Being on the design team of Best Creation, I was thrilled Liz brought in their Merry Christmas collection. It has classically designed elements like bells, wreaths and trees mixed with more contemporary images like stockings, candy canes and santas. The colour palette is traditional red and green. Everything coordinates beautifully as I'll be showing you in future project posts.




Next is something colourful and fun. The little chipboards from this collection are perfectly sized for cards. I used it as my sentiment and also to add some bulk to Santa's hefty bag of presents.

If you are shopping for supplies, the Christmas Store is beautifully organized. After browsing around this morning, I was inspired to make my first Kaisercraft cards. They should be posted here in a couple of week's time.


Supplies : Best Creation Merry Christmas (Christmas Labels, Expression Chipboard, Combo Sticker, Element Sticker, 6x6 papers) Best Creation cardstock, Basic Grey Bling It, K&Company Christmas Cheer paper

It's time to launch our Christmas Countdown!

Each week the Design Team will be bringing you some fabulous crafting ideas to help you prepare for the Holiday Season - and there will be weekly prizes, specials and challenges! You'll have TWO weeks from the start of the challenge to email us your entries. Each challenge and theme will be posted on the blog by Sunday night. Keep reading below for this week's theme. There will be heaps of variety and by no means will they all be red and green, so if Christmas is not really your thing - there will be HEAPS for you to enjoy too.
Here at Artfull Crafts we love Christmas so much - we have a whole section of our website dedicated to Christmas Products. We are still ordering more Christmas Stock - so be sure to check in often.

The store is now online and to celebrate our launch we have a couple of Specials to share with you.

Kaisercraft Merry Medley Collection
This complete collection from Kaisercraft is available until Wednesday at the crazy price of $20 (rrp $26.60)
This includes 6 sheets of 12x12 paper and 2 sheets of 12x12 stickers
Click here to see it in our online store.


Christmas Cardstock
All Christmas Cardstock is 20% off. We have a wonderful range of plain, textured, embossed, glittered and lots more to choose from. Perfect for your Christmas Cards. We can re-order this product easily and quickly - so let us know if you need more stock or want other colours.
Click here to see it in our online store




We have 2 card categories this year - this first one is for quick and simple cards that can be more easily produced in larger quantities. If you are mailing cards overseas - you had better get on it! Check out the Christmas mailing dates for overseas here. While you are making cards - be sure to check out the Southern Girls Challenge here for the opportunity to win some great prizes.

Here are some wonderful card ideas from last year to get you started.

Card by Joanne Care - more details here.

Card by Joanne Care - more details here.

Card by Tina Connolly - more details here

Card by Tina Connolly - more details here

Card by Shirl Towan - more details here

Cards by Lowri McNabb - more details here

Challenge
You can WIN yourself the Merry Medley Collection by entering YOUR Christmas cards into our Challenge!
Email us a picture of your card and PLEASE name the file you send with your full name as this makes it a lot easier for us to administer the competition! Send your entry to entries@artfullcrafts.co.nz
You will have until midnight Saturday November 12th to enter (2 weeks from the challenge date).

Any questions - just leave us a comment. Happy Christmas Countdown!

Hi Everyone - Lowri here. Here are the entries for and winners of the "Anything Goes" Challenge. We had lots of people entering for the first time this month which is FANTASTIC to see. I hope you will be entering as we go along with our Christmas Countdown launching tomorrow. Scroll down to see the WINNERS! All of these entries will be uploaded  to the gallery tomorrow.

Kay

Nicola - http://succumbstopeerpressure.blogspot.com

Sue

Tanya

Vicki - http://vickiparker.wordpress.com

Vicki - http://vickiparker.wordpress.com

Vicki - http://vickiparker.wordpress.com

Allanna

Alanna

Amy

Christine

Francine

Jackie - http://paperchains-2011.blogspot.com/

Karen

WINNERS - once again this was a really hard decision but we finally came to a conclusion!!

First Entrant Winner - Sue Elley
Overall Winner - Nicola Cotterill

Please email your details to entries@artfullcrafts.co.nz.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the lauch of the Christmas Countdown!

