic Shimmer PVA pearlised glue in Black. I also stuck the whole thing together using Cosmic PVA dries clear glue and not a glue gun, it works very well. I have to say that for what appears to be just a PVA glue Cosmic Shimmer PVA really sticks !!

Once I've demolished my chocolate muffin I'm going to try some other variations.

Happy crafting, let me know if you've tried these birds, turkeys or peacocks, I'd love to hear about it.