 First up we have a really quick and easy Thank You card using papers and an element from the Baby steps pad which have been distressed with scissors to within an inch of their lives then inked with a creamish brown ink in a sponge, then I painted the edges of the card and distressed the letters for the sentiment using Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fences, I used some twine to fasten a button for some added interest and then stuck a punched butterfly in the corner of the element.  It honestly took about 10 minutes to make.  Super quick and easy.

Next up we have Zippy's ( sorry William's ) plunket book, none of my children have boring run of the mill uncovered  record books, where is the fun in that?????  So out came the Baby Steps pad again, I cut up a few papers to use on this to give it kind of a quilted look.  I cut Will's name out on my cricut using the "songbird" cartridge.  The cute wooden safety pin is from KaiserCraft and I put some distress Crackle paint in Picket Fences on it and around the edges of the book.  I then did the little dashes to look like stitching with a brown ink pen and went round the letters for definition.  Another really quick project.
Thanks for looking and I hope I have inspired you to whip up some super easy and quick projects.

Bonjour! Christine here.
Today I am taking you on a trip to Paris with my daughter, Leanne! She was over there last year in August - travelling around Europe by herself ( oh my!!) on Bus-About, but she meet up with lots of people doing the same. (She is now safely back here in NZ!)
When I saw these Bonjour papers from Kaisercraft I knew they would be perfect to scrap some photos for Leanne to put in her album. So I have been waiting patiently since July to use them.

Supplies : Teresa Collins World Traveler (Filmstrip, 6x6 Paper Pad, Clear Stamps), Teresa Collins Notations Alphabet, Organza Ribbon Yellow, 7gypsies (Stacked Accordian journal, 97% Complete stickers Photographie), Weave Extras teeny tiny letter stickers, Teresa Collins Travel Ledger (Tags, Library Envelops, File Folders, Die-Cut Sheets), Teresa Collins Journal-it Calendar Time
Photo Credits : Seier + Seier

Hi Everyone, Lisa here. Today I want to give you a few ideas & hopefully some inspiration with regards to getting the most out of your stamps. Do you have many stamps? Are you unsure what else to do with them, besides the obvious..stamp them..lol. So many Manufacturers bring out stamps as part of their ranges these days. Having a co-ordinating stamp set to match a paper range can really help you take your projects a lot further. I am not a perfect stamper and it certainly takes practice. A few factors that can impact the quality of your images are the quality of the stamp, the ink you use & the pressure you apply when stamping.

Here is my first example....
Apologies for the dark photos, the weather in Melbourne today is dark, cold & very wet...hard to believe since yesterday the temperature reached almost 30 degrees celsius!


A few months ago I was shown in a very quick 20 minute session, how to use distress inks. It is really quite fun & gives you a great result in such a little amount of time. I am not an expert at it...(clearly...lol - but is only my second go) so I highly recommend trying it. I have used Tim Holtz distress inks (pads) Ideally work with 2 - 4 colours, some blending, spritzing, stamping & misting to achieve this look. It's great to work on a small card (I used ATC size 2.5 x 3.5) then mount it on a larger card. You will see from the stamp set (pictured below) I only used part of the blossom branch to create a border on my card. Just ink up the part of the image you want to use & turn your card and stamp the image as desired.

For all my projects & ideas today I used the one stamp set - Kaisercrafts' Bonjour stamp set.


This stamp set is a perfect example of an ideal set to use for stamping on different items. Any set that has flowers, borders, butterflies, flourishes, script etc I have found works really well. All patterned paper I have used today is from 'Kaisercrafts Bonjour' 6 1/2 inch paper pad this is a must have item!



Ever wanted to make your own acetate images? Well you can, just purchase acetate sheets, gently stamp your desired image on to the acetate. I used "Staz On ink" so it won't smudge & it dries quickly. I have used black ink today so you can clearly see the effects, you can certainly try other colours. Once your image is stamped & had a chance to dry cut it out & apply to your project.


On this little tag I have altered tissue paper & seam binding with stamped images. Punch out seven scallop circles of tissue paper. Stamp image repeatedly until happy with effect. Join pieces together with a brad in the centre & scrunch flower until you have the look you want.


Here is the seam binding before & after. Just lay it on a scrap piece of paper & stamp the image you want across it. You will get some of your image across your scrap paper that way you cover the maximum amount of ribbon. Let your ribbon dry then apply it to your project.


For my next tag I altered removable table to use as trim. It just adds a neat little border to a card, tag or layout. Depending on your scrapping style some scrappers like to use it to tape down their photos. You may be thinking why not just stamp straight on to the tag? Well you can, but this way you only get part of the image in a even space and the tape adds texture...besides it's fun!


Here you can see the tape which I stuck on a cellophane bag so I could stamp on it, then easily remove it. You can see where I stamped over the tape, ensuring the part of the image I want actually lands on the tape. This is the same process I used for the seam binding.



Do you have any plain alpha stickers or chipboard in your stash? I'm sure you do...why not alter them?


I used 'Kaiser Alpha stickers' I placed the letters I wanted to use on a cellophane sheet & stamped over the letters. Gently peel them off & apply to your project.


The tag on the left was made by stamping the butterfly image using versamark (watermark) ink then gently rubbing chalks over the image so it picks up the colour.
The tag on the right - I stamped the butterfly image using black ink onto crepe paper. This tag has great texture, it's difficult to see this in the photo.....I also embossed the black base tag with Swiss Dot embossing folder.
Both of the scallop shape tags were cut out using Spellbinders nestabilities.


Here I have stamped on a small cellophane bag. I have left it empty so you can see how the image stamped. This is a great gift idea, you can fill the bag with just about anything. You could then make a tab for the top of the bag or tie it off with some ribbon or string etc.

So that's the end of my post for today. I have shared just a few ideas on how you can use your stamps.I'm sure there are lots more. So go have a look in your stash of stamps & keep your eyes peeled when next purchasing your collections to see if there is a matching stamp set on offer.

Have a great day and thanks for your comments we really appreciate them! Maybe you can let us know your favourite stamping technique.

Lisa

Hi, it's Sandy excited to share a mini-book inspired by the modern architecture of Arne Jacobsen. When I saw Teresa Collin's World Traveler collection, I knew it would work well for this project which celebrates the beautiful proportions and clean lines of Jacobsen's buildings.



I used a 6.5"x4.5" accordian style book. It included a couple of 4.5"x3" pages which provided the opportunity to add some variety. Embellishments were kept to a minimum and the design is clean and simple to allow the photos to take center stage.

Hi Everyone - well it has been TWO weeks since I have posted as I was in Melbourne last week (see all the details here) and the trip combined with school holidays and the rugby left me more than a little distracted!
Luckily the Design Team have been keeping us inspired with all their fabulous ideas!

Christine shared another fabulous technique using punches - you HAVE to check this out! That circle in the  middle was created using a Martha Stewart Punch. 


Lindsay shared two lovely posts and a heap of STUNNING layouts. Post One can be found here and Post two here. They are both "must reads"! I love the way Lindsay's sense of humor comes out in her fabulous layouts!


Christine also shared some RUGBY layouts. We have some great Rugby papers in the shop so you can scrap all your World Cup memories.

Louise also posted - which is amazing seeing as her little wee William is only a couple of weeks old! She shared some gorgeous cards.
Lisa continued to showcase her wonderful work - this time using the new Scrapcake papers.


Miss Betsy shared some of the wonderful cards she created for Kaisercraft! They are very lucky to have her working with them and they gave her (and Liz and I) a wonderful welcome in Melbourne.


So much fabulous work shown here - and next week - we start the Christmas Countdown!!

The winner of our Challenge will be announced at the end of the week and on Sunday we start our CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN!

Tanya Watson is the winner of the Baby Mini Challenge.  Here is my favorite of her 3 entries!

Tanya - we will be sending you your choice of 6x6 pad from the upcoming 2 new Kaisercraft Collections!

Speaking of which - here are some projects using the new Kaiser releases. All the details to follow - but let's just say you are going to LOVE all the new products they have coming soon.